Days of Thunder
Independence Day (1996)
Concept featured in clip:Animal Adaptations
Location of clip: DVD: 1:16:45-1:21:15 & 1:27:44-1:32:48


Play Flickclip Here

Summary of clip: At Area 51, the group sees the captured alien ship and the three alien bodies. The scientist explains to the president that the aliens are not so different from them. In the second clip, Captain Hiller brings in a live alien specimen. As the group of scientists begins to dissect the animal, it wakes and attacks the lab. When the President arrives, the alien communicates telepathically with him revealing their plan to take over the world.
Connection of flickclip to the concept: Animal adaptations or morphology tell a lot about an organism. Scientists frequently use this type of information to classify and describe the type of environment the organism lives in.
Suggestions to teachers:
1. Suggested questions for students when viewing the clip:

a. How are the aliens similar to us? How are they different?

b. What does its body and method of communication tell us about the species?

c.What does its body and method of communication tell us about the environment that it lives?

d. How is this similar to scientists looking at fossils?

e. What types of things have we learned from fossils?

2. Have students break into small groups to create an organism or a fossil that lives in a particular environment. When the groups are finished, have them swap organisms. The groups should make observations of their neighbor's creation and hypothesize about what the possible adaptations could tell them about the creature and the environment it lived in.