Clem Marvels at a Mangrove

What Is This Video?

Join Clem as she discovers that the trees in a mangrove swamp are like an "apartment building for animals," as she documents the many different animals living there: in the canopy, on the trunk, and among the roots.

Conversation Starters

Ask:
  • Why do you think Clem calls the trees in the mangrove swamp "apartment buildings for animals"? How are the trees around you like apartment buildings for animals?
  • What do you think you might see if you could dig underground and crawl among the roots of one of the trees in your neighborhood?
  • Mangrove trees help remove pollutants from the water and protect the shore from ocean storms. How else do you think trees help the environment?
  • Plum points out that you can make tea from the leaves of mangrove trees. How else can you use trees or the parts of trees?

Explore Some More

Hug the Trees

Get up close and personal with a few neighborhood trees. Observe them quietly, looking for animals and signs of animal life in the canopy, along the trunk, at the base of the tree, and around its roots. Signs of animal life might include ragged edges on leaves, from caterpillars or other insects eating them, nests that might belong to squirrels or birds, and holes in the bark from insects, or, if they are very large holes, woodpeckers. Take pictures or make drawings in your field notebook to document what you see. Then make comparisons between trees. Do different kinds of trees have similar or different kinds of animal life? What about the same kinds of trees that are in different locations? What might explain any differences or similarities you see?