Island Life In the most recent edition of
“Homeschool Happenings”, we learned about animals who have island homes
While many people have a vision of an “island paradise” in their minds, are there any problems that can come from calling an island home?
Island Life Yes! There are problems that can
come from living on an island
One of the issues that may arise is a lack of space since islands typically have a lower carrying capacity than the larger mainland
Carrying Capacity What exactly is carrying capacity?
Carrying capacity refers to the number of individuals a certain habitat or area can support given the resources that are available
Carrying Capacity All animals need certain things to survive and
they must get these things from their habitat
Animals need Food Water Shelter Space
Carrying Capacity
No matter where you are on planet Earth, there will be some resources that are in short supply
For instance: In a desert water is very scarce and hard to
find In a rainforest space is limited In the mountains food might be hard to come
by
Carrying Capacity On an island resources can be even more
limited
There is only so much food, water, shelter and space that can be found on an island
All the animals that live on that island must compete for these resources
Home Life Think about your home
Everyone might have their own bed, a place to put their clothes, enough food to eat and water to drink, as well as an area they can go to and relax
Home Life Now imagine that 5 people moved in
What would happen?
What would happen if 10 people moved in?
How about 30 people?
Home Life Just like an island, your home has a carrying
capacity: a certain number of individuals that can live there and still find everything they need
Once you go above that number, life becomes very difficult!
Zoo Life Here at the Houston Zoo, our exhibits have
carrying capacities as well
We have to look at the needs of our animals (such as space, food, shelter, and water) and make sure that they can get all these things from the exhibits in which they live
Zoo Life We have limited resources in our exhibits
and this limits the amount of animals we can put in those exhibits
Zoo Life Not only do we have to always keep
the carrying capacity of our exhibits in mind, but we also have to take into consideration the individual animals
Some animals are solitary and don’t live in groups in the wild, so we let those animals have their space and keep them alone in the exhibit
All Habitats Remember: whether you are discussing an
island, your home, or an exhibit at the Houston Zoo, they all have a carrying capacity
All these places have a certain number of individuals that can live there and still gain everything they need
Once the number of individuals pass that number, life gets harder and harder