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Self-guiding in the Galleries
Pre-During-Post Visit Resources
Berkshire Backyard: Mammals

Pre and post visit
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Important Terms and Concepts
Activities to Do at School or at Home
Suggested Print and Web Resources

During Your Visit
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Activities to Do in the Berkshire Backyard Gallery
Things You Don't Want to Miss
Discussion Questions

Terms: Grades PreK - 2
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• Mammal
  an animal that has fur, makes milk for its young, and is warm-blooded (endothermic).
• Camouflage
  when something blends in with its background.
• Hibernate
  a deep sleep during the winter months to conserve energy and warmth. A hibernating mammal will slow its breathing rate, its pulse, its metabolism, and lowers its body temperature a few degrees. Migrate moving to a different area for better resources.
• Scat
  the scientific word for animal poop.
• Tracking
  following the signs that an animal leaves behind. These signs can be footprints, scat, scratched trees, etc.

Terms: Grades 3 - 5
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• Ectothermic
  an animal that relies on outside sources such as the sun to heat or cool its body. Reptiles are ectothermic.
• Endothermic
  an animal that creates its own body heat. Mammals are endothermic.
• Herbivore
  an animal that only eats vegetation.
• Carnivore
  an animal that only eats other animals.
• Omnivore
  an animal that eats both plants and animals.

Grades 6 - 8
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• Rodents
  a type of mammal that is an herbivore. Rodents have long curved incisors that always grow. Examples are mice, woodchuck, squirrel and beavers among others. Rabbits are not rodents.
• Cats
  a type of mammal that is a carnivore. Cats have sharp claws that are pulled into their feet when they walk. An example is the bobcat.
• Dogs
  a type of mammal that is a carnivore. Dogs have dull claws that do not retract into their feet. Examples are coyotes and foxes.
• Canines
  long pointed teeth that are located between the molars and incisors. Mammals that have canines eat meat.
• Molars
  large flat teeth that are located in the back of the mouth. These teeth are used for grinding.
• Incisors
  teeth located in the front of the mouth. Carnivores normally have small incisors and rodents have long incisors. Mammals like the deer and the moose have only bottom incisors.

Grades 9 - 12
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• Carrying Capacity
  the stable population of a species. This number depends on the amount of resources available in the area where the species is living.
• Symbiotic Relationship
  the interdependence of two or more species that benefits both.

Activities: Grades 1 - 2
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Adaptation Collage
Students cut different animal parts out of magazine and paste together to create a new animal. Then students answer questions about their animal like, what name would you give your animal? What would it eat? What special adaptations does it have to help it survive? How well would it survive in the Berkshires? What changes would help your animal to survive better in the Berkshires?

Activities: Grades 3 - 5
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Rabbit Camouflage
Each child is given a piece of paper shaped like a rabbit. They are to color their rabbits any way they would like. Then the group is divided in half. One half has 3 minutes to hide their rabbits (preferably outside) while the other half is kept from seeing where the rabbits are hidden (a short game or story would be good here). The group that hid their rabbits sits down while the other group "hunts." You can pretend that the group is a pack of coyotes or great horned owls. They have 5 minutes to hunt and catch rabbits. (The rabbits that weren't found can be gathered up separately.) When the time is up, gather all the students together to discuss your findings. Were their any similarities among the rabbits that got caught first? Which rabbits didn't get eaten? Switch groups and repeat the process to let the other group hide their rabbits. Gather students and discuss findings. Would the rabbits that got eaten be able to reproduce anymore? Would the rabbits that didn't get eaten be able to reproduce again? How would this affect the genetic make-up of the rabbits living in this area? What do you imagine would happen to the rabbit population if this trend were to continue? What would the rabbits look like in a hundred years?

Grades 6 - 8
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Classification Game
This game introduces the idea of classification in a fun way. Place an assortment of objects (say about 20 different things) where all students can see them. One volunteer "sorter" begins to sort half of the objects (but not all) into categories. The challenge for the other students is to figure out the sorter's classification system. Volunteer students then try placing a remaining unsorted object into a category. The "sorter" should let each volunteer know if his or her classification works with the system or not. Continue until someone feels confident enough to explain the theory of the sorter's classification system.

