Vertebrate Skeletons
 Instruct students to examine the skeletons of the 5 vertebrate animal groups. They should not touch or move the skeletons as
they are delicate and will easily break. Just look.
 Pass out the 5 vertebrate animal cards (mammal, bird, fish, reptile, and amphibian) to five students.
 As a group, determine which card goes with which skeleton and have the students place the animal card with the matching skeleton.
What do all of the animals have in common?
Backbones
Mammals
 Discuss the characteristics common to mammals.
Fur, live young, nurse their young
 Ask students to name the mammals at this station. Do not let students touch or hold the animals as they are delicate and are
easily damaged.
Otter, red fox fur, white footed mouse, brown bat,
grey squirrel, fox, beaver
 Ask students where each animal lives and how it is adapted for life in its habitat.
 Look closely at the live white footed mouse and note the mammal characteristics. Information about the white footed mouse is located at the back of this document.
 Put everything back in place for the next group.
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Scientific Name: There are than 120 different species of North American mice of which about half of them are considered white-footed mice
Common Name: White-footed mouse or deer mouse
Mammal: Taken from the Latin word “mamma” meaning “a breast”; animals which feed their young from the breast
Diet: Seeds, nuts, insects - stores seeds and nuts
Size: 7.5 inches long (includes its 3.5 inch tail), weighs about .5 ounces.
Age: Lives 2-3 years in the wild
Habitat: Deciduous forest (trees that loose their leaves in the Fall), mixed and Coniferous (evergreen) woodlands throughout the United States.
Mice make their nests in ground burrows, tree cavities, woodpiles, hollow logs, or abandoned bird and squirrel nests. They line the nest with anything they can find: soft plant materials, fur, or wood and bark shavings.
Mice keep their nests very clean and unlike bird’s nest, they are covered at the top with the entrance hole on the side. Females have 3-4 litters a year, and the average litter size is 4. The young are altricial – born naked, blind, and helpless- but grow quickly, as the mother drives them from the nest when they are only few months old.
White-footed and deer mice are good climbers and will sometimes store food in holes like squirrels. Mice tend to seek protection while they eat, so you will usually find their midden (food storage) piles under some type of shelter, such as an overhanging rock, an exposed root system, or a tree crevice. In contrast, squirrels and chipmunks will leave middens out in the open on rocks, stumps, or stonewalls or just about anywhere else on the forest floor.
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 Do mice have backbones? Yes
 What class of animal are they? Mammals
 What characteristics do mice have that qualify them as a mammal?
Fur, bear live young, nurse their young, warm blooded
 What is the habitat of a mouse? Forests
 What do mice eat? Seeds, nuts, insects
 What eats mice? Snakes, owls, hawks, foxes, weasels
 When are mice active? Night (nocturnal)
 How do mice defend themselves? They run very fast and hide in burrows.
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