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Flatworms
Flatworm Videos
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Lesson Plan
Who Was "Hunter Eve?"The paleontological evidence of the first animal to hunt is tiny trails that have been fossilized in rocks. To start this lesson, students will consider the tracks and traces left by modern animals and what they can learn about an animal from its tracks. They then think about which animal might have been the first hunter. The class considers what it takes to be a hunter and what kind of evidence can we use to figure out what was the first hunter. Students write their ideas in their science notebooks and the teacher shares the ideas with the entire class.Full Lesson Plan
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Factsheet
Flatworms: An Ancient Body PlanAround 20,000 flatworm species today have the same basic body plan that appeared roughly 500 million years ago.Download Factsheet
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Reading
Flatworms: Getting Ahead, An Explosion of LifeWhen you collect marine animals, there are certain flatworms so delicate that they are almost impossible to capture whole, for they break and tatter under the touch. You must let them ooze and crawl of their own will onto a knife blade and then lift them gently into your bottle of seawater.Download Reading
Features
Creature
Planarians
Planarians are free-living flatworms. Like other flatworms the planarian has a bilateral body plan with a brain and stereo eyes that enable it to actively hunt. Unlike the flashy flatworms that live in the ocean, the thousands of species of planarians live either in freshwater or on land around the world.
Planarians
Planarians are free-living flatworms. Like other flatworms the planarian has a bilateral body plan with a brain and stereo eyes that enable it to actively hunt. Unlike the flashy flatworms that live in the ocean, the thousands of species of planarians live either in freshwater or on land around the world.
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Did You Know?
Marine Flatworms Colors Send a Warning
Flatworms are some of the most colorful marine creatures. Their spectacular colors and patterns can be eye popping. Scuba divers and tide-poolers love to take pictures of them for good reason; they are dazzling.
Marine Flatworms Colors Send a Warning
Flatworms are some of the most colorful marine creatures. Their spectacular colors and patterns can be eye popping. Scuba divers and tide-poolers love to take pictures of them for good reason; they are dazzling.
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Shape of Life Blog
Are Planarians Guiding Us to a New Way of Healing?
Planarians are small flatworms known for their amazing ability to regenerate. As the naturalist John Graham Dalyell wrote in 1814, planarians could “almost be called immortal under the edge of the knife. They can tear themselves in half and regrow complete bodies. They can retain memories despite decapitation. And if you chop them into little pieces, each piece will start acting like a perfectly intact worm.“
Are Planarians Guiding Us to a New Way of Healing?
Planarians are small flatworms known for their amazing ability to regenerate. As the naturalist John Graham Dalyell wrote in 1814, planarians could “almost be called immortal under the edge of the knife. They can tear themselves in half and regrow complete bodies. They can retain memories despite decapitation. And if you chop them into little pieces, each piece will start acting like a perfectly intact worm.“
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