Did You Know?

Another Tree of Life Lesson Plan! Students will explore an animated "Tree of Life." They will record observations and questions about it and discuss them as a class. Create your own cartoon!

If you look closely at the Tree of Life on our website, you will see a question mark on the ctenophore branch. See the new first animal.

Believe it or not planarian flatworms are super-heroes. They can regenerate new heads, tails or their entire bodies thanks to all of pluripotent stem cells in their bodies

This furry crab lives in deep sea hydrothermal vents. There can be as many as 700 ‘yeti’ crabs in just one meter near hydrothermal vents.

For years we’ve been providing materials and resources positioning sponges as the first animal. But, many scientists haven’t completely accepted sponges’ placement on the tree of animal life. There are two camps; one for sponges and one for ctenophores (comb jellies). Now, through genetic research, there is strong evidence that comb jellies ARE the first animal.

In some states, when a student asks their teacher about ocean acidification, their teacher may struggle to address the question in instructional detail.

The bleaching of these colorful cnidarians is due to the loss of symbiotic algae because of climate change.

Kelp absorbs carbon dioxide in the ocean where shellfish grow.

The U.S. government created the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) in 1972. It was radical for its time as it was the first law to take an ecosystem approach to management and protection of species.

In the Eastern Pacific off of Panama there’s a different alga that lives symbiotically with some corals, and this species is more heat tolerant.