Overview
Discover the life cycles of a variety of Reef animals including marine reptiles, mammals, and fish.
Some Reef animals lay eggs, whilst others give birth to live young. There are different levels of parental care, and this influences how many eggs are laid, or how many babies are born.
We discuss how some offspring look very similar to their adult form, whilst others, which start their life as planktonic larvae, look surprisingly different. These planktonic larvae may undergo several changes in shape and form as they grow up to adulthood. We will also discuss some of the environmental factors that can affect different stages the life cycles of Reef animals.
Background Information
A huge variety of fascinating lifecycles can be observed on the Great Barrier Reef. One example is the green sea turtle. When they are about 6 years old, the immature turtles return to coastal waters, where they feed and grow until they reach sexual maturity. With their low-protein diets, this can take up to 40 years. Once the green sea turtles mature, the cycle of long-distance migrations between foraging grounds and their breeding sites begins. Green sea turtles can live more than 80 years in the wild.
STEM in a Box
No, but there is a variety of teacher resources available:
- Challenge Activities – Frog and Turtle life cycles
- Seahorses
- Leopard shark lifecycle
- Sea turtles
- Reef Babies worksheet 1 – Do they have eggs or are they born live?
- Reef Babies worksheet 2
Please see attached flyer Life-cycles-and-growing-up-on-the-Reef for more detail and links to additional reference materials.
Prior Knowledge
No prior knowledge is required
Learning Intentions
In this program students will:
- Discover the life cycles of a variety of Reef animals.
- Appreciate that Reef animals may use different habitats at different stages in their life cycle.
- Understand how changes in the environment can affect an animal’s life cycle.
Activities
In this video conference students will:
- Through an interactive activity, see how some offspring look very similar to their adult form, whilst others, look surprisingly different.
- Interact with presenters and be able ask individual questions.
- Have access to supporting materials for pre- and/or post-event study.
Victorian Curriculum 2.0
Science: Science Understanding
- Living things have characteristics that distinguish them from non-living things and things that were once living, including fossils (VC2S4U01)
- Plants and animals have different life cycles; offspring are similar, but not identical, to their parents (VC2S4U02)