By Shannen Yauger and Kelley Williams

ALONG THE MOUNTAINSIDE

SKU 767
Winter.......................... 1
Spring......................... 9
Summer..................... 17
Autumn......................27
 The Silent Snowfall

Along the base of the North Georgia mountains,

winter arrives, a blanket of snow covering the forest
floor. As the temperature drops and the days grow
shorter, Red Fox prepares for the challenges that lie
ahead. With her thick fur providing insulation against
the biting cold, she ventures forth from her den in
search of food. She relies on her keen hunting skills
to navigate the chilly landscape; her long snout tracks
along the forest floor, trailing the scent of a cottontail
rabbit. Sleek black-tipped paws tread quietly on the
freshly fallen snow as she works throughout the night

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 and into the early morning. As a golden sun rises
over the mountains, her orange-red fur glimmers as it
reflects the rising sun. She knows this mountain well,
having lived here since she was a pup. Suddenly, she
stops and turns her large ears to and fro. What is that
she hears?
Not far from Red Fox, Wild Boar is foraging for
acorns under the oak trees. Anything but quiet, Wild
Boar sniffs and snuffles, his snout buried in the snow.
Red Fox keeps a keen eye on Wild Boar’s methodical

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search for food. Intrigued, she follows him, keeping her
distance as she watches him uncover hidden treasures
on the frozen ground. Intent on his search for breakfast,
the large animal presses along, snout to the ground,
unaware that he’s being watched. Acorns, roots, tubers,
and even small mammals become his targets as he roams
his territory. Despite his messy appearance, Wild Boar is
a creature of routine and habit. He follows well-trodden
paths through the woods, his thick hair providing
protection from the biting cold.

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 A Time of Renewal

Red Fox emerges from her den, her coat now sleek
and shiny as she basks in the warm rays of the late-
afternoon sun. She spent the last few weeks of winter
preparing a cozy space in her den to have her litter of
fox kits. Spring has arrived, and with it, her kits. Now
that they’re here, blind, helpless, and covered in a soft
gray fur, Red Fox’s mate must find food for all of them.
He trots away, bushy tail swishing from side to side,

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 to forage for mice or grasshoppers in the surrounding
woods for his babies. Stretching in the sun one last
time, Red Fox heads back into her den for the evening
to keep the kits warm.
Sniffing along a fallen tree after sundown, Red
Fox’s mate has detected, with his keen hearing, the
sound of a mouse digging under him. He crouches
behind a large root, waiting for the mouse to make its
appearance. The unsuspecting mouse pops out of his
hole, and the fox pounces in one giant leap. Proud to
have caught the next meal for his family, he runs back
to the den with the small rodent in his mouth.

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 A Time of Abundance

June brings heat and humidity to the North

Georgia mountains as the summer months blossom
and bloom. Waiting for the heat of the day to pass,
Red Fox and her little pack of kits roam the many
tunnels of their shady den. Needing more space for
the young ones to run, Red Fox cautiously heads out
from the den to make sure the area is safe for her
littles. Seeing no danger, Red Fox barks wow-wow
to her offspring—a signal that it is safe to come out.
The kits, who are now much bigger and busier than
they were in the spring, spill out of the den entrance,
wrestling with each other and playing chase. Every few
minutes, a kit stops to drink nourishing milk from
Red Fox.
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 Ears swiveling and nose sniffing, Red Fox picks up
her head at the sound of her mate returning with a
large fish for the family. Freshly caught in the cold
mountain river that flows nearby, it is a tasty meal for
the family, and the kits immediately hunker down and
ambush the fish. They are practicing for the time when
they will have to find their own food. Tearing at the
fresh meat, each kit gets enough food to fill its belly for
a while.
Red Fox is suddenly on alert. She has spotted a bald
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eagle soaring overhead.
With a long, shrill bark,
she warns her babies to
rush back to the safety of
their den. The eagle circles
and flies back over them,
lower this time. One kit
is slower than the others. Determined to protect her
young, Red Fox turns back, rears up on her hind feet,
and bares her teeth at the eagle, growling and barking.
The eagle gives up, and the baby fox safely makes it
into the dusty den to
join its siblings.
The heat of the
midday sun beats
down on Mama Wild
Boar and her piglets.
They’ve spent the early
morning rooting in a
nearby field for juicy
strawberries. With their
bellies full, it’s time
to cool off. Unable to
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 sweat like other animals to cool their bodies down, the
boars must head to their wallow—a muddy pit next
to a stream. The piglets happily slide into the wallow
nose first and roll around, coating their heated skin
with cool mud. Mama Wild Boar follows them with
a satisfied grunt, as the mud will also help remove the
parasites that have made her skin their home. After a
while, she calls to her piglets to leave the wallow and
find somewhere to rub off the mud, as she is ready to
take a nap until the sun sets and the air is cool again.
One by one, the little boars trot after their mother.
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 By Shannen Yauger and Kelley Williams

ALONG THE MOUNTAINSIDE

SKU 767
 from

by
Heather Horn
 Follow me!
Let me show
you around this
amazing place.

