GAC002 Assessment Event 4: Academic Research Essay
Compare and Contrast: Ground Squirrels and Monarch Butterflies
Student’s Name: SeokHwan Song
Teacher: Emma Park
Due Date: 18 May 2012
Word Count: 546
Topic: Compare and contrast the winter life of ground squirrels and Monarch butterflies.
Winter is a very hazardous season to overcome, so animals have their own way to survive through winter. Migration, hibernation, and adaption are the typical manners. Ground squirrels and monarch butterflies also spend their winter lives in specific ways. Their winter lives are different in many aspects such as habitats, foods, and the manners which they behave in winter. However, they survive through winter for a similar purpose and prepare for the hazardous season in the same period. Moreover, the hibernation and migration are both mysterious.
The two animals’ appearance, diets, and habitats are extremely different. According to a recent study, ground squirrels usually haveexperience two “annual moltsmolting”, one of them happens induring the autumn. After the changing of fur, their winter coat becomes more grayish. The mammals spend their winter underground hibernating, andthen they eat foods at the end of the long sleep. The foods are kinds of seeds and vegetation, which are carried by the mammals’ cheek pouch before the hibernation. On the other hand, monarch butterflies will strengthen their body, because they will be going on a long journey. The insects actually immigrate to other places because of food. They usually eat plants, especially “milkweeds”. The butterflies move following the plants.
The manners that the interesting animals conduct in winter are different. When the winter begins, ground squirrels start to hibernate. They begin to sleep inevery July and last for about 4-8 months. They spend most of their hibernation in a “state of torpor”, according to Ary, Mart’sMart Ary’s research said. During...