Do One Thing

Spring Term 2009

The Do One thing this term is called wildlife homes.

You may have heard the saying home sweet home! Well everyone needs a home. Just like us animals choose their home to suit their lifestyle. All homes have some things in common in that they are somewhere we can go to keep safe, warm and dry. Each animal lives in a home that suits them from dark underground burrows to carefully made nests in tree-tops.

Wildlife homes provide protection from the weather, predators and human disturbance. They also provide a safe place to sleep and look after their young.

Wild animals

Mammals make their homes in a variety of places, the main types of homes made by mammals are burrows underground but some make their own nests and others use existing spaces such as cracks and crevices in buildings e.g. bats. Mammals all give birth to live young so it is important that their home protects them and their young from predators and human disturbance.

Animal	Picture	Home	Tracks and signs
Badger
Fox
Deer
Rabbit
Mouse
Squirrel

Wild animal fact file

Badger

• Home: a series of tunnels underground called a sett
• Body length : approx. 1m
• Food: badgers are omnivores – they eat a variety of foods including earthworms
• Habits: nocturnal – come out at night
• Live in social/family groups
• Shy
• Good sense of smell
• Does not hibernate, but is less active in winter
• Lifespan: up to 15 years although many die young with an average lifespan of 3 years
• Breeding: litter size is 2-3 cubs which are usually born in February
• Tracks and signs: distinctive track - 35mm x 45mm, broad kidney shaped palm with a row of 5 toe pads and claw marks. Clumps of brown/grey fur

Fox

• Home: underground burrow called an earth or den
• Body length: 40-90cm (excluding tail)
• Food: mainly carnivorous feeding on rodents, birds, earthworms and insects. Also scavenges on dead animals and eats fruit.
• Habits: nocturnal, solitary hunter
• Does not hibernate, but active throughout the year
• Lifespan: 2-4 years
• Breeding: breed once per year and usually have 4-5 pups born in the spring
• Tracks and signs: 35mm X 50mm, triangular palm pad with 4 toe pads, large space in the middle of the print sometimes with hairs visible
• Droppings – 80-120mm long, dark coloured when fresh turning grey when old. May contain fur, feathers, bones, insects and fruit

Deer

• Home: flattens vegetation with its body to make a bed
• Height: 50 – 120cm depending on the species
• Food: herbivores – grass, leaves, berries, herbs, acorns
• Habits: good night vision, hearing and sense of smell
• Does not hibernate, but is less active in winter
• Lifespan: up to 20 years
• Breeding: October to January
• Tracks and signs: sizes vary depending on species. Footprint is two broad slots, usually parallel

Rabbit

• Home: a network of underground tunnels called a warren
• Body length: 30-40cm
• Food: herbivore mainly eating grass and leafy plants but bulbs bark and twigs if food scarce. They can also re-ingest their own faeces
• Habits: sociable animals - rabbits live in colonies
• Does not hibernate unless food is scarce
• Lifespan: 3-5 years
• Breeding: spring and summer – produce litters of 3-9 young
• Tracks and signs: 25mm-35mm, soles of feet covered in hair, claw marks usually visible.
• Droppings – sphrerical - 10mm diameter, yellowish brown or greenish

Mouse

• Home: find homes wherever there is cover and warmth making nests or burrows below ground
• Size: 10cm (varies with species)
• Food: omnivorous eating seeds, berries, invertebrates, worms, snails and fungi
• Habits: nocturnal, excellent hearing and vision, good climbers.
• Hibernate: no, but they are less active in winter and use their food stores for survival
• Lifespan: 6-12 months
• Breeding: between March and October, can reproduce several times per year with litters of 4-7 young
• Tracks and signs: forefoot 10mm and hind foot up to 20mm. Droppings 6mm long and 2mm thick – hard when dry

Squirrel

• Home: a nest called a drey made of twigs with leaves attached, lined wirth dry grass, moss and feathers
• Body length : 25cm
• Food: hazelnuts, acorns, tree bark, leaves shoots, flowers. Also raid birds nests for eggs and young
• Habits: most active at dawn and dusk, good eyesight and smell, tails used as a signalling device for communication
• Hibernate: no, active all year round
• Lifespan: up to 10 years, 3-4 years in the wild
• Breeding: twice per year during March/April and June/July with an average litter of 3 babies
• Tracks and signs: forefoot 25mm x 35mm and hind foot 35mm x 45mm

Domestic animals

 

Animal	Picture	Home	Tracks and signs
Dog
Cat
Horse
Sheep

Further lesson ideas for teachers

1. Make an animal home

Working outdoors, children make an animal out of mud and make a home for it using natural materials. Then they can evaluate the homes and think about how they could be improved. Would predators be able to see and reach them easily?

In the classroom look at examples of animal homes e.g. badger and rabbit burrows consisting of interlinking tunnels and chambers providing good protection from predators and the elements. It is clear these animals spend a lot of time and effort making their homes suitable. This could also be done in the classroom making the animal out of clay and making the home out of waste materials.

2. Make a den

The children can imagine they have to live in the wild. Working outside, they have to make a den out of natural materials (perhaps in an area of woodland) which would protect them from the weather, animals, intruders and would be in a good place to find food and water.

3. Woodland walk

Take the children on a woodland walk to look out for nests and burrows and the tracks and signs that animals leave. Any findings can be sketched or photographed, then matched up with identification material on this website or on the FSC foldout chart Mammal Tracks and Signs.

4. Design your own home

Look at features of animal homes, which would you choose? Discuss what it would be like to live in a nest at the top of a tree or in an underground burrow – discuss good and bad points. What are the good and bad points about your home? Pupils design their ideal home considering how it will keep them warm, dry and safe.

5. Homes for sale

Choose an animal. Thinking about where it lives, imagine it wants to sell its house and move to a new one. Write an advert advertising it to other animals. What might attract the animal to live there? Download an example advert for a badger's sett

Home for sale, pdf 41 kb.

6. Recipe for a home

Download the recipe for a home for a long-tailed tit

Recipe for a home, pdf 159 kb.

List ideas about what you would need to create a home. Choose the ones that are most important and write a recipe for a home. Remember that recipes usually start with a verb to describe how to make it. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• build a brick house
• add a fire to make it nice and cosy
• fold in some furniture
• mix in some memories
• stir in some laughter
• sprinkle with photographs
• decorate with your favourite possessions.