3
 Do you see the little joey standing next to
his protective mother? His father is called
a boomer while his mother is called a flyer,
though sometimes they are called jack and jill.
His family lives with many other kangaroos
in a group called a mob. It was not too long
ago that he was a baby hiding in his mother’s
pouch. Kangaroos are mammals, meaning
the mothers have live births and make milk
to feed their babies. They belong to an order
of mammals called “marsupials.” A marsupial
mother carries her babies inside her body for
a much shorter time than other mammals,
about a month, and gives birth to a very tiny
baby, smaller than a kidney bean. The baby
then makes his way into his mother’s pouch,
What do you or marsupium, which is a pocket on the
find unique about front of his mother’s tummy. Inside, he stays
this joey and his tucked away safe and warm. Over the next few
mother? months, he will continue to grow until he is
bigger and jumps out from the safety of his
mother’s pouch to see the world outside.

5
 Anatomy of a Kangaroo
Back
Trunk
Neck Head

Tail

Upper hind leg

Forearm
Lower hind leg

Kangaroos do not walk like other animals. Their hind legs and feet move together when they jump.
In fact, they cannot move their legs one at a time on land at all because their feet are so long, which
is where their tails can help. Zoologists have studied how kangaroos use their tails, and they have
learned that the tail is used to help push the kangaroo forward when jumping. In a way, it is like the
kangaroo has a third leg.

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 allaroos and Wallabies
Wallaroos
Kangaroos are the largest species of
macropods. Macropod means “large
foot,” but there are medium and small
macropod species too. Wallaroos
are the medium macropods, while
wallabies are the small macropods.
Like kangaroos, wallaroos and
wallabies jump everywhere.
Wallaroos are not much smaller than
kangaroos, but they are stockier and
have a different stance. They stand
with their shoulders back, elbows
tucked, and wrists raised. Their noses
are also moist and black. While
kangaroos live in the open grassland,
wallaroos are found in the more rocky,
mountainous areas. Most wallaroos
prefer to live alone rather than with a
group. Their name comes from a mix
of their smaller and larger relatives:
the wallaby and the kangaroo.

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At one year old, she will leave her mother, and her mother will have another baby. She will be on her
own to find food and protect herself, making her home alone in the trees. Spending many hours
sleeping, between 18-20 each day, koalas miss most of the daytime. They need this large amount of
rest for their bodies to break down their diet of toxic eucalypt.

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 Another interesting fact about the opossum is that the mother’s pouch opening is not
placed upwards like other marsupials. It is more of a vertical opening toward the tail end of
the mother, like another mammal, the Australian wombat, whose pouch opening faces her
tail.

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What do you think Look there, hidden near that
this Tasmanian hollow stump. A Tasmanian devil
devil will eat for is curled up, taking an afternoon
his evening meal? nap. Since he is nocturnal and
awake all night, he is resting up
for the evening. The warm sun is
setting, and nightlife in the wild
of Tasmania is just beginning. The
Tasmanian devil stirs from his
sleep and steps away from the log.
Tasmanian devils don’t really hunt.
They search around for leftovers
other predators have left behind, so
he uses his keen sense of smell to
find his next meal.

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Mother platypuses hide away in burrows, so it took a long time for scientists
to learn that they lay eggs. The mother carries the eggs inside her body for
three weeks before laying her eggs. She then incubates them by lying on them
to keep them warm for another week before they hatch. Once hatched, the
baby platypuses crawl over to their mother to
start drinking milk.

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 echidna
echidna

There is only one other egg-laying

mammal species living today, and that is
the echidna. Much smaller than a platypus,
he is nicknamed the spiny anteater.

With spines like a porcupine or hedgehog and

a slender snout like an anteater, it is a fitting
nickname, though the echidna is not related to
either animal.

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 god’s
god’s wonderful
wonderful design
design

1 2 3 4* 5
Echidna Kangaroo Koala Opossum Platypus
*Found in North America

6 7 8 9 10
Possum Tasmanian devil Wallaby Wallaroo Wombat

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Become a nature detective by learning
the tracks and signs of ten
different mammals!

by Maggie Felsch and Shannen Yauger

 ave
ve you ever noticed animal tracks in the mud or
the snow? Do you know what animal left those
tracks? Did you pause to consider where that animal
was going, what it was doing, or where it lived? A tree
with claw scratches, a tuft of fur, a paw print, or a
dropped feather may be all you have to go by.
In this book, become a detective of mammal tracks
and signs by searching for clues in the scene. See if you
can figure out what animal left the tracks and signs,
and then turn the page to see if you are right!

