Inside and Out.

This is my first Action Project for unit 1 of my STEAM class, Population. Unit 1 of this class was called, “In/Out”. “In/Out” focused on the taxonomy of animals, how organisms are named and how we classify them, and how organisms function in their environments. For this Action Project, we chose an organism to study them, and learn about their taxonomy. I chose to study a South African Giraffe. To support the research we collected about our animals' taxonomy, we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, on a Field Experience, to take a further look at our animals. Going to the Zoo to see our animals in person was an important step in this unit because it allowed us to apply their taxonomic characteristics into a real-life image. We also used this time to take pictures of our animals for the next step in our project, a collage. A poster-sized replication of the Giraffe was made into a mosaic which then was turned into a GIF to show the taxonomic characteristics in a live view corresponding with the image. We also worked with our group to create a Venn diagram, comparing our animals to one another. I am proud of the work I have done and enjoyed going through this unit. Below, you will see my taxonomy for my animal.

Taxonomy is the step-by-step classification of organisms, which eventually leads to what they are named. Originally, I chose an African Lion but when we got to the Zoo with our groups, I realized that they had sent their lions away, so I had to choose another one. As we were walking through the Zoo, we stopped at the Giraffes. I knew that they would be a good alternative because of how much I admired how tall and majestic they were and I liked how their dark patches looked.

Once I chose my Giraffe and was completing its taxonomy, I was very interested to learn about their characteristics and how they lived. What I learned about their characteristics will be listed below in their taxonomy but there were some interesting facts I learned about their daily lives. I learned that a Giraffe’s habitat consists of grasslands and wide-ranged forests and that they can be found in parts of Africa and South of the Sahara Desert. Giraffes' main food source is Acacia trees since they are one of the only animals that can reach them. Giraffes are very calm creatures and an interesting fact about them is that they sleep standing up and only need between 5-30 minutes of sleep during a 24-hour period. A Giraffe’s scientific name is Giraffa camelopardalis and here is its taxonomy:

Kingdom - Animalia

• Multicellular, Heterotrophs- rely on others for food, Start as embryos

Phylum - Chordata

• Notochord, a Dorsal hollow tubular nerve cord - both in the spine region, Post-anal tail

Class - Mammalia

• Hair/Fur, Single-Boned lower jaws, One-Time tooth replacement, Warm-blooded, Diaphragms, Four-Chambered hearts

Order - Even-toed ungulates

• Hooved animals, Central balance is on two toes (even number) - the third and fourth toe out of five toes

Family - Giraffidae

• They have long and narrow heads, thin lips, and long tongues

Genus - Giraffa

• They have a body length between 3.8 and 4.7 m (9.75 - 15 ft), a tail length between 78 and 100 cms (31 - 39 inches), a shoulder height between 4 and 4.7 m (13.1 - 15.4 ft), they weigh between 0.6 and 1.9 tonnes (0.5 - 2 tons), They have a long tail that is tipped with a black tuft that helps to keep flies away, Tends to be white in color with brown or reddish markings that cover its body

Species - camelopardalis

• They have a body length between 3.8 and 4.7 m (9.75 - 15 ft), a tail length between 78 and 100 cms (31 - 39 inches), a shoulder height between 4 and 4.7 m (13.1 - 15.4 ft), they weigh between 0.6 and 1.9 tonnes (0.5 - 2 tons), They have a long tail that is tipped with a black tuft that helps to keep flies away, Tends to be white in color with brown or reddish markings that cover its body

Another part of this project was to create a Venn diagram comparing our animals’ characteristics to 2-3 other animals in our group. I chose to compare my Giraffe to two of those animals: an African Penguin, and a Meerkat. Another thing that intrigued me was learning about the comparisons between my animal to the other two. I found it interesting how all three of them together had a lot in common but when you looked at the Meerkat and Giraffe to the African Penguin, they each only had one thing in common with each other, according to the characteristics of their taxa. A few examples of the characteristic comparisons are: All of them are Animalia (Animals), multicellular, warm-blooded, flightless, and they live in a South African habitat. The Giraffe and the Meerkat’ are both mammals- they have hair/fur and give birth instead of laying eggs.  They also both live in the desert. The animals also had a lot of their own characteristics that were not shared with the other animals. My Venn diagram below has more details of the other comparisons:

MEM. Venn Diagram. 2019.

We also learned about Set Theory which is a mathematical representation of certain categories (sets), and the elements within those sets. Here are some mathematical explanations, linking to this Venn diagram, in Set Theory and an English sentence below it, to help the understanding of the equation:


Set Theory Key: g = Giraffe, m = Meerkat, p = African Penguin, C = Carnivore, and MA = Mammal.


U = {g, m, p, c, and ma}
(The Universal set contains Giraffe, Meerkat, African Penguin, Carnivore, and Mammal)


C= {All animals that eat meat; c}
(The Carnivore set contains all animals that eat meat)


MA= {Have hair/fur and give birth to live young; ma}
(The Mammal set contains all animals that have hair/fur and give birth)


MA = {g, m}
(Giraffes and Meerkats are elements of the set of Mammals)


p ∉ MA
(African Penguin is not an element of the set of Mammals)


C = {g, m, and p}
(Giraffes, Meerkats, and African Penguins are elements of the set of Carnivores)


C∪MA = {g, m, and p}
(The Union of the sets Carnivore and Mammal are Giraffe, Meerkat, and African Penguin)


MA’ = C ∪ {p}
(The complement of Mammals are the set of Carnivores unified with African penguins)


The last element of this project was to create a GIF from our mosaic that we made. The GIF was made to show each level of taxa individually on the image. Below, you will see the original photo of my Giraffe and the GIF using the mosaic to portray each level of taxonomy:

MEM. South African Giraffe. 2019.

MEM. Giraffe Taxonomy GIF. 2019.

To summarize, this project was about the taxonomy of an organism we chose and to learn about their classifications by comparing them to other animals and using their characteristics to create mathematical equations for those characteristics and comparisons.