How squirrels prepare for winter for children. Amazing facts about the intelligence of squirrels. How Animals Prepare for Winter
Goals:
Expand and clarify children's knowledge of proteins. Replenish existing knowledge of children with new information. Introduce the riddle about the squirrel and the proverbs: “If you put it further away, you will take it closer”, “A cat has a cat - also a child”. Vocabulary: nimble, cocky, businesslike, scandalous. Continue to learn to guess riddles and depict riddles. Raise interest in the nature of the native land.
Equipment:
Pictures and photos of squirrels, appliqué equipment.
Squirrel
Squirrel
Lesson progress:
There are many animal and bird storerooms in the forest in autumn. What birds and animals that arrange pantries for the winter do you know? (Answers of children). Today we will talk about just such an animal. Hear about him a riddle:
The squirrel riddle
From branch to branch
Fast as a ball
Jumping through the forest
Red circus.
Here he is on the fly
Tore off the bump
Jumped on the trunk
And he ran away in a hollow.
What about the riddle made you think of the protein? (Answers of children).
Squirrel makes solid stocks for the winter - in different places, different stocks, in large quantities. He is very clever at collecting nuts. Shake the branch, jump to the side and look. Which branch swings longer is heavier, which means there are more nuts on it. Here, a squirrel climbs onto this branch and bites nuts. An empty or spoiled nut is immediately recognized and will not be taken for anything. Squirrel mushrooms also store a lot for the winter. And he chooses the very best. Dries squirrels and fly agarics, presumably in medicinal purposes. Dried mushrooms are hidden in hollows or under bark that has lagged behind trees. In mushrooms, then the squirrel will only eat the hat, and throw away the leg. In addition to mushrooms and nuts, squirrels store acorns for the winter. Acorns - what tree is this from? (Answers of children). From oak.
And this is how a squirrel hides its prey: it digs a hole, carefully puts the prey into it. It will drive deeper, and from above it will rake up more earth and dry leaves, so that no one else can smell it. You never know winter forest staggering beggar animals. “The farther you put it, the closer you take it.” How do you understand this proverb? (Answers of children).
It happens that strangers eat squirrel stocks. But the squirrel itself, if it stumbles upon other people's stocks in winter, will not be ashamed and will eat them. Part of the stock will remain uneaten. This will benefit the forest: after all, in the spring they will sprout roots and sprout.
Here is how M. Prishvin wrote about the protein in the story "Squirrel Memory".
“Today, looking at the tracks of animals and birds in the snow, this is what I read on these tracks: a squirrel made its way through the snow into the moss. I got two nuts hidden there since autumn, ate them right away - I found the shells. Then she ran a dozen meters, dived again, again left the shell on the snow and after a few meters she made the third climb. What a miracle You can't think that she could smell nuts through a thick layer of snow and ice. So, since the fall, she remembered her nuts and the exact location between them. But the most amazing thing is that she could not measure, as we do, in centimeters, but directly by eye with accuracy determined, dived and pulled out. Well, how could you not envy squirrel memory and ingenuity!
Let's play with our fingers for a bit.
Finger gymnastics "Squirrel"
The squirrel jumped, jumped,
(Children spread their fingers)
By winter, the pantries were filled with:
(They begin to bend all fingers in turn, touching the pads of the corresponding palm).
Here - nuts, here - mushroom
For sons and daughters.
At the end of autumn, the squirrel will change its coat from red to gray. Why do you think? Who else changes their coat for winter? (Answers of children).
When they come very coldy you won't see a squirrel. She, curled up in a ball, can sleep for several days.
In addition to protein reserves, he likes to eat pine cones in winter. Having plucked a cone, the squirrel settles somewhere in a fork among the branches. He holds the cone in his front paws, bites the scales of the cone with his teeth and takes out fatty seeds with his lips.
If the winter turned out to be harsh and long, the squirrel eats the bark, young shoots, and buds. He cuts off a twig with his teeth and, holding it in his paws, bites off the bark and buds from it. Obest, drop it down and take on a new one. But this food is not satisfying, proteins starve with such nutrition.
