ISOPODS IN SCIENCE

In our animal behavior unit, we are studying different animal behaviors (mostly courtship) and the difference between instinctive behavior and learned behaviors. For example, the pill bug/sow bug is not a very sophisticated organism, so most if not all of its behaviors are instinctive. In class, we looked under the microscope at pill bugs and sow bugs, also known as roly-polies. Then we looked at them without a microscope, and took note of which behaviors the pill bug/sow bug does in a certain time frame. In this project we would have a partner, and one of us would time it and the other one would observe the isopod and take notes on its behaviors. My partner and I looked at pill bugs, and the third pill bug we got barely moved at all. (By John)