Animal Superlatives
This is the largest land animal on Earth.
What is the African elephant?
This small programmable board is often used to build animal feeders, plant monitors, and robots.
What is an Arduino?
Contrary to popular belief, chameleons primarily change color for this reason rather than camouflage.
What is communication (or temperature regulation / mood signaling)?
This organ allows most fish to control buoyancy without constant swimming.
What is the swim bladder?
Because reptiles are ectothermic, they rely on this external factor to regulate body temperature.
What is environmental heat (sunlight)?
This bird can fly the fastest when diving.
What is the peregrine falcon?
This function runs once at startup and is commonly used to initialize sensors and pins.
What is setup()?
Chameleons capture prey using this feature, which can extend longer than their body length.
What is a ballistic tongue?
Fish extract oxygen from water using these structures.
What are gills?
This adaptation helps reptiles reduce water loss in dry environments.
What are scaly, keratinized skin?
This animal has the longest lifespan of any mammal.
What is the bowhead whale?
In an Arduino-based animal habitat monitor, this function runs repeatedly to sample sensors and make decisions.
What is loop()?
Color change in chameleons is caused by adjustments in this type of cell, which reflects light rather than using pigments alone.
What are iridophores?
This sensory system allows fish to detect water movement and vibrations.
What is the lateral line system?
Chameleons and some other reptiles use this structure to capture prey rapidly.
What is a projectile (ballistic) tongue?
This animal has the strongest bite force (measured in PSI).
What is the saltwater crocodile?
What are the two power supplies available on an Arduino?
What is resistance?
At the microscopic level, chameleon color change works by altering the spacing of nanocrystals, which affects this physical property of light.
What is wavelength (or light reflection / interference)?
Some deep-sea fish produce their own light using this biological process.
What is bioluminescence?
Unlike mammals, most reptiles have this type of heart structure.
What is a three-chambered heart?
This tiny animal can survive extreme heat, cold, radiation, and even space.
What is a tardigrade (water bear)?
What are the 3 things you need to check to ensure your circuit is connected properly?
What is:
1) Connection to ground
2) Diodes (eg. LEDs) are connected the right way
3) Jumper wires are connected correctly on the breadboard
Chameleons capture prey using this feature, which can extend longer than their body length.
What is a ballistic tongue?
Salmons are one type of animal that swim upstream to reproduce. What physical mechanism of the Earth allows it to know where to go?
What is Earth's magnetic field?
This structure increases surface area to improve oxygen exchange in fish.
What are gill filaments (or lamellae)?