Handout
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Swift Fox

For Students 4th - 8th
Swift foxes are primarily nocturnal, but can sometimes be seen sunning themselves near the entrance to a den. They live on prairie grasslands just east of the Rocky Mountains. Learn more about the Vulpes velox, more commonly known as a...
Handout
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Olive Backed Pocket Mouse

For Students 4th - 8th
The striking olive dorsum of the Olive-backed Pocket Mouse is set off by a yellowish stripe on the side and a white underside. This is the only species of pocket mouse east of the Rocky Mountains whose range extends well into Canada....
Handout
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Kit Fox

For Students 4th - 8th
The kit fox has been thought by some to be a subspecies of the swift fox. This fox currently inhabits desert and semi-arid regions between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Rocky Mountains and on down into Baja California and the North...
Handout
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Wolverine

For Students 4th - 8th
Wolverines are widely distributed in the northern reaches of both hemispheres. In North America, they occupy remote habitats from the high mountainous interior of the Rockies to Arctic coastal tundra. Learn more about the Gulo gulo, more...
Handout
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Northern Rock Deermouse

For Students 4th - 8th
Northern Rock Deermice live in rocky outcrops and among boulders in pinyon-juniper-oak woodlands in the foothills of mountains from Colorado and New Mexico south to Texas and northern Mexico. Populations of the Mice are separated from...
Handout
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Mountain Pocket Gopher

For Students 4th - 8th
Mountain Pocket Gophers live in meadows, pastures, and rocky slopes, in pine, fir, spruce, and hemlock forests at elevations above 1,545 m. They are active all year, and like other pocket gophers, they are solitary. Learn more about the...
Handout
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Alpine Chipmunk

For Students 4th - 8th
Alpine chipmunks live only at high elevations in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. They are found in rocky areas such as rock-bordered alpine meadows, talus slopes, and rockslides, with such other mammals as pikas, ermine,...
Handout
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel

For Students 4th - 8th
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels are familiar residents of open woodlands, brushy forest-edge habitats, dry margins of mountain meadows, and rocky slopes. They are quick to invade sunny, disturbed areas where pioneer plants provide good...