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Desert Sheep: Predict from Trait Clues

Use desert bighorn sheep observations to predict how differences in height and horn size may help with survival, finding mates, and reproduction.

Grade 3ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to3-LS4-2

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
13 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 3
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use observations to predict how height differences may help desert sheep reach food.
Students explain how horn differences may help male sheep find mates and reproduce.
Students support predictions about trait advantages with evidence from graphs.

How to use

Read the study notes together and clarify the graph labels. Have students make predictions independently, then discuss how changing conditions could change a trait's advantage.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

3-LS4-2

Explain how differences in traits can help some members of a species survive, find mates and reproduce.

Preview

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Name Date

Desert Sheep: Predict from Trait Clues

Use observations to predict how trait differences may help desert bighorn sheep.

Food on the Rocky Slope

Read the study notes. Use the feeding graph to answer questions 1–5.

Watching Sheep at Cinder Mesa

Cinder Mesa is a rocky place in the desert. Desert bighorn sheep walk along its slopes and eat grasses and other plants. Members of this species are not identical. Some adults stand taller than others. Adult males also differ in the size of their curved horns. Height and horn size are traits, or features of a living thing.

The records on this sheet are made-up wildlife observations for practice. In the feeding study, observers watched 10 taller adults and 10 shorter adults at the same patch of shrubs. Much of the remaining leafy growth was high above the ground. Each sheep was watched for 15 minutes. Observers counted how many sheep reached shrub leaves during that time. They did not move the sheep or change their food.

In a second study, observers watched adult males during the season when sheep find mates. Male bighorn sheep sometimes push and clash with their horns while competing for mates. Observers watched 10 males with longer horns and 10 with shorter horns for the same number of days. They recorded how many found mates. Mates are partners that may produce young together. Bighorn sheep young are called lambs. Finding a mate gives a sheep a chance to reproduce, or produce young.

The leafy growth stays high on the shrubs. Which prediction best fits the feeding results?

A. Shorter adults may reach leaves more often because they stand closer to the ground.
B. Taller adults may reach leaves more often because they can reach farther upward.
C. Both groups may reach leaves equally often because they are the same species.
D. Shorter adults may reach leaves more often because the shrubs have fewer low leaves.