R E S O U R C E S F O R T E A C H E R S A N D S T U D E N T S VOL. 3 >> ISSUE 1 >> SEPTEMBER 2010
THE WILD SIDE OF THE FAMILY Our dogs and cats have untamed cousins.
>>WILD FAMILY MANY FAMILIES HAVE A DOG OR CAT — OR BOTH — AT HOME. Did you know that your pets have ancestors and relatives in the wild? Even though our cats and dogs are domesticated, they still have some wild left in them. Your dog still thinks like a wild dog, and you might see your cat act like a wild cat when it pounces on a toy mouse. All dogs and cats — wild and domestic — are part of the group of animals called carnivores, or meat eaters. W W W . T P W M A G A Z I N E . C O M
T E X A S P A R K S & W I L D L I F E ✯ 4 3 COYOTES are extremely clever ani mals with keen senses of sight , smell and hearing. Coyotes are DOGS CATS increasing in population MOUNTAIN lions (also called because they’re so adapt cougars, panthers or pumas) able. Coyotes will eat are secretive animals that almost anything, includ eat large prey such as WOLVES are the closest OUR wild cats in Texas are rela ing small mammals, fish, deer — and sometimes seeds and fruit. They like relatives to domestic dogs, but tives of our cats at home. You smaller prey. They have R
E watermelon! Z a special technique to N might see neighborhood cats I Texas no longer has any wolves E M kill and eat porcupines. N in the wild. With wolves gone, running across the street, but A To avoid the porcupine’s M Y foxes and coyotes expanded wild cats are much more elu W quills, they slip one paw © O under the animal and T their territory. Here are the sive. Texas has more species of O H P members of the dog family wild cat than any other state in then flip it over. COYOTE in Texas: the USA*! Here are the mem MOUNTAIN LION
bers of the cat family in Texas:
S
WOLVES were reported to be in the state I R
R
as late as the 1960s and early 1970s, A
H
Z
T I
but they don’t exist in the wild in F
M I
Texas any longer. Red wolves inhab T © BOBCATS are mediumsized ited the eastern part of the state,
O T animals that feast on small and gray (timber) wolves lived in the O H P mammals and birds. A bob western part of the state. cat’s tail is short and stubby, which makes the bobcat dif ferent from other wild cats. GRAY WOLF Bobcats are found only in North America, and they are RED FOX BOBCAT our most common wild cat.
DOGS started becoming domesticated more than 10,000 years ago when THE jaguarundi is people may have begun considered using wolves as hunting extremely rare partners. Dogs may in Texas. It have been the first lives in only tame animals. the very southern part of PEOPLE believe that the cats we have today started Texas. It is a becoming domesticated when cats began living in or little bit big near human settlements at least 5,000 years ger than a ago. The humans realized how helpful cats housecat and were with things such as control © TEXAS has three O has two color ling rodents. OT types of foxes. Red PH phases – reddish JAGUARUNDI foxes are in the dog and gray. family but in some * SORRY! We didn’t include margays ways are similar to SWIFT FOX or jaguars in this section. These wild cats in that they prey on WILD animals are animals that occasion cats used to roam our state, but the mice and pounce on them. ally or never have contact with humans. If an animal can find food and reproduce on last sightings of these extraordinary OCELOT Swift foxes are the smallest its own in the wild, it is probably wild. animals were 100 years ago or more. American foxes and some of the fastest wild dogs. DOMESTICATED animals are animals that Gray foxes can climb were wild before being kept in captivity by THE only known U.S. population of humans. Humans have bred these animals trees, which is unusual Keep Texas Wild ocelots is in Texas. These beautiful for special purposes — either as pets or for doglike animals. has a specia l guest cats used to live in all of southern livestock. Some domesticated animals are author this m onth tame, such as pets, but many domesticat Texas and Louisiana, but because of ed animals aren ’t tame. — f ourth grader Luke R oe of Austin. habitat loss, they now live in a much smaller area. No two ocelots have the FERAL animals are animals that became For m ore on Luke, same markings. wild again after being domesticated by see In the Fie ld humans. on Page 5.
