Skip to main content
Natural Inquirer - Homepage

Free Science Materials for K-12 Students

  • Bookmarks
  • Cart0
  • Account
  • Find Outdoors
  • USDA
  • USDA Forest Service logo.
Natural Inquirer - Homepage
  • About
    • About Natural Inquirer
    • Team
    • Partners
    • Press & Past Events
    • Contact Us
  • Resources
    • View All Resources
    • Grade Levels
      • PreK - 2nd Grade
      • Upper Elementary
      • Middle School
      • High School
      • All Grade Levels
    • Resource Types
      • Articles
      • Activities
      • Collector Cards
      • Coloring Books
      • Glossary
      • Lesson Plans
      • Scientists & Collaborators
      • Spotlights
      • Virtual Learning Adventures
      • All Types
    • Resource Topics
      • Wilderness
      • Wildlife
      • Water
      • Climate
      • Social Science
      • Fire
      • Agriculture
      • Recreation
      • Carbon
      • Insects
      • All Topics
    • Special Collections
      • Artemis Moon Trees
      • Experimental Forests & Ranges
      • Project Learning Tree Connections
      • Globe Connections
      • Smokey Bear
      • Spanish Editions
      • Woodsy Owl
      • World's Forests
      • All Special Collections
  • Order Materials
    • View All Products
    • Journals & Monographs
    • Readers
    • Collector Card Packs
    • Coloring Books
  • Educators
    • For Educators
      • Note to Educators
      • Educator Blog
      • Educator Newsletter
    • Classroom Ready Resources
      • Lesson Plans
      • Activities
      • Learning Modules
      • GLOBE Connections
      • Project Learning Tree
    • Get Involved
      • Volunteer Your Classroom
  • Virtual Learning Adventures
  • Bookmarks
  • Cart
  • Account
  • About
    • About Natural Inquirer
    • Team
    • Partners
    • Press & Past Events
    • Contact
  • Resources
        • View All Resources
        • By Grade
          • PreK - 2nd
          • Upper Elementary
          • Middle School
          • High School
        • By Type
          • Articles
          • Activities
          • Collector Cards
          • Coloring Books
          • Glossary
          • Lesson Plans
          • Learning Modules
          • Journals
          • Monographs
          • Readers
          • Scientists & Collaborators
          • Spotlights
          • Virtual Learning Adventures
          • All Types
        • By Topic
          • Agriculture
          • Carbon
          • Climate
          • Fire
          • Insects
          • Recreation
          • Social Science
          • Water
          • Wilderness
          • Wildlife
          • All Topics
        • Special Collections
          • Artemis Moon Trees
          • Experimental Forests and Ranges
          • GLOBE Connections
          • Project Learning Tree Connections
          • Smokey Bear
          • Spanish Editions
          • Woodsy Owl
          • World's Forests
          • All Special Collections
  • Order Materials
        • Download all resources - FREE!

          **Due to recent government funding changes, we currently are only able to process bulk orders.** We hope that we will be able to resolve this issue in the near future. In the meantime, please feel free to download our resources and explore the website for many great lesson plans and activities. Thank you!

          View All Products
        • Journals & Monographs

          Journals focus on a group of related articles, while monographs focus on one research article.

          Journals & Monographs
        • Collector Cards

          Learn about possible career opportunities in science!

          View All Card Packs
        • Readers

          For a PreK-2nd grade audience, each Reader focuses on one Forest Service scientist and their research.

          View All Readers
        • Coloring Books

          Learn more about science through our coloring books!

          View All Coloring Books
  • Educators
        • Overview
          • Educator Guide
        • Classroom Ready Resources
          • Learning Modules
          • Lesson Plans
          • Explore All
        • Order Materials
          • View All Free Products
          • Contact Us
        • For Educators
          • Educator Blog
          • Educator Newsletter
          • Project Learning Tree
        • Get Involved
          • Volunteer Your Classroom
  • Virtual Learning Adventures

Breadcrumb

  • Home
  • Resources
  • There’s Snow Place Like Home: Tracking the Range of Wolverines Over Time
Bookmark
Please login to bookmark Close

Please login to bookmark


Lost your password?

