NDOW offers some wildlife-related checkout boxes out of the Reno office. The hides and skulls are separated into three kits: bear, predator and ungulates. Kits may be checked out for educational purposes from the Conservation Education Division by e-mailing Gayle Gregg at ggregg@ndow.org. The kits may be kept for a maximum of three days and must be reserved at least 48 hours in advance of the date they will be checked out. All kits must be returned no later than 4:00 p.m. on the date they are due back to NDOW, 1100 Valley Rd, Reno.

• Checkout Form

Teach your students about Nevada’s black bears, their habitat, behavior, and how to live and play safely in black bear country . Included in the box are rubber footprints, one track mold for use with plaster, rubber scat, a black bear claw, newspaper articles, two books including: Black Bears: Our Wild World Series and What is a Bear? and the magazine Outdoor California. Also included is one “Living with Black Bears” video, a CD with curriculum and worksheets, a black bear skull, and a black Bear hide.

These boxes are a work in progress. Currently, the furbearer box contains the samples of the following wildlife fur: mountain lion, red fox, black bear, bobcat, rabbit, arctic fox (not a NV species). The ungulate box contains a horns, antlers and hides of pronghorn antelope and mule deer. The boxes contain facts sheets for each animal, and we are working on developing lesson materials for these boxes as we speak.

Rubber cast molds are available for checkout to use with your students to create plaster casts of footprints of various wildlife found in western Nevada. After the plaster casts are made, students can then examine and compare the different tracks, discuss the differences and adaptations between various different animals, research the animal that matches the track and create food webs scenarios. The casts can be painted or decorated, accompany wildlife literature, or be a jumping board for discussions about habitat and native wildlife.