Name: Date: Period: Day:

Remember to ask your partners for help first, and then raise a quiet hand to let your teacher know if you need help.

Evolution Centers
Final Grade: /68 =
Points will be taken off for not following guidelines and expectations, CHAMPs, or following the correct format.

Worksheet Centers
* Use the Worksheets to Complete Similar but Different, Telling Time with Fossils and Identifying Mammal-Like
Fossils

#1: Similar but Different

1. Look at the hind legs of the turtle and frog. Contrast the structures of the bone called the femur in both animals.
Which animals leg bones probably need to support a greater weight? How is this difference reflected in the bones
structures?

2. One function of an endoskeleton is to support the body against the downward pull of gravity. Which animal skeleton
pictured above would have to support the least amount of weight? Explain your answer.

3. Do you think the turtle backbone allows as much movement as the backbone of the fish? Why or why not?

4. What bony body parts enable frogs and turtles to move on land? Can you see an adaptation for life in the water in the
skeleton of the frog?

#2: Telling Time with Fossils

1. Look at hill 1. Many kinds of fossils are found in more than one layer, but do any two layers have all the same kinds of
fossils? If so, which are they?

2. Which layer in Hill 1 is most similar to layer A in hill 2?

3. Compare the fossil fingerprints of the layers in Hill 2 with those in Hill 1. About how old are layers A, B, and C, based
on their fossils?

4. Assuming the layers of rock are in their original position, is layer D older or younger than layer C?

#3: Identifying Mammal-Like Fossils

 Specimen Nostril opening present? Eye opening present? Extra opening in behind
eye present?

C
1. Based on the information you have recorded in the table, which of the skulls in Figure 2 do you think belong to
mammals or mammal-like reptiles? Why?

2. What other characteristic of mammals do you see in the skulls in Figure 2? Does this characteristic appear in all of the
specimens, or only in mammals and mammal-like reptiles?

Worksheet Centers: /26

Whale Evolution
Use pages 386-387 in your textbook to answer these questions

1. Examine the four skeletons (yes, look at them to see how they are different).
2. Which species skeleton appears to be the best adapted to swimming underwater for long periods of time?
3. Based on the species you chose in question 2, what features of the skeleton make it the best swimmer? Give evidence
for your answer.
4. Create a timeline for the four species.
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Whale Evolution Center: /5

Born To Run
Use the article to answer the following questions.

1. Cats, chimps, and many other mammals are excellent sprinters. What does this statement from the article mean? How is this
different from endurance running?

2. When in our own human evolution did we develop this ability of endurance running?

3. Why do humans look the way that we do?

4. How are Australopithecines different from the first human species? Give at least 3 examples.

5. Look at the picture. In your own words, explain one of the human developed physique that allows humans to be endurance
runners.

6. Explain one of the reasons why humans evolved to become endurance runners.

Born to Run Center: /10