Vertebrates and Invertebrates(Transcript)

Reece: Hello everyone!

Jenny: Welcome to the first episode of...

Everyone: Science Tuesdays!

Blake: Today, we are in Singapore Zoo and we are going to classify animals.

Robert: For today, we will show you about vertebrates and invertebrates.

Sheryl: So, what are vertebrates and invertebrates?

Zoe: Vertebrates are animals with backbones, or a spine. Invertebrates are animals with no backbone.

Luke: So, what are we going to do?

Reece: We will be splitting into 3 groups and we will go to other zoos here in Mandai. So the juniors will go to River Safari.

Zoe: Yes.

George: Really?

Zoe: Yeah, my favourite types of animals are aquatic animals.

Jenny: The freshmen will go to Night Safari.

Brad: Really?

Jenny: Yeah, even if it's dark there. I mean, we can't just take Ashton there, he's afraid of the dark.

Ashton: Yeah.

Reece: And us seniors will go to Singapore Zoo.

Robert: Now that we're split into groups, let's go to the exhibits.

Everyone: Yeah!

The juniors went to River Safari and gave the audience a tour along with explaining each animal.

Zoe: So here's the first exhibit and we're going to tell you each animal behind me.

George: See those fish there? They're vertebrates, they have a backbone.

Zoe: There are many types of fish in the world, here, you can only see the ones that live in the river.

Kandace: And you may be wondering, why are there no sharks?

Raphael: Do sharks even live in the river?

Zoe: Only some, we are not talking about habitats in this episode. Anyways, sharks are also vertebrates, unlike other fish which are bony, their bones are made of cartilage. A flexible kind of bone, you can find it on the outer lobe of your ear.

Zoe touched George's ears.

George: Stop.

Zoe: Anyways, on to the next exhibit.

The juniors went to the next exhibit which is the Mississippi river.

Aidan: So here we are, the Mississippi River.

Kandace: Here, we can see the tiger salamander.

Zoe: The tiger salamander is an amphibian and is a vertebrate. They may look like lizards which are reptiles but they are definitely not reptiles. They look adorable.

Raphael: Why do you love animals so much?

Zoe: I have no idea.

Scene cuts to the next exhibit, the Alligator Snapping Turtle.

Alicia: The next animal is the alligator snapping turtle.

Raphael: I love turtles.

Zoe: You wouldn't love this turtle, because it is one of the heaviest freshwater turtles in the world. Also it bites like the common snapping turtle.

Raphael: Oh dang.

George: Language.

Yuto: They're cute, but they're dangerous.

Zoe: There are also some fish here too. About the turtles, they are reptiles and they also have backbone so they're vertebrates as well. Also since we aren't doing an episode about carnivores, omnivores or herbivores, this turtle is a carnivore. Also when we show the tiger salamander in the previous exhibit, they are also carnivores.

Poe: Next exhibit.

Scene cuts to the next exhibit, the Alligator Gar.

Aiden: So here, is the alligator gar.

Zoe: An alligator gar is a fish and it's also a vertebrate too. Like the tiger salamander and the alligator snapping turtle, it is also a carnivore.

Raphael: He doesn't look like a carnivore to me.

Zoe: Yeah, but they only do that at night. After this entire tour of River Safari, we will see how the freshmen are doing. Before that, the seniors in Singapore Zoo.

Spencer: Shall we go now?

Zoe: Let's go.

Scene cuts to the next exhibit, the Mississippi Paddlefish.

Emily: So here is the Mississippi Paddlefish.

Zoe: The Mississippi Paddlefish is also a fish and is a vertebrate.

George: So far there are 4 vertebrates.

Zoe: We will find some invertebrates, somehow. Anyways about the Mississippi Paddlefish, it is also a carnivore because it eats plankton.

Scene shows a clip of Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants screaming.

Zoe: Not that plankton. Like the whale shark and the basking shark, the Mississippi Paddlefish filter feeds and are not harmful to humans. Moving on.

Scene cuts to the next exhibit, the African Dwarf Crocodile.

Molly: The next animal is the African Dwarf Crocodile.

Zoe: The African Dwarf Crocodile is also a vertebrate and is a predator. They are carnivores like any other crocodile you'll see in the world. Don't mind the fish there, even though they're beautiful. The crocodile is over there. It's sleeping.

The juniors went to the next exhibit which is the Congo river, the world's deepest river.

George: So now we're at the Congo river, the world's deepest river.

Zoe: Right here, are more beautiful fish. They are also vertebrates like all of the animals we saw previously.

Aiden: So now we are going to explore this exhibit.

Zoe: Before we explore the rest, here are the fish we saw in this aquarium, the Giant Puffer Fish, the Jewel Cichilid, the Congo Tetra and the Bottlenose Mormyrid. All vertebrates.

