Zoologist

VOCABULARY:

• Precipitation – rain, snow, or hail that falls to the ground.

• Insulator – A substance or a thing that doesn’t allow the passage of heat.

• Hibernation – A period of an animal or plant spending the winter sleeping, or being inactive.

• Migration – Movement of animals from one region to another.

• Grazer – Animals who feed on grass, shrubs, plants, etc.

• Undergrowth – A dense growth of shrubs and other plants.

• Logging – Cutting trees.

• Overfishing – Tremendous decrease of fish in a body of water by too much fishing.

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ANIMALS:

• Marine

  • Salmon

  • Sea Otter

• Bird

  • Snow geese

  • Rhinoceros Auklets

  • Sandhill Crane

• Mammals

  • Coastal Gray Wolves

  • Bears

    • Black Bear

    • Grizzly Bear

    • Kermode (white / spirit) Bear

  • Deer

    • Sitka

    • White-tailed

    • Black-tailed

  • Cougars

  • Mountain Goats

  • Pine Marten

  • Moose

  • Squirrels

    • Douglas Squirrel

    • Red Squirrel

  • Voles

  • Marten

  • Snowshoe hare

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• Prey / Predator Relationship

  • Moose and Wolves - The wolves prey on the moose. A pack of wolves work together to hunt them.

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ADAPTATIONS:

• The temperate rainforest receives a big precipitation every year and given the cold climate, these rainforests have a probability of being covered in snow for almost a year.

  • This means that the animals in the temperate rainforests have adapted against the cold.

• Take the Coastal Grey Wolves for example: Their furs serve as a great insulator to keep their body warm. Plus, their furs can also keep moisture out, a great defense against the rainy weather of the temperate rainforest

• Winter is the greatest challenge for those who inhabit the temperate rainforests. Harsh conditions such as the very cold weather and snowfall can take many food sources away. One of the ways they adapted to this harsh condition is hibernation.

• The Bears, for example. They sleep in the winter so they won't have to worry about the limited food supply. But, they must eat a large amount of food during the other seasons so they won't starve during the winter, as they lose a lot of their weight during hibernation.

• Another adaptation that the animals of the temperate rainforest developed is migration. They leave, or migrate, so they won't have to deal with the extremely cold winter.

• A lot of bird species do this, although some animals like the Black-tailed Deer do this as well. They migrate down to the forest when winter comes.

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INVASIVE SPECIES:

• The Eastern Grey Squirrel has caused the Red Squirrels' population to drop due to the Grey Squirrels stealing the Red Squirrels' resources, taking away their food which leads them to starvation and die. Also, they take over the native birds' nests and eat their eggs.

• The Deer from Haida Gwaii archipelago - they are grazers and have been affecting the undergrowth and threatening the regeneration of cedar trees.

SPECIES AT RISK:

• Salmon - 46% of logging in Canada's rainforests is taking place in the most productive salmon watersheds; loss of habitat and overfishing.

  • Needs to be protected because many species benefit from salmon as many predators eat salmon. Salmon is also considered as the link that connects the water bodies and the rainforest. When they die, they get carried by the water currents to the land where the nutrients from their body are returned to the rainforest.