Science Animals of the Worldusually ages 11–12

The Red Queen Hypothesis

Introduce the Red Queen hypothesis — species must keep evolving just to maintain fitness relative to co-evolving partners; describe predator-prey arms races (cheetah speed vs gazelle speed, bat echolocation vs moth hearing jamming) and parasite-host co-evolution (myxomatosis in rabbits); explain Darwin's hawk moth and orchid as a classic example of mutualistic co-evolution predicting an unknown species; understand that co-evolution is a major driver of biological diversification

Try this together

Can your child explain the idea of an evolutionary arms race — how a predator and its prey keep evolving better attack and defence strategies in response to each other, never quite getting ahead?

Where this sits on the map

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Builds on

Predator Hunting Strategiesages 7–9Co-evolutionary arms race concept depends on predator strategies and prey defences

Structural Adaptationsages 9–11Red Queen hypothesis and evolutionary arms races depends on structural and behavioural adaptations

The Red Queen Hypothesisthis skill · ages 11–12

Unlocks

Sexual Selectionages 12–13Sexual selection and evolutionary game theory depends on understanding co-evolutionary dynamics and the Red Queen hypothesis

How Natural Selection Worksages 12–14KS3 natural selection provides the mechanism that drives both sides of an evolutionary arms race

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 1 ACARA · 1 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9S5U01low confidenceYear 5 · Science understanding

examine how particular structural features and behaviours of living things enable their survival in specific habitats

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2S6U02low confidenceScience · Levels 5 and 6 · Science Understanding strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Deep-Sea Survivalages 12–13 Sexual Selectionages 12–13 The Biodiversity Crisisages 12–14 Animal Intelligenceages 9–11

All Animals of the World skills →