Poke, Crack, or Scoop

Procedure:
1. You are a very hungry bird. Your bill is adapted for eating certain kinds of food – marbles,
washers, or raisins. Using only your beak (spoon, clothes pin, or toothpick), get as much food as
you can before the other birds eat it all.
2. You may only pick up one piece of food at a time. You may not use the dish to help you pick up
the food.
3. Keep track of what you eat and how much you eat.
4. Each group member should choose a beak type. You must have one of each type of beak in your
group. Hold the beak in your hand. You may not use your other hand.
5. Set a timer for 1 minute. When you press start, begin “eating” with your beak type. When the
timer beeps, stop eating. Count and record what you ate in the data chart.
6. Set up the food tray again and complete Trial 2 the same way for 1 minute and record your
results below.
7. Create a graph using your data and your fellow birds. Make sure to have a title, axis’s labeled,
and a legend.
Hypothesis: If I have a ____________ beak, then I will be best adapted to eat_______________
because
____________________________________________________________.
Data:
Food Spoon Beak Clothes Pin Beak Toothpick Beak
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 1 Trial 2
Marbles
Washers
Raisins
Graph:

Questions:
1. What kind of beak did you have?
2. Which food were you best adapted to eating? Why?

3. If the only food was marbles, would you survive? Explain why or why not.

4. Was your beak a behavioral or structural adaptation? Explain the difference

between the two.

5. Be creative. Come up with a behavioral adaptation that would help your bird be
more successful at getting food.

6. Did you see improvement between Trial 1 and Trial 2? Would that be considered a
structural or behavioral adaptation and why?

7. Explain natural selection in your own words.

8. Think of some plants or animals that have evolved adaptations to their

environments. List at least two animals or plants and their adaptations.