Habitats
Download the resources below, or if you would like to make your own trails or worksheets tailored to your visit, many of the images and text below (and in our other resources) can be easily copied and pasted to your own design.
- Perhaps use images from objects located in different galleries and in the Gardens to create a challenge or simple trail through the Museum to find specific objects or places.
- Use object images to encourage independent research, for instance, find out and write down three facts about an object or group of objects. Alternatively, give facts or clues and challenge your pupils to identify mystery objects.
- Set an alphabetical challenge ie find or draw 26 objects one for each letter of the alphabet.
- Create a sketchbook challenge.
Turtle trouble

Scarlet Macaw
Macaws have large, powerful beaks which crush nuts and seeds. They have strong, flexible toes they use to grab and examine items and allows them to hang upside down.
These parrots have a loud squawk which can be heard up to 2 miles away! This helps them alert danger, mark territory, and communicate within the group.
Scarlet macaws are threatened by habitat loss and the illegal pet trade.

Peruvian Spider monkey
They live in groups and are very vocal. They eat fruit but when food is scarce they will adapt their diet to eat insects and leaves.
This monkey is endangered due to loss of their rainforest habitat, hunting and illegal pet trade.

Linnaeus's Two-toed Sloth
Sloths’ slowness helps them to conserve energy and to avoid being detected by predators. Staying up in the canopy for most of the day hides them from predators such as jaguars and snakes.

Snowy Owl
Unlike most owls, the snowy owl hunts day and night, as the Arctic can have daylight 24 hours a day in summer. They have amazing hearing and can detect prey moving even under the snow. Like other owls, they have a short hooked beak for gripping prey and large eyes for excellent vision.

Walrus
Walruses have sensitive whiskers to seek out shellfish on the ocean floor (as they have poor eyesight). Their tusks are used for fighting other males and to help pull themselves out of the water.

Reindeer fur
They have an excellent sense of smell which is very important in the winter months when food can be scarce.

Thorny Devil
Thorny devils can change colour to camouflage with their habitat and their body colour also helps with heat control and varies with their temperature. These lizards eat ants and have long sticky tongues to catch their prey.

Scorpion
Scorpions are not insects but arachnids, like spiders. They often hunt for their prey at night and use their pincers to quickly grab their catch (often insects) and crush it. Then they can whip their poisonous ‘tail’ stinger over to kill or paralyze their prey. Their ‘tail’ is also used as a defence against predators. Most scorpions use their venomous sting only if needed, as it takes a lot of energy to produce more venom. When food is scarce they can slow their metabolism so they need to eat less. Some can survive up to a year without eating!
All scorpions have venom, but of the 1,500 or so species, only about 25 are considered life-threatening to humans. The sting of most species is enough to kill an insect or spider but is merely painful to humans, similar to a bee sting.

Desert Horned Viper
The viper’s venom is not usually fatal to humans, but a bite can be very nasty. Would you like to live in a desert?

Brain coral
Brain corals extend their tentacles to catch food at night. During the day, they use their tentacles for protection by wrapping them over the grooves on their surface.
These corals grow slowly, becoming solid, heavy and strong enough to withstand storms that can destroy more delicate coral.

Tiger Shark
Why do you think they are called a tiger shark?

Porcupine fish
Porcupine fish are nocturnal and spend most of the night seeking food. Their large eyes help them to see and catch prey such as crabs, snails and sea urchins in the dark.
Some porcupine fish are poisonous .Their poison is not in their spines but in their organs and is deadly if eaten. These fish have few predators because of their successful defences but some sharks will eat them as they are immune to their toxins.

Great spotted woodpecker
Woodpeckers use their extremely long, sticky tongue to reach and eat insects and larvae they find in holes in tree trunks. They also feed on nuts and berries in the winter.
Woodpeckers can peck up to 20 times per second without getting a headache. They have a ‘spongy’ skull that absorbs the tapping and therefore protects their brain!

Red squirrel
Red squirrels’ bushy tails help them to balance when climbing and jumping. They spend much of their time up in trees away from predators and in their nests (dreys). Squirrels get up at dawn to spend the daylight hours foraging for food. They are well known for hoarding food to prepare for the winter months, when supplies are low. They bury seeds and nuts in the autumn and use these supplies throughout the winter and spring.

Stag beetle
The stag beetle is one of Britain’s largest insects. Male stag beetles have large jaws which are used to fight other males over territories or food. Females have smaller jaws but they are more powerful. They spend most of their life underground as larvae, (young stag beetles) only emerging for a few weeks to find a mate and reproduce. Larvae eat dead and decaying wood and put important minerals back into the soil.
Could you help create a stag beetle home of a log pile or leaving an area of garden wild?