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SavannahYear 8
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ScienceVariation, adaptation and survival30 min★★★ difficulty

Species and variation: telling leopards apart

Every snow leopard has a unique rosette pattern, which is how researchers count them from camera traps. Variation within a species is not noise — it is data.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand differences between species and the variation between individuals of the same species

Key learning points

  • • The species test
  • • Two kinds of variation
  • • Genes, environment, or both
  • • Why researchers care

This lesson at a glance

  • 30 minutes
  • 19 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

differencesspeciesvariationindividualsenvironment

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Watch first

Species and variation: telling leopards apart

An English teaching video on this topic from The Science Break. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand differences between species and the variation between individuals of the same species

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You should already know that living things are grouped into species, and that offspring resemble their parents without being identical.

3

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

Species
A group whose members can breed together to produce fertile offspring.
Continuous variation
A characteristic with a range of values, such as mass.
Discontinuous variation
A characteristic in distinct categories, such as coat pattern type.
Inherited variation
Differences caused by genes.
Environmental variation
Differences caused by surroundings, such as diet or scarring.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

What makes a species

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

The species test

Members of a species can breed to produce fertile offspring. Lions and tigers can produce offspring in captivity, but those hybrids are typically infertile, which is why the two remain separate species. Habitat, behaviour and range keep species apart in the wild long before biology does.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Two kinds of variation

Continuous variation gives a spread of measurements — body mass, tail length, territory size — best shown on a line graph or histogram. Discontinuous variation gives separate categories, such as blood group or the presence of a particular marking, best shown on a bar chart.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

Which is the best test of two animals being the same species?

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

Tail length in a population is an example of

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Where variation comes from

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Genes, environment, or both

Coat pattern is inherited. A scar from a fight is environmental. Body mass is both: genes set a range, food supply decides where in that range an individual lands. Most interesting characteristics are like mass, not like scars.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Why researchers care

Because rosette patterns are unique and inherited, camera-trap photographs can identify individuals, giving population estimates without capturing anything. Low variation within a small population is a warning sign: fewer differences means less raw material for adapting to change.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

A scar on a wild fox is

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

Camera traps can count individual snow leopards because rosette patterns are

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Two animals that look alike are not automatically the same species.
  • Variation caused by environment, such as an injury, is not passed to offspring.
  • Continuous data belongs on a line graph or histogram, not a bar chart of categories.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Members of a ____ can breed to produce fertile offspring.

Continuous ____ gives a spread of measurements — body mass, tail length, territory size — best shown on a line graph or histogram.

Because rosette patterns are unique and inherited, camera-trap photographs can identify ____, giving population estimates without capturing anything.

18

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Species and variation: telling leopards apart

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Lion-tiger hybrids are usually

  2. 2. Blood group is an example of

  3. 3. Body mass is influenced by

  4. 4. Low variation in a small population is a concern because

  5. 5. Discontinuous data is best displayed on a

  6. 6. Variation between species is generally

19

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Why the school greenhouse failed

A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.

The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.

The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
  2. Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
  3. Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.

  • Method and results

    Writing

    Write the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.

    1 page + results table

  • Conclusion

    Writing

    Explain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.

    6–8 sentences

  • Labelled diagram

    Diagram

    Draw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.

    1 labelled diagram

  • Reading and notes

    Reading

    Read the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.

    Half a page of notes

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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