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Description

In this activity, students make a tracking tunnel to monitor the presence of pest species in a neighboring gully or their school grounds.

By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
• understand the uses of tracking tunnels in conservation
• create a functional tracking tunnel
• identify any tracks present in their tracking tunnel
• decide on a plan of action if any tracks are present.

Suitable for GGNZ Virtual Unit

Resources

• Make a tracking tunnel – student instructions
• Clean empty 1 or 2 litre milk cartons or plastic milk bottles (or similar)
• A craft knife or scissors
• Black polythene
• Electrical tape
• Food colouring or dye
• Thin sponges
• Small plastic trays that can fit inside the milk carton/bottle
• Glue
• Milk bottle tops
• Peanut butter
• White paper
• Thin wire (optional)

Instructions

Make a tracking tunnel

1. Carefully open up the ends of the milk carton (or bottle) to create a tube. You may need to use a craft knife to help you.

2. Slide the end of one milk carton tube into the other so you end up with the two containers overlapping. This will form a longer tunnel.

3. Cover the outside of the tunnel with black polythene and fasten using electrical tape. This will darken the tunnel, as most of these predators prefer dark spaces. Ensure the ends are left open.

4. Cut the white paper to fit the bottom of the tunnel and place inside.

5. Place a sponge into a plastic tray and wet the sponge using food colouring or dye.

6. Place a dollop of peanut butter into a clean milk bottle lid. Put this in the middle of the dye-soaked sponge and slide into the middle of the tunnel. You might like to add a little glue to the base of the tray to keep it in place.

7. Leave the tracking tunnel overnight in a nearby gully or the school grounds. The tunnel can be held in place by making the piece of wire into a ‘U’ shape and pinning it into the ground. You might like to leave out several tracking tunnels in the area.

8. Check the white paper for animal prints in the morning.

Tags

• conservation
• GGNZ Virtual Unit
• Pests
• take it outdoors
• traps

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