Animal Field Study

Yesterday, we used our scientific skills to identify what the creatures are that are on our hillside. Ms Elder showed us some information about the differences between groundhogs, gophers, and ground squirrels. We had to use our observation skills to determine which they are. 

If we sat quietly on the hill, we could see the animals more easily because they weren't scared. We observed in our journals. We drew scientific diagrams and added information to help us identify them. We have concluded that these animals are: ground squirrels!

We know because they have thin, furry tails with a black tip. Also, you can't see their teeth sticking out of their mouths. We can see their necks. Ground squirrels have lots of entrances and exits, which we could see. They are very social; you will see many together. We also measured the size of their entrances and exits to determine which rodent they were. 

"We came up with a new name for the ground squirrels: g.s.'s." ~ AA

"Most of the holes were 11 cm wide. It helped us figure out which animal it was." ~ Viaan
"Everything looked the same until we figured out how big or small they were." ~ HC
"At the beginning, we thought they were gophers but using all of our information, we figured out they are ground squirrels." ~ Oliver
"They were so cute and they have human like ears and that freaked me out but overall amazingly cute." ~ EF
"THEY ARE SO ADORABLE!" ~ Cora
"I was observing a hole and one ground squirrel popped out and ran away." ~ Jackson
"It took me a while to find a ground squirrel that would stay. Once I finally found one, it stayed for a really long time." ~ Gillian
"They hypnotized me!" ~ Wynn