Tien Pham- Woodland Park Zoo Field Trip

My field trip was at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle on February 9^th from 10am to 3pm. I chose this trip because I wanted to go on one that guarantees I see animals, so I picked zoo over the aquarium because I was able to go at the scheduled date and time. This trip was mainly with Mr. Murphy and the anthropology class, although there were three other students from Gwen’s class, so the three students and I traveled together. Although the time was from 10 to 3, the time at the zoo was really from 11:30am to 2:00pm, so with two and a half hours I was able to visit the Northern trail but could not see the eagle, goat and elk because the trail was closes for construction, tropical Asian, African Savannah, Australia, and the petting farm. Due to the time limit I had to rush see the tropical rain forest, temperate forest, and the penguins and was not at able to see the animals in tropical Asia, so I would like to go here again.

Snowy Owl:
I was surprised to see a small watering hole in the snowy owl exhibit but I’m not sure if it was for aesthetics or that snowy owls would bathe themselves. I was surprised to learn that these particular owls hunt by day instead of the night like the majority of owls such as the great gray owls. On the skulls of the snowy owls I would expect to see very large sagittal crest because they have no teeth to help take down prey, so they would need a lot of power behind their attacks; they would have frontal eye placements because they are predators; and their eye sockets would over a large surround area of the eye. I did get to see the two snowy owls; they were mainly standing still but once in a while one owl would fluff themselves into a giant cotton ball. Although I could not observe it, snowy owls heavily rely on their hearing to catch prey such as mice and lemmings. I did get to see a male and female snowy owl: both sexes have dark spots, but an adult male is almost pure white.

Question: Do snowy owl live on the tundra all year long or do they migrate?

Great Gray Owl:
It was interesting to see that unlike the snowy owl exhibit, the great grey owl’s was mainly trees instead of rocks and water. Just like the snowy owls, I would expect to see a very large sagittal crest for power behind their attacks; frontal eye placements because they are predators; and their eye sockets would over a large surround area of the eye. I was able to see two great grey owls that was just sitting around, yet very hard to spot since they blend in so well with the trees. These owls are able to hunt on sound alone, which is partly due to the shape of their face. It is similar to a disk which allows the owl to hear more and better locate where the sound is coming from. They also have their plumage which can provide warmth and allow them to silently swoop down to attack.

Question: What family is the great grey owl apart of?

Gray wolf:
I was very surprised to actually see a den in the grey wolf exhibit and it was also hard to see because it was in the ditch and covered by bushes. Due to their large size and them being predators, I would expect to see their skulls to have super straight on eye placement, many nasal turbinate to smell prey from miles away, as well as having a very large sagittal crest to be able to break bone. I was able to observe three grey wolves, but they did not really do much of anything besides laying down for a nap. It was upsetting to learn that most grey wolves now live mainly in Canada, instead of both Canada and American back in 1790. Although it was nice to learn that wolves howl to find each other, to reinforce close relationships, and to warn strangers to keep their distance. I was most shocked to learn that these wolves can eat four to seven pounds of meat every day and that they only succeed one in sixteen moose chases.

Question: How many miles does the pack need to travel in order to find enough food for a day?

Brown bear:
It was shocking to see the brown bear exhibit being so big it has its own stream and creek. It was cool to learn and observe the long claws of brown bears used for digging and defense, as well as learn that they can drag a dead animal heavier than itself. For a brown bear’s skull I would expect to see many nasal turbinate for smell prey miles away, large canines for tearing flesh as well as sharp molars that are arrange on top of one another to shred meat and grind roots. I got to see two brown bears being feed what looked like an animal’s leg. Although I was not able to tell the bear’s genders, I did learn that adult females can weigh anywhere between 175 to 450 pounds, while adult males can weigh over 1000 pounds. The females would typically bear two cubs at a time that stays with her for two to four years where they would eat roots, insects, and small mammals.

Questions: How fast can brown bears run?

River Otter:
It was very interesting to see that the river otter shared habits with the brown bears because I would think that if the bears got angry, bored, or hungry they would attack at that the minimum harm the river otter, so it would be unsafe. I do not know too much about river otters so I learned several things from this trip such as river otters, despite their name, can live on the coastal shoreline, marshes, and estuaries. In addition, I also learned that baby otters are born sort of afraid of water and cannot swim at first, so the parents has to teach them and that besides fish, they can also catch and eat amphibians, rabbits, turtles, crayfish and insects. Based on prior knowledge and new information on the board, I would expect the skull of a river otter would have a frontal eye placement because they are predators; a decent size sagittal crest to crust turtle shells; and have sharp canines for tearing flesh off rabbits and fish. It was sad to see only one river otter, especially when I expected more, but it was not too saddening because the otter was rolling around and curling up in order to sleep on a log. It is nice to find out that river otters live throughout the United States and have rebounded in certain areas where there are clean rivers, lakes, and wetlands where they can build their dens.

Question: What are adaptations in river otters that make them fit for the wet environment?

Compare and Contrast:  North and Asian river otters
In many ways the North American river otter and the Asian small-clawed otter is very much alike in outer appearance. They both have oval heads, long tall bodies, long tails, brown sleek fur that traps air for warmth, five toed paws, and whiskers that can help sense, but there are differences that shows how each species adapted to their surroundings. North American River otters live around wetlands like rivers and marshes, so have webbed toes for swimming and eat mostly fish, which they catch with their mouth. On the other hand, Asian small-clawed otters prefer water’s edge, muddy and sandy banks, and dense vegetation, so mainly eats crabs, snails, fish, and frogs which they catch with their hands that are not webbed for grasping. Besides the smaller details, the most obvious difference is their size: Asian otters are about 11 pounds, while North American otters are about 35 pounds. Despite Asian otters being the smallest of the 13 species of otters, they are the most vocal, social, ad most terrestrial compared to their larger cousins. These traits can be sorted into two categories: ancestral traits and derived traits. Traits observed in both species are most likely to be ancestral traits like their long bodies and tail, sleek fur, five toed paws, and whiskers. The differences in traits are most likely derived traits like in North American otters with their webbed toes and for Asian otters having the ability to have 13 different calls.

North American River Otter

Asian Small-Clawed Otter

Reflection:

A learning connection between the field trip and what we studied in our BIOL212 class is about adaption. In class I learn and see pictures of animal adaptations in order for the animal to be best fit for its environment. Here at the zoo, I can actually observe with my very own eyes these adaptions like in otters. The North American otter would have webbed toes unlike the Asian otter because the American otter liked in a wet environment and spent a lot of time swimming for fish and turtles. This experience, rather than changed my perspective on animal biology, enforced my knowledge of the subject because I was able to directly observe an animals’ behavior and gain experience and knowledge by looking at the animals’ traits and characteristics. It also helps my learning of biology because they experience was great, so will be easier to remember the knowledge gained from it. The most important thing I learned on this trip is that emus where Australia’s largest bird and that this bird can run at a speed of 30 mph , which is faster than a horse.