A Little Bit More
I remember the first and only time I’ve seen one of these interesting rodents in the wild. I was moving some branches from my yard and out popped a mouse at least three feet into the air. My first reaction was surprise and my second one was that I was the realization that I was seeing a really “different” rodent. Unfortunately, within a few very quick hops, my jumper was gone. The jumping ability of the 4 species of jumping mice and 19 species of kangaroo rats is quite impressive – their large hind legs provide these animals with a quick getaway. After several long jumps their typical “strategy” is to become immobile and blend into the surrounding landscape.
The Meadow Jumping Mouse has the widest range of all these rodents (eastern U.S., across Canada and southern Alaska) and is a true hibernator. In autumn these rodents put on enough fat reserves to provide energy through the next 6 or 7 months in a secluded location below the frost line. Jumping mice eat a variety of foods, both animal and plant material, - in spring their diet consists of about 50% insects.
Activities
Science/Math – A Matter of Proportion
Objectives: Apply jumping mouse’s jumping ability to humans
Materials: paper and pencil
The Meadow Jumping Mouse is known to jump as much as 90 cm (36 inches) to escape predators. This mouse is has a body length (not including its tail) of about 10cm (4”). If a human had the same jumping ability, how far might they be able to jump?
Have your students do this in metric or English measurements, or maybe even both!
A 10cm (4”) mouse, is to a 90cm (36”) jump, as a 183 cm (72”) person, is to X cm (?”) jump
10/90 as 183/? Can you figure out how far a human could jump with the same jumping ability?
Pretty impressive jump for a human!
Key Concepts
Adaptations and Diversity, Behavior and Regulation, Identification, Structures and Functions
Questions
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