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ParkWise
> Teachers >
Treasures
> Footprints into the Past and the
Future
Activity
9:
Walrus Hunt
Students
learn about subsistence and conservation.
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Unit:
Footprints into
the Past and the Future
Guiding Question: Why
did people migrate across Beringia and how did they live?
Critical Content: Students
will know about Native cultures and subsistence near Bering
Land Bridge National Preserve.
Grades: 4
Duration: 2
class periods
Group size: entire
class and groups of 3 or 4
Setting: classroom
Materials: dictionary,
walrus
cards
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Objectives:
- Students will be able to give a reason why subsistence is important.
- Students will learn about the uses of walrus and compare these
uses with animals like the cow.
- Student will discuss how walrus is used today and what uses
have been replaced by modern technology.
- Students will learn that harvesting of animals must be conservative
to ensure healthy populations of wildlife
Before You Begin: Review
Subsistence
and Walrus Hunting
Procedures:
Class Period One:
- Discuss with your students what subsistence is. Have them lookup
the definition in the dictionary. Is this definition what your
class expected? How does it relate to what your class thinks subsistence
is?
- For Alaskan Native Students: Ask your students what subsistence
means to them. For example, "What subsistence activities
do you and your family participate in?" "What would
you do if you didn't do these activities?" "Are subsistence
activities fun?" Or even, "What does subsistence mean
to you?"
- Discuss why subsistence is important to Alaskan Natives, to
their family, to their whole community. What would happen if they
were not able to subsist off the land?
- Explain to your class that they are going to be walrus hunters,
and are going on a subsistence hunt. Discuss with them what parts
of the walrus they can use. If you want you can write the walrus
part and its use on the board.
- Compare the consumptive and nonconsumptive uses of a cow with
that of a walrus. Are there any parts of the cow that are used
that seem strange or even "gross" to the kids? How about
parts of the walrus?
- Discuss wasteful uses of walrus or any animal with your students.
What is wasteful to them?
Class Period Two - the Population Experiment:
- Before class, photocopy, cut out and tape walrus
cards to the chalkboard or any clear area in the class. There
should be 2 walrus cards to every one student.
- Explain to your class that they are going to be walrus hunters.
They are going to go on a subsistence hunt for walrus.
- Ask your students if there should be any rules or limits (ordinances)
on how many walrus they can harvest. Share responses and students
reasoning.
- If your class is large have your students break up into walrus
hunting parties, 3 to 4 students per group for one boat of walrus
hunters. If your class is small you can break them up in groups
of 2 or even have individual hunters.
- Write down the total number of animals on the board. Explain
that this is the population of the herd of walrus they are going
to hunt.
- Ask each group to go up, one at a time, and harvest as many
walrus as they want, even if they are being wasteful.
- After the students take all or almost all of the cards from
the board ask them what happened. Did any groups get left out
of the hunt because there were not enough walrus?
- Have each group right the number of walrus they harvested on
the board. Then write the number of walrus you started with and
the number remaining.
- Explain to the students that 1/2 of the of the walrus left are
females and that each female will, have one offspring. Calculate
with your students how many offspring will be produced. Add that
many walrus to the board. Were
there any walrus left to reproduce?
If there were, repeat this hunting style for five years or until
there are no more walrus.
- Ask your students how the consequences of taking as many as
you want and being wasteful could be avoided. If harvests are
limited, walrus can survive to reproduce and raise their young.
- Have the students return all the walrus to the board.
- Explain to your students that now, they are going to conduct
a hunt with ordinances from the Eskimo Walrus Commission for their
"village" a.k.a. their class, as guidelines for how
many walrus they can hunt. According to the Eskimo Walrus Commission
their village can hunt one walrus per person for a hunting party,
i.e. four people in a hunting party, four walrus can be taken
for that group. For an example of a real ordinance, telephone
the Eskimo Walrus Commission at (907) 443-5231.
- Have the students develop an hypothesis of how the walrus population
will differ over time if there are limits placed on the number
of walrus that can be hunted.
- Have each hunting party go up and hunt for their number of walrus.
In the end their should be 1/2 as many walrus left. Have the students
count how many walrus were harvested and then subtract that number
from the original number on the board. Write down on the board
the number of walrus that each group harvested, and the number
remaining, and how many walrus there will be next year.
- Repeat this process for four more years with the same ordinance.
Discuss
with your students how the ordinance affected the walrus population
over time.
- Ask the students to develop a hypothesis about the change in
walrus population if animals are taken illegally.
- Have them go on another hunt where 2 to 3 groups (hunting parties)
are instructed to harvest 3 extra animals illegally, for wasteful
purposes. The rest of the groups will hunt legally like the last
harvest. Wasteful purposes like head hunting, not needing that
much meat, shooting the animal and making no attempt to retrieve
it from the water, etc. Repeat this process for the same five
years.
- What happens to the herd population? Count the walrus that are
left, if there are any. Calculate number of females and offspring
like the last harvest. Can the-students explain why there are
not as many animals as before? Is it important not to be wasteful?
Do the students think that it is important for people to obey
laws for hunting, fishing and marine mammal harvest?
- Ask
your students if they understand the consequences of people not
obeying laws for hunting, fishing and marine mammal harvest? (All
animals over-hunted will eventually disappear).
- Have the class create other ordinances, and see how that population
of walrus changes over the years.
Discussion
Questions:
- What are wasteful uses of walrus or other animals hunted in
your state?
- How do you think hunting laws should change when there are more
hunters? What about when there are fewer hunters?
- How should hunting laws change when the population of the hunted
species grows and shrinks?
- How do you subsist,
if you don't hunt, fish or gather? Where does your food come from?
- How is our shared culture change when we hunt for subsistence
and when we don't?
- What is the role of National Parks in protecting species?
Extension: graph using line graphs
or bar charts the changes in walrus population over time under the
various hunting scenarios.
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