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Key deer: Evolution and species survival

In CareerStart lessons: Grade eight, page 5.7

In this lesson, students learn about the evolutionary history of the Key deer, then discuss the animal's prospects for survival in a changing habitat.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Science)

By Tammy Johnson and Martha Tedrow.

A river otter at Grandfather Mountain

This is a river otter at Grandfather Mountain, Linville, North Carolina. The mountain provides a habitat and sanctuary for many forms of wildlife, including black bears, otters, cougars, bald and golden eagles, and white-tailed deer.

Format: image/photograph

A bald eagle at Grandfather Mountain

This is a bald eagle at Grandfather Mountain, Linville, North Carolina. The mountain provides a habitat and sanctuary for many forms of wildlife, including black bears, river otters, cougars, bald and golden eagles, and white-tailed deer.

Format: image/photograph

Rowan County Nature and Learning Center

Birds of prey, mammals, and reptiles can be seen at the Nature Center Complex. For younger children there is a petting zoo.

Format: article/field trip opportunity

Grandfather Mountain

Everything from 48 years of weather records at the highest peak in the Blue Ridge Mountains to images of and information about wildlife, mountains, and creatures.

Format: article/field trip opportunity

Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge

Located in Camden County on scenic U. S. Highway 17, the original Ocean Highway, just three miles south of the VA/NC border, the Great Dismal Swamp Center sits on the banks of the Dismal Swamp Canal, part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

Format: article/field trip opportunity

Stone Mountain State Park

This park not only allows enjoying the beauty of the area but also provides instruction in basic geologic concepts.

Format: article/field trip opportunity

Quick study: Mississippian Period

A “cheat sheet” covering basic information about the Mississippian Period and its key characteristics.

Shadows of North Carolina's past

In Intrigue of the Past, page 4.2

Students will infer past Native American lifeways based on observation, construct a timeline of four major culture periods in Native American history, and compare these lifeways and discuss how they are different and alike.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Social Studies)

Tracking animals

Large groups of children are likely to scare off mammals, but they can learn to identify tracks to learn more about the animals that left them.

By Linda Dow.

Intrigue of the Past

Lesson plans and essays for teachers and students explore North Carolina's past before European contact. Designed for grades four through eight, the web edition of this book covers fundamental concepts, processes, and issues of archaeology, and describes the peoples and cultures of the Paleoindian, Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian periods.

Format: book (multiple pages)

Quick study: Woodland Period

A “cheat sheet” covering basic information about the Woodland Period and its key characteristics.

Peoples of the Piedmont

In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 2.4

In the years between 1000 and 1200 CE, Native life in the north and central Piedmont hadn’t changed much from prior Woodland times. People still lived in small hamlets whose houses strung out along river and stream banks. At times, the hamlets sat empty when people left to hunt and gather wild foods. But times were about to change. Around 900 CE, corn agriculture began. As a result, population began to grow, people began gathering in larger villages, and conflicts erupted.

Format: article

Shadows of a people

In Prehistory, contact, and the Lost Colony, page 2.3

Archaeologists divide North Carolina's prehistory -- the time before contact with Europeans -- into four periods: Paleoindian, Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian.

Format: article

The pottery makers

In Intrigue of the Past, page 3.4

Archaeologists do a bit of shrugging when asked about the Woodland—that time and lifeway tucked between 1000 BC and AD 1000. Some things they readily understand, but others leave them wondering.

The forest people

In Intrigue of the Past, page 3.3

Paleoindian culture died out across North America by 8000 BC. Archaeologists say this was bound to happen. The Ice Age had ended, the megafauna were extinct, and the boreal forests faded as deciduous ones spread across the East in the warmer climate. Faced with significant environmental changes, the Native Americans adapted. Archaeologists call their way of life and the time in which they lived Archaic.

The village farmers

In Intrigue of the Past, page 3.5

North Carolina sat on a crossroads by AD 1000. Cultural ideas from other places breezed through it and around it: how to decorate pottery, how to orient political and social life, how to honor the dead, how to structure towns.

Resources on the web

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission - Wildlife Species and Habitat Information

This site has comprehensive information on the wildlife species of North Carolina. See the Species Fact Sheets for wildlife profiles with two- to three-page fact sheets that profile an animal's history, status, habitat and behavior. Each profile includes... (Learn more)

Format: website

Provided by: NC Wildlife Resources Commission