Grades 9 - 12
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Mammal Habitat Observation
Take your students out on a nature walk to look for signs of mammal homes. Do you see those circular holes in the ground? Those aren't snake holes (snakes can't dig!) but most likely chipmunk homes. Look in natural grasses for rabbit runways - trampled down paths that rabbits repeatedly travel on. Look for sleeping areas - grasses that have been pressed down in a circular pattern - depending on the size they could be made by rabbits, foxes, bobcats, or deer. Winter is also a good time to look for mammal signs. Mammals that are active need to get out to find food. Look for nutshells and excavated dirt near the entrance to their dens. Even though many times mammals will hide when they hear us coming, we can still be alert to their presence through the signs they leave behind. Look up Stokes: Guide To Animal Tracking and Behavior in the printed materials section as a reference for this activity.

Resources: Grades PreK - 2
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Print and Web Materials for PreK - 2 Students

Carle, Eric. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated, 1996. Children can follow along in this wonderful read-aloud story in which children see a variety of animals, each one a different color.

Nail, Jim. Who's Track's Are These? Nimot, Colorado: Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1994. Follow children through the woods investigating tracks and discovering the mammals they belong to.

Print and Web Materials for PreK - 2 Educators

Enchanted Learning - All About Mammals
Get lesson ideas, printouts, and information on mammals, their evolution and classification.

Parker, Steve. Eyewitness Books: Mammal. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1989. Here is a spectacular and informative guide to the natural world of mammals. Stunning real-life photographs of bushbabies, badgers, wallabies and more offer a unique "eyewitness" view of the natural history of mammal behavior and anatomy.

Print and Web resources: Grades 3 - 5
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Print and Web Materials for Grade 3 - 5 Students

Canadian Museum of Nature: Mammals
Pictures and descriptions of over 75 mammals from the African Elephant to the Eastern Chipmunk to the Zebra.

Parker, Steve. Eyewitness Books: Mammal. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1989. Here is a spectacular and informative guide to the natural world of mammals. Stunning real-life photographs of bushbabies, badgers, wallabies and more offer a unique "eyewitness" view of the natural history of mammal behavior and anatomy.

Print and Web Materials for Grade 3 - 5 Educators

Macdonald, Dr. David, ed. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. 1984. New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc., 1995. Contains information about mammals throughout the world including animal behavior, conservation, skull size, geographical location, and ecology. Sections are broken down by family and the animals within the families.

Stokes, Donald & Lillian. Stokes: Guide To Animal Tracking and Behavior. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1986. A great resource to help in identifying animal tracks, trails, scats, and signs left behind by North American mammals.

Resources: Grades 6 - 12
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Print Materials for Students and Educators Grades 6 - 12

eNature.com
eNature's web-based field guides contain full-color photographs and descriptions of more than 4,800 species found in North America. With eNature's zip-code search capabilities, site visitors can quickly and easily identify their local plant and animal life.

Macdonald, Dr. David, ed. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. 1984. New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc., 1995. Contains information about mammals throughout the world including animal behavior, conservation, skull size, geographical location, and ecology. Sections are broken down by family and the animals within the families.

MassWildlife's State Mammal List
This is a list of the mammals that live in Massachusetts. Those species appearing on the current list of endangered, threatened, and special concern species in Massachusetts are indicated with an asterisk.

Stokes, Donald & Lillian. Stokes: Guide To Animal Tracking and Behavior. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1986. A great resource to help in identifying animal tracks, trails, scats, and signs left behind by North American mammals.

Zim, Herbert. Mammals: A Guide to Familiar American Species. New York: Golden Books, 1987. An accurate and fascinating introduction to more than 200 of the most common species of mammals in North America, including information on: habits and habitats, families trees, raising young, food, enemies, and more. Includes full-color illustrations and range maps.

Activities: Grades K - 2
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Adaptation Hunt
Students are given a clue card with an image of a special adaptation like a bird beak, insect wings, or mammal's claws. Their challenge is to find an animal in the BBY with this adaptation. Then discuss as a group the following questions:

• What animal did you find?
• In which animal group does it belong?
• How is that adaptation helpful?

Some of the adaptations can be found in other animals, for example, mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles all can have webbed feet. Brainstorm as a group to find other animals that have the same types of adaptations. Click here to get adaptation clue cards.

Global Animal Hunt
A scavenger hunt with images of animals that can be found in the Museum's World in Miniature Gallery. What are the names of the animals? Where do they live? Are there any other animals that look similar? Click here to get the scavenger hunt sheet.

