| Answer Key Tracking Animal Movement | |
| 1. Which of the animals in the quiz might you find in your neighborhood? Have you ever seen any of these tracks? Where? | |
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Answer: Answers will vary; for example, “I live in the northeastern United States where one might expect to find raccoons, squirrels, opossum, deer, badgers, and cottontails. I have only seen tracks of raccoons, squirrels, deer, and rabbits in my backyard and around the lake near our house.”
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| 2. Describe the differences between mammal tracks and insect tracks. | |
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Answer: Mammals have larger and bigger tacks with actual toes. Insects are much smaller and do not typically have toes.
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| 3. Describe the differences between bird tracks and human tracks. | |
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Answer: Bird tracks have smaller, thinner, claw like tracks and vary in size and shape. Humans have the same basic pattern and have five toes with a heel and arch.
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| 4. How do satellites help scientists on Earth locate herds of deer? | |
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Answer: The satellite is equipped with powerful cameras that can locate and capture various animals on film.
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| 5. How can you tell if an animal is an herbivore or carnivore by examining its scat? | |
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Answer: You can tell a difference if there are pieces of indigestible bone or hair in its scat. Herbivores may have indigestible seeds or pits from berries.
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| 6. What clues did you use to help you identify the different tracks? | |
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Answer: Answers will vary. Students may mention size, toes, heel, depth of track, shape, etc.
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| 7. Did you make any wrong guesses? What other clues would help you in the future to make correct animal track identifications? | |
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Answer: Answers will vary. Students should mention that they can consider the placement, shape and size, position of the toes, etc.
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| 8. Explain why using camera traps are better than human observation when tracking animals. | |
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Answer: Camera traps are valuable because they can be left in a given location for long periods. A person would have a difficult time remaining quietly in one place. Cameras are also not afraid of dangerous predators such as tigers. Finally, camera traps can take pictures of animals at night.
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| 9. What was hard about using a Crittercam? | |
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Answer: It is difficult to attach and then retrieve the Crittercam.
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| 10. What did you learn about using the Crittercam? | |
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Answer: Students should mention specific details about the animal they chose to create a crittercam.
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| 11. What type of animal behavior can be studied using the cameras? | |
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Answer: They help us study animal location, habitat, social interaction, feeding, hunting, and mating rituals. It can also help us estimate population size and migration patterns.
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| 12. Describe an ocelot in your own words. | |
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Answer: Students may describe their color, size, similarities to house cats, where they live, how they eat, etc.
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| 13. Why do you think that there are so few ocelots in Texas? | |
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Answer: The primary threat to ocelots is the destruction of habitat. Ocelots require large territories to hunt and roam. Development of land to build roads, residential communities, commercial enterprise, and agriculture destroys the habitat of these animals and minimizes contact between males and females.
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| 14. Describe where the polar bears live and guess what they might be doing. | |
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Answer: Three of the bears are on land close to the coast. The fourth looks like it is traveling on the sea ice.
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| 15. What might happen to these bears if global climate change caused the sea ice to melt? | |
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Answer: The bears that are on the sea ice would be swimming in the open ocean. They might not be able to go far enough on the ice to catch fish and seals.
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| 16. Describe the turtles that you saw. | |
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Answer: Students should note that the turtles have a blue tracking device on their shells. The turtles are kept in protected habitats.
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