CAN.SEPT.23 – Qu. 1 You are conducting a canoe safari, how would you respond to the…
Blank Sheets for Recording Animal Facts

Hundreds of facts pop up when you are studying for Habits and Habitats. You want an efficient way of keeping control of these facts and not having to look them up again and again. I would suggest that you make yourself a table or chart so that as you read you are recording facts in a way that is a. easy to find again and b. makes it easy to see the comparison between different animals.
Here is a rough example, semi-filled in by hand, as you would do while studying. (N.B. The information about each animal goes over 2 lines.)

Below is an example of a more formal, typed chart making comparisons between medium sized and small antelopes.
WATERBUCK | BUSHBUCK | IMPALA | REEDBUCK | ||||
SHOULDER HEIGHT | 130CM | 70-80 | 90CM | 80-90 CM | |||
LATIN NAME | Kobus ellipsiprymnus | Tragelaphus scriptus | Aepeceros melampus | Redunca arundinum | |||
SHONA NAME | Dhumukwa | Dzoma | Mhara | Bimha | |||
HABITAT | Woodland, reeds, long grass, near permanent water, | Riverine woodland with water | Savanah woodland, some cover but also short grass | Tall grass, reeds | |||
Diurnal/ Nocturnal | Diurnal | Diurnal | Diurnal | Diurnal | |||
SOLITARY/ GREGARIOUS | Groups of 5 -10 | Solitary & small family groups | Gregarious | Pairs or families | |||
TERRITORIAL | Territorial, aggressive male | Non-territorial, over-lapping home ranges | Males exceedingly territorial during rut | ||||
DIET | Grazers | Mainly browse | Browse & graze – latter in early rainy season, former as grass dies off | Grazers, a little browsing | |||
LIFE SPAN | F 12-14 yrs | M – 10 yrs | |||||
1ST BREED | M 5-6 yrs | F | M | F – 18 mths | M – 4 years | F | M |
MATING SEASON | Winter peak | End of wet season/early winter | June | ||||
GESTATION PERIOD | 8-9 months | 6 months | 6 ½ – 7 months | 7 – 7 ½ months | |||
BIRTH SEASON | Summer peak | Any time | Early rains – baby hides few days (with other calves) then joins mother during day | Summer/rains | |||
NUMBER OF OFFSPRING | 1 – twins not uncommion | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
INTERVAL IN BREEDING | Year |
N.B. A great deal of the value of this sort of chart comes from FILLING IT IN YOURSELF – the act of finding and summarizing the material helps you to get it into your brain. It is not nearly so helpful to get hold of someone else’s charts!
Below you will find a blank chart for you to copy many times and fill in as you are studying – but it is likely that you realise that you can make a better chart of your own that divides the information up in a way that makes the most sense to you.
Remember also that you will want slightly different charts for different animals. For example, with antelope you want to remember if the females have horns or not – but that does not apply to crocodiles or lions.
COMMON NAME | LATIN NAME | INDIGENOUS NAME | HABITAT | SOLITARY/ GREGARIOUS | TERRITORIAL | DIET | LIFE SPAN |
MONOG/ POLYG | 1ST BREED (year) | MATING SEASON | GESTATION PERIOD | PEAK BIRTHING SEASON | NUMBER OF OFFSPRING | INTERVAL IN BREEDING | OTHER INFO? |
M/F | |||||||
COMMON NAME | LATIN NAME | INDIGENOUS NAME | HABITAT | SOLITARY/ GREGARIOUS | TERRITORIAL | DIET | LIFE SPAN |
MONOG/ POLYG | 1ST BREED (year) | MATING SEASON | GESTATION PERIOD | PEAK BIRTHING SEASON | NUMBER OF OFFSPRING | INTERVAL IN BREEDING | OTHER INFO? |
M/F | |||||||
COMMON NAME | LATIN NAME | INDIGENOUS NAME | HABITAT | SOLITARY/ GREGARIOUS | TERRITORIAL | DIET | LIFE SPAN |
MONOG/ POLYG | 1ST BREED (year) | MATING SEASON | GESTATION PERIOD | PEAK BIRTHING SEASON | NUMBER OF OFFSPRING | INTERVAL IN BREEDING | OTHER INFO? |
click below to download
https://wholeeartheducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Blank-recording-sheets.zip