Natural selection: Chickenology (high school)

Middle school Science and high school Biology teachers often use exotic animals as examples when discussing natural selection, genetics, and biodiversity. However, our food supply is subject to many of the same issues. Consumers, farmers, and other agriculture workers have a large impact on the food supply, and they use the same science and biology concepts to make sure they can produce food to feed a large population. Discussing livestock helps students learn about the many jobs and careers in the food production industries.

This set of lessons encompass the basics of natural selection and evolution as related to poultry, the largest consumer of soybeans. Ohio ranks number two in egg production and sixteenth in chicken meat production in the United States. Throughout history, humans have tried to create the most fit plants and animals by various means: selective breeding, mutagenesis and now more advanced biological mechanisms. Students who participate in these lessons and activities will discover how many people are at work to provide us with healthy food from chickens and how this gets done.