Requirements
1. Explain the meaning of “animal,” “invertebrate,” “vertebrate,”
and “mammal.” Name three characteristics that distinguish
mammals from all other animals.
2. Explain how the animal kingdom is classified. Explain
where mammals fit in the classification of animals.
Classify three mammals from phylum through species.
3. Do ONE of the following:
a. Spend three 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.
b. Spend three hours on each of five days on at least
a 25-acre area (about the size of 31/2 football fields).
List the mammal species you identified by sight
or sign.
c. From study and reading, write a simple life history
of one nongame mammal that lives in your area. Tell
how this mammal lived before its habitat was affected
in any way by humans. Tell how it reproduces, what it
eats, and its natural habitat. Describe its dependency
upon plants and other animals (including humans),
and how they depend upon it. Tell how it is helpful
or harmful to humankind.
4. Do ONE of the following:
a. 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.
b. Take good pictures of two kinds of mammals in the
wild. Record the date(s), time of day, weather conditions,
approximate distance from the animal, habitat
conditions, and any other factors you feel may have
influenced the animal’s activity and behavior.
c. 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.
d. Make and bait a tracking pit. Report what mammals
and other animals came to the bait.
e. Visit a natural history museum. Report on how specimens
are prepared and cataloged. Explain the purposes
of museums.
f. Write a report of 500 words on a book about a
mammal species.
g. Trace two possible food chains of carnivorous mammals
from soil through four stages to the mammal.
5. Working with your counselor, select and carry out
one project that will influence the numbers of one or
more mammals.
Resources:
Scouting.org Merit Badges - Requirements
boyscouttrail.com Merit Badges