Outtake -Population modeling device in the Tundra exhibit

Also, in this interactive teaching space, children learned about the tundra food web by changing animal population numbers. A color-coded light display represented populations of four tundra species: lemmings (red), snowy owls (white), wolves (gray), and caribou (brown) on a hectare of land (one hundred acres). Each lemming light was equal to a thousand lemmings, each owl light meant ten owls, one wolf light represented a pack of eight to ten wolves, and a caribou light equaled a herd of one hundred foot-stomping grazers. Push buttons allowed the viewer to increase any species' population, representing a population surge. For example, an increase in lemming lights (i.e., the lemming population on the hectare) led to a subsequent rise of snowy owls, and more snowy owl lights would come on. This illustrated the linkage of lemmings and owls in nature. Snowy owls benefitting from the increased food supply would have larger clutches of eggs and successfully raise more owlets. The wolf population was similarly linked to caribou. As the caribou population rose, wolves began to increase until they crossed a predation threshold, causing caribou numbers to once again subside.