Build the Ultimate Predator

Rahm's Readers Summer Learning Challenge Brain Builder

Living things share habitats and interact with each other, and this is especially true at mealtime! Animals that hunt and eat other animals are called predators. The animals they eat are called prey. Predators and prey have adaptations to help them hunt and evade each other. For example, eagles have sharp talons to grab and capture fish, and stick insects blend into their surroundings.

What predators can you think of? What adaptations do they have to help them as they hunt their prey? Can you think of animals that are both predators and prey?

Read

Deadly!: The Truth About the Most Dangerous Creaures on Earth: Delve into the world of the deadliest animals on earth–both large (sharks and wolves) and teeny tiny (jellyfish and poison-arrow frogs).

Carnivores: Lion, Great White Shark and Timber Wolf try not to hear the other animals talk about them, but even deadly carnivores have feelings and just want to be understood. Can Great Horned Owl help them accept who they really are?

Discover

• Think of the four stages of hunting as FACE:
  1. Find your prey through sight, smell or hearing
  2. Attack your prey by chasing it down or surprising it
  3. Capture your prey with claws, talons or your mouth
  4. Eat your prey with a beak or teeth
• Learn about the various adaptations that predators use to capture their prey.
• Collect various household materials, such as paper, cardboard tubes, plastic utensils, toothpicks, rubber bands, paper cups and tape or glue. Use these materials to build your ultimate predator.
  • Think about the type of prey your predator will hunt and how it uses FACE while hunting. Be sure to include any adaptations your predator needs to survive.
  • Give your predator a name and create a simple fact sheet about your creation. What does it hunt? How does it hunt and eat its food? What habitat does it live in?
• Even though predators eat other animals, they are not "bad animals." This is simply how they survive. Discover how different predators help keep a habitat in balance.
• Visit a zoo and choose five predators to observe. What adaptations do they have that makes them able to hunt for food?
• Prey have adaptations too! They may use camouflage to blend into their environment, run fast or be brightly colored to scare predators away. Create a prey that can evade or survive an attack by your ultimate predator.

Dig Deeper

What would happen if the eyes of an eagle were on the side of its head instead of the front? How would that change how they hunt and what they eat? What would it be like to have eagle eyes?

Rahm’s Readers is in partnership with Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Schools, The Anti-Cruelty Society of Chicago, Brookfield Zoo/Chicago Zoological Society, Lincoln Park Zoo, the Museum of Science and Industry and Chicago City of Learning.

Rahm’s Readers is made possible by The James & Madeleine McMullan Foundation, Cubs Care, Comcast, Dr. Scholl Foundation, CPL Foundation Junior Board, Helen M. Harrison Foundation, Macys, Peoples Gas, Robert R. McCormick Foundation, ComEd, R.R. Donnelley, The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust, Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Foundation, Verizon and RPM Advertising through the Chicago Public Library Foundation.