1
 What�mammal
makes�a home here?

2
Do you see the
circular holes? What kind of mammal digs for
What do you
think those
its dinner?
are from?

Tra c k Fac ts:

What mammal
sheds black and
white fur?
Claw marks
are present.

1.5”
The tracks
show five
distinct toes.

1.25”
The hollow
log looks
like a lovely This mammal
place for this Something ate berries and took loves to
mammal to bites out of the mushrooms. eat nuts,
sleep. vegetables,
and fruits.

3
 Did you gues� �hat�a
skunk was�here?
Characterized by their black-and-white fur, these slow-moving
animals live along forest edges, woodlands, grasslands, Quick Facts
and deserts. Skunks usually nest in burrows they build
∙ The skunk family includes 10 species
themselves or borrow abandoned burrows constructed of skunks found in North and South
by other animals, but they also live in hollow logs or even America and 2 species of stink badgers
abandoned buildings. found in Southeast Asia.
∙ The official name for the skunk family
is Mephitidae, which means “stink.”
∙ Although the most common fur color is
black and white, some skunks are brown
or gray, and a few are cream-colored.
∙ Some skunks are striped, and some are
spotted or have swirl patterns on
their fur.
∙ A group of skunks is called a surfeit
surfeit.

4
 Can you see This animal
a tuft of left scratch
tan fur on a marks on

Fa
branch? the tree.

Tra c k c ts:
Overall
round shape No claw marks
The tracks are present.
show four
distinct toes.

Look at the
2” feathers! It looks
like this mammal
pounced on a bird.

The plantar pad is

much larger than the
This animal left
toe pads.
2”
tracks leading
down to the
stream where it
went to get a The tracks
drink of water. eventually
lead to this
mammal’s
den.

7
 Look! It’s�a weasel!
Found across the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, and
most oceanic islands, weasels live in a variety of habitats,
from abandoned burrows to rock piles. They can live just
about anywhere as long as the location is safe and has lots of
options for food. These little mammals eat over 40 percent
of their own body weight each day! You can find them in
forests, grasslands, sand dunes, and sometimes even in your
backyard.
These long, slim-bodied mammals have short legs and five
small, clawed toes on each foot. Their necks are long, with
small heads and eyes. This weasel has brown
fur with paler fur on its belly, though some
weasels will shed their brown
fur and grow white fur in When a weasel has white fur, it is called the
the winter to blend in “ermine” phase. Do you see how this works
with the snow. These to camouflage the weasel in the snow?
weasels will often retain
a bit of black, either on
their faces or the tip of
their tails.

16
 What�mammal lives�here?

18
 A beaver�built�it� home
in�the �t�eam! Quick Facts
Beavers work together to build dams made of wood and mud to stop up ∙ Beavers are the second largest rodents
in the world, after the capybara.
water in streams and rivers. These dams provide still, deep water to protect
∙ They are mainly nocturnal, staying busy
it against predators like wolves, coyotes, and bears. The water also provides building dams and lodges throughout
a way for the beavers to float big logs and sticks to their homes for use the night, though they can be seen out
and about during the day.
as building material and food. Once the dams are completed and ponds
∙ Beavers grow to around 3 feet long and
formed, beavers build a lodge—their home—in the middle of the pond. Like can weigh 50 pounds or more.
the dams, the dome-shaped lodges are constructed ∙ The beaver has poor eyesight but a
with wood and mud. The entrance good sense of hearing, smell, and touch.
to the lodge is underwater, ∙ If a predator approaches, a beaver
will use its broad, scaly tail to slap
making it difficult or the water as an alarm signal to other
impossible for most beavers.
other animals to ∙ Beavers are excellent swimmers with
webbing between the toes of their large
enter. The den of hind feet. They can stay underwater for
the lodge, which is up to 15 minutes.
above water on dry ∙ Beavers are herbivores, eating mainly
the wood of a variety of trees.
ground, usually has
∙ Beavers produce an oily substance
room to house up to in their fur called castoreum, which
four adults and six to makes their coats waterproof.
eight young beavers.

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 ow that you have become a mammal tracks
detective, take notice of tracks and signs where
you live. Next time you go outside, look around you.
There are living creatures leaving little clues (and
sometimes big clues)! Enjoy discovering how animals
get food, where they find shelter, when they sleep,
what they do while they are awake, and what kinds of
tracks and signs they leave.

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