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Extreme Mammals
Online Resources

Tree of Life

Tree of Life
Article for grades 3 through 8
Think of a cladogram as the ultimate family tree. On it, you can see how all living things are related, including the single ancestor they all share. Learn more about Earth's Tree of Life.
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Tree of Life Video
Article for grades 9 and up
Investigate circular and 3D cladograms to see how scientists keep track of species and their evolutionary relationships.
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Speciation and the Fossil Record
Article for grades 9 and up
Conventional wisdom says that evolution is gradual and constant. However, the fossil record indicates otherwise. See how Dr. Niles Eldredge has refined ideas about the evolutionary process.
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Hall of Biodiversity Educator's Guide Activity: Cladograms
Activity for grades 6 through 12
In the same way people trace their history with a family tree, scientists use an evolutionary tree to show a species' close and distant relatives. Learn how they work by making a tree of coins.
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Living Mammals

Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch - Exhibition Collection
Evidence and Analysis for all ages
Examine the potlatch tradition, as practiced by the Kwakiutl Indians, with this library of ceremonial objects from the 19th century—and the 20th, when the potlatching was illegal.
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Moving Mammals
Evidence and Analysis for grades 3 through 8
Walk, hop, gallop, swim, glide, burrow, and even swing from trees—these are just some of the ways the planet's 5,400 species of mammals move. See how fast, and slow, they can move.
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Mammal Flipbooks
Activity for grades Kindergarten through 8
How do how gazelles jump straight up into the air from a standstill? And why do dolphins swim differently than fish? Create six fun flipbooks to explore how mammals move!
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Dioramas
Exhibition Materials for all ages
See the Museum's renowned windows on the world of animals—from anywhere in the world. You'll travel across continents and through time to examine animal behavior and habitats.
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Lemurs of Madagascar: Surviving on an Island of Change
Article for grades 6 and up
Travel to the fourth largest island in the world. Nowhere else are primates as diverse ... or as endangered.
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Wild at Heart: The Plight of Elephants in Thailand
Activity for grades 6 and up
This BioBulletin feature story examines how "retired" elephants in Thailand can be reintroduced to the wild.
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Endangered!
Exhibition Materials for all ages
African wild dog, Asian elephant, Indian python, American crocodile—threats to endangered animals are a global problem. Explore a world at risk, and learn what you can do to help.
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Discovering Vietnam's Biodiversity
Article for grades 3 through 12
Now that peace has firmly taken hold in Vietnam, scientific research is flourishing once again. Meet some of the country's diverse animal and plant life, including many rare and endangered species.
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What's This? Vietnam Biodiversity
Article for grades 3 and up
Can you tell, just by looking at it, if a pygmy loris is a rodent, a primate, or a raccoon's relative? Put your knowledge of Vietnam's animals to the test.
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Rubber Blubber Gloves
Activity for grades 3 through 8
If you've ever dipped your toes in the ocean, you know the water can be downright chilly. So how do whales and walruses manage to stay warm in frigid waters? Find out with this fun hands-on activity.
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Retreating Antarctic Ice Shelves
Article for grades 6 and up
This EarthBulletin explains how cracks in ice tongues can lead to the calving of icebergs such as B10A, from the Thwaites Ice Tongue. The article includes a map depicting B10A's location in the Drake Passage.
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Science Explorations: Soar with Bats
Activity for grades 3 through 8
Bats spend the night trying to fill their bellies. In fact, you'd have to down 10 pizzas for dinner to keep up with some. Investigate the 1,100 species that take to the night skies by the millions.
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Discover Dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History
Activity for grades Kindergarten through 12
Explore the Museum’s dioramas and the vanishing wonders of the natural world they contain with this kid-friendly guide.
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Extinct Mammals

Super Teeth
Activity for grades Kindergarten through 8
What would it be like to bite like a saber-toothed cat? Or to gnaw like a beaver? Explore other mammals' teeth with this matching game and coloring book!
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Fossil Halls: Vertebrate Evolution
Exhibition Materials for all ages
Jaws, grasping hands, three-toed feet, placentas, watertight eggs, eye sockets near the snout—explore these and other evolutionary branching points of vertebrate evolution.
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What Killed the Mammoths? Could It Have Been a Killer Plague?
Article for grades 9 through 12
"If you gave 'em a shave, they're very much like a modern elephant," says Ross MacPhee about woolly mammoths. So why did these mammals that were "incredibly buffered against extinction" die out?
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Brown-Eyed, Milk-Giving ... and Extinct: Losing Mammals Since A.D. 1500
Article for grades 9 through 12
Which regions of the world have seen the greatest rates of mammal extinction? Surprisingly, it's not the Amazon rain forest nor the clear-cut forests of the U.S. or Africa's Serengeti plain.
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Reference Lists

Mammal Book for Kids
Reference List for grades 3 through 8
From a journey through the basics of evolution to a look at mammal detectives to a re-creation of the world of prehistoric predators, these kid-friendly book and DVD titles bring to life the world of extreme mammals.
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Extreme Mammals Books for Middle and High School
Reference List for grades 6 through 12
From the saber-toothed cat and giant armadillo to gorillas and tarsiers, learn more about the surprising and sometimes bizarre world of extinct and living mammals.
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