A Close Look at Two Living Things
A circular lotus basin sits beside a walking path in Bellstone City Park. Visitors watch lotus plants and dragonflies from a railing. A volunteer uses photographs and cutaway models to show parts that visitors cannot see from the path. A cutaway model shows the inside of a body without harming a living thing.
Lotus roots spread into the mud outside the plant's stems. When a breeze pushes water across the basin, the rooted plants stay in place. Broad leaves receive sunlight, which plants use to make food. On a cutaway stem model, arrows trace water from the roots through narrow tubes inside the stem toward the leaves. Developing seeds sit surrounded by a firm seedpod. A photograph taken later shows seeds released from an older pod. Other photographs follow a lotus seed as a root and then a small shoot appear.
Dragonflies dart above the basin and catch small insects. Slow-motion video shows their outside wings changing position as they turn. A cutaway model shows muscles inside the chest attached to the wings. As these muscles shorten and relax, the wings move. Another model shows digestive organs inside the body. These organs break down food so the body can use it for growth and other activities. The volunteer points out ovaries inside a female dragonfly's abdomen, where eggs develop.
Visitors also see a female dragonfly bend her abdomen toward the water and release eggs. Close-up photographs show young dragonflies hatching from eggs and living underwater. The volunteer reminds visitors that a part's location matters when calling it internal or external. Internal means within the organism's body, not simply hidden from a visitor's view. Mud or water can hide a structure that is outside the rest of the body. Visitors leave plants, insects, and eggs undisturbed while making their observations.