Lesson 3-Shopping at the Mercantile Store

Coyote

Wolf

Badger

Black Bear

Bison

Eagle

Notes

First Day

• There is a grand canyon in Yellowstone.
• There are more than 300 bison in Yellowstone.
• There are 20 peaks that are over 10,000 feet in Yellowstone.
• Yellowstone National Park is like a HUGE volcano.
• There are wolves, and coyotes in Yellowstone.
• 700 oxen, and 800 loose cattle could fit into one large wagon.
• On the Oregon Trail there were mountain lions, bears, prairie dogs, and bison.
• A male bison (buffalo) will weigh around 2,000 pounds.
• Yellowstone covers 31,000 square miles. 5 states fit into it.
• Coyotes live to around 6 years old.
• The oldest coyote was in Yellowstone and it was 13 years old until she was killed by a cougar (mountain lion).
• Coyotes have huge ears and and a very narrow muzzle.
• Wolves are much, much bigger than the coyotes, but they have much smaller ears and muzzles than the coyotes.
• Wolves have much bigger heads compared to the coyote.
• The wolf has a very small muzzle compared to the rest of its body.
• On the Oregon Trail there were no roads. It was pretty much just a wide open prairie with flowing grass and really nothing else.
• The Oregon trail takes up a good amount of Wyoming.
• The front teeth of a coyote are called incisors.
• The giant side teeth on a coyote are called canine teeth.
• The molar of a coyote rests on its side.
• The wolf can eat 80 quarter pound burgers in 10 minutes. That is 20 pounds of meat.
• The wolves eat that much because there are animals bigger than them, and so they want to get their share of food before the bigger animals do.
• There are 4-24 wolves in a pack.

Second Day

• The large wagons that people might have used on the Oregon Trail got stuck in the mus when it rains. So it might be a better idea to get 2 or 3 smaller wagons so they don't get stuck.
• When you were on the Oregon Trail you had to walk the entire way unless you were a baby, if you were elderly, or if you were sick.
• People on the Oregon Trail usually died because of unsanitary conditions, not weapons, or wild animals.
  
• People on the Oregon Trail would use cow chips to start engines, play games, and make food.
• Some of the mosquitoes on the Oregon Trail were as big as hummingbirds. There were also rattlesnakes, and other bugs like biting flies, and grasshoppers on the Oregon Trail.
• Even though you brought food on the Oregon Trail, you still had to hunt for meat along the way. People hunted bears, elk, and wolves a lot on the Oregon Trail. People would eat as much of the animal as they could.
• People on the Oregon Trail would use buffalo fat as bug repellent.
• There are a lot of badgers on the Oregon Trail.
• When badgers dig underground, they have their eyes closed, and they weigh as much as 20 pounds.
• Badgers are related to skunks.
• On the trail you would use the badger meat and make it into a stew, and do a bunch of other things like cook it over a fire.
• The coyotes outer coat is called it's guard coat and it protects the coyote from stuff like rain and snow.
• The wolves in Yellowstone are called gray wolves even though they aren't really gray.
• The webbing on the paws of a wolf act like snow shoes.
• Some of the animals on the Oregon Trail carry disease like rabies. 
• Lichen has been used to make medicine, perfume, coloring, and many other things.
• Lichen has been on the Earth longer than the dinosaurs.
• A golden eagle can kill a deer.

Reflection

I thought that skyping with Richard Chapman was really cool because he gave us a lot of facts and tips about the Oregon Trail. It also made our class feel good when he said that we were an amazing class, we asked great questions, and that we made his day and week. He wasn't even talking about the Oregon Trail but he incorperated it into his lesson which I thought was nice.