But in summer, the nutrition of the squirrel is diversified by the larvae of various insects, ant and bird eggs, and, on occasion, chicks, as well as berries, fruits, catkins of willows and aspens.
It's time to play. Children depict animals, inhabitants of the forest.
Game "Show me the answer"
The poor man has no lair,
He doesn't need a hole.
Legs save from enemies
And from hunger - bark.
(Hare)
Get used to the poultry house -
Expect trouble.
red tail
Covers traces.
(A fox)
Who deftly jumps on the trees
And flies up to the oaks?
Who hides nuts in a hollow,
Dry mushrooms for the winter?
(Squirrel)
Not a beast or a bird
Afraid of everything.
Catch flies -
And splash into the water.
(Frog)
Like a royal crown
He wears his horns.
Eats lichen, green moss,
Likes snow meadows.
(Deer)
rope twists,
Head at the end.
crawling, wriggling,
Throws at the enemy.
(Snake)
A ball is rolling in the forest,
It has a prickly side.
He hunts at night
For bugs and mice.
(Hedgehog)
This little gray
Glad even for a bread crumb,
Because before dark
She hides in a burrow.
(Mouse)
Lying dirty
In a bristly shirt.
tail pretzel,
Snout snout.
(Boar)
For housing, the squirrel builds one main nest for the winter and 2-3 year old spare ones. These spare nests are like cottages, the squirrel rests in them, hides from predators, waits out summer heat. If suddenly the squirrels are in danger, then it drags them into these spare nests. Summer nests are light, wind-blown. But the winter nest is woven and built skillfully, insulated. There are, however, not very hardworking squirrels that fit magpie and crow nests under the nest, driving away the hostesses from them.
By nature, the squirrel is nimble, cocky, businesslike and scandalous. Let's take a look at the meanings of these words. What does "nimble" mean? Badass? Busy? Scandalous? (Answers of children).
Squirrels have weddings twice a year - at the end of winter and at the end of spring. Squirrels also appear twice a year. Baby squirrels are born tiny, naked, blind and ugly. But this is in our opinion. For every mother, be it a crow or a squirrel, her baby is the most beautiful of all. About that and the proverb: "A cat has a cat - also a child." A month later, the eyes of the squirrels open, the body is covered with delicate wool. And very soon they will become such pranksters and annoy their mother so much with their antics that she goes to a spare nest and there rests from her restless children. But by night, having rested, she returns to the children. After all, a squirrel is a caring mother.
In the event of an enemy attack, the squirrel tries to lead him away from the nest, running along tree trunks. Sometimes pretends to be dead, falls to the ground. It happens that, saving the kids, the squirrel dies.
As soon as the baby squirrels grow up, they leave their parents. Squirrel-daughters will go into independent life a little later. Old squirrels live in the same place, and young ones settle in a new one.
Unfortunately, the main enemy of a squirrel is a person. And it got to the point that they shot all the squirrels in the Crimea. Caught up, it's too late. I had to catch squirrels where there are a lot of them and bring them to our peninsula. Fortunately, these squirrels liked it with us, they took root well and multiplied.
But all people need to remember: we are big and strong, but we must also be kind and wise so as not to harm the small and defenseless.
Now I suggest that you do application "Squirrel".
Questions:
1. How does a squirrel prepare for winter?
2. What does he store in his "pantries"?
3. What trick does he use when collecting nuts?
4. Why does a squirrel dry fly agarics?
5. What kind of tree cones does he like to eat in winter?
6. What does a squirrel eat in hungry winters?
7. What is added to the squirrel menu in summer?
8. How do squirrels make themselves at home?
9. Whose houses are occupied by some squirrels?
10. What is the nature of the squirrel?
11. How are baby squirrels born?
12. How does a squirrel take care of squirrels?
1. By stocking, squirrels benefit trees. As you know, many squirrels bury acorns in the ground in order to later dig them up and eat them. So, for example, one Carolina squirrel is able to create several thousand such caches of acorns every year. However, she will be able to find a few of them later. This situation is good for trees. Squirrels collect acorns mainly under oak trees, and bury them far from them. Thus, protein helps the plant to spread over long distances.