No account yet? Register

There’s Snow Place Like Home: Tracking the Range of Wolverines Over Time

  • Article
  • Middle School
  • 1 Classroom Period
  • Climate
  • Wildlife
  • Endangered Species Act
  • Habitat
  • Habitat Loss
  • Native Range
  • Wolverine
Cover of "There's Snow Place Like Home" featuring a black and white photo of a wolverine
SHARE
  • Copy Link
  • Facebook
  • X (Twitter)
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • Google Classroom

Wolverines, the largest terrestrial member of the weasel family, are difficult to find because they live in areas far from humans and human development. Therefore, not much is known about these mammals. Neither the current nor historical range of wolverines in the lower 48 States was well known before the work of these scientists. The scientists in this study wanted to accurately map the wolverines’ range over time and evaluate how climate change might be affecting their range.

There’s Snow Place Like Home: Tracking the Range of Wolverines Over Time

Part Of

Natural Inquirer - Vol. 14 No. 1

Explore Full Journal
SHARE
  • Copy Link
  • Facebook
  • X (Twitter)
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • Google Classroom
Download PDF
  • The question students will answer in this FACTivity is: What is the range of an animal?

    FACTivity – There’s Snow Place Like Home

    • Activity
    • Middle School
    • 2-3 Classroom Periods
    • Wildlife
    • Habitat
    • Native Range
    • Research
    The question students will answer in this FACTivity is: What is the range of an animal?
    Explore Activity Download FACTivity (PDF)
    Explore Activity Download FACTivity (PDF)

    Part Of

    There's Snow Place Like Home: Tracking the Range of Wolverines Over Time

Download PDF

Glossary

View All Glossary
  • accurate

    (a kyə rət): (1) Free from error especially as the result of care; (2) conforming exactly to truth or to a standard.

  • archived

    (är kīvd): Filed or collected in or as if in an archive (a place in which public records or historical materials, such as documents, are preserved).

  • data

    (dā tǝ or da tǝ): Factual information (such as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation.

  • echidna

    (i kid nə): A spiny-coated, toothless, burrowing, egg-laying mammal of Australia with a tapering snout and long tongue for eating ants, also known as a spiny anteater.

  • enraged

    (en rājd): Filled with rage; angered.

  • extinct

    (ik stiŋ(k)t or ek stiŋ(k)t): No longer existing.

  • geographic range

    (jē ə gra fik rānj): The region throughout which a kind of organism or ecological community naturally lives or occurs.

  • herbivorous

    ((h)ər biv rəs or (h)ər bi və rəs): Feeding on plants.

  • marsupial

    (mär sü pē əl): Any of an order of mammals (such as kangaroos and opossums) that have a pouch on the abdomen of the female containing the teats and serving to carry the young.

  • monotreme

    (mä nə trēm): Any of an order of egg-laying mammals that include the platypuses and echidnas.

  • observation

    (äb sәr vā shәn): An act of recognizing and noting a fact or occurrence often involving measurement with instruments.

  • petition

    (pə ti shən): (1) (verb) To make a formal written request made to an authority or organized body (such as a court); (2) (noun) a written request or call for change signed by many people in support of a shared cause or concern.

  • reliable

    (ri lī ə bəl): Dependable.

  • species

    (spē sēz or spē shēz): A category of living things that ranks below a genus, is made up of related individuals able to produce fertile offspring, and is identified by a two-part scientific name.

  • terrestrial

    (tə re st(r)ē əl): Of or relating to land as distinct from air or water.

  • Dr. Keith Aubry outside with his dog

    Keith Aubry

    Wildlife Biologist

    One of my most interesting and exciting science experiences occurred last winter when I traveled around the island of Tasmania (which is part of Australia). This was my first opportunity...
    View Profile
  • Dr. Kevin McKelvey holding a wolverine kit in a snowy forest

    Kevin McKelvey

    Wildlife Ecologist

    My favorite experience was digging out a wolverine snow-den in Glacier National Park. To study wolverines, scientists capture wolverine kits (baby wolverines) and put tracking instruments on them. These instruments...
    View Profile

Jump To

  • Education Standards
  • Educator Guide
  • Lesson Plans
  • Education Files

Standards addressed in this Article:

Social Studies Standards

Social Studies Standards are educational guidelines outlining the essential knowledge, skills, and concepts students should learn in subjects such as history, geography, civics, and economics, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of societal structures, historical events, and global perspectives.
  • People, Places, and Environments
  • Science, Technology, and Society
  • Time, Continuity, and Change

Note To Educators

The Forest Service's Mission

The Forest Service’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. For more than 100 years, our motto has been “caring for the land and serving people.” The Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), recognizes its responsibility to be engaged in efforts to connect youth to nature and to promote the development of science-based conservation education programs and materials nationwide.

