Scouting/BSA/Mammal Study Merit Badge
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| The requirements to this merit badge are copyrighted by the Boy Scouts of America. They are reproduced in part here under fair use as a resource for Scouts and Scouters to use in the earning and teaching of merit badges. The requirements published by the Boy Scouts of America should always be used over the list here. If in doubt about the accuracy of a requirement, consult your Merit Badge Counselor. |
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| Reading this page does not satisfy any requirement for any merit badge. Per National regulations, the only person who may sign off on requirements is a Merit Badge Counselor, duly registered and authorized by the local Council. To obtain a list of registered Merit Badge Counselors, or to begin a Merit Badge, please contact your Scoutmaster or Council Service Center. |
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[edit] Requirement 1
- Explain the meaning of "animal," "invertebrate," "vertebrate," and "mammal." Name three characteristic that distinguish mammals from all other animals.
Animal: Animals are living things which consume other living (or once-living) organisms for sustenance.
Invertebrate: Invertebrates are a diverse group of animals, united by their lack of a spinal cord. The spinal chord is a nerve that serves as the hub for the central nervous system.
Vertebrate: Vertebrates are animals that do have a spinal chord.
Mammal: Mammals are a group of animals that include humans, mice, elephants, whales and bears. Some of the characteristics they have in common are:
- All mammals have hair on some part of their body at some stage during their life-cycle. Most are quite hairy, but others (including humans) are comparatively bald. Some, like whales and dolphins, have only a few hairs, or shed them completely by adulthood. There are non-mammals that are sometimes described as hairy (such as tarantulas) but those "hairs" are not the same thing as mammalian hair.
- Almost all mammals give birth to live young. This means that the young are nurtured inside their mother's uterus until their bodies are developed enough to breathe, pump blood, and perform other vital functions. In contrast, animals like reptiles and birds lay eggs. The duck-billed platypus and the spiny ant-eater are the only exceptions to this rule; both are mammals (monotremes), and both lay eggs.
- All mammals are warm-blooded. Their core body temperature remains at some constant value (for example, normal human body temperature is 98.6 degrees). Cold-blooded animals like reptiles have constantly fluctuating body temperatures that change in response to the outside environment. This is why snakes and turtles "sun" themselves on logs -- they are trying to become warmer. Birds are also warm-blooded, but are not mammals.
- All mammals have mammary glands. These are glands which produce milk with which to feed infants.
[edit] Requirement 2
- Explain how the animal kingdom is classified. Explain where mammals fit in the classification of animals. Classify three mammals from phylum through species.
Animals (and other organisms, like plants) are classified into groups for several reasons. First of all, the sheer number of species of animals in the world is quite large, and many are un-named or confusingly-named (for example, several different vegetables are called turnips). Thus, a Swedish scientist named Linnaeus created a system to classify organisms based on recognizable traits, and used an old, extinct language (Latin) to refer to organisms. He chose Latin because it was rigid in spelling and pronunciation, and so it would enable simple communication between scientists who spoke different languages or dialects.
The modern system of organism-classifying is derived from Linnaeus' system. The science of classifying organisms is called taxonomy. The exact methods of classifying organisms can change as scientists discover new characteristics that separate and unite organisms. For example, science used to classify all organisms into two kingdoms (a kingdom is the largest basic unit of classification), plants and animals. This was based on a simple formulation -- anything which devoured other organisms was an animal, and anything that did not, was a plant. Eventually, however, scientists decided that this system did not adequately describe reality, and the Fungi were added as a third kingdom. Later still, three kingdoms have been added for various kinds of microscopic organisms like bacteria.
There are seven basic levels of classification. They can be remembed using the mnemonic device King Philip Came Over For Great Soup (the first letter of each word is the first letter of the unit of classification, in order).
- Kingdom
- Phylum
- Class
- Order
- Family
- Genus
- Species
An example classification for the lion
- Kingdom: The lion is an animal because it eats other organisms for sustence. Therefore, it is in the Kingdom Animalia.
- Phylum: The lion has a spinal chord, and it is thus in the Phylum Chordata.
- Class: The lion has hair and mammary glands, and gives birth to live young. This makes it a mammal, and a member of the Class Mammalia.
- Order: The lion is a member of the Order Carnivora because it shares specific characteristics of skull and teeth shape (and not because it is a carnivore).
