Nocturnal Animals
by Marie, Edwena, and Ami

 

Lapbook Templates

Basic Information

Understanding the Difference
Different animals are awake at different parts of the day.  Here are a few basic distinctions:
Nocturnal- awake and active during the night; examples- raccoon, skunk, and red fox  (What other nocturnal animals can your student think of?)
Diurnal- awake and active at day; examples- chipmunk, butterflies
Crepuscular- active at dawn and dusk; examples- Kodiak Bear, snow leopard, mule deer

Some animals are both nocturnal and diurnal such as the Black-backed Jackal. 
Lapbook Template Who's Who? Flap

Advantages to the Nightlife
Can your student think of any reasons why animals would want to sleep through the day and come out at night?   Here are three basic advantages to being a night owl.
1.  Some animals would get too hot or dry out in the daytime.  Night is cooler.
2.  It's easier to find a food source at night because there isn't as much competition.
3.  It's also easier to hide at night (from predators).   Many nocturnal animals are black or grey, and they are camouflaged at night. 

Lapbook Template: Advantages Accordion

Senses
Nocturnal animals must have special senses in order to find their way, hunt their food, and flee predators. 

Smell- Generally speaking, night animals have a better sense of smell than day animals.  Smells linger in the air for longer at night since the air is more still.  Animals use their nose to track the scents and find dinner. 

Touch- Many animals use this sense to help them "see" in the night.   While fishing in the river, a raccoon is dependent on its sense of touch rather than sight to reach in the water and find fish to eat.   Whiskers also help animals find their way.  Whiskers are sensitive like a human's fingertips; cats can stick their whiskers out front to help them feel their way around in the dark.    Minit book:  Whiskers Simple Fold

Sound- Sharp hearing helps predators find their prey as they fun over leaves and twigs on the ground.  Sharp hearing also helps prey get away!   The winner in the contests between nocturnal animals is the one that hears the other first.

Sight- Many nocturnal animals have special eyes that allow them to see better at night.  Your eyes have a lens that gathers light.  At the back of your eye, there are lots of cells called rods.  Rods are sensitive to light; the more rods, the more sensitive the eye is to light.  Nocturnal animals have many rods in their eyes allowing them to catch a lot more light than we can catch with our eyes at night.

Lapbook Template: Senses Triangle Fold
 

Stunning Hunters
Super senses help night hunters, but they have other features, too, that help them snag their prey.  
Owl- The feathers on the edges of an owl's wings are very soft, and it muffles the sound when it swoops down to catch it's food.
Cat- The heavy fur and soft pads on a cat's foot helps them to walk quietly and sneak up on prey.
Aardvark- An aardvark can hear and smell ants or termites as it walks along; it effortlessly licks them up with it's sticky tongue.
Bat- a bat uses echolocation to help locate prey (see more information under Bats)

Lapbook Template: Stunning Hunters Shutter

Different Homes
Nocturnal animals can be found in a variety of homes.   Here are a few different examples:
In trees- raccoons
Nests on the ground (or abandoned holes in the ground)- hedgehogs
Holes in the ground (HUGE holes in the ground!)- badgers
Caves- bats

Lapbook Template

More Nocturnal Animals
This lapbook template requires additional research- Nocturnal Animals Flag

Night Fliers
This lapbook template does not require additonal research (information provided)- Night Fliers Layer

Library List
Where are the Night Animals? by Mary Ann Fraser
Night Creatures by Wade Cooper
Night Animals by S. Meredith
Nighttime (lift-the-flap) by Alastair Smith and John Butler
Sounds of the Wild:  Nighttime by Maurice Pledger

Lapbook Template: Book Log

Website
Enchanted Learning Nocturnal Animal Printouts

Owls

Owl Facts
Most owls, but not all, are creatures of the night.  They sleep during the day and hunt from dusk to dawn. Owls are birds of prey--meaning they hunt and eat other animals. This also means they are carnivores.

An owl can hear a mouse from 60 feet away. An owl has 3 sets of eyelids. An owl can turn its face upside down. An owl can swing its head around and look behind its back. An owl cannot move it's eyes like we do, rather it moves it's entire head to the side. Owls have very flexible necks to help them do this. An owl's coat is made of thousands of feathers. A Great horned owl's wingspan is about 60 inches. 

Lapbook Templates 

Diet
Often includes rodents such as mice and rats. Diet depends on habitat.  They have also been found to eat insects, fish, reptiles, birds and other small mammals. Owls have good eyesight and hearing that they use for hunting.  They will often catch prey with their talons.  Lapbook Template: Owl Diet Matchbook

Habitat
Owls are found on every continent except Antarctica.  Found in forests, deserts, fields, mountains, swamps, caves and cities. Owls seldom build their own nests. Owls live in many places including trees and under ground.( source The Best of the Mailbox Themes Nocturnal animals)

Vocabulary
prey-an animal hunted or killed by another animal for food

pellet-a wad of material (as of bones and fur) that could not be digested and was regurgitated by a bird of prey (as an owl)

predator-an animal that lives by killing and eating other animals

talon-the claw of an animal and especially of a bird of prey

wingspan-the distance between the tips of a pair of wings (as of a bird or an airplane)

owlet-a young or small owl

beak-the bill of a bird; especially : the bill of a bird of prey adapted for striking and tearing

carnivore-a flesh-eating animal; especially : any of an order of flesh-eating mammals

Lapbook Template: New Owl Words

Communication
Each species (over 145!) of owl has it's own call. Some examples include: Little owl--hoo, hoo, hoo or Screech owl--kyew, kyew, kyew or Barn owl--cirrrrrrrr, cirrrrrr

