A "Power Cat" Field Guide - Exercise in Taxonomy

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Lesson Plan VIII - A "PowerCat" Field Guide

Using any one of the entries in the Field Guide section of the curriculum as a model, have students pick three species of cats and make a field guide of their own.

They can use the web and/or written sources for basic information, and in addition to the basic description and characteristics of each species, they can include a map with the species range and/or pictures or drawings of each animal.
At the end of the project students can take their individual field guide entries and compile a class field guide to "Power Cats".

Lesson Plan IX - Exercise in Taxonomy

Using the information on taxonomy provided in the introduction, pick a species of cat and trace its place, from Kingdom to Common Name, in the hierarchy taxonomic structure of the natural world. After illustrating the process for a cat species, follow the same method for another species. Pick a fairly common animal. For example the domestic dog is from a species point of view, a wolf, Canis Lupus but belonging to a subspecies (Domesticus). Therefore their dog at home belongs to the:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canid (includes foxes, wolves and coyotes)
Genus: Canid (wolves and coyotes)
Species/Sub-Species: Lupus (wolf)/Domesticus
Common Name: Dog

Once you feel your students have a grasp on the basic concept, have them pick three different species, preferably not all mammals, and have them research and document their taxonomy in this fairly simple manner.

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