1. Wild Wise: Coexisting with Carnivores

2. What is Coexisting with Carnivores?
Wild Wise: Coexisting with Carnivores offers you a chance to work with zoo staff and community members to:
Create your own scientific investigation about wild carnivores in your community
Work in groups to develop solutions and recommendations for real world problems
Act as a leader in your community by helping people to coexist with carnivores

3. What is Coexisting with Carnivores?
What is a carnivore?

4. What is Coexisting with Carnivores?
What is a carnivore?
A carnivore is an organism that mostly eats meat (flesh of animals).
Sometimes carnivores are called predators.
Carnivores have biological adaptations that help them hunt
Can include birds, mammals, plants, and more!
American mink eating a crayfish
Venus fly trap

5. What is Coexisting with Carnivores?
For this program, you will focus on carnivores in the taxonomic order Carnivora that live in your community.
How is “carnivore” different than “Carnivora”?

6. What is Coexisting with Carnivores?
How is “carnivore” different than “Carnivora”? “Carnivore” is a general term that can be applied to any plant or animal that eats mostly meat. “Carnivora” is a special scientific classification of mammals that includes over 270 species!

7. What is Coexisting with Carnivores?
What’s so special about Carnivora?
Carnivora have carnassial teeth: modified molars which are adapted for shearing meat.
Some carnivora are omnivores (eat plants and meat) or herbivores (eat only plants)!
Carnassial Teeth
Raccoons eating apples

8. What is Coexisting with Carnivores?
Which members of the order Carnivora live in your community?

9. What is Coexisting with Carnivores?
Which members of the order Carnivora live in your community?
Coyote
Raccoon
Cougar
Bobcat
Black Bear

10. What is Coexisting with Carnivores?
What is coexistence?

11. What is Coexisting with Carnivores?
Coexistence is the state of living in harmony despite having different needs. Coexistence is achieved through:
Observation
Research
Informed decisions
Proactive behaviors
Wanna be my neighbor?

12. What is Coexisting with Carnivores?
You will use your research to answer the following questions about coexisting with carnivores in your community.
How are carnivores using the natural and human-made resources in our community to meet their needs?
How can humans meet their needs while allowing carnivores to meet their needs? (How can humans and carnivores successfully share the landscape?)

13. What will you do during Coexisting with Carnivores?

14. Conduct Scientific Research
You will research carnivore activity across the landscape in your community.
You will gain a better understanding of the roles humans play in changing the landscape.

15. Conduct Scientific Research
You will gain a deeper understanding of how human actions impact carnivore behavior.

16. Educate Your Community
You will share the results of your research with your classmates and with the community!
You will provide your community with evidence-based recommendations for positive coexistence with carnivores.