Predator vs Prey - A Simulation

Bald Eagle Stealing Rabbit from Fox (in Midair) from Kevin Ebi on Vimeo.

What is a predator? An organism that hunts other organisms for food.
What is a prey? An organism that is hunted by other organisms for food.

Today we are going to play a game to help us look at the predator/prey relationship. Please pay close attention as I explain the rules, so that I do not have to re-­explain things once we get outside. Be safe, have fun but don't get goofy!

The game starts with one student as a "fox" and the other students all as "rabbits." 

We play tag until the fox "catches" a rabbit.

If the fox catches a rabbit, it means they have eaten.

• The fox survives, and stays a fox 
• The rabbit is dead, and the energy it had becomes energy for the fox, therefore, it becomes a fox 

We then start a new round, repeating multiple times.

If a fox does not catch a rabbit, it means they have not eaten.

• The fox dies, its body decomposes into the soil, which gives nutrients to the grass, which is eaten by the bunny, providing the bunny with energy, it becomes a bunny 

We will play around 10 rounds, recording the number of foxes and rabbits at the end of each round.  Each round a fox may only catch one bunny. (Once a fox catches a bunny, it is to return to "Father Time")

We will need to create a tally to mark the number of foxes and rabbits after each interval. You will do this in your notebook.

After we have our information, let's think about what type of graph would be represent our information? What intervals would we use? What do good graphs have?

Here is a list of suggestions from another teacher's classroom that will give us some ideas of what to include.

Common Suggestions on Graphs:

• Make main title underline different (more dominant) than axis
• titles)
• Do not crowd titles against edge of paper
• Use pen for titles
• Main title should have larger font than axes titles
• Title should be specific, not general (e.g., “Flow Rate of
• Household Fluids”, not “Flow Rate Graph”)
• Underline titles
• Each main word of a title should have an upper case letter
• Spelling of title should be correct
• Don’t stop axis on a number, extend one square beyond last
• number
• Axis font should not be too big
• Include tick marks with axes beside all numbers
• Do not need to write all numbers along axes, write a number on
• every second line
• Be sure to list units (correct units) with axes
• Spacing on axis needs to be uniform
• Do not extend underlines too far from words
• Legends should have a box around them
• Leave space between the information in an information box and
• the outline
• Only use one colour for bars when you only have one set of data
• Keep spacing consistent
• Try to fill large empty paces with something
• Use the space you have on the page
• Need to use graph paper
• Pencil crayon or pen should be used for lines, not highlighter or
• marker
• In a legend, represent the data appropriately, i.e., do not draw a
• box in blue to represent a blue line on a line graph, draw a blue
• line to represent a blue line
• Use a ruler for ALL straight lines