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Discover Climate: Activities from NOAA

Activity 3: Climate Is Our Friend...Isn’t It?

What You Will Do: Make an Extinction Polyhedron

We know that Earth’s climate affects everything that lives on our planet; but can living things affect climate? The 

answer is “Yes!” Life on Earth has a major effect on heat-trapping 

gases in the atmosphere. The presence of these gases allows 

Earth’s environment to have liquid water and enough warmth to 

support many different kinds of living organisms. During Earth’s 

history, these organisms—including microbes, plants, and 

animals and humans—have significantly changed the chemical 

makeup of the atmosphere. 

One of the reasons there are so many different kinds of 

organisms is that different locations on Earth have different 

climates, which means that they have different conditions of 

temperature, precipitation, humidity, and sunlight. Individual 

organisms require a certain range of these conditions; polar 

bears, for example, cannot survive in the tropical jungle. If living 

organisms are exposed to climate conditions outside their 

normal range they must adapt to the new condition or migrate 

to a different location. Otherwise, these organisms will die.

Fossils are any remains, traces, or imprints of a plant or animal 

that has been preserved in a rock. Some fossils are formed when 

the remains of an organism are replaced by minerals that keep 

the organism’s shape. Another way fossils are formed is when 

an organism’s remains make an imprint in a soft substance such 

as clay or mud that later hardens into a rock. Fossils can also be 

things that were made by an organism, such as footprints in 

mud. Fossils provide important information about organisms 

that were alive at various times in Earth’s history. Many kinds 

of organisms are now extinct, which means none of them are 

alive today. Dinosaurs are a good example of extinct organisms, 

and there are millions of others. Information from fossils shows 

that at certain times in Earth’s history, many different kinds of 

organisms became extinct at about the same time. When this 

happens, we say that a “mass extinction event” has occurred.

The cause of most mass extinction events involved some type of 

climate change. 

How to Do It

Polygons are 2-dimensional shapes that are made of straight 

lines in which the lines connect together to form an enclosed 

space (Figure 1).

Polyhedrons are three-dimensional shapes that are made of 

polygons (Figure 2).

Polyhedrons are easy to make, interesting to look at, and are a 

great way to present and discuss information. This activity uses 

polyhedrons to show information about some extinct organisms, 

and how their extinction may have been related to climate 

change. First, you need to get the information together, then you 

can construct your Extinction Polyhedron!

Triangle

(3 sides)

Pentagon

(5 sides)

Dodecagon

(12 sides)

Rectangle

(4 sides)

Octagon

(8 sides)

Heptagon

(7 sides)

Figure 1. 

Examples of Polygons

What You Will Need

Stiff paper or cover stock; size depends 

upon how large you want your 

polyhedron to be (see How to Do 

It, Step 3)

Scissors

Pen or pencil

Glue

Art supplies (if you want to make your 

own illustrations; see How to Do 

It, Step 1)

Computer with Internet access or library 

resources

Trilobite Kainops invius. 

Image courtesy Wikipedia.

Big Idea

Life on Earth depends on, is shaped 

by, and affects climate. 

(Climate Science Principle 3)
11

3. Climate is Our Friend...Isn’t It?

1. Use the Internet or library resources to find 

pictures of seven extinct organisms that look 

interesting or that have interesting stories (or 

both). You may be able to download or copy 

pictures directly from the sources you use, or to 

use these pictures as a guide for illustrations that 

you make yourself. When you have selected the 

organisms to use for your Extinction Polyhedron, 

Find out some interesting facts about each 

organism, such as when and where they lived, 

what they ate, when and why they became 

extinct, etc. Here are some suggestions:

NOTE: There are MANY other examples of extinct 

organisms. In fact, more than 99% of all the species 

that have ever lived on Earth are now extinct. 

2. 

Let’s add one more organism to the seven you 

selected in Step 1. Cyanobacteria have been a 

very important part of life on Earth, and actually 

caused one of the biggest extinctions in Earth’s 

history! Can you find out how? Individual 

cyanobacteria are too small to see without 

a microscope, but many of these organisms 

produce much larger structures that are easily 

visible. You could also use a photograph made 

with a microscope or an illustration you prepare 

yourself for the Extinction Polyhedron.

3. Decide how large you want your Extinction 

Polyhedron to be. The pattern in Figure 3 will 

produce a polyhedron with eight sides (an 

octahedron). Each side has the shape of a triangle 

whose sides are about 1-3/4 long. If you want 

a larger Extinction Polyhedron, use a copying 

machine to enlarge Figure 3, or lay it out yourself 

with a ruler. Cut out the pattern along the solid 

lines, and trace the pattern onto stiff paper (such 

as cover stock or construction paper). Cut the 

pattern out of the stiff paper, and fold along all of 

the dotted lines. Do not fold the pattern into its 

final shape yet, because it is much easier to attach 

pictures while the pattern is flat.

4. Cut the eight pictures so that each one will fit on 

one of the sides of the octahedron, then glue the 

pictures into place.

5. Fold the pattern with the glued-on pictures 

along the dotted lines, and attach the tabs to the 

inside of the polyhedron with tape or glue. Your 

Extinction Polyhedron is finished!

Some Things You Can Do With Your Extinction 

Polyhedron

Here are a few ideas. You can probably think of many 

others! 

The main purpose of an Extinction Polyhedron is to 

present information about extinct organisms and 

why they became extinct. If you put your Extinction 

Polyhedron on a table in a room where people 

are present, someone will probably pick it up for 

a closer look. When this happens, ask the person 

if they recognize any of the organisms shown in 

the pictures. This is one way to start a conversation 

about extinctions and why they happen. 

