Pygmy Mammoth Exercise Instructions:

this exercise was adapted from Jason 13 - from Shore to Sea.

Materials:

In order to complete this exercise you will need the following:

• A map of the Channel Island Basin with contour lines indicating depth. This is known as a bathymetry map.
• 3-5 colored pencils - at a minimum.blue, green and purple. Gray and brown can also be used.
• Background information article (handout) about the pygmy mammoth and its ability to swim.

Instructions:

1.Start by locating the areas of the map that are above sea level. (sea level is marked by a bold contour line.)

2. Color the areas above sea level green.

3. Next locate the lowest contour line on the map. This will be marked "-240m". Why is the number negative?

4. Using a dark shade of blue pencil, or a purple pencil, color in all the areas that are deeper than 240 m. These areas will be marked "-240".

5. Locate the -180m contour in the map. What range of ocean depths can be found between this contour and the one you were looking at in the last step?

6. Using a lighter shade of blue, color all the sea floor that is below the -180 contour line but above the -240 contour line.

7. Using progressively lighter shades, continue coloring in the remaining zones of the map, each in a lighter shade of blue
(hint,to get a lighter shade, just press a little less hard with your pencil each time)

Conclusion Questions:

Based on data collected by marine geologists scientists now know that:

a) the sea level dropped approximately 120 meters during the last ice age, when Columbian mammoths migrated to the islands.
b) During the last ice age the sea floor contours were very similar to current conditions.

From what you see on your map and what you have read in your handout, answer the following conclusion questions.

1. Did the Pygmy Mammoth ancestos have a land bridge to cross on in their migration from the mainland? Explain your answer.

2. Extend your thinking. How do you think a lower sea level might have affected mainland species other than mammoths? (ie deer, fox, plants, rodents)
Suggest ways these animals could have arrived on the island.

3. Where do you predict the kelp forest could have existed during the last ice age? Shade the contour area on your map with a green pencil where you believe there could have been a kelp forest.