2. While stockpiling, squirrels can also harm trees. For example, red squirrels and Douglas squirrels, common in North America, feed mainly on seeds from pine cones. These squirrels either eat the food they find immediately or store it in hiding places in the trees themselves. Usually in such "pantries" it is too damp, and the seeds have little chance of germinating. Squirrels such a place for stocks allows almost always to remain full in the cold season, but the trees are less likely to reproduce.
It's also worth noting that a study published in 1995 in the International Journal of Organic Evolution suggests that trees have evolved ways to "fight" this behavior of squirrels. Yes, in the Rocky Mountains North America, where red squirrels are common, soft pine cones have seeds with a thicker shell and are covered large quantity resins. This makes them less accessible to proteins. In addition, the researchers also found that these cones have far fewer seeds than pines of the same species elsewhere and have less nutritional value.
3. Squirrels dry mushrooms for the winter. One of the components of the diet of red squirrels is mushrooms. Sometimes they hang them between branches on trees so that they can be eaten in winter. Also, insect larvae and nematodes are less common in such mushrooms.
4. Squirrels understand "gardening" and know well what they eat. So, gray squirrels distinguish acorns of red oak from white and store each in a certain way. Because acorns white oak germinate almost as soon as they hit the ground, then squirrels eat them immediately, since sprouted acorns lose their nutritional value. At the same time, red oak acorns do not germinate until spring, so squirrels prefer to bury them for winter snacks. And in 1996, a study was published in the journal Animal Behavior, according to which some squirrels bit through the embryos of white oak acorns to prevent them from germinating, and buried them in the ground like red oak acorns. What's more, scientists have seen squirrels dig up some red oak acorns that they probably didn't intend to eat in the winter, bite into the buds, and bury them again for storage until the next winter.
Psychologists at the University of California at Berkeley are studying the ability of squirrels to find and make strategic food supplies. Scientists are interested in how these animals choose the territory for collecting nuts, where they hide them and how they remember these places. In other words, the researchers decided to find out to what extent the mind of these animals has developed in order to learn how to make a decision and remember thousands of moments: where the stocks made a few months ago are hidden.
Approximately 70 people participated in the study forest squirrels supervised by student volunteers. They compared the habitat of animals and their memory systems. As a result, naturalists managed to compose detailed map, where they marked over 1,000 places with hidden nuts.
Professor Jacobs, a leading expert on the study of squirrel behavior, believes that these animals are an ideal example to improve understanding of the psychology of survival in wild nature. At the same time, he believes that squirrels are very smart animals and think about the future, so they find hidden nuts not only with the help of smell, but also use a combination of architectural elements and memory for this. Meanwhile, other scientists believe that proteins, on the contrary, bad memory, and thanks to this, new trees grow from forgotten, hidden in the ground, squirrel nuts.
Squirrels are found everywhere except Australia. This lively and mobile animal is considered a typical inhabitant of forests. Moreover, steering with its tail, the squirrel easily jumps from tree to tree 3 or 4 meters in a straight line and 10-15 meters along a downward curve. At the same time, during the snowless period, as well as during the rut of the squirrel most spends time on the ground, where it moves in leaps and bounds. However, individual areas are weakly expressed and overlap.
In addition to mass migrations, the squirrel is also characterized by seasonal migrations associated with the gradual maturation of food and the transition of young animals to an independent lifestyle. At the same time, some adults remain in place; from their usual food, they switch to low-calorie foods with a high fiber content (these are buds, lichens, needles and the bark of young shoots). Thanks to this group, the restoration of the local population then occurs.
Squirrels are very prolific. During the rut, up to 6 males stay near the female, which demonstrate aggression towards competitors - they purr loudly, beat branches with their paws and run after each other. Pregnancy lasts approximately 38 days. Newborn squirrels are born naked and blind, and weigh only 8 grams. Wool appears after two weeks, and they begin to see only on the 30th day. At the same time, they are ready for independent life at the age of 10 weeks, but the mother feeds them with milk for a month and a half.
