Explorers Team

Forest Mammals

Welcome to the Explorer's Mammals Web Page! First and second graders in Ms. Garvey's and Miss Fisk's class have researched Vermont forest mammals. Click on the mammal name to read more information about its description, size, habitat, diet, enemies and other interesting facts.

Click one of the mammal names below for more information,
then click on a picture to see it in full size. Enjoy!

Eastern Chipmunk by Michael and Abbie

Opossum by Samone and Madeline

Gray Squirrel by Andrew and Georgia

Skunk by Aidan and Charlotte

Grizzly Bear by Kiah and Will

Cottontail Rabbit by Erin

Bat by Dustin and Michelle

Wolf by Nate

Internet links we used to learn about forest mammals

The Eastern Chipmunk

by Michael and Abbie

Description:

The chipmunk is a small mammal. It has fur that is reddish brown on its body and white fur on its belly.

It has a white line across its face and it has 2 black lines across its back.

Size:

Chipmunks are about 8-10 inches or 20-25 cm.

They weigh 2 to 5 ounces. Chipmunks tail are 3-4 inches long.

Habitat:

Chipmunks live in Southeastern Canada and the U.S.A.

They live in a burrow or a hole in the ground in woodland and suburban areas. They build their nests out of small dried pieces of grass.

What it eats:

The chipmunk eats hickory nuts, eggs, chestnuts, acorns, beechnuts and berries.

Enemies:

Chipmunks have many enemies including: foxes, squirrels, hawks, snakes, bobcats, house cats, weasels, owls, coyotes, bears, marten, traps and poison.

Interesting Facts:

A chipmunk may suddenly stop and sit on it’s tail twitching it will clasp it’s forepaws to it’s chest, it starts to sing it’s chip-chip song.

A chipmunk can hold up to 3 acorns in its mouth at a time.

Even though chipmunks do not truly hibernate, they spend their winters sleeping in their tunnels. During this time they feed on stored nuts and seeds.

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The Opossum

by Samone and Madeline

Description:

Opossums have good hearing and scent. Opossums have a big snout and it doesn’t have any hair on its ears. Opossums can hang upside down. They have black eyes. They also have long separated toes.

Size:

Opossums are about the size of a cat. They weigh 4-14lbs. Their bodies are about 15-20 inches long. They tail is about 10-21 inches.

Habitat:

Opossums live in dens. It is a woodland animal.

Opossums live in eastern North America. They can live in cities.

What it eats:

Opossums eat plants, bugs, mice, frogs, dead chickens and ants.

Enemies:

Opossums have many enemies including dogs, foxes, hawks, owls, coyotes and humans. The opossum scare its enemies by showing its teeth.

Interesting Facts:

Opossum have 50 teeth. Opossum’s tails are sometimes called a 5^th hand. It is an expert swimmer.

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The Gray Squirrel

by Andrew and Georgia

Description:

The gray squirrel is furry, small and runs fast. It has a bushy tail and strong back legs.

Size:

The biggest squirrel is 2 feet tall and is 5 to 46 inches (with the tail) long.

Habitat:

Gray squirrels live in 5 of the continents in the east. They live in forest in oak trees. They also live underground.

What it eats:

Gray squirrels eat acorns, corn, maple seeds and beechnuts.

Enemies:

Gray Squirrels have many enemies such as hawks, owls, bobcats, badgers, dogs, cats, foxes, raccoons, humans and coyotes.

Interesting Facts:

When squirrels don’t collect nuts, the nuts grow and turn into trees.

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The Skunk

by Aidan and Charlotte

Description:

Skunks have a black body with white stripes down its back and head.

Size:

Skunks weigh 6-14 pounds. They have a tail up to 7-16 inches long. The skunk’s body is 13-16 inches long.

Habitat:

Skunks live near barns and villages. They live in underground dens full of leaves.

What it eats:

The skunks have milk from their moms when they are born and eat flowers, caterpillars and grubs.

Enemies:

The skunk’s enemies include bobcats, great horned owls and man.

Interesting Facts:

The skunks are active at night and sprays smelly stuff that can blind. It does a handstand before it sprays. The striped skunk is the main source of rabies in the U.S.A.

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The Grizzly Bear

by Kiah and Will

Description:

Grizzly bears are very large mammals that walk with a waddle. All brown bears have a hump on their backs. They have light tips on their fur.

Size:

The size of the grizzly is 6 to 8 feet tall. Most brown males weigh 350 to 700 pounds.

Habitat:

It lives in a den. The grizzly lives in Alpine meadows, and also the forest in Alaska. It also lives in the southern Rocky Mountains.

What it eats:

It eats fish, and sometimes bulls, and it also eats moose, berries, deer and bobcats, lynx, grasses and leaves, honey, woodchucks, foxes. porcupines, roots, flowers and nuts.

Enemies:

Their only living enemies are people, other than traps and poison.

Interesting Facts:

Their fur can be blonde and black. The black and blonde can not be seen separately. They blend together. The heaviest grizzly was 1,496 pounds. The babies are called cubs, and they have to stay with their mother for three years before going out on their own.

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The Cottontail Rabbit

by Erin

Description:

The cottontail rabbit is mostly nocturnal. It spends its days hidden in a thicket under a bush. They are small and furry. They have large eyes and keen ears. They are furry mammals with brown fur in the spring and summer, and white fur in the winter. They have whiskers and a small tail. It has a white tail that looks like cotton. That is why it is called a cottontail rabbit.

Size:

It is about 15 inches tall. It is a little bit bigger than a foot.

Habitat:

They live in woods and fields. They do not live in burrows like other rabbits do; they live on the surface. They are mostly found in the U.S.A. and Mexico.

What it eats:

Cottontail rabbits feed on grasses, clover, twigs, buds, bark, and vegetables.

Enemies:

They are prey of mostly every meat eater, from hawks, to owls, to foxes, to weasels, to dogs, cats, snakes, and even squirrels and crows.

Interesting Facts:

The cottontail rabbit may freeze when an enemy is near. It has a lot of enemies. The babies are born 30 days after mating.

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Bats

By Dustin and Michelle

Description:

Bats have wings and a hairy body. Bats fly. Bats live in caves.

Size:

The little brown bat is 3 inches or 7.5 cm. Some bats are no bigger than a hummingbird.

Habitat:

During the winter some bats sleep in buildings, trees and slimy caves. They live all over the United States except they don’t live in Texas or Florida.

Food:

Bats eat birds, frogs, lizards, and insects such as large beetles and wasps.

Enemies:

Bats have many enemies. Some of these enemies include snapping turtles, barn owls, bigger bats and people.

Interesting Facts:

Bats make an eerie sound like this: eeeeck eeeck.

The fastest bats can fly 40 miles an hour.

The bat is the only mammal that can fly.

In China, bats are good luck.

Baby bats are called pups.

Bats are an endangered species.

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