The EPIC Zoo

1. The EPIC Zoo By: Eric Guldan Honors Biology 4th Hour

2. Map Aquatic Wing Here you will find—finger sponge, fire coral, prickly cockle, sea cucumber, and lionfish Tiny Room Here you will find—pork tapeworm, Ascarislumbricoides, and acrocirrusvalidus Grasslands Here you will find—yellow-winged darter dragonfly, Panamanian golden frog, California red-sided garter snake, hoopoe, and fennec fox

3. Porifera Our featured porifera is the finger sponge. Like most porifera, the finger sponge has pores, filter feeds, and reproduces both sexually and asexually. Fun Fact: is that the finger sponge contains two germ layers—endoderm and ectoderm. The finger sponge can be found in he Aquatic Wing (see map)

4. Cnidarian The Epic Zoo only contains the most epic Cnidarian—the fire coral The fire coral has a sting that leaves an epic (but painful) itchy rash on human skin Fun Fact: despite the name, the fire coral is not technically coral! A cnidarian (which literally means “stinging creature”) is part of one of four groups of cnidarians— Anthozoa, Cubozoa, Hydrozoa, or Scyphozoa Cnidarians typically live in big colonies or solitary, have radial symmetry, and live in marine enviroments You can find me in the Aquatic Wing along with the finger sponge

5. Platyhelminthes Platyhelmeinthes, also know more commonly as “flatworms”, are defined by bilateral symmetry, soft bodies, and a simple nervous system They do not have circulatory or respiratory systems We house the pork tapeworm, which has four suckers and two rows of hooks These suckers and hooks are used to attach itself to the intestine wall of its host (vertebrate) You can find me in the aquatic wing along with the fire coral

6. Nematoda Our nematoda is the Ascarislumbricoides—a parasite to humans Varying from 15 to 35 cm in length, this nematoda is like is family because it has a nervous system, lives almost anywhere and eats almost anything Does not have blood (or circulatory system) You can find this creeper in the Tiny Room

7. Annelida Annelida are bilaterally symmetrical, have a body wall (their body is covered with an external cuticle), nervous system with a ventral nerve chord Our particular annelida is the Acrocirrusvalidus, a mini squid-like annelida The Acrocirrusvalidus is provided with an aquatic environment in the Tiny Room

8. Arthropoda The wonderful arthropoda we are lucky enough to have here is the yellow-winged darter dragonfly Arthropoda are classified by their exoskeletons (they are invertebrates), segmented bodies, and six or more legs Fun fact: 80% of all the animals in the world are arthropods

9. Mollusca The prickly cockle is the mollusca of this zoo Mollusca have hard outer shells, open circulation system, and a rasp tongue (or a radula)

10. Echinodermata Echinodermata are classified by their complete digestive systems, tube feet, sexual reproduction, and high regeneration power Our Echinodermata is the sea cucumber Fun Fact: the adults are radially symmetrical while the larvae are bilaterally symmetrical

11. Chordata-Fish The wonderful fish we have is the lionfish Fish are all similar in the likes that they are cold-blooded, finned, and vertebrates The lionfish has many fins stemming from its side

12. Cordata-Amphibians Amphibians are defined as a cold-blooded vertebrate with an aquatic gill-breathing phase followed by a terrestrial adult stage with lungs Our amphibian is a Panamanian golden frog Fun Fact: frogs, a common amphibian, eat their own skin after shedding it

13. Chordata-Reptiles All reptiles have a backbone, are cold-blooded, and have dry scaly skin. Our reptile is a California red-sided garter snake Easily seen and recognized by its bright colors, this snake can be found in our Grasslands here at the zoo

14. Chordata-Birds The bird we have here at the Epic Zoo is the hoopoe Birds are identified as warm-blooded vertebrates that have wings and lay eggs

15. Chordata-Mammals Our featured mammal is the fennec fox, a cute (but epic) little animal Mammal is defined as a warm-blooded vertebrate animal with hair/fur, secretes mild (females), and (most of the time) birth without eggs Fun Fact: The fox’s ears can be up to half the length of its body!

16. Bonus Animal of the Week! The bonus animal of the week is the… GERENUK! The gerenuk is a gazelle-like creature that stands on its hind legs to get food

17. Thank You For Coming! We hope you enjoyed your visit to The EPIC Zoo

18. Works Cited http://www.dscc.edu/bwilliams/biology%201120/biol_1120_lab_animals http://www.oceanicresearch.org/education/wonders/cnidarian.html http://www.darwinsgalapagos.com/animals/platyhelminthes_flatworms.htm http://www.darwinsgalapagos.com/animals/nematoda_roundworms.htm http://faculty.college-prep.org/~bernie/sciproject/project/Kingdoms/Animal%20Kingdom%20-%205/Local%20copy/classification/annelida.html http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples/examples-of-arthropods.html http://www.molluscs.at/mollusca/index.html?/mollusca/main.html http://www.tutorvista.com/content/biology/biology-iii/animal-kingdom/phylum-echinodermata.php# http://www.pxleyes.com/blog/2013/01/exotic-fish-underwater-photography/ http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/SpeciesList.aspx?Group=Amphibians http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garter_snake http://www.oddee.com/item_98487.aspx http://awesomeanimals.tripod.com/mammals.htm www.google.com