|
Abstract If you were leaving home for a long walk, how far would you go? One mile, 5 miles, 10 miles? How about 550 miles?! That's a long way, but some wolves have been known to travel that far when they are leaving their packs in search of a mate so they can form their own pack. But is that how far wolves normally travel? Try this wild wolf tracking science fair project to find out!Objective Determine the total size of a gray wolf pack's territory and whether the pack's movements change depending on the season. Introduction Have you ever put a collar on a dog? Depending on the dog, it can be tricky to get the animal to stay still while you buckle the collar in place. Now imagine putting a collar on a wild wolf! As challenging and difficult as that task sounds, for some people, it's a routine part of their jobs. Every summer, the wildlife biologists who work for the Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey use safe, humane traps to catch wild wolves. Once caught, the wolves are anesthetized. Anesthetic drugs have varying effects, such as loss of sensation or loss of consciousness (sleep). When catching wolves, the biologists give them a type of anesthetic that causes them to fall asleep for a certain period of time. While the wolves sleep, they are fitted with radio collars. Each collar has a transmitter, which sends out a unique frequency. This is similar to how different radio stations each broadcast on a different radio wave frequency. When you want to listen to a particular radio station, you tune in to the broadcast signal using a radio, which is actually a type of receiver. If you want to listen to a different radio station, you change the receiver's (in this case your radio) settings to tune in to another frequency. Similarly, the radio collar of each wolf broadcasts a unique frequency and the biologists use antennas and receivers to tune in to those frequencies and use the strength of the signal to pinpoint the wolf's location. This system of using radio transmitters and receivers to track the movements of wildlife is called radio telemetry.
Using radio telemetry to find and follow specific animals has helped wildlife biologists learn many things about the gray wolves, which live in the Superior National Forest in Minnesota, including where the wolves travel, what they eat, how much they move around, when they rest, how many wolves live together, and how often they come in contact with humans. From years of observation, biologists know that gray wolves live in packs. These packs usually consist of a group of 5–9 wolves. Two of the wolves, a male and female pair who are unrelated, are the dominant wolves. They mate and birth a litter of pups every year. The other wolves in the pack help feed and raise the wolf pups, but do not have any pups of their own. Often, the non-breeding wolves in a pack are older offspring of the dominant pair. These wolves will stay around for a couple of years before dispersing (leaving the pack) to find their own mates and start their own packs. Wolves are territorial. Each wolf pack has a specific territory (area of land) in which it hunts for food, raises its pups, and that it defends from other wolf packs. How large do you think a wolf territory is? And do they use the same area of land all year around? Do they travel more in some seasons than in other seasons? These are the types of questions that wildlife biologists try to answer, and you can discover the answers, too, by analyzing the tracking data from real wild wolves! This science fair project will show you how to access, map, and analyze radio collar tracking data from two wolves belonging to the Pike Lake wolf pack in the Superior National Forest in Minnesota. Get ready to find out when and where those wild wolves wander! Terms, Concepts, and Questions to Start Background Research
Questions
Bibliography This science fair project is based on this publication:
To complete this science fair project, you'll need to use data from these websites:
Additional information about gray wolves can be found by exploring these websites:
These resources offer more information about radio telemetry:
For help creating graphs try this website:
Materials and Equipment
Disclaimer: Science Buddies occasionally provides information (such as part numbers, supplier names, and supplier weblinks) to assist our users in locating specialty items for individual projects. The information is provided solely as a convenience to our users. We do our best to make sure that part numbers and descriptions are accurate when first listed. However, since part numbers do change as items are obsoleted or improved, please send us an email if you run across any parts that are no longer available. We also do our best to make sure that any listed supplier provides prompt, courteous service. Science Buddies receives no consideration, financial or otherwise, from suppliers for these listings. (The sole exception is any Amazon.com or Barnes&Noble.com link.) If you have any comments (positive or negative) related to purchases you've made for science fair projects from recommendations on our site, please let us know. Write to us at scibuddy@sciencebuddies.org. Experimental Procedure Before beginning this science fair project, make sure you've read the "How do I plot wolf locations?" section (pages 7–9) of the activity booklet, which comes in the Track Wild Wolves Activity Kit.
Variations
Credits Dr. Wikelski, PhD Sandra Slutz, PhD, Science Buddies
This science fair project is based on this publication:
|
 |
Related LinksProject Summary
Donate to Science Buddies
Sponsor
|
I Did This Project!
Career Focus
If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring related careers.
 |
Park Ranger Park rangers are the law enforcement officials of our state and national parks. They protect and preserve parklands, keeping park resources safe from people who might try to damage them, deliberately or through neglect, and keeping people safe from dangers within the park. To achieve this goal, park rangers work in a wide variety of positions, including education and interpretation for park visitors, emergency dispatch, firefighting, maintenance, law enforcement, search and rescue, and administration. There is a large global shortage of park rangers in developing countries. |
 |
Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist Ever wondered what wild animals do all day, where a certain species lives, or how to make sure a species doesn't go extinct? Zoologists and wildlife biologists tackle all these questions. They study the behaviors and habitats of wild animals, while also working to maintain healthy populations, both in the wild and in captivity. | |
 |
Biologist Life is all around you in beauty, abundance, and complexity. Biologists are the scientists who study life in all its forms and try to understand fundamental life processes, and how life relates to its environment. They answer basic questions, like how do fireflies create light? Why do grunion fish lay their eggs based on the moon and tides? What genes control deafness? Why don't cancer cells die? How do plants respond to ultraviolet light? Beyond basic research, biologists might also apply their research and create new biotechnology. There are endless discoveries waiting to be found in the field of biology! |
 |
Remote Sensing Scientist or Technologist Have you ever climbed up high in a tree and then looked at your surroundings? You can learn a lot about your neighborhood by looking down on it. You can see who has a garden, who has a pool, who needs to water their plants, and how your neighbors live. Remote sensing scientists or technologists do a similar thing, except on a larger scale. These professionals apply the principles and methods of remote sensing (using sensors) to analyze data and solve regional, national, and global problems in areas such as natural resource management, urban planning, and climate and weather prediction. Because remote sensing scientists or technologists use a variety of tools, including radio detection and ranging (radar) and light detection and ranging (lidar), to collect data and then store the data in databases, they must be familiar with several different kinds of technologies. | |
|
Join Science Buddies
Become a Science Buddies member! It's free! As a member you will be the first to receive our new and innovative project ideas, news about upcoming science competitions, science fair tips, and information on other science related initiatives.
Support Science Buddies
If this website has helped you, won't you consider a small gift so we may continue developing resources to help teachers and students?
|
