WebLessons: Teaching Social Studies and Science with Online Lessons

Study Questions Monitoring Animal Populations
1. Which of the animals in the quiz might you find in your neighborhood? Have you ever seen any of these tracks? Where?

2. How can you tell the difference between tracks left by a wild pig and a black-tailed deer?

3. Discuss similarities and differences in the tracks of a blue heron and a wild turkey.

4. Describe how the tracks of a deer in the snow would differ if the deer were bounding across a field as opposed to walking.

5. How can you tell if an animal is an herbivore or carnivore by examining its scat?

6. Think about your answers. What evidence and information led you to the conclusion you came to?

7. Check your answer. If you were not correct, discuss information you missed that might have changed your answer.

8. Discuss the advantages of using camera traps as opposed to direct observation by safari adventurers with telephoto lenses.

9. What are some of the challenges of using a Crittercam?

10. Why would it be difficult for a diver to follow a leatherback sea turtle?

11. What type of animal behavior can be studied using radiotelemetry?

12. Recount how ocelots share their environment and establish territory.

13. What is the primary reason that there are so few ocelots in Texas?

14. Describe the polar bears’ current location and guess what they might be doing.

15. What might happen to these bears if global climate change caused the sea ice to melt?

16. Give an example of how the information we gain from satellite tracking helps conservation of sea turtles.

17. Give a general observation about the location of the animals.

18. What do the chlorophyll maps tell us?