The World of Muskrats

January 19, 2010

Muskrat Lodge

Each month, we join another 4 homeschool families at Woodlake Nature Center for nature classes.  This is our  2nd year taking classes here.  We appreciate that all of our children, ages 1 - 10, can be together to share in the experience.  Each child gets what they can out of it.  I am certain that each child learns something new each month.  We begin each class indoors and move outdoors for the second half.

Upon entering the building, we were lucky enough to get there just in time to watch the resident turtles enjoy their meal.  The put the turtles into a tub so they can monitor how much each one eats and also to keep their tanks cleaner.  The each first ate a worm and then a few small fish.

This month's topic, muskrats, was an especially great class.  The learning indoors was very interactive, with William and Madeline, offering themselves as demonstrators.  William was an aquatic mammal while Madeline was a land mammal.  The energy was high, the interaction and learning was really fun.  Leah, the instructor, had a bag of props with items that Wil and Madeline wore to show each adaptation that the mammals have to survive in their habitat.

I personally learned something by watching this whole group learn and laugh together.  Wil and Madeline had such humor and grace through the process.  I only wish for all of our children that they can continue that through all of their experiences!

Aquatic mammals have little waterproof fur, little eyes, little ears to keep the water out, rear webbed feet, claws and a long flat tail.

Land mammals have soft non-waterproof fur, large ears, large eyes, front claws, and a little tail.

Afterwards, the class moved outdoors in search of muskrat lodges.  First, we huddled around an underwater video camera with a screen to view the results.  Leah warned that it was highly unlikely that we would see a muskrat.  Hopes were still high but we settled for hundreds of fish swimming near the small opening in search of a little extra oxygen.  

Muskrats build their homes near the edge of the cattails.  We all snuggled into the cattails to discover how warm it can be.  Muskrats favorite food is cattail roots so at Woodlake, they have plenty of food.  While we were out exploring, we saw 4 lodges.  Most lodges will have about 5 muskrats (2 adults with their little ones) so we know there are at least 20 living on site!