Grades 3 - 5
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Tracking Activity
Read the tracking story to your class, then pass out tracks to each student. They can find the mammal that fits their track. The tracks are actual size to the specimens in the display cases. Look carefully! Hint: Does your track have toes? How many? Are there claw marks in the track? If so, then you know that your animal walks with its claws out. If there aren't any claw marks, then your animal either doesn't have claws or it retracts its claws when it walks.

• Click here to get the tracking story.
• Click here to get track pictures.
• Click here to get answer sheet.

Grades 6 - 8
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Animal Comparison
Compare a mammal to another type of animal. Come up with at least five things that are similar and five things that are different. Then draw a picture of an imaginary animal that combines the features of both animals. (These are all represented in the Berkshire Backyard Gallery.)

• Bobcat and Owl
• Cottontail Rabbit and Grasshopper
• Bat and Butterfly
• River Otter and Frog
• Weasel and Snake

Grades 9 - 12
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Practicing Field Observations
When studying wildlife in the field, it is important to make careful and detailed observations. Choose an animal in the Berkshire Backyard to study. Draw two small and distinct parts of its body (e.g. a nose and a foot, a claw and the tip of a wing, etc.). Sign but do not label your drawing. The teacher then collects the drawings and randomly redistributes them. Students now try to find the animal.

Population
Assign groups of students three Berkshire Backyard animals (1 mammal, 1 bird, 1 insect) and hypothesize how many of each lives in Berkshire County. When back at school create a graph and plot hypotheses in red asking students to explain their reasoning. Then have groups research actual population data for their species. Plot those numbers in black. Discuss the graphs. Where were student expectations close to actual data? Where did they differ greatly? Ask students why they think their estimates were different from data.

	Black Bear Black bears are the only bear species that can be found in Berkshire County. In recent years this large mammal has become increasingly common and less afraid of people. Though black bears are generally timid and not interested in hurting humans, they are often found in neighborhoods scrounging for food, so it is important to recognize the potential danger and warn youngsters not to approach one. Black bears may weigh as much as 450 pounds. This species is omnivorous, feeding on a wide variety of vegetable and animal life: grasses, fruit, berries, roots, ants, honey, and any birds, mammals, fish and frogs it can catch. For additional information on local bears and other large mammals, visit The Massachusetts Wildlife Program And Lynn Roger's organization dedicated to bear research and education, The Wildlife Research Center.
	Star-nosed Mole In appearance, the star-nosed mole resembles the common mole except for the peculiar snout ending in a fringe apparently used for finding foods such as earthworms, grubs and beetles. These small insectivores have eyes, although they are often hidden beneath fur.
	Muskrat One of the larger rodents found locally, it is almost never found far from water where it feeds mostly upon aquatic plants. Its home, while superficially resembling that of its larger cousin the beaver, is made of rushes, cattails and other aquatic plants.
	Hares and Rabbits Rabbits and hares are common names, often applied interchangeably, for small, furry mammals with long ears, long legs, and short tails. Rabbits are distinguished by the helplessness of their offspring. Young rabbits are born naked with their eyes closed. The cottontail (top picture on left) builds its simple nest on the surface, usually in grass or brush, and rarely lives in social groups. Hares are generally larger and have longer ears with characteristic black markings. The skulls of rabbits and hares are also different. The varying or snowshoe hare (lower picture) and cottontail rabbits are both found locally, with hares found chiefly in the uplands (at higher elevations) and rabbits in the lowlands.

• What adaptations do these animals have that help them to survive?
  
  
• What might this animal do in the rain? Snow? Winter? Summer?
  
  
• Where does this animal spend most of its time?
  
  
• How many carnivorous mammals are on display? How many herbivores? How many omnivores?
  
  
• If you had to compete with one of these mammals in a race, which would you pick? Why?
  
  
• Pick one mammal on display. Imagine that this species becomes extinct (disappears) from Massachusetts tomorrow. How would the other species of the Berkshires be affected (including humans)? Then imagine what would happen if this species population doubled in number.
  
  
• Pick one Berkshire mammal. What different kinds of adaptations might it have if it lived in a rainforest or a desert?
  
  
• Are there animals in the Berkshire Backyard gallery that you can also find in the World in Miniature gallery?

The following is a list of all of the mammal specimens on display in the Berkshire Backyard. A laminated copy of this list can be found hanging from one of the mammal cases in the Berkshire Backyard, or you can print this version out and bring it with you to the Museum. The numbers on the list refer to the number given to each specimen in the cases.

Click here for a printable list.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent Federal grant- making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities supports the Berkshire Museum.

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