I also note that in captivity, a squirrel lives on average up to 12 years. For comparison, in nature, a 4-year-old squirrel is already considered old. The share of such animals under the most favorable conditions does not exceed 10%. In areas with intensive squirrel hunting, the population is completely renewed in only 4 years. The mortality of young animals is especially high - up to 85% of baby squirrels do not survive their first winter.
I have loved these animals since childhood. I was often taken to Kislovodsk, where I not only watched the life of these animals in the park, but also took pictures with them and fed them delicious seeds that were sold by local grandmothers. As soon as it got colder, I somehow remembered these cute creatures. I am sure you will be interested in learning more about these animals.
How a squirrel prepares for winter
Most protein it is important to find food, because she will not be able to seek food under a layer of snow. Nothing remains like make stash already in the fall, and even from the summer, because it will actually help to survive winter time of the year. The stash is made from:
- acorns
- nuts;
- mushrooms;
The animal is looking for acorns and nuts and then hides them in a hollow. This animal is very loves pine nuts. The squirrel cleans the cone in advance to get the grains and hide them from prying eyes. When the cache is ready, then the animals cover their tracks so that no one gets close to their supplies. They straighten the grass and smooth out the moss that might have been a little tumbled. It happens that the squirrel dives for supplies so well that then she herself cannot find them.
The animal must store mushrooms, which feeds well in winter. The squirrel carefully dries them, hanging them on a tree branch. This is necessary so that the mushrooms do not deteriorate. As soon as they are completely dried, the squirrel hides them.
How is the preparation for winter going?
Long before the cold sets in, the animal must thoroughly insulate your home. All cracks are closed with moss, tufts of wool or dry grass. If there is a severe frost, then the squirrel will not crawl out of its shelter. She prefers to sleep a little, curled up. The animal feels completely safe in the hollow.
Before the onset of cold weather molting occurs. The red coat changes to gray. In winter, the squirrel's coat is thicker than in summer. This is great for getting through the cold. It is worth noting the fact that gray coat is not so noticeable which helps the squirrel to hide from predators. It can easily merge with wood.
How do people help squirrels
A person often helps this animal to survive in an unfavorable season for him. People feed these animals installing various feeders. They put seeds or nuts in them. The squirrel will be able to eat them at any time. By the way, they are very fond of feeding, which was made by a caring person.
The most important thing for an animal in winter is to find food for itself. The earth is strewn with deep snow cover, and such little animal, like a squirrel, will not be able to break through the scab and get to the frozen berries or nuts left over from the summer. Therefore, stocks have to be made in the fall in order to safely survive the cold. The squirrel stores acorns and hazelnuts, hiding them in hollows, withered grass and moss. Pine nuts will also come in handy for her - a smart animal cleans the cone, takes out the grains and leaves them in a secluded place. Having made a hiding place, the squirrel can even cover up the traces of its stay - straighten the grass, smooth out the moss that has become flattened. Sometimes the animal hides its ration so well that in winter it cannot find it.
Mushrooms also serve as an excellent food for squirrels in winter. So that they do not deteriorate for many months, the animal dries them beforehand, hanging them on tree branches or spreading them out on a stump. After the mushrooms dry, the animal puts them in a secluded place.
Before the onset of cold weather, the squirrel begins to insulate its home. She diligently caulks all the cracks with the help of bunches of dry grass, moss, tufts of wool, which she manages to find. In severe frosts, the animal does not go outside, curling up in its hollow. A well-prepared dwelling is warm and safe.
Preparing for winter, the squirrel sheds. She changes her usual red fur coat for a gray one. In winter, the squirrel's coat becomes thicker, so the animal is not afraid of frost. In addition, the gray coat is less visible to predators, and it is much easier for the squirrel to hide from the sharp eyes, clinging to the tree.
Often, people who like these cute animals help them survive in the winter. They install feeding troughs in the habitats of squirrels, where they put dried mushrooms, seeds and nuts so that animals can eat if necessary. And squirrels eagerly attend free canteens.
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