ORCA s Whale Education Month Lesson Pack 3: Porpoises

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1 ORCA s Whale Education Month Lesson Pack 3: Porpoises Porpoises are interesting, intelligent small marine mammals. Learn more about these incredible animals with ORCA s Whale Education Month materials, games and activities. Charity number:

2 ORCA s Whale Education Month Welcome! This teacher s pack aims to educate and inspire students (aged 7-11) around the UK about the wonderful world of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Included in this pack are all the resources needed to deliver a fun, scientific class about these animals, with the hope of raising awareness of the importance of their conservation. ORCA s Whale Education Month is running from the 1 st 31 st October 2017, to coincide with World Animal Day on the 4 th October. About ORCA: ORCA are a UK based whale and dolphin conservation charity, dedicated to the protection of whales, dolphins and porpoises (collectively known as cetaceans) and their habitats in UK & European waters. We and our volunteers help protect these inspirational animals in a number of ways; by educating the general public through our Your Seas programmes onshore and our Wildlife Officer programmes offshore, through our Marine Mammal Surveyor Training Courses across the country, and, once trained, through our volunteer surveyors working on ferry and cruise ship routes monitoring vulnerable whale and dolphin populations. We freely share our data with governments and other research institutions. Our work is all about creating safer places for whales and dolphins, ultimately promoting the health of the wider marine ecosystem. ORCA provides whale and dolphin workshops for schools, as part of the Your Seas educational programme. Being based in Portsmouth, there is never enough time to visit as many schools as we d like. This teacher s pack will provide the same engaging presentation and educational activities to students, whilst allowing teachers to be trained and able to deliver the content themselves. For more information, please visit our website There are three lesson packs; 1. Whales 2. Dolphins 3. Porpoises The below information is for the porpoises Pack. Keep in touch! We hope you enjoy taking part in ORCA s Whale Education Month, and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us; info@orcaweb.org.uk ORCA, Brittany Centre, Wharf Road, Portsmouth, PO2 8RU If you or your school uses social media, the hashtag is #WhaleEducationMonth and our Twitter handle 2

3 ORCA s Whale Education Month There are a wide range of different materials, activities and games provided for ORCA s Whale Education Month. These resources link in with the National Curriculum; Science Years 2 6: Living things and their habitats Years 2 4: Animals, including humans Maths Years 1 3: Number number and place value Years 1 3: Number multiplication and division Years 1 3: Measurement English Years 1 6: Spoken Language Years 1 6: Reading - comprehension Geography KS1 Locational knowledge How does the pack work? We have provided a PowerPoint presentation about porpoises for you to deliver to your class. Notes for the presentation are below. Integrated into the presentation are slides with suggested activities. The individual activities are in this document. We have also provided you with separate documents with the activity sheets on (for ease of printing). It is up to you as to how many activities to integrate into the lesson. Once you have delivered the presentation and activities, you can print off the certificate to proudly display in your classroom! Contents: Activity Page Number Teacher s notes for the PowerPoint Presentation: Porpoises 4 Activity Sheet 1: Porpoises vs. Dolphins 6 Activity Sheet 2: Porpoise Anatomy 7 Activity: Measuring Giants 8 Activity Sheet 3: Porpoise Research 9 Activity Sheet 4: Porpoise Poem 10 Activity Sheet 4: Human threats facing marine mammals 11 3

4 Teacher s Notes: Presentation 2 Porpoises 1 Introduction: Today, we will be learning about porpoises a type of whale that is often overlooked. But despite being small, they are fascinating creatures. This presentation has been provided by ORCA, who are a UK-based whale and dolphin conservation charity. The charity s aim is to have oceans alive with whales and dolphins! 2 Ask the class: Have you heard of porpoises before? What are they? Porpoises are a small toothed whale. Porpoises are related to dolphins (just like whales are) but are a separate family. Let s look at the difference between porpoises and dolphins. Students can fill in Activity sheet 1: Porpoises vs. Dolphins whilst going through the following slides (3 8). 3 The first difference is their size. Porpoises are much smaller than dolphins. Here, we have a harbour porpoise and below is a common dolphin. You can see that the dolphin is much larger than the porpoise. [click twice to reveal their sizes] 4 Their dorsal fins are also different shapes. A porpoise has a very triangular dorsal fin, but a dolphin has a curved, pointy fin [click to reveal shapes] 5 One of the main differences between dolphins and porpoises is the shape of their teeth Dolphins have sharp, conical teeth, which they use for catching large fish they swallow their food whole. Porpoises have small, spade shaped teeth, which they use for grinding small prey (such as small crabs and fish). 6 Their head shape is slightly different, too. Ask the children the difference. [click to reveal] 7 Their behaviour is also different. 8 Porpoises have a short life span, whereas dolphins have a long lifespan [click to reveal] 9, 10 & Using what we have learnt already, can you tell which one of these is a dolphin and 11 which one is a porpoise? [click to reveal species names] 12 Children can read through this on the screen and fill in Activity sheet 2: Porpoise anatomy 13 This picture here shows the 90 species of whale, dolphin and porpoise in the world. The collective term for all of these animals is cetaceans [pronounced sih-tay-shuns] As you can see, they come in a wide range of shapes, sizes, colours and even patterns. 4

5 The number 90 species does go up and down. More species of whales and dolphins are still being discovered today, and also unfortunately some species become extinct. The Yangtze River Dolphin became extinct in Whales and dolphins live in oceans all around the world, and some species of dolphin even live in the world s largest rivers. Ask the class: Which whales and dolphins do you recognise? [click] and these ones with a red circle around are the porpoises. 14 There are only 6 species of porpoise (for comparison, there are about 40 different species of dolphin). Here are their names. 15 Activity: Measuring Giants 16 Thank you for taking part! We hope that you now know lots about porpoises and that students are encouraged to do their own research about these fascinating animals! Additional activities: Activity Sheet 3: Porpoise research [takes approximately 1 2 hours] this could be incorporated into homework. Encourage the students to cover all 6 species of porpoise, and then they can present their findings to the class. Activity Sheet 4: Porpoise poems [takes minutes] this could be incorporated into homework. Activity Sheet 5: Harry the harbour porpoise maze [takes 5 minutes] All activity sheets are below, but they are also provided as separate documents for ease of printing. 5