- Family: The lion is a cat, and is thus a part of the Family Felidae (Note: all families of mammals end in -idae).
- Genus: The lion has special characteristics that allow it to roar, and is therefore a member of the Genus Panthera.
- Species: The lion is the species leo of the genus Panthera. The scientific name of a species is both terms combined (e.g. Panthera leo, sometimes abbreviated P. leo).
The above process weeds out successively less similar organisms, so very similar animals like panthers and cheetahs, have the same classification until near the end.
- Kingdom: Animalia - also includes jellyfish, snakes, mice, wolves, cheetahs and tigers
- Phylum: Chordata - also includes snakes, mice, wolves, cheetahs and tigers
- Class: Mammalia - also includes mice, wolves, cheetahs and tigers
- Order: Carnivora - also includes wolves, cheetahs and tigers
- Family: Felidae - also includes cheetahs and tigers
- Genus: Panthera - also includes tigers
- Species: leo - is the lion, and includes no other organisms
[edit] Requirement 3
- Spend 3 hours in each of two different kinds of natural habitats or at different elevations. List the different mammal species and individual members that you identified by sight or sign. Tell why all mammals do not live in the same kind of habitat.
- Spend 3 hours on each of 5 days on at least a 25-acre area. List the mammal species you identified by sight or sign.
When making these observations, it is best to prepare. Think about what kinds of mammals might be living in the habitat, and how you could see or otherwise find evidence of them. You may be able to find tracks in the ground, or dens or dams or other physical evidence of mammals.
Mammals do not all live in the same habitat because each species is uniquely adapted for one niche. For example, in a forest, squirrels perform a necessary function, spreading acorns, for example, and thus ensuring that trees' offspring can spread far from the parent plant; squirrels also provide sustenance for predators, such as snakes. No other organism fits into the squirrel's niche, and the squirrel can not function well in any other niche. All species in the forest have a unique niche; mammals that do not have such a niche do not live there -- for example, lions are well-adapted for their role on the savannas, but are not well-suited for a temperate forest.
- From study and reading, write a simple history of one nongame mammal that lives in your area. Tell how this mammal lived before its habitat was affected in any way by man. Tell how it reproduces, what it eats, what eats it, and its natural habitat. Describe its dependency upon plants, upon other animals (including man), and how they depend upon it. Tell how it is helpful or harmful to man.
A game mammal is one that is widely hunted, such as deer. Most mammals are not game mammals. For help in choosing a mammal, see the list of mammals.
[edit] Requirement 4
- Under the guidance of a nature center or natural history museum, make two study skins of rats or mice. Tell the uses of study skins and mounted specimens respectively.
- Take good pictures of two kinds of mammals in the wild. Record light conditions, film used, exposure, and other factors, including notes on the activities of the pictured animals.
- Write a life history of a native game mammal that lives in your area, covering the points outlined in requirement 3c. List sources for this information.
- Make and bait a tracking pit. Report what mammals and other animals came to the bait.
- Visit a natural history museum. Report on how specimens are prepared and cataloged. Explain the purposes of museums.
- Write a report of 500 words on a book about a mammal species.
Some classic books about mammal species include:
- Innocent Killers - by Jane Goodall about spotted hyenas.
- In the Shadow of Man - by Jane Goodall about chimpanzees
- Trace two possible food chains of carnivorous mammals from soil through four stages to the mammal.
A food chain is a hierarchy of organisms which devour each other. Energy can be traced through a food chain, beginning with its source, plants. The first step in a food chain is always a plant (for example, algae), which creates energy using sunlight (see photosynthesis). The algae is then eaten by small microscopic organisms called protists, who are in turn eaten by a squid. The squid is eaten by a seal, and the seal by an orca. The energy produced by the algae can be traced to the orca.
- algae --> protists --> squid --> seal --> orca
[edit] Requirement 5
- Work with your counselor, select and carry out one project that will influence the numbers of one or more mammals.
[edit] External links
- Mammal Study Merit Badge with Workbook PDF, current requirements, and resources.
| Earning Merit Badges in the Boy Scouts of America |
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| Nature and Conservation |
| Astronomy | Bird Study | Environmental Science | Fish and Wildlife Management | Fishing | Forestry | Gardening | Geology | Insect Study | Mammal Study | Nature | Reptile and Amphibian Study | Soil and Water Conservation | Weather |
