Grasslands

This is an ecosystem called a grassland. It is very different from the thick, brambled woodland we set traps in last week. It may look empty, but there are many small mammals hiding there. We also saw a lot of insects. Including spiders and...


Caterpillars!






























We set our traps in the grassland hoping to catch some shrews. The number we catch can help us determine the total population. Last night, we learned about some very complicated math formulas that the scientists use to do this.

We also did some surveyinng of the grassland area today for field signs of mammal species. One of the most interesting things we came across was part of a deer hide! We believe this was leftover from a coyote meal. Yikes!

A coyote is a member of the canine family just like our pet dogs. There is another canine roaming the grassland and woodland here and today we found evidence that one has been around. That's right, more scat! Let's play the game one more time, kids...

Whose Scat is That?
Remember, think about what makes sense in this ecosystem. I've already given you a big hint: It is in the same family as dogs and coyotes....

Yesterday's Challenge:

Great job on the last challenge, everybody! I asked you to try to find out how voles are different from mice and shrews. You are definitely on the right track. I'd like to see a few more people get a chance to try the challenge before I reveal the answer. Hopefully tomorrow we will catch a few and I'll have some pictures for you. In the meantime, keep up the good work!


BEAVERS!
Looks like the weather is perfect for beaver watching tonight; yippee! This means it will be a very late night and I may not have a chance to blog, but hopefully I'll have a lot of wonderful stories to share about today's adventures when I blog tomorrow!