GRAY FOX 44 ✯ S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 0 T E X A S P A R K S & W I L D L I F E ✯ 4 5 COYOTES are extremely clever ani mals with keen senses of sight , smell and hearing. Coyotes are DOGS CATS increasing in population MOUNTAIN lions (also called because they’re so adapt cougars, panthers or pumas) able. Coyotes will eat are secretive animals that almost anything, includ eat large prey such as WOLVES are the closest OUR wild cats in Texas are rela ing small mammals, fish, deer — and sometimes seeds and fruit. They like relatives to domestic dogs, but tives of our cats at home. You smaller prey. They have R
E watermelon! Z a special technique to N might see neighborhood cats I Texas no longer has any wolves E M kill and eat porcupines. N in the wild. With wolves gone, running across the street, but A To avoid the porcupine’s M Y foxes and coyotes expanded wild cats are much more elu W quills, they slip one paw © O under the animal and T their territory. Here are the sive. Texas has more species of O H P members of the dog family wild cat than any other state in then flip it over. COYOTE in Texas: the USA*! Here are the mem MOUNTAIN LION
bers of the cat family in Texas:
S
WOLVES were reported to be in the state I R
R
as late as the 1960s and early 1970s, A
H
Z
T I
but they don’t exist in the wild in F
M I
Texas any longer. Red wolves inhab T © BOBCATS are mediumsized ited the eastern part of the state,
O T animals that feast on small and gray (timber) wolves lived in the O H P mammals and birds. A bob western part of the state. cat’s tail is short and stubby, which makes the bobcat dif ferent from other wild cats. GRAY WOLF Bobcats are found only in North America, and they are RED FOX BOBCAT our most common wild cat.
DOGS started becoming domesticated more than 10,000 years ago when THE jaguarundi is people may have begun considered using wolves as hunting extremely rare partners. Dogs may in Texas. It have been the first lives in only tame animals. the very southern part of PEOPLE believe that the cats we have today started Texas. It is a becoming domesticated when cats began living in or little bit big near human settlements at least 5,000 years ger than a ago. The humans realized how helpful cats housecat and were with things such as control © TEXAS has three O has two color ling rodents. OT types of foxes. Red PH phases – reddish JAGUARUNDI foxes are in the dog and gray. family but in some * SORRY! We didn’t include margays ways are similar to SWIFT FOX or jaguars in this section. These wild cats in that they prey on WILD animals are animals that occasion cats used to roam our state, but the mice and pounce on them. ally or never have contact with humans. If an animal can find food and reproduce on last sightings of these extraordinary OCELOT Swift foxes are the smallest its own in the wild, it is probably wild. animals were 100 years ago or more. American foxes and some of the fastest wild dogs. DOMESTICATED animals are animals that Gray foxes can climb were wild before being kept in captivity by THE only known U.S. population of humans. Humans have bred these animals trees, which is unusual Keep Texas Wild ocelots is in Texas. These beautiful for special purposes — either as pets or for doglike animals. has a specia l guest cats used to live in all of southern livestock. Some domesticated animals are author this m onth tame, such as pets, but many domesticat Texas and Louisiana, but because of ed animals aren ’t tame. — f ourth grader Luke R oe of Austin. habitat loss, they now live in a much smaller area. No two ocelots have the FERAL animals are animals that became For m ore on Luke, same markings. wild again after being domesticated by see In the Fie ld humans. on Page 5.
GRAY FOX 44 ✯ S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 0 T E X A S P A R K S & W I L D L I F E ✯ 4 5 SSppiikkee’’ss AAccttiivviittyy PPaaggee >> WILD MATH CREATE A GRAPH TO >> WILD QUIZ COMPARE THE TOP SPEEDS OF THESE ANIMALS.
1. WHAT’S ANOTHER NAME FOR A PUMA?
2. NAME TWO WILD CATS AND TWO WILD DOGS THAT ARE NO LONGER FOUND IN THE WILD IN TEXAS.
3. HEY, THERE IS A WILD DOG IN A TREE! WHAT IS IT LIKELY TO BE?
4. WHICH ONE OF THESE ANIMALS WOULD BE CONSIDERED FERAL IF FOUND IN THE WILD?
A . jaguarundi B . ocelot C . house cat Squirrel Jackrabbit 12mph 5. WHAT TWO TYPES OF WILD DOGS EXPANDED IN 45mph Pronghorn ryfox Gray 42mph 43mph 30mph Bobcat Coyote 60mph TEXAS WHEN THE WOLF NO LONGER LIVED HERE? Human 25mph
>> KEEPINGIT WILD >> NEXTMONTH: Bloodsuckers LOOK AT YOUR DOG OR CAT (OR A FRIEND’S PET). See if you can identify the characteristics your pet shares with wild dogs or wild cats. Can you spot your pet’s canine teeth, used for tearing meat? Have you felt your cat’s rough tongue? The roughness helps cats scrape all the meat off a bone. Look at your dog’s tail. Dogs — and coyotes and wolves — use their tails for balancing while running and for signaling to other animals (and to you!).
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ILLUSTRATIONS BY CLEMENTE GUZMAN III/TPWD a printable PDF, access lesson plans, find additional resources or order copies. 46 ✯ SEPTEMBER 201046 ✯ M A R C H 2 0 0 9