Hobbies And Interests
Seal Fur
Humans wear clothes to insulate our bodies and keep us warm, in the same way that animals who live in cold conditions have fur coats. However, jumping into a pool with a woolly jumper on would not keep you warm, so why do semi-aquatic animals like Antarctic seals have fur? Examine this by heating a container of water up to a certain temperature and immersing it in cold water. Test the temperature over a certain amount of time and observe how it decreases. Then wrap the container in some faux fur insulation and repeat the experiment; you will notice that the temperature decreases more slowly than in the naked container. Observe the side of the fur and you will see air bubbles forming. It is these bubbles that help insulate the container underwater.
Flipper Shape
To propel themselves through water at high speed, seals have developed strong flippers. Examine the science of these flippers by making some replicas out of water-proof material and using them to displace amounts of water from one water tank over into a different water tank, measuring the amount of water displaced by each flipper. You will notice that the best flipper is one that compromises between a large surface area and a strong structure to prevent it from buckling under the weight of the water. This is why seals have evolved strong, large flippers.
Streamlining
Seals and sea lions are incredibly sleek creatures --- they need to be in order to conserve energy while traveling underwater. This is an example of a natural adaptation that can be observed and applied to real-life fields such as engineering and manufacturing. Make a model seal out of modelling clay, mimicking its curves and lines, and place it in a tank of water. Then attach a spring balance to it and drag it through the water, recording the force that is registered on the balance. Then, re-mould the seal into a different shape and repeat the experiment to see if it requires any more or less force to move it through the water.
Research Project
Seal and sea lions have adapted some unique features to enable them to survive in their habitats. Conduct a research project into these adaptations and produce a display or documentary video showing all these different evolutionary features. These will include enlarged corneas and eyes and large whiskers for seeing and feeling their way about in the dark. They will also include muscular adaptations for walking on land and oxygen storage features for safe diving.