Cougar Hunt

Posted: 01-Jan-2000; Updated: 28-Dec-2006

Cougar Hunt was adapted with permission from Zero Population Growth's 1996 "People and the Planet: Lessons for a Sustainable Future." It is based on "Oh Deer!", an activity developed by Project WILD, copyright 1983.

OBJECTIVES: Students will learn the importance of one species to an entire ecosystem and discover the effects of pollution on animal life. Students can begin to understand their relationship to endangered species and the possibilities for advocacy.

MATERIALS: One blindfold, 200 small paper cups to represent animals (prey). Cups should be marked as follows:

• 100 cups marked S (squirrel=1 pound)
• 50 cups marked R (rabbit=2 pounds)
• 30 cups marked P (porcupine=7.5 pounds)
• 19 cups marked B (Beaver=20 pounds)
• 1 cup marked D (deer=75 pounds)

PROCEDURE:

1. Select a surface on which to spread the paper cups. This could be a counter or large table or the floor in one corner of the room or outdoors in the school yard. Set the cups out upside down so the students can see the letters marked. Using the list above, write the names of five types of prey and the numbers of pounds of food provided by each on the chalkboard.
2. Explain to the students, "This is the habitat of a population of cougars, or mountain lions. Each of you represents one cougar. Right now you will try to find enough food in this habitat to survive for about a month, which is about 50 pounds."
3. Select one student from the class and explain, "This cougar has been injured by tackling a big buck and now has a broken leg, so s/he will have to hunt on one leg." Tell the student to hop.
4. Select another student. "This cougar is blind due to an injury caused by a porcupine." Blindfold the student.
5. Select a third student. "This cougar is a female with two cubs and each cub needs 25 pounds of food to live, so if they are all going to live, she needs to find 100 pounds of food."
6. Read the list on the board so that students know what they are looking for. Ask each student to set up a cougar den by selecting a small area where s/he will bring his/her prey. This could be a student's desk or areas along the wall.
7. Give students the following instructions: "Each cougar must walk into the habitat to hunt (cougars don?t run down prey, they stalk it.) When a cougar finds a prey animal, he or she picks it up and carries it to his/her den. Each cougar can only carry one prey animal at a time. Remember that in the wild, cougars do not fight over prey, as a resulting injury might kill them." The students gather prey and carry it to their den, repeating the process until the prey has all been consumed, on piece at a time.
8. When all the cups have been gathered, students return to their dens to calculate the quantity of food each of them gathered.
9. Ask students to announce to the class the amount of food they gathered. On the chalkboard, record these numbers in descending order. Draw a line at 50 to represent the amount needed to survive. Any cougar who gathered 50 pounds or more would survive, while others would not. Note: you may need to adjust the amount of prey needed to survive based on the number of students in your class. With the amount of prey available using 200 paper cups, about 10-18 cougars would survive. This would be an appropriate portion for a class of 25-30 students.

DISCUSSION:

1. How many pounds did each cougar gather? How many cougars can survive in this habitat?
2. How many pounds did the blind cougar gather? The injured cougar? The mother cougar? What are the chances of her cubs surviving in this habitat? Can a blind or injured cougar survive in the wild? Who is the mother going to feed first? She will probably feed herself first to keep healthy so that she can tend to her cubs. If she doesn't survive, they have no chance at all. Even if this litter doesn?t survive, perhaps the habitat will support healthy cubs in the future.
3. What would happen to the cougar population if all the rabbits died of disease? The cougars would have to eat more of the other animals than usual, which would reduce the populations of other prey animals.
4. What would happen to the prey animals, the rabbits and squirrels, if the cougars' numbers dwindled as a result of humans hunting them? Just as the cougars compete for prey, the prey animals compete with each other for food: the plants. If the cougars were not around to keep the herbivores' numbers in check, the area will not be able to provide enough vegetation to support the extra animals.
5. What would happen to the cougar population if the water became polluted? The cougars and all the other animals would become sick and some of them might die. If different proportions of animals and prey died, it could upset the balance of the food chain.
6. What are other ways that humans can affect the habitat of the cougar? How might a cattle farm change the habitat, or the release of stray pets into the area?