Parks Canada - Teachers' Corner - American Badger - Worksheet

WORD SEARCH CHALLENGE

PDF ~ 278 Kb

Find the words below that are in BOLD.

1. BURROW – A badger’s home. (Also, the action used to make the home, which involves digging underground).

2. CARNIVORE – Meat-eating animal like wolves, cougars and badgers.

3. ECOSYSTEM – A biological community, that includes all living (e.g. plants, animals) and non-living (e.g. rocks, earth) components.

4. ENDANGERED – When an animal’s numbers become so low, it is not known whether or not the species will be able to survive.

5. LOCOMOTION – A way in which an animal travels. Walking and running are two forms of locomotion for humans.

6. GOPHER – A common name for the Columbia ground squirrel, one of B.C. badgers’ favourite foods.

7. GRASSLANDS – A type of open habitat that badgers like to live in. Grasslands, home to many unique plants and animals, are the most endangered ecosystem in all of B.C. This means it is the ecosystem most at risk of disappearing forever in this province.

8. HABITAT – The natural home of an organism. It provides food, water, shelter and space for the plant or animal.

9. HIBERNATION – To pass the winter in a torpid or resting state, characterised by a marked drop in body temperature. Badgers do rest in winter, but may emerge from their winter dens on warm winter days.

10. HOME RANGES – The area of land that an animal will normally travel around to make its living. Where it eats, sleeps, hunts, mates, rests, and raises its young.

11. JUVENILES – Young animals.

12. NOCTURNAL – An animal that is most active at night.

13. OPEN FORESTS – Forests where trees or clumps of trees are widely spaced. Here lots of light reaches the ground, and it’s easy to move through the forest.

14. PREDATOR – An animal that hunts other animals as its food.

15. RED LIST – A species or subspecies whose near future may be extirpation (locally extinct), or listed as endangered or threatened in British Columbia.

16. SUBSPECIES – A physically different sub-unit of a species. While it is possible for individuals from different subspecies to mate and produce fertile offspring, each subspecies has unique adaptations to its historic geographic range. This genetic and behavioural diversity gives the species as a whole, a greater chance of survival over time.
    SPECIES – A group of individuals that share certain physical characteristics and are capable of producing fertile offspring.

17. VERMIN –A word used to describe animals that are considered harmful to agricultural crops or game animals. Examples of animals some people may consider as ‘vermin’ include certain insects, rodents in general, and foxes.

Answer Key:

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