Film commentary: Kippik
Did the chestnuts decide to look like hedgehogs to protect themselves?A very amusing film to explain mimicry to children, the property that certain animal or plant species have of making themselves similar in appearance to another species or to the surrounding environment.
Mimicry is common in animals, but less common in plants, which, unable to move, have developed astonishing properties.
To spread pollen, orchids seduce male pollinating insects by posing as females. They also emit a scent that is identical to the sex pheromones of the female insects they imitate.
Why not introduce the curious South American vine, Boquila trifoliolata, which is capable of copying the appearance of the leaves of different plants on which it clings in order to escape from its predators; its genes allow it to imitate more than 10 kinds of leaves!
Make a list of animals capable of imitating their environment? Children are often familiar with the chameleon, which is able to match its colour to its environment, to camouflage itself or to communicate its state of mind to its fellow creatures. Emerald green, all is well; red or black if it is angry or feels threatened.
If orchids disguise themselves as insects, the praying mantis, Hymenopus coronatus, disguises itself as an orchid to hunt its prey and has a spot on its abdomen that resembles a midge and reassures insects.
Butterflies disguised as leaves? caterpillars as snakes (Hemeroplanes triptolemus)?
Questioning the film: Kippik
To understand the story, the theme, to express one's sensibility and to exercise one's critical thinking."One should not always stop at the mine"
Aesop in the city, Edme Boursault(1690)
1 Who is the character in the film?What environment is he in?
He is a hedgehog walking in the forest.
2 Our little hedgehog has an encounter at the beginning of the film.Who does he think he is meeting?Who do you think he actually meets?
He thinks he has found another hedgehog, but it is actually a chestnut.
3 Why do you think he pushes the chestnut?
He has not understood that it is a chestnut, and, as he is offended that the one he thinks is another hedgehog does not answer him, he tries to provoke it.
4 Then why does he start to follow it at full speed?
As he still hasn't understood that it was a chestnut, he thinks that it has rushed a fellow hedgehog down the slope and so he runs after it to help it.
5 When he is then trapped on the branch, why does he suddenly start to get agitated?
He sees another hedgehog below who will certainly make the same error of judgement.
6 Why, at the end of the film, do we see a lot of hedgehogs "planted" in the surrounding branches?
Itis clear that all the hedgehogs in the area are trapped, which gives the film's punchline a very comical twist.
Download PDF of the film's educational activities
Created with the support of the Ministry of Education and the CNC.Family viewing of the film, educational activities with parents at home and with teachers in class.
Hibernating animals (Questioning the world) (Cycle 2)
Educational activities proposed by Dgedie from the Juliettes school based on the film Kippik.
Discover other educational sheets created with the support of the French Ministry of Education and the CNC...