Pellets
Owls do not have teeth which means they swallow their food whole or in large pieces. They cannot digest all of what they consume so several hours after eating owls cough up a pellet of indigestible material.  Scientists are interested in examining owl pellets to learn about diet, prey, etc. ( Pellets are available to study from Carolina Biological Supply 1-800-334-5551)  Lapbook Template: Owl Pellet Observations Simple Fold

Lifecycle of the Barn Owl
Stage 1: A mother owl lays one white egg every 2-3 days. Barn owls can lay up to 10-11 eggs.
Stage 2: After about 28 days, the eggs begin to hatch in the order they were laid. When its first born, an owl chick has a thin coat of down and its eyes are closed.  Its eyes open in about 2 weeks and its covered in thick, fluffy down.
Stage 3: As an owlet grows, its down is replaced by feathers. In about a month when its wings are strong enough it begins to practice flying. After 2 months, it can fly but doesn't have hunting skills.
Stage 4: At 12 weeks old a barn owl has all its feathers and can hunt on its own.
Lapbook Template: Lifecycle of the Barn Owl Tab

Library List
The Owl and the Woodpecker by Brian Wildsmith
Screech Owl at Midnight Hollow by C Drew Lamm
The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear and illustrated by Jan Brett
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
Hoot by Jane Hissey
Goodnight Owl by Pat Hutchins
Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson
Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel
The Sleepy Owl by Marcus Pfister

 See How They Grow--Owl by Mary Ling
Birds of the Night by Jean de Sart
All About Owls by Jim Arnosky
Welcome to the World of Owls by Diane Swanson
The Barn Owl (Animal Lives) by Sally Tagholm and Bert Kitchen

Other links/sources:

http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/owls_general.htm

www.owlpages.com

http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/map.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/birds/printouts/Owlcoloring.shtml

http://www.harlan.k12.ia.us/mrsc/Owl's%20On%20the%20Prowl.htm

Bats

Species
There are two main groups of bats and over 1,000 species.   Microbats are the largest group with about 800 species.  They are small insect-eating bats with large ears. Megabats or flying foxes are larger, fruit-eating bats with big eyes.  Many of them do not use echolocation. Megabats live mostly in the tropics of Asia and Africa. Unlike microbats, some megabats are active during the day.  Only 3 species are vampire bats. Vampire bats like animal blood not human.  They don't attack humans.

Echolocation
Bats use this process to find their way in the dark and to hunt prey.  They emit high frequency sound waves that bounce off objects in their path.  Only micro-bats use echolocation.  Mega-bats eat fruit and do not need to find prey in the dark.
Lapbook Template: Echolocation Accordion

Facts
Fruit-eating bats help spread tree seeds in the rain forest.  
Bat guano ( meaning bat waste) is used as fertilizer.
Bats are a tourist attraction in Austin, Texas. ( see link below)
Long ago people in Europe thought it was unlucky for bats to inhabit their houses but people in China thought they brought good luck.
One type of bat scoops fish out of the water.
Bats are the only mammal with wings.
One bat can eat as many as 600 mosquitoes an hour. 
Bats have furry bodies. 
Bats are not blind.
Lapbook Template: Bat Facts Folder

Diet
Bats eat a variety of things- insects, fruit, and even fish.  Bats are an effective and environmentally safe means of insect control instead of chemical insecticides that can be harmful to humans and the environment. Fruit eating bats help to disperse seeds and since they only eat ripe fruit, they reduce the incidence of fruit flies.

Habitat
Bats live on all continents except Antarctica.  A bat makes its home or roost in many places including caves, treetops, hollow logs, underground and in nooks and crannies of castles, churches and houses. Bats may have more than one roost.

Vocabulary
megabat- fruit eating bats; also known as flying foxes
microbat-carnivorous bat: typically having large ears and feeding primarily on insects

guano-a substance composed chiefly of the excrement of seabirds or bats and used as a fertilizer

roost-a support on which birds rest

echolocation-a process for locating distant or invisible objects by means of sound waves reflected back to the sender from the objects

Lapbook Template: Bat Vocabulary

Caring for Young
Most species have only one young at a time. Baby bats cannot fly at birth.  For 2-6 weeks the mother bat cares for her young. Bats are mammals and nurse their young. When the bat has learned to fly the mother will wean it.  Most  bats mate in the autumn and the young are born in the spring.
Lapbook Template: Baby Bats

Library List
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Bat Jamboree by Kathi Appelt
Bat Loves the Night by Nichola Davies
Hattie the Backstage Bat by Don Freeman

Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats by Ann Earle
Extremely Weird: Bats by Sarah Lovett
Bats: Mysterious Flyers of the Night by Dee Stuart
Shadows of the Night: The Hidden World of the Little Brown Bat by Barbara Bash
Stokes Beginner's Guide to Bats by Donald and Lillian Stokes
Time For Kids: Bats by Time For Kids
The Magic School Bus Going Batty by Joanna Cole
Scholastic Q &A : How do Bats See in the Dark? by Melvin and Gilda Berger
Amazing Bats by Seymour Simon
Bat by Caroline Arnold
Bats by Gail Gibbons 

Websites:

www.batcon.org   lots of cool stuff for educators
www.batworld.org   bat rescue and conservation, kids page, how to build a bat house

http://members.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/bat/Fruitbatcoloring.shtml

http://www.austincityguide.com/content/congress-bridge-bats-austin.asp   a very unique " tourist attraction!"
 

Sources Used for Research

The Best of the Mailbox-Nocturnal Animals
Zoobooks- Nocturnal Animals