Time: 2 Hours (Can Be Shortened)
Grades: 3-12
If your students love huge animals, this is the program for you! In “Life of Ungulates” we will learn all about the large, hooved animals that call the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains home. Your students will learn about bison, moose, elk, deer, big-horn sheep, mountain goats, and pronghorn! We’ll look at skulls, hooves, antlers, horns, and pelts during this fun program!
Life of Ungulates:
Like most of our on-grounds programs, the Life of Ungulates program includes an engaging educational lesson, hands-on animal biofact interaction, a fun activity, a specially themed scavenger hunt, and time for open exploration of the museum. Read below to learn more about each of these; remember, your program can be shortened to fit any time constraints.
Educational Lesson: 60 Minutes
The Life of Ungulates program will focus on the large hooved herbivores that live in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains! We’ll be looking at all different types of ungulates, from deer to sheep to goats to bovines to pronghorn.
We’ll look at which species live in which habitats, and how each of them is adapted for those habitats. Your students will learn all about what makes each of these species unique and special. Next, we’ll discuss what predators are a danger to each of these hooved animals. We’ll wrap up by learning about the social behaviors of these animals, including the benefits of living in a herd.
This program is an amazing opportunity to teach your students about some of the most iconic species of the West. Request a program today to learn more about them!
Activity: 20 Minutes
The activity for the Life of Ungulates program is our scent game. Many large hooved animals rely on their sense of smell to detect predators. Likewise, many predators of ungulates find their prey by using their sense of smell. Each of your students will be given a small vial with a mystery scent within it. Their goal is to find the one other student who has the same scent as they do. Your students will walk around, smelling the vials of their classmates, until they find their scent partner. This is a very fun game that students love to play! It also reinforces what your students will learn about ungulate senses!
Scavenger Hunt: 20 Minutes
The Life of Ungulates scavenger hunt will bring your students through the museum, looking for certain items that pertain to what they learned about in their lesson. This will include skulls, pelts, and mounts of bison, pronghorn, deer, big-horned sheep, and more… along with depictions of these species in both human artifacts and artwork. The scavenger hunts are completed in small groups or pairs.
Open Museum Exploration: 20 Minutes
While the scavenger hunt allows your students to see a curated selection of items within the museum, the open museum exploration time allows your students to explore whatever they are interested in. The Wyoming State Museum has so many topics (from dinosaurs to mining to pioneers to warfare to animals to Native American culture to national parks and more), that we find it is a great idea to give students free time at the end of the program to explore.