Emily: Can you explain each of them?

Zoe: The Giant Puffer Fish is a carnivorous freshwater puffer fish. They are carnivores like the previous animals we saw. The Jewel Cichilid is omnivorous, they can eat worms and vegetables.

Kandace: Eww...

Zoe: What, I eat worms too. Anyways, the Congo Tetra is also omnivorous, they eat worms, plants and algae. And the Bottlenose Mormyrid is also omnivorous like the other fish I explained. Except the giant puffer fish.

Emily: Can we go to the next aquarium?

Zoe: Sure.

The juniors went to the next aquarium.

Zoe: So in this aquarium, we have the African Arowana, Tigerfish, Giraffe Catfish and Bichir. All vertebrates. The African Arowana is a carnivore and it filter feeds, the Tigerfish is also a carnivore, the Giraffe Catfish filter feeds so it's also a carnivore and the Bichir is also carnivorous. All of these fish in this aquarium is carnivorous.

George: That's some god information to my ears.

Zoe: Now let's go.

Scene cuts to the next exhibit, the Goonch Catfish.

Thaiyo: So here we can see the Goonch Catfish.

Zoe: The Goonch Catfish is a vertebrate, it has a backbone or spine. This is also a carnivore because it has a poisonous spine. Don't swim in a river with a Goonch Catfish.

George: Or else, bad things will happen like in the Kali River Goonch Attacks in India and Nepal.

Kandace: Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zoe: Moving on.

The juniors went to the touch pool where kids can touch animals.

Zoe: So here's the touch pool, you can see some fish, stingrays and starfish. Fish and stingrays are vertebrates, however, starfish are invertebrates. They are echinoderms.

George: Finally, an invertebrate.

Zoe: I know.

Kandace: Can we touch a stingray?

Zoe: No, stingrays can sting. They have a stinger in their tails, but only the head.

All of the Year 7 kids started touching the animals in the touch pool. Then they moved to the next exhibit where there are animals from Southeast Asian rivers.

Zoe: The next animal is the Crab-eating Macaque. They are carnivores, they eat crabs.

Scene changes to a video from Yo Mama but with Brody on a bed saying that it itches.

Zoe: No, not that kind of crabs. Crabs as in invertebrate animals, they are arthropods. About the Crab-eating Macaque, they are mammals. and are vertebrates because they have a spine like us. They are native to Southeast Asia like Jenny and Oakley.

Molly: She's half Vietnamese.

Oakley: I'm half Malaysian.

Zoe: Yup. And yes, like those other exhibits, fish is just to make the river look pretty. They look really nice.

Yuto: I know.

Emily: So where are those cheeky monkeys.

Zoe: There! Of course, they're monkeys.

Scene cuts to the next exhibit, the Giant Siamese Carp.

Oakley: So here is the Giant Siamese Carp.

Zoe: The Giant Siamese Carp is a vertebrate too, that means it has a backbone. It is also omnivorous, they eat algae, phytoplankton, fruit and various other aquatic vegetation in addition to opportunistically feeding on snails, invertebrates and possibly live or dead fish.

George: Is that cannibalism I hear.

Zoe: Probably. Fun fact: they are the national fish of Cambodia and are depicted in the Angkor Wat. Moving on.

The juniors soon went to the exhibits from China's Yangtze river. The longest river in Asia.

Alicia: Audience, meet the Yangtze Alligator.

Zoe: The Yangtze alligator is a reptile, one of the classifications of vertebrates. They are also carnivorous too. They may be around here somewhere. Found them. Next exhibit.

Scene cuts to the next exhibit, the Chinese Giant Salamander.

Spencer: Meet the Chinese Giant Salamander.

Zoe: The Chinese Giant Salamander is the largest salamander and is an amphibian. It is a vertebrate, it also has a backbone. They are omnivorous, they eat insects, millipedes, horsehair worms, amphibians, freshwater crabs, shrimp, fish and Asiatic water shrew. And yes, this is cannibalism too, they eat other salamanders. They must be hiding here.

George: Where?

Zoe: Probably in this log or anywhere in the aquarium. Moving on.

The next scene is shot with the pandas.

Zoe: So here are the pandas right here. The panda that is right behind me is a red panda, like Master Shifu from Kung Fu Panda. The red panda is a mammal and is a vertebrate like us. They are herbivores, they eat bamboos like giant pandas.

Aidan: They look like raccoons.

Zoe: They aren't raccoons, they're pandas. The giant pandas are over there. They are mammals, vertebrates and herbivores.

George: Cool.

Zoe: Now this is the final exhibit before heading over to the seniors in Singapore Zoo. I know there are more animals to see in River Safari but we can't cover them all.

Kandace: We will see you all in the next episode of Science Tuesdays.

Everyone: Bye!

Scene cuts to Singapore Zoo with the seniors.