Status Key
Not at Risk
Special Concern
Threatened
Endangered
Extirpated
Extinct
Food Chain
Insects are often the lowest animals on the food chain and serve a vital role as food for larger animals and Pollinators for plants. At the top of the food chain are Apex Predators, animals which eat other animals with nothing eating them.
Can you put this food chain in the right order?
(Hint: place the Apex Predator on the right)
A
Buffalo
Buffalo
Grass
B
Loggerhead
Loggerhead
Shrike
C
Northern
Northern
Leopard Frog
D
Western
Western
Bumblebee
E
The
The
Sun
ANSWER
The correct order is:EADCB
Bonus Fact: All of these species are at risk! (except the sun)
Pale Yellow Dune Moth
- Primary threat is the loss of sparsely-vegetated Sandy Grasslands
- Can often be found along gravel or sandy Roads which mimic their natural habitat, they are often killed by passing cars
- Due to habitat loss and Fragmentation, sub-populations are isolated and at added risk of Local Extinction
Western Bumblebee
- The scientific name is Bombus Occidentalis, Latin for “Bumblebee from the West”
- They were formerly used to help in Greenhouses, especially to pollinate Tomatoes
- Only Female Bumblebees have Stingers
How does the Western Bumblebee survive the winter?
AHibernates in the ground or in trees
BMigrates to someplace warm
CNeither: Bumblebees only live for one year
Answer
ACThe queen bee lays several broods of worker bees through the spring and summer and, eventually, she will begin to produce new queens and/or male bees. The new queens and males leave the nest to mate with bees from other nests, and the new queens go into hibernation. All of the workers and males die and must be replaced in the spring. The new queen will hibernate in loose soil or rotting trees.
Monarch Butterfly
- Only lays eggs on the Milkweed Plant
- Migration takes many generations
- Always migrates back to the Same Tree
- Brightly coloured to warn predators it is Poisonous to eat
Monarch Butterfly Forest
by Nat Geo WILD
Swarms of monarch butterflies create an awe-inspiring scene at their winter sanctuary in Mexico.
Even Monarch Larvae are brightly coloured with yellow and black to warn predators against eating them.
They get their poison from the toxic Milkweed plant they eat.
