Video transcript
Right! Now.. How does this jolly thing work? Ah! Good morning Holmes!
Sherlock! Sherlock! Holmes! Turn your microphone on!
Sorry about that! Dastardly thing! My dear Watson how are you?
Well I'm finding it hard working from home let me tell you!
Well thank goodness for these online meetings. but let me tell yo....
Excuse me Holmes, a young person is trying to enter the Zoom!
Well admit them! At once Watson!
Hello!
Please help me Sherlock Holmes.. (oh and you too Dr Watson)
I've been doing my own detective work on wombats and their adaptations but every time I try to explain it to somebody else I just end up confusing them!
Well! There's a challenge Holmes! What's an adaptation again?
Oh don't you know? An adaptation is a structure or a behavior of a living thing to help it survive in its environment.
Well that sounds easy enough! First you describe the living thing, then the feature, then you..
SILENCE!! Now listen to me! In order to explain an adaptation we must first describe the challenges that the living thing faces in its environment.
Then you can identify the structure or behavior that allows the living thing to overcome those challenges.
You can't explain an adaptation properly without relating it to the living thing's environment!
Let's take your beloved wombat as an example. Give me one second while we go to my deduction room..
Ah! Now, follow along:
Wombats are australian animals that live in bushland environments where they dig long underground burrows for shelter.
Digging however is dirty dusty work.
Wombats are marsupials meaning that their females have pouches where they keep their young joeys.
If these pouches fill with dirt as the female is digging then the joeys might get sick and not survive.
If the joeys don't survive then there might not be any wombats!
Luckily, wombat pouches face the rear.
This keeps the pouch clean as the female is digging and provides a healthy environment for the wombat joeys to grow and develop
And that is why the rearward facing pouch of a borrowing wombat is an adaptation!
My stars Holmes that was crystal clear! Bravo!!
Elementary my dear Watson! But everyone can do the same too if you just follow my formula! Let me share it with you:
Thanks Sherlock Holmes! Oh and you too Mr....
WATSON! DR WATSON!!
Sure, whatever thanks, Bye!
Well Holmes, that's the end of that then?
Maybe not my dear Watson, I have a curious feeling that we are being watched by some other young people on a video!
Oh yes so there are... Hello everybody!
Well, I say, why don't you lovely people have a go at explaining adaptations on your own?
Locate the fact sheets page on the Field of Mars EEC website then choose one plant or animal and gather all of the information that you need.
Then use my formula to try explaining the adaptations of your chosen living thing to somebody that you know.
Holmes! Holmes! We must go! You're meeting your sister Enola this morning!
Yes so we do! Goodbye everyone!
Goodbye everybody! And good luck with the challenge!
End of transcript.