Урок для класса · Wildlife · 🇵🇼 Palau

Nautilus

A living fossil with a beautiful spiral shell

A nautilus swimming in deep water, its striped shell glowing in the ocean light

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

Что это такое?

The nautilus is an extraordinary sea creature that has barely changed in 500 million years, making it one of the oldest animal designs still alive today. It lives inside a beautiful spiral shell divided into chambers, and it swims by squirting water backwards - a bit like a tiny jet engine. Palau's deep waters are home to one of the world's best-known nautilus populations.

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The nautilus shell is famous for its perfect spiral shape. Inside, the shell is divided into many separate chambers. As the nautilus grows, it builds a new, larger chamber to live in and seals the old ones behind it. The animal controls how much gas is in those sealed chambers to sink or rise through the water - just like a submarine using ballast tanks.

Nautiluses spend the day resting deep in the ocean where it is dark and cool, then rise towards the surface at night to hunt for small crabs and fish. They have up to 90 soft tentacles around their mouth and very large eyes, but no ink like an octopus or squid (their closest relatives).

Because the nautilus has survived almost unchanged for half a billion years while other creatures came and went, scientists call it a 'living fossil'. Palau is one of the few places where researchers regularly study nautiluses in the wild to learn more about how they live and what keeps them healthy.

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Вопросы для обсуждения

  1. 01The nautilus has barely changed for 500 million years. What does that suggest about how successful its design is?
  2. 02A nautilus uses gas-filled chambers to float or sink, like a submarine. Can you think of other ways humans have borrowed ideas from nature?
  3. 03Why might scientists call an animal that hasn't changed for millions of years a 'living fossil'?
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Задание для класса

Draw a cross-section of a nautilus shell showing the spiral of chambers inside. Colour each chamber a different shade (from small and dark at the centre to large and light on the outside). Then write one sentence explaining what each sealed chamber is used for.

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