Mammal Study

Mammal Study BSA Supply No. 33271

A mammal may weigh as little as 1/12 ounce, as do some shrews, or as much as 150 tons, like the blue whale. It may spring, waddle, swim, or even fly. But if it has milk for its young, has hair of some kind, is relatively intelligent, and has warm blood, then it is a mammal.

Requirements

1. Explain the meaning of "animal," "invertebrate," "vertebrate," and "mammal." Name three characteristics that distinguish mammals from all other animals.
2. Explain how the animal kingdom is classified. Explain where mammals fit in the classification of animals. Classify three �mammals from phylum through species.
3. Do ONE of the following:
   1. Spend three hours in each of two different kinds of natural habitats or at different elevations. List the different mammal species and individual members that you identified by sight or sign. Tell why all mammals do not live in the same kind of habitat.
   2. Spend three hours on each of five days on at least a 25-acre area (about the size of 31/2 football fields). List the mammal species you identified by sight or sign.
   3. From study and reading, write a simple history of one non�game mammal that lives in your area. Tell how this mammal lived before its habitat was affected in any way by humans. Tell how it reproduces, what it eats, and its natural �habitat. Describe its depen�dency upon plants and other �animals (including humans), and how they depend upon it. Tell how it is helpful or harmful to humankind.
4. Do ONE of the following:
   1. Under the guidance of a nature center or natural history museum, make two study skins of rats or mice. Tell the uses of study skins and mounted specimens respectively.
   2. Take good pictures of two kinds of mammals in the wild. Record light conditions, film used, expo�sure, and other factors, in�cluding notes on the activities of the pictured animals.
   3. Write a life history of a native game mammal that lives in your area, covering the points outlined in requirement 3c. List sources for this information.
   4. Make and bait a tracking pit. Report what mammals and other animals came to the bait.
   5. Visit a natural history mu�seum. Report on how specimens are prepared and cataloged. Ex�plain the purposes of museums.
   6. Write a report of 500 words on a book about a mammal species.
   7. Trace two possible food chains of carnivorous mammals from soil through four stages to the mammal.
5. Working with your counselor, select and carry out one project that will influence the numbers of one or more mammals.

Resources

Scouting Literature

Animal Science, Dog Care, Environmental Science, Fish and Wildlife Management, Nature, Pets, and Veterinary Medicine merit badge pamphlets

Books

• Alderton, David. Foxes, Wolves, and Wild Dogs of the World. Sterling, 1998.
• Barkhausen, Annette, and Franz Geiser. Rabbits and Hares. Gareth Stevens, 1994.
• Bowen, Betsy. Tracks in the Wild. Little, Brown, 1993.
• Chinery, Michael, ed. The Kingfisher Illustrated Encyclopedia of Animals: From Aardvark to Zorille--and 2,000 Other Animals. Kingfisher Books, 1992.
• Carwardine, Mark, et al. Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises. Nature Company: Time-Life Books, 1998.
• Graham, Gary L. Bats of the World. St. Martin's Press, 2001.
• Hare, Tony. Animal Fact File: Head-to-Tail Profiles of More Than 100 Animals. Facts On File, 1999.
• Hodge, Deborah. Deer, Moose, Elk, and Caribou. Kids Can Press, 1999.
• Lumpkin, Susan. Small Cats. Facts On File, 1993.
• Miller, Sara Swan. Rodents: From Mice to Muskrats. Franklin Watts, 1998.
• Whitaker, John O. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals. Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
• Zim, Herbert Spencer, and Donald F. Hoffmeister. Mammals: A Guide to Familiar American Species. Golden Press, 1987.

Organizations and Web Sites

American Zoo and Aquarium Association
8403 Colesville Road, Suite 710
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3314
Telephone: 301-562-0777
Web site: http://www.aza.org

Bat Conservation International
P.O. Box 162603
Austin, TX 78716
Telephone: 512-327-9721
Web site: http://www.batcon.org

Conservation and Resource Center
Smithsonian National Zoological Park
1500 Remount Road
Front Royal, VA 22630
Telephone: 540-635-6540
Web site: http://www.si.edu/crc

National Audubon Society
700 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
Telephone: 212-979-3000
Web site: http://www.audubon.org

National Wildlife Federation
11100 Wildlife Center Drive
Reston, VA 20190-5362
Telephone: 703-438-6000
Web site: http://www.nwf.org