SQUIRRELLY BEHAVIOR! Student Worksheet ... - National Zoo

SQUIRRELLY BEHAVIOR!
Student Worksheet: Building Background Knowledge
In your classroom, work in small groups to share your knowledge of animal behavior.
You will write on the worksheet again after the video and after the outdoor activity.
About Smithsonian Behavior Watch Studies
What do you know about how scientists conduct behavior watches?
What similarities and differences might there be between Jennifer Mickelberg’s work
with golden lion tamarins and the behavior watch you will conduct with squirrels?
What are the differences between observing behaviors and documenting behaviors?
What is an activity budget? Did the video give you new ideas for questions you could
answer with your behavior watch?
How does Jennifer Mickelberg identify the different individuals in her study group? Can
you think of ways you might distinguish between different squirrels?
Student Worksheet

About Your Own Behavior Watch Study
What question(s) about squirrels do we want to answer with your behavior watch?
What behaviors should we expect to observe in squirrels?
What behaviors would be best to watch for to answer our question(s)?
Should we expect to see different behaviors (or different rates of occurrence of the
behaviors) during different seasons of the year? . . . at different times of the day? Why
or why not?
Student Worksheet

Example of
Behavior
STUDENT HANDOUT: COMMON SQUIRREL BEHAVIORS
Definition
Eating/drinking
When an animal eats or drinks.
Foraging
When an animal is searching for food. The animal uses its nose
or paws/hands to search for food.
Grooming
When an animal cleans itself by licking, scratching, or wiping its
body.
Resting
When an animal is not changing location. This may include
sleeping, sitting, and standing still.
Social activity
When an animal is interacting with another animal of the same
species, such as playing, chasing, grooming, fighting, and
breeding.
Student Handout

SAMPLE CHECKSHEET
STUDENT WORKSHEET: BEHAVIOR WATCH CHECKSHEET
Student name(s): ___Jane and John________________________________ Date: ___April 1__________ Time started: __1:05 p.m._______
Kind of animal: ___Gray squirrel___________________________________ Animal age: juvenile adult
Other identification notes: ___Gray with a little brown on shoulders with a full tail_______________________________________________
Location: ___School courtyard near feeder___________________ Temperature: ___65°F ____ Weather: sunny cloudy rainy
Directions: Watch the same animal for 5 minutes. At the end of each 30 seconds, check the activity that you see the animal doing at that exact
moment. You can have only one check mark per trial. You will end up with a total of 10 check marks.
Trial time
(minutes)
Eating or
Drinking
Foraging Grooming Resting
:30
1:00
1:30
2:00
2:30
Social
Activity
Student Worksheet
Not
Visible
Anything else
3:00 Calling / barking an alarm
3:30
4:00
4:30
5:00
Total = 3 3 0 1 1 1 1
Percent = 30% 30% 0% 10% 10% 10% 10%

STUDENT WORKSHEET: BEHAVIOR WATCH CHECKSHEET
Student name(s): _______________________________________________ Date: ________________ Time started: __________________
Kind of animal: _________________________________________________ Animal age: juvenile adult (check one)
Other identification notes: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Location: _______________________________________________ Temperature: ______________ Weather: sunny cloudy rainy
Directions: Watch the same animal for 5 minutes. At the end of each 30 seconds, check the activity that you see the animal doing at that exact
moment. You can have only one check mark per trial. You will end up with a total of 10 check marks.
Trial time
(minutes)
:30
1:00
1:30
2:00
2:30
3:00
3:30
4:00
4:30
5:00
Total =
Percent =
Eating or
Drinking
Foraging Grooming Resting
Social
Activity
Student Worksheet
Not
Visible
Anything else

Behavior Watch – Classroom Master Sheet
Student
Names
(Sample)
Jane & John
Time
Slot
Number
of Trials
Number of
“Eating/Drinking”
Number of
“Foraging”
Number of
“Grooming”
Student Worksheet
Number of
“Resting”
Number of
“Social
Activity”
Number of
“Not Visible”
1:05 p.m. 10 3 3 0 1 1 1 1
Total =
Percent = 100%
Number of
“Anything
Else”