USDA and Forest Service Logos

What Is the Natural Inquirer?

Natural Inquirer is a science education resource journal to be used by students in grade 6 and up. Natural Inquirer contains articles describing environmental and natural resource research conducted by Forest Service scientists and their cooperators. These scientific journal articles have been reformatted to meet the needs of middle school students. The articles are easy to understand, are aesthetically pleasing to the eye, contain glossaries, and include hands-on activities. The goal of Natural Inquirer is to stimulate critical reading and thinking about scientific inquiry and investigation while teaching about ecology, the natural environment, and natural resources.

Natural Inquirer bee sitting at a desk with paper and pencil

  • Meet the Scientists

    Introduces students to the scientists who did the research. This section may be used in a discussion about careers in science.

  • What Kinds of Scientist Did This Research?

    Introduces students to the scientific disciplines of the scientists who conducted the research.

  • Thinking About Science

    Introduces something new about the scientific process, such as a scientific habit of mind or procedures used in scientific studies.

  • Thinking About the Environment

    Introduces the environmental topic being addressed in the research.

  • Introduction

    Introduces the problem or question that the research addresses.

  • Method

    Describes the method the scientists used to collect and analyze their data.

  • Findings & Discussion

    Describes the results of the analysis. Addresses the findings and places them into the context of the original problem or question.

  • Reflection Section

    Presents questions aimed at stimulating critical thinking about what has been read or predicting what might be presented in the next section. These questions are placed at the end of each of the main article sections.

  • Number Crunches

    Presents an easy math problem related to the research.

  • Glossary

    Defines potentially new scientific or other terms to students. The first occurrence of a glossary word is bold in the text.

  • Citation

    Gives the original article citation with an internet link to the original article.

  • FACTivity

    Presents a hands-on activity that emphasizes something presented in the article.


Science Education Standards

You will find a listing of education standards which are addressed by each article at the back of each publication and on our website.


We Welcome Feedback

  • Contact

    Jessica Nickelsen
    Director, Natural Inquirer program

  • Email

    Contact us here.

Lessons

  • Give each student or group a copy of the THIEVES chart reproduced at the end of the lesson plan PDF. You may either write the questions on the board, or...

    Lesson Plan – THIEVES Chart Guided Reading

    • Lesson Plan
    • Middle School
    • 1 Classroom Period
    • Agriculture
    • Carbon
    • Citizen Science
    • Climate
    • Engineering and Forest Products
    • Fire
    • Insects
    • Pollinators
    • Pollution
    • Recreation
    • Social Science
    • Water
    • Wilderness
    • Wildlife
    • Graphic Organizer
    • Guided reading
    • Reading for Information
    Give each student or group a copy of the THIEVES chart reproduced at the end of the lesson plan PDF. You may either write the questions on the board, or...
    Explore Lesson Plan Download Lesson Plan (PDF)
    Explore Lesson Plan Download Lesson Plan (PDF)

    Part Of

    Natural Inquirer - Vol. 14 No. 1

Education Files

Jump To

  • Additional Resources

Additional Resources

  • National Geographic: Wolverine Information and Pictures

    Visit National Geographic Kids for more information on wolverines.

    Visit Website
Back to Top
  • Natural Inquirer - Homepage
  • Find Outdoors
  • USDA
  • USDA Forest Service logo.

The Natural Inquirer program produces a variety of science education materials for PreK through grade 12. Natural Inquirer products are produced by the USDA Forest Service, FIND Outdoors, and other cooperators and partners.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
* denotes mandatory fields
Loading
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • X, formerly Twitter
  • YouTube
  • About Natural Inquirer
  • Team
  • Partners
  • Press & Past Events
  • Contact Us
  • Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Shipping Policy
© 2025 - Natural Inquirer | Website Credit