6 Activity Sheet 1: Porpoises vs. Dolphins Answers Fill in the table below with the differences between porpoises and dolphins. Feature Dolphin Porpoise Size Large Small Dorsal fin shape Curvy, pointy Triangular Teeth Sharp and cone shaped Flat, spade shaped Head shape Pointed snout (beak) Short snout and rounded face (no beak) Lifespan (age) Behaviour Long (over 40 years) Sociable, staying in large pods and creating a big splash when they move through the water. Often bring their whole bodies out the water. Short (about 12 years) Shy, live in small pods or pairs. Do not approach ships (like dolphins do) and hardly create any disturbance in the water when they surface. Colour in the porpoise! 6

7 Activity Sheet 2: Porpoises Anatomy Answers Dorsal fin Melon Blow hole Peduncle Median notch Pectoral fin Fluke Flank 7

8 Activity: Measuring Giants Cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) come in a great range of different shapes and sizes, from the largest animal on Planet Earth, the blue whale, to the smallest cetacean, the vaquita porpoise. Learning outcomes: In this exercise, students will get a feel for how large dolphins and whales actually are and how small porpoises are! What you will need: Either a measuring tape, rope and/or eager students! You will also need a large area, such as the school hall or playground/field. Instructions: If you are using a measuring tape, measure out the lengths of the different species below whilst conducting the activity. If you are using a rope, you will need to measure out the lengths before delivering this session to the class. If you do not have either a measuring tape or rope, you can use your students! Below we have provided you with the length of each species, plus how many children this would measure out to (based on the average height for students aged 7-8, 1.24m). Teachers should measure out the lengths listed below and if conditions allow, ask students to lie down next to the measuring tape, in order to compare cetacean and human body lengths. Students and teachers alike will be shocked to see just how big whales and dolphins can grow. Advanced activity: To make this a more complicated task, ask each student to measure their height. As a class, work out which students need to lie head-to-toe together to make the exact lengths below (or the closest to it!). Species: Blue whale Vaquita porpoise = 1.2m (the smallest of all cetaceans) (Less than 1 student age 7-8) Harbour porpoise = 1.7m (About 1 ½ student age 7-8) Burmeister s porpoise = 1.9m (About 1 ½ student age 7-8) Spectacled porpoise = 2.25m (Nearly 2 students age 7-8) Finless porpoise = 2.4m (About 2 students age 7-8) Dall s porpoise = 2.4m (About 2 students age 7-8) Bottlenose dolphin = 4m (Approximately 3 students age 7-8) Orca (killer whale) = 9m (the largest species of dolphin) (Approximately 7 students age 7-8) Humpback whale = 17m (Approximately 13 students age 7-8) Blue whale = 33m (the largest animal that has ever lived on the planet!) (Equivalent to 3 double-decker buses or approximately 26 students age 7-8) 8

9 Activity Sheet 3: Porpoise Research Student Name Creature name What do they look like? Draw the porpoise here: Label the key body parts Size Colour What do they feed on? Fun Facts: Find out three fun facts about this species of porpoise. Threats: What threats does this animal face? Where do they live? Circle on the map and colour in where this animal can be found. This is called a species distribution map. 9

10 Activity Sheet 4: Porpoise Poem An acrostic poem is a type of poetry where the first letters in each line spell out a particular word. Using the letters below, construct a poem about porpoises and the threats they face. You could illustrate it, too. P O R P O I S E S 10

11 Activity Sheet 5: Human threats facing marine mammals Can you help Harry the Harbour Porpoise find clean and safe waters to live in? 11

12 1. Open Net Fishing Fishing methods, such as trawling and gillnetting, involve leaving large amounts of fishing net unattended in open water. This means that marine mammals, as well as sharks and turtles, sometimes get caught in these nets. You can help by: Buying pole and line caught fish. This method means that marine mammals, sharks and turtles are mostly left unharmed, as well as also reducing overfishing! 2. Noise Pollution Whales, dolphins and porpoises use sound to navigate their surroundings, find their food and to find each other. Loud noises created by human sources such as sonar, oil rigs and ships can make it difficult for marine mammals to use echolocation to find their food and other members of their species. 3. Oil Spills Oil spills contain lots of toxic chemicals that have nasty effects on the organs and digestive systems of marine mammals. The oil also clogs the blowholes of whales, dolphins and porpoises, meaning that they are unable to breathe. 4. Marine Litter Marine litter consists of any materials that are discarded in the sea, and 80% of this is made up of plastic, which breaks down very slowly. Marine animals can become entangled in this litter, and may also attempt to swallow it, which means it fills up their stomachs, and can also cause them to choke. You can help by: Reducing the amount of plastic you use, recycling everything you can, and making sure you always throw your litter in the bin. You can also take part in beach cleans. 5. Overfishing Fisheries often take the same fish from the sea that marine mammals eat and depend on to survive, and these fish cannot breed fast enough to restore the population. Overfishing also causes the collapse of food chains by removing certain species. You can help by: Only buying fish from sustainable sources. Sustainable fishing practices mean that populations of both marine and freshwater wildlife will still exist in the future. 12

13 Thank you for taking part in ORCA s Whale Education Month! If your school would like to fundraise or donate to help us continue our vital research and education work, please visit our website Thank you for your support. 13