This week the 7th Graders from Heritage E-STEM Middle School applied engineering skills they'd been learning by designing and constructing live traps. They planned on placing the traps around the Lilly Prairie to see what kinds of small mammals live there. (Back in November we set up trail cameras to capture images of larger mammals active at the Lilly. We saw deer, a raccoon, a coyote, people, and a mink!) Today each class had several successes - traps that actually worked! So what was in the traps?
We found meadow voles. The students tended to assume these animals were mice, but there are easily observed differences. Mice have large ears and long tails. Look carefully at the picture and notice the tiny, dark eyes and almost absent ears. Their tails are shorter than the length of their bodies.
Meadow voles are probably the most abundant mammal on the prairie. They reproduce at an early age, have large litters, and become food for many others on the prairie. You probably won't ever see them, but the traps we used today helped us know they are on the Lilly.
No comments:
Post a Comment