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Design your own pest
Creepy crawlies are your thing? Follow the instructions below and design your very own…
You are to design an imaginary insect pest.
1. Imagine what it looks like and draw a sketch of it.
2. Write a description of the following:
- the food it likes to eat
- the part of its body it uses to feed
- what it lives on or in (for example, if it is a parasite whether it lives off plants or animals)
- the disease or destruction it causes
- what the disease does (for example, how it affects agricultural crops, the health of animals, people)
- how the disease is spread
- the quarantine required to control or eradicate the pest and the disease it causes (for example, fumigation, heat)
- natural enemies of the pest (that can be used as a biological control).
3. Construct a model of the pest and a mobile to show its life cycle.
4. Draw a chart to show how it spreads disease and the consequences of the disease.
5. Write a talk to present to the class. Use your model and chart when giving your class talk.
6. Display the models and charts.
7. Photograph the display for the class album.
8. Write a newspaper article about an imaginary scenario: 'What if insects ruled the world?'
9. Ask your teacher to invite a quarantine officer to your school to talk about insect pests and the diseases they cause in plants and animals.
Stuck? Need some ideas? Look at some real pests to gather ideas.