The Designer Species Project - Project Blog 11/5/17

Summary: The Fobra is a new species of frog with the body of a red-eyed tree frog, the eyes of an owl, the fangs of a king cobra, and the claws of a squirrel. Since the fobra lives in planet C, a tropical planet with much rainforest and vegetation, our frog can "nest" itself in the plants to stay warm. To stay cool the fobra can soak itself in puddles and absorb the moisture. The fobra is also a warm-blooded animal. The fobra uses both its tongue and teeth to eat, depending on the size of animal it is eating. With the claws similar to squirrels, the fobra will be able to get away and climb up on trees faster, making predators unable to get it. As well having the bite similar to the king cobra, our species will bite predators when it feels threatened or scared by predators that are after them. The fobra will be able to strike extremely quickly, like a cobra, in self-defense. Red-eyed tree frogs will lay clutches of eggs on the underside of leaves that are standing above a water source. When the eggs hatch approximately five days later, the fluid that was inside the eggs helps to wash the tadpoles down into the water. Tadpoles mature rapidly and are ready to leave the water in a day or two. Meaning that once the tadpoles have matured, they isolate from their mother. Since a majority of the fobra is based on the red eye tree frog, it shares the same characteristics. However, when guarding their eggs, the fobra will use its bite to fight off predators if necessary. The fobra is a nocturnal carnivore, thus meaning that our species will have an easier time finding food, making it survive longer. Our species fits around the middle of the food chain, eating things such as small insects, fish, crickets and other things like that. Things that will be eating our species will carnivorous snakes, birds, and larger predators.

Backward-Looking: What problems did you encounter while you were working on this piece? How did you solve them? The one major problem we encountered whilst working on this project was deciding the animal itself. We could create whatever we wanted, and we were having trouble. First, we had created a concept and started the project with an animal in mind. However, the idea was later shot down as it was already an idea and we had to create something original. We had no ideas on what we wanted our animal to be like and because of this, wasted 1 1/2 work days. We created a plan to solve our issue though. We wrote down the traits we wanted in our animal and what animal to base it off of. We decided to do a frog, so picked to base our species on the red eye tree frog. Then we incorporated the traits we had discussed, which included owl vision, the claws of some animal (later decided to be the squirrel), and the bite/fangs of a king cobra. With this method of listing out features we wanted, we were able to create our species, the fobra.

Inward-Looking: What was especially satisfying to you about either the process or the finished product? The thing that satisfied me about this project was the freedom to create what you wanted. You were able to create any animal as long as it was original. Normally, there are many rules and regulations regarding creation of things in projects. However, this time you could practically do whatever you wanted as long as you had an explanation for how it eats, drinks, avoids predators, etc. By having this freedom and relaxation, you could take more time focusing on the details of the project, and improve your overall product.

Outward-Looking: If you were the teacher, what comments would you make about this piece? One negative comment I give to our presentation was lack of specificity. Other groups explained in detail about their animal such as how their digestive systems work or how things work depending on the specific scenario. We did explain the needed concepts for our animal, but we lacked depth in some areas that could have helped the viewer understand. I would still give our group a good grade on this project because we did cover all the elements about our animal, but if I need to give a comment on what we could've done better, I would recommend adding a bit more detail.

Forward-Looking: What would you change if you had a chance to do this piece over again? The only change I would make if I were to do this piece over again was time management. I bring this point up in every project, and it held true again. If we had used our time more wisely in class, such as being quicker to come up with the concept of our animal, we would have had more time to focus on things like memorizing lines in presentations and not having to finish things the night before. All for all, time management is key to having a successful product.