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Feathers, Fur and Fins: Observing a wombat

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Presenter Don Spencer holds a wombat
Feathers, Fur and Fins: Observing a wombat

SUBJECTS:  Science

YEARS:  F–2, 3–4


Take a close look at two different types of wombats in this short clip.

Don Spencer introduces a Common Wombat called Winifred, then shows us a Hairy-nosed Wombat foraging in the desert.


Things to think about

  1. 1.What do you know about wombats? Do you think a wombat and a rabbit are similar? Why or why not?
  2. 2.Look closely at the wombat's claws. What makes them useful for digging? Why might a wombat need to be able to dig? Don says the wombat's nose is like a rabbit's. Why might rabbits and wombats have similar noses? Do they have anything else in common?
  3. 3.Find pictures of different animals, including a wombat and a rabbit. Make an information table with six column headings. Call the first four 'Animal's name', 'Eats', 'Moves by', and 'Lives in'. Now call the last two columns 'Feature' and 'Purpose'. Look at each animal's features. What are they for (what is their purpose)? How are each animal's features similar and different? What can we learn from this information?
  4. 4.If you made an information table above, find out which animals in it are mammals and which are birds, fish, reptiles or amphibians. Add examples of these animal types if you have not included them. What do you notice about each animal type? Alternatively, you could follow these suggestions with a number of different animals of your choice.



Date of broadcast: 11 Sep 1986


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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