Mississippi River Life

Mississippi River Life

National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium Conservation Education Curriculum Target Grades: Pre K 4 th grade Key Words: Habitat, diversity Subject Areas: science, biology Duration: 30-45 minutes Time can be extended by request Title: Mississippi River Life Program presented on site at Museum or as an Outreach. Summary: What does a river otter eat? How do frogs and toads swallow their food? What does and owl sound like? The answers to these questions and more will be uncovered as we explore the animals living in and along the Mighty Mississippi River by touch, sight, and sound. Be prepared to get up close and personal with one or two live specimens. Objectives: Students will be able to: 1. define Habitat 2. define Diversity 3. Have an understanding of the size Mississippi River Group Size:

60 students maximum Background for Educators: Definitions: 1. Habitat: The place where an organism normally lives or where individuals of a population live. Needs to have food, water, shelter, and enough space for survival. 2. Diversity: Variety of life. Many different organisms found together in an area. The Mississippi River starts as a small stream up in Northern Minnesota and flows approximately 2,500 miles to empty into the Gulf of Mexico. There are many types of habitat along and in the Mississippi River. The River isn t just a fast moving body of water, there are backwater areas, wetlands, shallow inlets, and deep murky bottoms (just to name a few). The climate and animals of the river differs depending on how far north or south you are. A couple examples; in the far Northern areas you ll find Moose and Wolves, but down south you ll get Alligators and venomous snakes. The Mississippi River overall has an amazing amount of diversity. This program will discuss some of that diversity found along the river and talk about what type of habitat they are found in. Let s talk about river life. 1. River Otter (Lutra Canadensis) a. Otters are mainly carnivorous; eating fish, frogs, crayfish, snakes, aquatic invertebrates, duckling, earthworms, and the very occasional plant material. b. Range: Can be found along the entire stretch of the Mississippi River and throughout most of North America. c. Habitat: Along stream, lakes, and river borders. Often found in back water areas along the Mississippi River. Will den in banks with entrance below water or take over old beaver lodges. 2. Barred Owl (Strix varia) a. Owls have different calls depending on the species. One of the most common owls around Iowa is the Barred Owl. Named for the barred pattern on its chest. This owl s call sounds like it is asking Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all. b. Range: There are many species of owls found throughout the entire length of the Mississippi River. The Barred Owl can be found along the entire stretch of the river. c. Habitat: Woodlands, wooded river bottoms, wooded swamps.

3. American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) a. Alligators are large cold blooded reptiles. They have a slow metabolism and are ambush predators. Alligators don t waste their energy; they will typically sit and wait for good things to come to them. They float in the water with only head exposed; looking like a log. When an animal gets close they then jump, grab, and drag it underwater for lunch. b. Range: Southern part of River; Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Also found throughout the Southeastern part of United States. c. Habitat: swamps, lakes, bayous, marshes, and other bodies of water. 4. Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca carolinensis) a. The Mississippi River is a major migratory route, not only for ducks and geese, but also migrating songbirds. Small duck; female dull in color and male with chestnut and green head. b. Range: Spend summer months on the northern portion of the Mississippi, and Northern United States. Use the Mississippi as a migratory route. Spend the winter months on the Southern stretch of the river (southern Missouri to the Gulf), and through southern United States. c. Habitat: Marshes, rivers, bays. Often backwater areas. 5. Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) a. Fish grow to fit their environment so typically the deeper the water typically, the larger the fish. Channel Cats are just one species of catfish found along the River. They can weigh anywhere from 3-20 pounds. Like other catfish they taste with their barbels (the whisker like growths on their face). They eat fish, aquatic insects and plant material. b. Range: The entire stretch of the river. c. Habitat: Clear, moving water. Can be found in the Main Channel and moving water that feeds into the Mississippi. Can also be found in lakes and ponds. 6. American Toad (Bufo americanus) a. Toads and Frogs must use their eyeballs to push food down their throats. b. Range: The American Toad can be found nearly the entire stretch and throughout most of the eastern United States. c. Habitat: Range from suburban backyards to wilderness areas. Must have shallow slow moving water to breed in. Such as creeks and backwaters along river. 7. Corn Snake (Elaphe guttata) *You might have another species of snake, depending on who is okay to go to a program that day. Just check with Husbandry and look up the following information for that particular snake.

a. There are many species of water snakes along the river. Water snakes spend much of their time in the water, but any snake can swim. Corn snakes (are not considered water snakes ) they come in a variety of colors, but this specimen is very typical. Thought to get its name corn because it is often found in corn fields eating rodents and it resembles Indian corn. b. Range: Southern Missouri and south (Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana). And throughout southeastern United States. c. Habitat: Not a water snake. Typically found in wooded areas with pines and hardwood trees. Materials Needed: 1. Map of the Mississippi River showing its place in N. America (picture in fur trunk). 2. Otter pelt and picture (picture in fur trunk) 3. plastic toad 4. Owl wing, picture, and identiflyer 5. Green-winged teal feather and picture (picture in fur trunk). 6. Alligator puppet 7. Catfish puppet 8. 2 live animals ( American toad and Corn snake) Procedure: Start by showing the Mississippi River pictures and talking about how long it is and how temperatures change depending on the part of the river you re looking at. Talk about what a habitat is and that not all of the habitats along the river are the fast moving main channel, but shallow creeks, slow moving backwaters, murky bottoms, and wooded areas. The river is full a diversity. Animals are occupying different habitats along the 2,500 miles stretch. We are going to talk about a few of these animals today and at the end actually meet two live animals found along the river. Talk about the animals and pass specimens around, leave at least 15 minutes at the end to talk about and touch the live animals. *Make sure to take hand sanitizer or if in classroom, have students wash hands after touching animals.

Evaluation: Students will be evaluated with questions asked throughout the program. Additional resources: Hickman, Cleveland P. Jr, Roberts, Larry S., and Larson, Allan. 1997. Integrated Principles of Zoology. Peterson Field Guides: Reptiles and Amphibians Peterson Field Guides: Mammals Peterson Field Guides: Birds of Eastern and Central America Extensions: 1. Many of the animals talked about during this program can be found at the Museum. A two hour tour would talk in more detail about the animals and give students the opportunity to see many other species found along the river. 2. Our Rockin Reptiles and Awesome Amphibians would be a wonderful follow-up for this program. Rockin Reptiles has more animal guests and talks in detail about them (build on diversity). Related programs available at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium: Rockin Reptiles and Awesome Amphibians Mammals of the Mississippi On the Right Track Credits: Kristi Karwal-Clark- National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium; Dubuque, Iowa 12-12-0