Botanist/Zoologist

"The brown white or grizly bear are found in the rocky mountains in the timbered parts of it or Westerly side but rarely; they are more common below the rocky Mountain on the borders of the plains where there arecopses of brush and underwood near the watercouses. they are by no means as plenty on this [the western] sideof the rocky mountains as on the other."                                                                         Meriwhether Clark,Journals

Responsibilities:

As the Botanist/Zoologist, you will be responsible for studying the plants and animals you and your fellow Corps members encounter while on your expedition.  There are over 122 new species of plants and 178 new species of animals waiting to be discovered!  While seaching, not only should you enter the data you find into your field journal, but you should be making sketches of the plants and animals you find to use as images on your game board.  Answer each of the following questions in your field journal.

Questions:

 1.  Where do you find this plant along the trail?
 2.  If the Indians use this plant, what do they use it for?
 3.  Is it a flower, a tree, or something else?
 4.  What does this plant look like?
 5.  Specifically, what were the names of two plants Lewis and Clark found? Did they use these plants for any particular purpose?   Describe them.
 6. What animals do you encounter that you have never seen before?
 7. Can you describe these animals? Include details about their color, size, and ferocity.
 8. Where do you see these animals?  Describe their surroundings or habitat.
 9. What animals do you eat for dinner?  What animals did you run from for fear of them eating you for dinner?
10. Did you take any animals home with you?

Websites:

• You can't study plants without your tools of the trade!  Find out more about one of your most important tools here.

• Would you eat a plant called bitterroot?  Find out if anyone did!

• On their journey, Lewis and Clark came across the Pink Fairy.  Click here to find out what this has to do with you!

• See all the magnificant flowers that Lewis and Clark encountered on the trail.

• Find out more about the The Douglas Fir Tree and Oregon Grape.

• Lewis and Clark greatly influenced the future of botany.  Read about why their discoveries changed science.

•  Grizzly Bears were a major source of fear and curiosity for the Corps members.  Find out why guns didn't work on these huge creatures.

• Lewis and Clark were impressed by land animals and water animal.  See the detailed picture that Clark drew of a white salmon trout.

• Sometime referred to as Bison and other times called Buffalo, this majestic animal was the subject of many journal enteries.

• The woodpecker is just one of the many birds that were new species seen by the Corps.  Did they discover any other bird species that were similar to the woodpecker?

• An animal called an elk was extremely important to you.  Find out why.

• Learn what other experts say in your field about the animals you discovered.  Be sure and click on the interviews.