Where’s the Fox?

1. Docent hands out animal picture cards to the students face down and the students put these around their necks.
2. Students form a circle. The docent tells them that this circle is now their forest.
3. Docent starts with the fox and informs students that we have a red fox living at the Arboretum.
4. Docent then asks the students to look at the other animals that live in the forest represented in the circle.
5. Next the docent asks the students who would eat the fox, as well as who would the fox eat.
6. The prey that is selected is given a string. The fox holds one end and the animal just eaten holds the other.
7. The docent tells the students that the string represents the relationship between the fox and the animal.
   One needs the other to live.
8. The animal that has been eaten is asked the same questions as the fox-who would you eat and who would eat you.
9. This continues until all the strings or relationships have been connected.
10. Then the docent asks what would happen if all the insects were eradicated due to a chemical spill. Who would suffer if this relationship did not exist? This cycle continues down the chain until the fox is left hungry and dying.