Проектная работа в школе

Municipal Autonomous Educational Institution «Gymnasium №31»

Project

Amazing Australian Animals

Made:

the students of 7с class

Saratov 2024

Content

Introduction ..........................................................................................................3

Main part…………………………………………………………………………4

1.1. KANGARO ...................................................................................................4

1.2. KOALA..........................................................................................................5

1.3  EMU...............................................................................................................5

1.4. PLATYPUS....................................................................................................5

1.5 DINGO………………………………………………………………………6

1.6 POSSUM.........................................................................................................6

1.7.QUOKKA .......................................................................................................6

1.8. ECHIDNA…………………………………………………………… ……7

1.9. THORNY DEVIL/ THORNY DRAGONS…………………………….…..7

Conclusion ............................................................................................................8

Internet resources………………………………………………………………...9

Appendix1.………………………………………………………………………10

Appendix 2………………………………………………………………………11

Appendix3.………………………………………………………………………12

Introduction

The world around us is unique and attractive. Since childhood, we have been enjoying the beauty of the landscape of our region. We admire beautiful flowers, animals and birds. And recently, in English classes, we got acquainted with the amazing animals and birds of Australia, which we liked, and we wanted to learn more about them.

Australia is the only mainland country. This is the most unusual of all continents, it combines a huge variety of natural landscapes and a variety of cultural heritage. The animal and plant world is full of diversity and strangeness, you will not find it anywhere else.

Australia is washed by several seas and 2 oceans at once — the Pacific and the Indian. The nature of Australia is extremely beautiful and unique. Many unique species of animals and birds live here. Australia is a protected continent. Only marsupials live here. Australia is the smallest, driest and most sparsely populated continent. It is entirely located in the southern hemisphere. There are no active volcanoes on it, there are no earthquakes. The entire continent is occupied by one state — the Australian Union.

Thus, we discovered the amazing wildlife of Australia. This topic seems to us quite interesting and relevant, since we study English at school, and Australia is an English-speaking country, we decided to prepare a project in English and to tell pupils of our school about them.

Type of project: research.

Leading activity: search, creative.

The aim of the project is to find and present the most interesting and mysterious representatives of the animal world of the Australian mainland.

Hypothesis is Australian animal world is the most mysterious on the Earth.

The relevance of the chosen topic is due to the need to achieve the main goal: to get acquainted with the unusual wildlife of Australia.

The novelty of this work lies in a comprehensive approach to the study of the amazing animals and birds of Australia.

In this regard, the following tasks were set:

• expand knowledge about unusual animals and birds of Australia.

• collect and arrange material on a given topic.

• to make a quiz for pupils and to tell them what they don’t know about animals

• develop skills in working with various sources of information, including skills in the use of digital technologies.

• develop cognitive interest and creativity.

• to present the product of the project

The following methods were used to implement the tasks set:

• analysis of text and multimedia material

• giving samples

Practical significance of our project is to create a photo album; to represent it our classmates and to share knowledge about amazing animals with them.

MAIN PART

Australia has an extraordinary collection of birds and animals. Many of them are found only there. Early explorers were so surprised by the emu and the kangaroo that they described the continent as the land where birds “ran instead of flying and animals hopped instead of running.”                                                  

There are many animals in Australia. These animals you cannot see anywhere else. About 80-100 million years ago, Australia  drifted away from the massive super continent of Gondwanaland into the South Pacific. Since then, the areas have been famous for unique flora and fauna. There is a large number of beautiful native birds and plants.  

1.2. KANGAROO

Kangaroo is a unique Australian animal. Kangaroos have large strong legs and feet for leaping, long muscular tail for balance and a small head. Kangaroos are the only large animals to use hopping for moving around.

Red Kangaroos can hop as fast as 70 km/h over short distances, but they usually comfortably travel at 20 km/h. Kangaroos live about    9-18 years, but some of them live until they are 30.

Kangaroos are marsupials, it means they keep babies in the pouch. Baby kangaroos are born very early, in 1 month. Babies will stay in the pouch for about 9 months, before getting out for the first time. Milk composition produced by mother kangaroo depends on how old is the baby. Sometimes there can be two babies in the pouch, one of them is a newborn baby, and another is an older one, who still lives in the pouch. And the mother Kangaroo produces two kinds of milk.

Kangaroos mostly live in the bush area, but you can also see them on the beach or in the mountains - rock wallabies for example.

Wild kangaroo is afraid of people and always hops away. In some places tourists feed animals and kangaroos are less afraid of people. The friendliest animals could be found in wildlife parks. Tourists give them special food and kangaroos eat it from hand.

