DRAGON GENETICS
In this activity, you will use genetic information to create a dragon. You will use your
knowledge of genetics to determine the genotype and phenotype for each of the 16
traits in your baby dragon from the chromosomes of the dragon egg you receive. You
will also construct a picture of your baby dragon.
Materials Needed:
1 dragon egg containing the chromosomes for both parents
Dragon black line drawing
Colored pencils
Procedure:
1.
Obtain a dragon egg, which contains the chromosomes from the parents of your dragon.
2.
Remove all the chromosomes from your egg. Chromosomes from the mother are pink and from the father
are blue. Line up the matching chromosomes. The chromosome number is located at the bottom center of
each chromosome. The number of the egg is at the top center; record this number on your data sheet. The X
chromosomes are rectangular and the Y chromosomes are triangular.
3.
Using the key to dragon traits, determine your baby’s genotype and phenotype for all of the traits listed on
the chromosomes. Record this information in the proper spaces on the data table.
4.
Refer to the phenotypes you listed on the data table. For each phenotype listed, trace the corresponding
dragon body part found on the black line drawing. Be sure to color your baby dragon’s features with the
appropriate colors, according to the phenotypes you have listed.
5.
Answer the questions on the back of your data table.
6.
Staple your baby dragon to your data table and turn it in. Be sure to turn in your dragon egg by the end of
the period.
Dragon Key: = Female
Upper case letters represent dominant alleles =
Male
Lower case letters represent recessive alleles
N = Long neck
n = short neck
E = Red eye
e = white eye
H = Horn present
h = horn absent
X
F
= Fire Breathing
X
f
= not fire breathing
G = Green body
g = gray body
L = Long tail
l = short tail
S= Spikes on end of tail
s = no spikes on end of tail
R = Red wings lining
r = yellow wings lining
T= Three toes
t = four toes
D = Green edge to wing
d = red edge to wing
B
b
B
b
= blue tail spikes
B
r
B
r
= red tail spikes
B
b
B
r
= purple tail spikes
W = Yellow body
w = white body
M = Green body spikes
m = yellow body spikes
X
P
= Black horn
X
p
= white horn
K = Freckles
k = no freckles
XX= No ear frills
XY
A
=
Ear Frills
;
XY
a
=
no ear frills
