Nature Merit Badge
NATURE
- Name three ways in which plants are important to animals. Name a plant that is protected in your state or region, and explain why it is at risk.
- Name three ways in which animals are important to plants. Name an animal that is protected in your state or region, and explain why it is at risk.
- Explain the term "food chain." Give an example of a four-step land food chain and a four-step water food chain.
- Do all of the requirements in FIVE of the following fields:
- Birds
- In the field, identify eight species of birds.
- Make and set out a birdhouse OR a feeding station OR a birdbath.
List what birds used it during a period of one month.
- Mammals
- In the field, identify three species of wild animals.
- Make plaster casts of the tracks of a wild mammal.
- Reptiles and Amphibians
- Show that you can recognize the venomous snakes in your area.
- In the field, identify three species of reptiles or amphibians.
- Recognize one species of toad or frog by voice; OR identify one reptile or amphibian by eggs, den, burrow, or other signs.
- Insects and Spiders
- Collect, mount, and label 10 species of insects or spiders.
- Hatch an insect from the pupa or cocoon; OR hatch adults from nymphs; OR keep larvae until they form pupae or cocoons; OR keep a colony of ants or bees through one season.
- Fish
- Catch and identify two species of fish.
- Collect four kinds of animal food eaten by fish in the wild.
- Mollusks and Crustaceans
- Identify five species of mollusks and crustaceans.
- Collect, mount, and label six shells.
- Plants
- In the field, identify 15 species of wild plants.
- Collect and label the seeds of six plants OR the leaves of 12 plants.
- Soils and Rocks
- Collect and identify soils found in different layers of a soil profile.
- Collect and identify five different types of rocks from your area.
- Birds