Kangaroos are commonly seen in the wild. At daytime they are shy and mostly rest in the shadow. They are more active at dusk, night and dawn. At that time, they are a great danger for drivers. It is quite common to hit a kangaroo on country roads.

1.2. KOALA

Koala is an Australian animal, which looks like a teddy bear. Many people call it “Koala bear". But it is incorrect because Koalas have nothing common to the bears.

Koala is very lazy animal, it sleeps about 20 hours a day. Koala eats Eucalyptus tree leaves, which are toxic to the most animals. The name Koala comes from Aboriginal "no drink". It is true, koalas get moisture from Eucalyptus leaves and that is why, they do not have to drink. It is difficult for koala to find  water, because it is not a fast moving animal.

100 years ago koalas were about to disappear from our planet. People killed most of these beautiful animals for their valuable fur. Nowadays people take special care of koalas and its population grows every year.
Koalas are not very often seen in the wild. However there are some places where there are lots of koalas, for example, Otway National Park in Victoria or Kangaroo Island in South Australia.

1.3. EMU

Emu is a large, flightless Australian bird. It is the largest bird in Australia and second largest in the world after Ostrich. It is 1.5 - 2 metres high and weighs up to 60 kilograms.

Emus are good runners, they can run short distances at 50 km/h. But they usually walk at 4-7 km/h, covering 10-25 km a day.
Emus are good swimmers too, as sometimes they need to cross the rivers.

Emus are often seen in the wild, like other Australian animals and birds. They sometimes cross the roads in front of the cars.

1.4. PLATYPUS

The duckbill is a semi-aquatic mammal, which lives in eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Besides, it is the only mammal that lays eggs instead of giving birth to live young.

When European naturalists first saw the duckbills, they were greatly surprised by his appearance. It is really an unusual animal. It is egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed. It is one of the few venomous mammals.

Until the beginning of the 20th century it was hunted for its fur, but now it is protected.

1.5. DINGO

Dingos are the biggest carnivorous mammals in Australia. Carnivorous means meat-eating. They can be found all over Australia except for Tasmania although they mainly live in the country’s outback. A dingo looks similar to a domestic dog, but has a longer muzzle, larger pointed ears and sharper teeth. It has a brown furry coat and bushy tail.

Dingos are wild dogs that feed mainly on small animals. Dingos stay alone, but during mating season the dingo is known to mingle with other wild dogs and to hunt in packs of three to twelve animals.

1.6. POSSUM

A possum is a frequent occupant of urban areas and grows to a weight of ~4.5 kg. These noctural arboreal marsupials are omnivores, and frequently scavenge pet food, or raid suburban fruit trees. They are also well known for climbing into roofs and keeping residents awake at night. There are several variations in coat colour, silver-grey, black, brown and golden, found regionally. The latter are most commonly found in Tasmania. All of the possums in these images are the silver-grey form, although joeys have a distinct rusty yellow-brown coat when younger.
  Possums are arboreal foragers, but also feed on the ground. This species is a frequent victim of electrocution on high voltage lines - I once observed an example fall from from a 7 metre power pole following a large blue discharge and bang, but recover and scurry off when I arrived to bury what I assumed was a deceased beast.

1.7. QUOKKA

Quokkas are small, four-legged animals covered in fur. They’re from the kangaroo family and also have pouches in their abdomens for carrying their young. Though they’re much tinier than kangaroos, the quokka is around the size of a domestic housecat.

Quokkas generally have narrow faces, round ears, big noses, tiny paws, and short and skinny tails. Their most distinctive feature is their smile. Known as the most cheerful animal in the world, quokkas have a perpetually happy expression on their face which ranges from a tiny smile to a toothy grin!

Rottnest Island is only about seven miles around — and more than 10,000 quokkas call it home. Quokkas have little fear of human contact which is why they’ll hop right up to people who are marvelling at them. Quokkas were given the “happiest animal on earth” title by The Huffington Post in a report that went viral back in 2013. There are times when fresh water is so scarce that the quokka can only stay hydrated through the nutrients of plants. Quokkas can have a bit of a mean streak to them. They aren’t afraid to bite when they’re feeling threatened, and they also have powerful hind legs they use for kicking (and hopping).

1.8. ECHIDNA

Echidnas are monotremes (along with the Platypus) which means they are the only mammals in the world that lay eggs. Their snouts are rigid and strong, allowing them to break logs and termite mounds. Echidnas then slurp up ants and other insects with their sticky, saliva-covered tongue that is around 17cm long!

Echidnas have a very keen sense of smell that they use in locating mates, detecting danger, and snuffling for food. Their short limbs and shovel-like claws are perfect for digging out food and burrowing in the soil. They use their hard, sharp spines for protection. Beneath these 5cm-long spines, echidnas are covered in short black hair which helps them to live in a wide variety of habitats.

