Script for
Carnivores, Herbivores and Omnivores (Teeth)
This slideshow is designed for lower primary. Main focus is to get students to look at teeth to help determine their position on the food web.
Slide 1: Carnivores,
Herbivores and Omnivores
This is a picture of a cheetah and giraffe.
Go over the words Carnivores,
Herbivores and Omnivores.
Have students say the words and go over what each represents.
The cheetah is a carnivore, it has teeth to tear and chew.
The giraffe is a herbivore because it only eats vegetation.
It’s teeth grind. An omnivore
eats both and has teeth that tear and grind.
Ask students what they are?
An omnivore.
Slide 2:
What is a tooth?
Go over what is a tooth, especially the components.
This is a human molar, but the parts of other animals are similar.
Show a 3 dimensional
model of a tooth. Enamel
protects the inner part of the tooth so you do not feel pain.
The nerves would transmit signals to the brain to say something is wrong
(i.e. cavity)
Go over the differences between a tooth and a claw. Teeth have layers and
are made from enamel and dentine. Claws
can be very sharp and may look like some carnivore teeth, but claws are not
layered. Claws are made from a different substance called keratin, which is what
our nails and hair is composed of.
The function of teeth is to eat, while claws are
used to defend. Children have less teeth
than adults and they lost their “baby teeth.”
However, the adult teeth are permanent.
Discuss with students how to keep their teeth for a long time.
Some do not think that tearing things like plastic will damage their
teeth. Good time to go over teeth care.
Slide 5.
Looking into a child’s mouth
This a video that has a child open its mouth and look inside.
Ask students if this is second set of teeth or still baby teeth.
There are newer teeth in the front (permanent).
Children love to look at their teeth so you might want to have a mirror
so they can look and compare and count their teeth.
Slide 6.
Organisms with teeth
Vertebrates.
Go over different types of vertebrates - mammals, reptiles, amphibians,
and fish. Ask the students to name a couple different types of each animal to
help them understand the animals in that group
Slide 7: Animals with backbones
Most vertebrates have teeth except birds that have beaks.
Within the other vertebrates there are exceptions that will be gone over
later.
Slide 8.
Birds are a group of vertebrates that do not have teeth. Instead of teeth birds
have special “grooves” on their beaks (tomia) that help birds hold their food,
and also help scrape insects and other creatures off of plants.
Slide 9. Beaks
and Bills
Birds have beaks and
bills without teeth. Birds have a gizzard
that helps digest food. Their beaks are
designed depending on what they eat from seeds to meat. This shows the different
type of beaks, but there are many more shapes.
Challenge students to look at birds’ beaks.
Slide 10. Exceptions
Special teeth. There are always exceptions, while most vertebrates have teeth,
there are some that do not have teeth. These animals represent a couple of
examples.
Turtle – Turtles have sharp, pointed beaks that they use to bite and eat seaweed
and small fish.
Slide 19.
Teeth
in Food Web
Discuss the food web. Ask for examples of what some of the animals eat. The
herbivores (horses, pronghorns, elephants) eat plants, the carnivores eat other
animals, and the omnivores (bear) eats plants and animals.
Point out that all of these animals in the slide are extinct.
This is a picture of Fremont during the Pleistocene.
Producers are at the base of the pyramid.
There must be much more producers than consumers.
Notice there are several stages of consumers.
Slide 21. Consumers and Producers
Slide 22. Herbivore.
Go over what an herbivore is. A
herbivore eats a mostly plant based diet. Herbivores eat producers (vegetation).
Slide 23. Herbivore
Let this slide run
through twice. Often, herbivore teeth are wide and have ridges or flat surfaces.
This provides more area to slice and grind up plant material. Plants material
requires a lot of chewing, so the teeth have to be pretty big
Slide 24. Carnivore
Go over
what a carnivore is. A carnivore primarily eats other animals. The prey could be
living or dead. Carnivores eat consumers.
Slide 25. Carnivores
Instead
of grinding up food like herbivores, carnivore teeth are designed to tear and
slice meat. Carnivores teeth are narrow and more pointed than herbivore teeth.
What is an omnivore?
Omnivores eat both plants and animals. Omnivores have teeth that are many
different shapes because an omnivore needs to be able to grind up plant material
and slice meat. Humans are omnivores. At least our teeth are those of omnivores,
but we can choose not to be
Slide 27. Omnivore
Let this slide run twice. Reiterate that some omnivore teeth tea, and some
grind.
Slide 28. Omnivore
Have
students read the different types of omnivores out loud.
Slide 29. What
am I?
Have the
students guess if each animal is a Carnivore, herbivore or omnivore.
Slide 30.
What am I?
Review
that humans are omnivores.
Continue having
students figure out if carnivore, herbivore or omnivore.
Even
vampires are recognized by their teeth!