8.01 Safari Quest—Stage Alpha: Is It an Animal?

I know you're anxious to get started, but before you go too far, I need to make sure you know what you're looking for!

Silly! you say. Of course you know an animal when you see one.

The cattle in our grazing land, the lion and the zebra we just saw on our African safari—all of these are animals. Consider this, however: What if on your first Safari Quest activity you came across the funny-looking thing pictured on the right—what would you say it is?

Well, continue the activity and you'll see.

In this activity, you will: compare the characteristics of all animals distinguish between invertebrates and vertebrates

To find all the animals you'll need for this Safari Quest, your powers of observation must be strong. Let's see how you do with the animal (yes, it is an animal) in the image above.

Study the organism carefully and then take a minute and jot down some of your observations.

What have you come up with? Roll your mouse over the OBSERVATIONS below and compare notes:

Now, roll your mouse over the Hints below to figure out what this animal actually is:

Did you get it? Had you seen one before? Even though the sponge looks wildly different from the animals we see here in Kenya, it still has the characteristics of an animal.

Move on to the BioVenture tab to investigate these characteristics!