Maggie’s
Activity Pack!
Name __________________________________
Date ___________________________________
Maggie’s Concepts in Science:
Problem Mammals
Think about a beaver. It is a furry animal that lives by
the water. They cut down trees on the land. They use the
logs to make homes and dams in the water. The beaver is
an animal that lives in a wetland habitat.
Much of the beaver’s work is done at night. We say that
it is a nocturnal animal. It eats plants that grow in and
around the water. An animal that eats plants is called a
herbivore.
There is an animal that is a lot like a beaver. You may
not know about this animal. It is called a nutria. A nutria
looks like a beaver. It has brown fur and has small eyes and
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2003. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use
ears. But a nutria has a long round tail. It does not have a
big flat tail like a beaver.
A nutria is like a beaver in many other ways. Nutria are
nocturnal animals. They do their work at night just like
beavers do. Only they do not cut down trees. They make
tunnels under the water. When they are finished, the marsh
is full of channels.
Nutria are herbivores, too. They eat the leaves, stems,
and roots of plants that live in the water. This means that
they eat aquatic vegetation.
Nutria were brought to the United States from South
America. This is one way they are not like beaver. Beaver
have always lived in the United States. Sometimes when
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2003. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use
animals are brought to a new area, they can be problems.
Then the animal is called an invasive species. The nutria is
an invasive species.
One of the places where nutria have invaded is
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland. Many
birds and fish live in the refuge. Animals like an endangered
squirrel live there. Now nutria live there, too. There used to
be lots of marshland for ducks and geese. In the past 50
years, about one-third of this wetland has disappeared.
What is causing the wetlands to disappear in Blackwater
Refuge? Scientists wanted to find out!
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2003. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use
Thinking Like a Scientist!
Now that you’ve learned about nutria, it’s your turn to
be a scientist.
A. What do nutria eat?
______________________________________________________
Tell how their eating habits could be hurting wetlands.
_______________________________________________________
B. What do nutria do at night?
_______________________________________________________
How could this hurt wetlands?
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
C. What would you do about nutria if you were a scientist?
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2003. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
D. What would you tell people who wanted to bring an
animal to a new place?
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Understanding Scientific Words
Look at the bold-face words in the story. Use what you know
and the ideas in the story to help you tell what the words
mean.
1. wetland habitat
_______________________________________________________
2. nocturnal animal
______________________________________________________
3. herbivore
_______________________________________________________
4. aquatic vegetation
_______________________________________________________
5. invasive species
_______________________________________________________
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2003. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use
Dear Colleague,
This Weekly Activity Packet is the first in a series of articles that will deal with
science issues. In this series we will introduce students to important scientific concepts
such as invasive species. Your students will be asked to think like a scientist and draw
conclusions based on the facts presented in the article. We are committed to keeping
the Weekly Activity Packets student directed so that you can use them as homework,
center activities, or valuable worksheets for the times you are busy with other children.
In this packet we highlight the concept of invasive species. Children will learn
how the introduction of a non-native species can impact the environment. We hope your
students will understand the necessity of knowing an animal’s habits before it is brought
to a new area. If this is not understood, there can be serious consequences for the
environment.
If you want to learn more about the nutria or Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge,
visit this website:
http://blackwater.fws.gov/nutriafact.html
When completing the “Thinking Like a Scientist” portion of the activity, your
students should conclude the following:
A. Because the nutria eats the entire plant, including the roots, the resulting loss
of vegetation can cause erosion. Waves, wind, and high water can change marsh
habitat to open water habitat.
B. Nutria construct a crisscross of channels in wetlands. This fragments the
marshland and makes it susceptible to further erosion. The swamp land can be flooded
resulting in open water habitat.
C. This open ended question will prompt your students to think about the difficult
situation that results from an invasive species problem. Scientists are now looking at
options for controlling nutria. Your students may offer suggestions from penning them,
constructing enclosures to keep them out of sensitive areas, planting native plants that
nutria don’t like to eat so they go elsewhere, trapping them and moving them,
introducing predators, or eradicating them. Your students may come up with a great
idea that will help scientists. If so, let us know!
D. The lesson of this article is that we must learn all the facts about a species
before it is introduced to an area. Perceptive students will also offer the idea that
scientific studies should be performed before animals and plants are brought to new
habitats. Another good lesson is that exotic species should not be released into the wild.
The state of Maryland currently has a problem with this. Someone released a snakehead
fish into a pond. Now that pond has many snakeheads in it. These invasive fish
eradicate the native plants and fish. Since they can walk and live out of water for up to
three days, they can easily move to new areas. Maryland is now trying to get rid of this
fish.
Kathy
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2003. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use