my powelliphanta snail writing

In room 7 we have been Learning about mini beast . I have picked the largest snail in the world . But we have to make it about nz niavte mini beats Here is my writing 

       Powelliphanta Snails   

By Shannon 

In North Westland and Nelson in Aotearoa lives the Powelliphanta snails. The Powelliphanta snails
are the largest snails in the world weighing up to 90 grams. There are over 21 species. They belong to t
he gastropod family which means their foot is their stomach. They are invertebrates - this means they
have no spine.  

Physical features 

Their shell can grow up to 100mm across. Their shells have swirly patterns and come in black, brown,
yellow and pinky red colours. Most snails and slugs have blue blood. In the Nelson area there has
been a rare white snail discovery.  

Habitat  

Powlliphanta are found in the north west of the South Island around Buller and Nelson. They normally
live in damp conditions, such as under logs and leaves. Some species live in coastal areas and
mountain areas. 

Social behaviour 

They live in small colonies in separate areas. They normally come out at night to gather food and mate.  

Feeding  

Most powelliphanta are carnivorous eating worms and smaller snails and slugs. They have a radula.
The radula is a organ like tongue with is covered in rows of 33 teeth. It is estimated to be 6000 teeth.
When eating worms they suck the worms up like spaghetti.  

Life cycle  

The Powelliphanta lay up to 5-10 eggs a year but it is hard for the eggs and baby snails to survive.
The eggs are pinky white and 10mm tall the colours make it easy for birds to spot. They are
hermaphrodite this means they have both  gender organs. They also live up to 20 years.  

Threats  

Their predators are possum, weka, rats, thrushes, and wild pigs. Other man made threats like
farming mining and forestry are changing their habitat.      

                                          

   

                      

Facts 

Do not move or take the shell because it is hard to determine if it is empty or not.  

DOC took some Powelliphantas from a site where the government were going to make a road.
Unfortunately they died ( to D.O.C next time don't use fridges to cool down the snails ).   

          

My animation

Today we were learning how to do an animation on google slides. We had to make our animation from free to use images. We also had to change false to true and change the speed inside the code to make it work. I hope you enjoyed my animation about a sinking ship.

weta report - term 3

weta 

This is a piece of writing that we did for our minibeast topic when we were learning about weta. We had to write an information report of the  inescts .

click here to see my success criteria

           Weta  

Weta are related to grass hoppers.  There
family name is orthoptera. There are over 70
species of weta. The five main groups of weta
are tree weta, cave weta, giant weta, ground
weta, and tusked weta.  The early maori called
the weta punga the spirit of ugliness. 

Physical features  

 The weta are Tane the god of the forest sons
and daughters. Weta have six legs and two
large antennae on their head. Weta have ears
on their legs below their knees. Their body parts
are head, abdomen and  thorax. A weta has a
xoskeleton. Exoskeleton means that their bones
are on the outside of their body. Weta don't
have lungs. They breathe through their body
not mouth. The males have larger heads than
the female weta. 

Habitat  

Over all most weta like damp dark places like
under logs and trees and under rocks. Ground
weta live in burrows under ground. Giant weta
live under rocks and in fallen leaves. Cave
weta of course live in caves but they can live
under rocks and dead leaves. Tree weta are
found in hollow trees. Tusked weta make and
dig burrows smoothing the walls with their
saliva. They then go in backwards and seal the
hole with mud.  

Social behaviour 

Most Tree weta live in colonies unlike the
ground
weta. They live alone. Tree weta are mostly
asleep in the day but at night the colonies
get violent. The male weta fight over the
tunnels. The male weta fight with their
over sized jaws  

 Feeding  

Gaint weta and tree weta are herbivorous.
They eat leaves lichen seeds  fruit and flowers.
The tusked and ground weta are carnivorous
meaning they eat small dead insects. 
The cave weta eat both meat and plants.  

Reproduction  

Weta mate in the spring.
The eggs are laid in the next spring.
This cycle will repeat for years.
The eggs are laid five or ten at a time in the
ground near lichen colonies. This is so the
newborns can have food.
The small weta shed their skin as they grow.   

Threats  

The biggest threats are deer, cats, boar, goats,
mice and rats. The rats and mice fight
the weta for food. The cats try to play with them
but kill them. The goats and deer and boar dig
and flip over logs in the weta's land. We could
stop the weta dying out by doing these -
not squashing the weta and stop dropping
poison on the bush. And they also must have
a good habitat to live in.  

By Shannon 

    

                  

         Tree weta               tusked     giant weta