At the beginning of our topic the naturalists from P5ms each discovered a new species. We have written fact files about these creatures and some of us have created animations about them. This week they were faced with the ultimate challenge as we found out if our species would survive in the natural selection process.

Natural selection is a theory of evolution where species adapt to cope with the environmental pressures they face. Only the species that adapt well to the changes go on to make babies and their species will survive.

We created three different mutations of our species. Some were furry while others were hairless. Some were stripy, some had long legs and long necks. We made them as different as possible because Charles Darwin taught us that ‘diversity was the key to survival.’  Then the fun began! Our species were hit by a number of environmental pressures. There was an ice age which caused a problem for our hairless mutations. Global warming badly affected our furry creatures. The creatures with long necks thrived when new, taller plants grew but the short ones suffered. Dangerous predators roamed the landscape and a meteor wiped out all species that only had one mutation left!

In the end only three species were left standing:

“I believe Hotdog survived because his stripes helped him hide from predators.”    Adam

“My Dolphinhorse’s fur kept it warm while its long legs stopped it from overheating.”   Lauren U

“Tosa’s long neck helped him reach the tall plants.”    Finlay

We had great fun as we learned about something as tricky as Natural Selection. It truly was the survival of the fittest!

From the Blog Post Box:

This week we had a great time at the Sky Sports Community Games. Well done, Fitness Crew,  for winning the team competition – we are very proud of you. We tried out lots of sports and many of us have been inspired to join a new club or practise a new sport at home.

The sport I would be interested in trying is…

…basketball because I scored a net and it was fun.      Declan

…handball because I was good at catching the ball.    Olivia

…streetdance because it looked really cool what the boys were doing.   Antonia