Night Howls

The sound of a coyote pack can be heard at night. 

• Why do animals stay in groups instead of alone?

• How does pack behavior enhance survival? 
• What differences are there in pack behaviors between domesticated animals and wild animals and why?
• How does being part of an animal group help the animals obtain food?
• How does being part of an animal group help the animals defend themselves?

Students could:

• Determine what animal is being heard.
• Investigate pack behaviors of different animals and incidents where animals don't live in packs to lead to possible reasons that pack behavior is advantageous to animals living in the wild.
• Brainstorm times when they have heard sounds in the night that they did not recognize. What animals make solitary calls and which are in groups?
• Use cause and effect reasoning to look at group behavior advantages for animal groups by using a Animal Group Effects worksheet.

• Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) | Wildlife: Contains data for different animal populations in Iowa by season and year.
• The Wonder of Science | Animal Groups: The site contains many lesson plans, videos, and additional activities to support the 3-LS2-1 standard. 
• PBS LearningMedia | Nature: Arctic Wolf Cubs Learn Pack Behavior: this video shows how young cubs must learn the rules of their pack and submit to older group members in order to survive. Support materials ask students to keep a spy journal to record their observations and to think about how the spy wolf is able to witness pack behavior closer up than a human scientist  
• Wandering Outdoors | Coyote Behavior – Fascinating Facts About Coyotes: Fascinating facts about coyote behavior.