Another thing you can do is to make several 

additional Extinction Polyhedrons, and hang them 

onto wires or sticks to form a mobile. If you want 

Climate Science Principle 3: Life on Earth epends on, is shaped by, and affects climate.

Octahedron

(8 faces)

Dodecahedron

(12 faces) Pentahedron

(5 faces)

Tetrahedron

(4 faces)

Figure 2. Examples of Polyhedrons

Anomalocaris 

Placoderms

Ammonoid

Mammuthus 

primigenius

Wiwaxia

Blastoid

Trilobite

Smilodon

Arthropleura

Opabinia

Pelycosaur

Archaeocyathid

Pterosaur

Cynobacteria through a microscope. Image courtesy Wikipedia.
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to make something besides octahedrons, there are 

many Web sites that have patterns and directions for 

making other shapes.

You can also make up games that use Extinction 

Polyhedrons. For example, you could have one 

polyhedron with pictures, and another polyhedron 

with the organisms’ names written on the sides. 

Player #1 drops the picture polyhedron onto a table, 

then turns the polyhedron over so that Player #2 

can see the picture that was face down when the 

polyhedron landed on the table. Player #2 must 

turn the polyhedron with written names so that 

the correct name for the organism is face up. If you 

make more than one set of name polygons, several 

players can compete to see who can be the first to 

turn up the correct name. 

Why are they extinct?

When you were gathering information about your 

selected organisms in Step 1, you probably noticed 

several things about mass extinctions. First, these 

events have happened many times throughout 

Earth’s history. One of the first mass extinctions 

happened about 2,400 million years ago when 

bacteria called cyanobacteria produced large 

amounts of oxygen that dramatically changed 

Earth’s atmosphere. Before this happened, Earth’s 

atmosphere contained very little oxygen, and most 

living organisms were adapted to live without 

oxygen. An oxygen-rich atmosphere caused most 

of these organisms to become extinct. This mass 

extinction is called the Oxygen Revolution, the 

Oxygen Catastrophe, the Oxygen Crisis, or the Great 

Oxidation. This is a case in which one form of life 

caused the extinction of other forms of life. It is also 

a good example of how mass extinctions make it 

possible for new species to appear.

Other major mass extinctions (sometimes called 

“The Big Ones”) include:

• The Cambrian Extinction, about 499 million years 

ago, when about 30% of living groups became 

extinct;

TAB

TAB

TAB

TAB

TAB

Example: Polyhedron

face with picture

Example: Polyhedron

face with facts

TRILOBITE

Permian Extinction

scavenger,

lter-feeder,

or predator

Figure 3. Octahedron

http://biodidac.bio.uottawa.ca/

Discover Your Changing World with NOAA
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3. Climate is Our Friend...Isn’t It?

Climate Science Principle 3: Life on Earth epends on, is shaped by, and affects climate.

• The Ordovician Extinction, about 443 million 

years ago, when an estimated 60% of all genera 

became extinct;

• The Devonian Extinction, about 345 million years 

ago, when about 70% of all known species 

became extinct;

• The Permian Extinction, about 250 million years 

ago, when an estimated 96% of all marine 

species became extinct and 70% of terrestrial 

vertebrate species became extinct;

• The Triassic Extinction, about 200 million years 

ago, when about half of all known species 

became extinct; and 

• The Cretaceous Extinction, about 65 million 

years ago, when dinosaurs along with 85% of all 

known species became extinct.

There are usually several theories about the cause of 

most mass extinctions. For example, the Cambrian 

Extinction has been linked to sharp decreases of 

oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere along with increased 

levels of hydrogen sulfide. The reason for these 

changes is not known. The Ordovician Extinction 

happened when Earth’s climate cooled, causing 

large amounts of water to be trapped in glaciers. 

This reduced the level of Earth’s ocean, which was 

where most organisms lived at this time. Global 

cooling has also been suggested as a possible 

cause of the Devonian Extinction, and may have 

been the result of decreased carbon dioxide in 

the atmosphere. An asteroid impact is another 

suggestion, which is also believed to have been 

responsible for the Cretaceous Extinction. Large 

asteroid impacts may have a direct effect on Earth’s 

climate, since large amounts of dust and soot in 

the atmosphere following such impacts can result 

in global cooling. It is 

important to remember 

that mass extinctions 

may have more than 

one cause, and that 

some extinction events 

happened when several 

things went wrong at 

about the same time.

It is also important to 

remember that living 

organisms can affect 

climate, and have 

probably helped cause 

some mass extinction 

events. Large land 

plants that covered 

Earth’s landscape for 

the first time during the 

Devonian Period may 

have caused decreased 

carbon dioxide in the 

atmosphere during the 

Devonian Extinction.

Today, human activities have significant influence 

on species extinctions. Habitat destruction and overharvesting directly affect some species, and many 

others are harmed by activities such as pollution and 

introducing exotic species that interfere with natural 

ecosystem processes. The effect of human activities 

on Earth’s climate system is explored in Activity 6, “I 

Didn’t Do It ... Did I?”

Want to Do More?

Visit NOAA’s Paleoclimatology Web site (http://www.

oar.noaa.gov/climate/t_paleo.html) for information 

and image collections about many topics related to 

climate change during Earth’s history.

This painting by Donald E. Davis depicts an asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula 

in what is today southeast Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65 million 

years ago, is believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. The impact spewed 

hundreds of billions of tons of sulfur into the atmosphere, producing a worldwide blackout and freezing temperatures which 

persisted for at least a decade. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up to 50 feet, 

gliding above low tropical clouds. Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.