These activities will help your students explore and extend their understanding of squamates.

ELEMENTARY & MIDDLE SCHOOL

Ask students to share what they learned from the exhibition. Discuss the diversity of squamate behavior, structure and function, and habitat. Ask them what
squamate behavior or adaptation surprised them the most and why. What other animals have similar adaptations or demonstrate similar behavior?

Ask students to compare the ways in which humans and squamates sense the environment (e.g. detection of food). What senses do we share with squamates? Which senses are more highly developed in squamates? Which squamate sensory systems are unique?

Ask students to research the diversity of squamates in their area. They can contact local nature centers or other experts. Students can also visit websites such as NYS Amphibian and Reptile Project, NJ Online Field Guide, and CT Wildlife. Where do different species live? How do they fit into the food chain and local ecosystem? How do they survive seasonal changes? Are any squamates endangered, and if so, why?

Visit the Science Explorations: Uncover Lizards and Snakes website. Here students can create their own squamates exhibit. They can also investigate the similarities and differences between squamates and other animals.

Visit the Tree of Life Cladogram on the Museum's OLogy website. Squamates are considered to be mostly ectothermic, scaly vertebrates. What other animal groups have one or more of these characteristics?

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MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL

Ask students to share what they learned from the exhibition. Discuss the diversity of squamate behavior, structure and function, and habitat. Ask them what squamate behavior or adaptation surprised them the most and why. What other animals have similar adaptations or demonstrate similar behavior?

Ask students to share what they've learned about limbless squamates. Discuss how they move, hunt, and feed. Then have students investigate locomotion in another animal group (e.g. birds). How do limb form and function vary among species within the same group (e.g. penguin, ostrich, hawk)?

Ask students to design a wildlife habitat for a squamate of their choice. What requirements are necessary for the animal's survival? Suggest students consider factors such as food supply, temperature, climate, and humidity.

Visit the Science Explorations: Uncover Lizards and Snakes website. Here students can create their own squamates exhibit. They can also investigate the similarities and differences between squamates and other animals.

Visit the Museum's Spectrum of Life interactive. Explore the representatives of each vertebrate group. Which groups include members that show loss or reduction of appendages (e.g. limbs and fins)? How is appendage loss related to how they function?

Visit the Museum's Darwin exhibition website and explore the section called A Trip Around the World: Black on Black. When naturalist Charles Darwin visited the Gal´pagos, he encountered land and marine iguanas. Ask students to research what Darwin observed about their appearance and behavior. What connections did he make between their form and habitat?

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