Week 2: Phylogeny of the Leopard

Purpose & Objectives

The phylogeny of the leopard will be used to demonstrate the origin of the species and its relationship to other members of the animal kingdom. Students will be able to classify the leopard and name the eight wildcat lineages. The use of scientific names and problems associated with common names will be introduced by looking at the 40 wildcat species.

Classroom activity

• Students will complete the classification of the leopard in their activity book.
• Plot the data points from their leopard.
• Put up the phylogenetic map showing the eight wildcat lineages.

Independent activity

Each student is to be assigned a wildcat species. Using the internet, students find as many different common names for their cat. Often common wildcat names are derived from the local dialect and hence students will find some of the wildcat species share common names. They will also discover that the Mountain lion, Puma & Cougar are all common names for the same wildcat species Puma concolor.