Echidnas vary in colour depending on their location. In the northern and hotter regions echidnas are light brown, they become darker with thicker hair in the southern regions, and those in Tasmania are black. Echidnas typically live up to 10 years in the wild but have been recorded living 49 years in captivity!

Although they look fearsome enough, echidnas are shy animals and would rather retreat than fight if disturbed.An echidna will curl into a ball when threatened, lodge itself into a log or rock crevice, or quickly dig a shallow excavation so that only its sharp spines are exposed.

1.9. THORNY DEVIL/ THORNY DRAGON

Thorny devils cover most of arid Australia — large parts of Western Australia, the southern half of the Northern Territory, South Australia, and western Queensland.

They are also called mountain devils, thorny lizards, or molochs. Thorny Devils are day-active, ant-eating reptiles that grow 20cm long with females being slightly larger in size. Thorny devils have a spiny “false head” on the back of their necks.

They have been recorded to run up to 60km per hour! Thorny devils can drink water through their feet. They use camouflage as self-defence because their outer body colours perfectly blend with their surrounding habitat.

Conclusion

During the research work on the topic Amazing Australian animals, we successfully

solved the tasks set: to analyze the information and multimedia material, to give the description of animals and to choose photos to the description of animals

We have researched a lot of material about the unique animals and birds that live in Australia. For our project, we chose information about those animals that seemed to us the most amazing. Some of them, unfortunately, are in danger of extinction. Thanks to the care of people, many animals can be saved.

First of all, we grouped the collected information, analyzed and systematized it. We made quiz for children to understand what information about animals to present to the pupils of our school.(Appendix1) We analyzed the results of the quiz and it showed us what children didn’t know and what was better to tell them about Australian animals.(Appendix 2,3)

Then we prepared an album of the project product and the text of the speech.

All of the above tasks were completed during the work on the project.

Working on the project was useful and exciting.

In the process of working on the project, we learned how to work with a large amount of information and highlight the main thing.

The most interesting thing was to select photos for the album.

The most difficult thing was to choose only a few interesting animal species from a large number of amazing animals in Australia. Australia is truly unique with its wildlife. Only there you can meet animals that are not found anywhere on our planet, except in a zoo.

Practical significance of our project is to create a photo album and to represent it our classmates and to share knowledge about amazing animals with them

Internet resources

• https://bigaustraliabucketlist.com/native-australian-animals/

• https://www.twinkl.co.uk/teaching-wiki/australian-animal-facts

• https://globalgrasshopper.com/travel/amazing-animals-australia/

• https://slideplayer.com/slide/2755390/

• https://theslide.ru/angliyskiy-yazyk/the-strange-world-of-australian-animals

• https://smartclass4kids.com/australian-animals/

• https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-animals-live-in-australia.html

Appendix 1

Quiz «Amazing Australian animals»

1.Contrary to popular belief, not every animal in Australia is a marsupial. Which of these four choices is the only one that is a marsupial?

• Platypus – 47%

• Bandicoot - 20%

• Echidna – 28%

• Dingo – 5%

2. Not every bird flies. Which flightless bird would you be most likely to see in the wild in Australia?

• Emu – 25%

• Moa – 3%

• Kiwi – 37%

• Ostrich – 35%

3. The Tasmanian devil is well known from cartoons. Is it a real animal?

• Yes - 60%

• No – 40%

4. Which group encompasses all of the types of amphibians that are native to Australia?

• Salamanders – 24%

• Toads – 26%

• Frogs – 40%

• Newts – 10%

5. Which type of the crocodiles native to Australia is usually the smaller of the two?

• Saltwater Crocodile – 48%

• Freshwater Crocodile – 52%

6. Off the coast of which Australian state can the Great Barrier Reef be found?

• Western Australia – 26%

• Tasmania – 33%

• South Australia – 11%

• Queensland – 30%

7. One extinct Australian species was the thylacine. How was the thylacine also known?

• Tasmanian bear – 25%

• Tasmanian horse – 15%

• Tasmanian lion – 17%

• Tasmanian tiger – 43%

8. Some birds have a distinctive sound. What is the call of a kookaburra said to most resemble?

• Train whistle – 20%

• Duck quacking – 20%

• Lion's roar – 10%

• Human laughter – 50%

9. Which of these describes the Murray cod?

• Freshwater fish – 45%

• Saltwater fish – 55%

10. What sort of sleeping patterns does the koala usually exhibit?

• It sleeps less than one-third of the average day – 20%

• It sleeps one full day out of every three days – 5%

• It sleeps about one-half of the average day - 35%

• It sleeps more than two-thirds of the average day – 40%

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Quiz results