Who Lives Here?
Aquatic Wildlife Identification Activity
Grades: Any
Group Size: Any
Location: Inside Classroom
Length: 20-35 minutes, depending on number of stations
Materials Needed
Choose animals that are common to your area, examples of some animals may include: moose, beaver, martins, otter, wood ducks, herons, snakes, turtles, and frogs.
Information for aquatic animals: 1) tracks sheet or poster, 2) feathers or study skins (furs), 3) skulls, 4) pictures of nesting sites or deer yards, 5) food samples (plastic fish, acorns, wild rice, cat tails, plastic frogs etc.), 6) mounted specimens, 7) scat samples, 8) related items such as a wood duck nesting box, "beaver sticks". For the discussion of the importance of habitat, assorted slides of aquatic wildlife species and life history information. (See your local, state, or federal wildlife biologists for some of these materials, or local sportsmen's groups)
Description
One of the reasons for keeping our waters free of pollutants is to maintain habitat for important aquatic wildlife species. Students will collect clues about animals that live in wetland habitats.
Objective
Students will identify and learn about various aquatic wildlife species through a hands-on, group exercise and subsequent slide presentation.
The Activity
1. Begin with a brief discussion on the importance of wetland areas as wild animal habitat. Then explain the activity they will be doing.
2. Set up 5 stations in the classroom each representing a particular animal species. At each station include clues about each animal such as:
- a copy of the track the animal makes,
- a sample of its main food source,
- a clue as to where it lives (possibly a picture of its home or some of the building materials),
- a skull,
- a study skin (only partially exposed through a sealed envelope so only a portion of the back fur is visible).
3. Have the students split up into five groups and give each group a handout to record the clues and their determination as to what animal the clues represent. Have them rotate through the stations so that each group has an opportunity to identify each animal. Ten to 15 minutes per station should be adequate.
4. After the students have completed the rotation, ask each group to provide their answer for Station One. After they provide their answer and give their reasoning, show one or two slides of the animal the station represents and provide a few tidbits of life history information on the animal. If no group has come up with the correct answer, continue to give a few more hints until they identify the animal. Do this for all five stations.
If you have time after this part of the activity is completed, show additional slides, and/or study skins, mounted specimens, etc. of other aquatic species, which were not part of the exercise.
Author's note: In the activity that I did at the 1998 Southern Maine Children's Water Festival I used a beaver, a muskrat, an otter, a mink and a wood duck for the identification part of the activity. I was fortunate to have feathers and study skins to use. I cut a hole in a manila envelope; then placed each of the skins in the envelope so that a small portion of back fur protruded. This way, the animal could not be easily identified by the fur alone. I included track samples and/or food samples at each site. In addition to the slides identifying the animals in the slide show I included slides of a Canada Goose, a loon, a mallard, and a painted turtle. Each student also got to take home a copy of an animal tracks handout.
Bill LaFlamme
Bureau of Land and Water Quality
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Station #17
Augusta, ME 04333
207-287-3901 c:98wildlp
