Thank You Notes

A mammal is an animal which:

- has a backbone
- is warm-blooded
- bears live young
- has fur and
- feeds its young milk

Can you identify these mammals that make their homes at Weldon Springs?

- I can produce one million descendants in my lifetime.
- I am eaten by almost every animal that eats meat.
- My average lifetime is two - three months.
- I travel in runways I’ve clipped in the grass.
- A single acre of grassland is habitat for two hundred of us, yet you seldom see me.
- Who am I?

- I feed my young at dawn and dusk.
- I have a double pair of upper incisors.
- I step with my front feet behind my rear feet.
- I tuck my young in a coverlet of my own fur.
- My fluffy white tail helps me escape predators.
- Who am I?

- I was responsible for the exploration of the American West.
- I can groom my fur with my split toenail comb.
- My big orange teeth never stop growing.
- I use my tail to sound the alarm.
- I am sometimes killed by falling trees.
- Who am I?

- My fur is reversible; it lays flat in either direction.
- My feet do not extend below my body.
- I “slurp” earthworms like spaghetti.
- My hands are on backward (palms out) so I can “swim” through the dirt.
- I “see” in the darkness with my nose.
- Who am I?

- I can eat six hundred mosquitoes in an hour.
- I am certainly not blind.
- I never fly into your hair. (That would be rude.)
- I am the only mammal that can truly fly.
- I use echolocation to locate and capture my prey.
- Who am I?

- Fifty teeth often make me look like I’m snarling.
- My ears and tail are sometimes frost-bitten.
- I can use my tail to hold on to a branch or carry leaves for my nest.
- I have an opposable thumb.
- I am North America’s only marsupial.
- Who am I?

- I use cattails for food and shelter.
- I can eat myself out of house and home.
- My naked tail is sensitive to the cold.
- Mussels are a special treat for me.
- I am sometimes on the menu as “marsh rabbit”.
- Who am I?

- I protect my young by leaving them alone.
- My winter coat and my summer coat are different colors.
- Hollow hairs provide me insulation from the cold.
- I cannot travel in deep snow.
- I use a white flag to warn of danger.
- Who am I?

- I have flourished alongside Man.
- My name, in Algonquin, means “he who scratches with his hands”.
- I “see” underwater with my hands.
- My coat is countershaded - dark on top and light below.
- I don’t really wash my food.
- Who am I?

- I am a scrappy fighter able to kill prey larger than I am.
- When I smell prey, I chase or burrow after it.
- 75% of my diet is small rodents.
- My small head and sleek body enable me to enter mouse runways and vole tunnels.
- The color of my coat may change with the seasons.
- Who am I?

- You can see me in the dark.
- I wear a warning to “stay away”.
- The great horned owl is my only predator.
- I raid turtle nests to feast on eggs.
- My scent is unforgettable.
- Who am I?

- I was named for my luxurious tail.
- I use my tail for an umbrella.
- My summer home is a big leafy ball.
- I can smell my dinner through a foot of snow.
- When you’re too close, I flatten myself against a tree trunk and disappear.
- Who am I?

- Although most consider me a carnivore, I often eat berries.
- The tip of my tail is always white.
- My genus and species names are the same.
- When solitary, I sleep out in the open.
- I take over a groundhog den to house my young.
- My average weight is 9 ½ pounds - less than many domestic cats!
- Who am I?

Match these animals with the descriptions above:

(Answers: 1-vole, 2-eastern cottontail rabbit, 3-beaver, 4-mole, 5-bat, 6-opossum, 7-muskrat, 8-whitetail deer, 9-raccoon, 10-weasel, 11-skunk, 12-fox squirrel, 13-red fox)

Birds are animals which:

- have a backbone
- are warm-blooded
- lay eggs and
- have feathers

Can you find these bird words?

Word Search

Reptiles are animals which:

- have a backbone
- are cold-blooded
- breathe with lungs
- have dry, scaly skin

Amphibians are animals which:

- have a backbone
- are cold-blooded
- do not have scales
- have moist skins
- undergo metamorphosis

Fish are animals which:

- have backbones
- are cold-blooded
- dwell in the water
- breathe through gills

Unscramble these letters to learn the names of some of Weldon Springs’ reptiles, amphibians and fish.

(Answers: catfish, largemouth bass, leopard frog, crappie, garter snake, snapping turtle, blue gill, bull frog, spring peeper, bullhead)