Bald Eagle By. Brandon Newton

Scientific Classification:

Domain:Eukaryota

Kingdom-Animalia

Phylum-Chordata

Class-Aves

Order-Falconiformes

Family-Accipitridae

Genus Species- Haliaeetus (Sea Eagle) Leucocephalus (White Head)

Fun Fact: Bald Eagles have a wingspan of 7 feet on average and they can live 28 years in the wild and 36 years in capacity!

Natural Selection Trait for a Bald Eagle: One trait a bald eagle has resulting from natural selection is the curved and very sharp talons and The soles of its feet have raised, rough projectiles that also help hold its prey firmly in place. Bald eagles usually live near lakes or bodies of water so they need these features on its feet to catch fish successfully.

What Organisms are similar to the Bald Eagle in its environment?: Bald eagles diets are very similar to the black and brown bears, they all rely on the bodies of water to be in the area because they primarily prey on fish.

What Organisms are different from the Bald eagle in its environment?: An animal that is very different from the bald eagle in its environment is the beaver, not only do they rely on the water for home and food but they live there while the eagle just uses it as a food source.

What would happen to my animal over time if drought spread over all major lakes?: My animals population would drop drastically, the lakes would dry up and fishes would die and decompose. This would also mean over any body of water that did not dry up Eagles would compete for food and then it really becomes survival of the fittest.

The Siberian tiger

By Alexus Simpson

The different classifications of my species are. felinae,pantherinae,and acinony china .one fun fact about the siberian tiger is that it can eat up to one hundred pounds of meats a night.This is like a human eating up to a total of four hundred burgers.The siberian tiger needs a lot of food because they eat between days.The organisms which my species of siberian tigers evolved from is cats.All the modern cats developed about 10.8 million years ago in south asia.I believe the siberian tiger has stripes to survive in the wilderness.the siberian tiger has stripes to camouflage itself from its pray .The siberian tiger is similar to regular house cats its just larger in size and more agressive.The siberian tiger is different from other tigers because they have a different pattern of stripes and the siberian tiger has a main.I predict that siberian tigers will soon die out.I believe this will happen because they have to eat a hundred pounds of meat to fill them up.If they continue to eat everything in their environment the other animals will eventually not be able to reproduce.These are some important facts about the siberian tiger.

 

 

Example

 

One of my most favorite organisms is the loggerhead sea turtle (Cartetta caretta). The loggerhead sea turtle is an endangered marine turtle species. Last summer, I found a baby loggerhead sea turtle in the bushes and I returned it to the ocean. I like to think that it survived the ordeal and is growing healthy and strong.

The loggerhead sea turtle is classified as follows:

Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom:  Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Testidunes

Family: Cheloniidae

Genus: Caretta

Species: caretta

http://www2.fiu.edu/~heithaus/SBERP/pdfs/species/loggerheadsfs.pdf

Through my research I found an evolutionary tree that suggested to me that the Chelonia mydas (Green sea turtle) may be the loggerhead sea turtle’s closest evolutionary relative. The evolutionary tree below shows the evolutionary relationship

http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2007/martinel_meli/Classification.htm

According to DNA evidence the loggerhead sea turtle is also related to the ridley and hawksbill turtle. According to Chapter 1, What is a Loggerhead Turtle? A Genetic Perspective by Brian W. Bowen, “ from a phylogenetic perspective, this is an animal that diverged from the ridley and hawksbill turtles on the order of 10 million years ago, indicating a long history of independent evolution and adaptation.”

http://www.academia.edu/992231/What_is_a_loggerhead_turtle_The_genetic_perspective

The loggerhead sea turtle has no teeth but they do have a powerful jaw.  I hypothesis that the loggerhead sea turtle has a powerful jaw because its diet includes animals with shells (crabs, mollusks, shrimp and horseshoe crabs). Without the powerful jaws the turtle may not be able to break through the shells and get the food that they need to survive.

The loggerhead sea turtle lives in coastal waters. They share this environment with lobsters. Lobsters are similar to loggerhead sea turtles because they both need to consume food to get nutrients. Unfortunately for some lobsters, loggerhead turtles eat them (click link below for a video of the loggerhead eating a spinny lobster.) Also on the link you can find fun facts about loggerhead sea turtles. Did you know that loggerhead sea turtles can reach 253 lbs, or that they can travel up to 15 miles per hour?

Video of loggerhead sea turtle eating a spinny lobster: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/animals/reptiles-animals/turtles-and-tortoises/loggerhead-turtle-predation/

Another favorite marine organisms of mine is the Florida Manatee (T.m. latirotris). The Florida Manatee is in the same phylum as the loggerhead sea turtle, phylum: chordata. Organisms in the phylum chordata have a complete digestive system. This means that despite the differences in their diets, the loggerhead sea turtle and the manatee digest their food the same way (just like us humans – we are in the phylum chordata too).

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Chordata/

The diet of the loggerhead turtle not only consists of hard shelled organisms, but also of shrimp, soft jellyfish and seaweed. If there was a dramatic change in temperature in the upper layer of the ocean, a change that decreased the turtle’s softer food sources, the loggerhead would be forced to eat primarily the harder shelled organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean where the temperature might not changed as much. If this temperature change affects the turtles food supply for a long period of time, one evolutionary change that may occur is that future loggerhead turtle may have an even stronger jaw and possibly teeth.

Test

Hi Mrs. Locke! I got it to work!

Introduction

Hi Students,
 You will be using this blog to share evolutionary information about the species that you choose. Check back soon for an example of the assignment.

Check out the movie of a spring peeper peeping.