Description
- Title: How to Discover a New Mammal Species
- Air Date: April 28, 2016
- Series: Smithsonian Science How webcasts, which are designed to connect natural history science and research to upper-elementary and middle-school students.
This video features Dr. Kristofer Helgen, a zoologist formerly at the National Museum of Natural History. Did you know that we are still finding and naming new mammals around the world? From field expeditions and museum specimens, Kris has discovered about 100 mammal species. Hear about his surprising find of the “Olinguito” in cloud forests of Ecuador. Consider how studying mammals helps us understand how the Earth is changing. Get a glimpse of the modern technologies used to describe species and their environments. Ponder how much biodiversity still awaits discovery.
Teaching Resources
Mammal Biodiversity
National Middle School Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Life Science
MS-LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- MS-LS2-1: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
- MS-LS2-2: Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
- MS-LS2-4: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
Earth Science
MS-ESS3 Earth and Human Activity
- MS-ESS3-4: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
