• What caused all the wildlife to have to leave in the Lorax?
• Why did the Once-ler keep making Thneeds?
• Did people really need Thneeds?
• What if people bought less Thneeds?
• What was the role of the Lorax?
• Would you rather be more like the Lorax, or like the Once-ler?

2: Ask each student to choose one of the creatures in the Lorax and to think of a Canadian animal that is similar to it in real life. Students will then have to come up with ideas of things that could have been changed in the story, or actions that could have been taken to help these creatures and their environment.

Challenge the students to think of how this could be changed in real life as well.

• Offer three different choices of Lorax creatures
  • Brown Barbaloots
  • Swomee Swoms
  • Humming Fish
• Give students time to brainstorm ways that they can help their creature
• Discuss how these solutions may relate to real animals in Canada.

3: The creatures in the Lorax have shocking parallels with some Canadian creatures, and face similar threats – loss and pollution of habitat. Share these examples with the class.

Brown Barbaloots – Grizzly Bears are threatened by logging in Rocky Mountains, road and trail development, and human use. These human developments push the bears away from their food sources, which means they are not able to feed enough ahead of their winter hibernation.

Humming Fish – Bull Trout fish are threatened by pollution in their streams from logging, as well by climate change which is warming their streams. Bull trout need cold, clean water to survive.

Swomee Swans – Whooping Cranes are a large, beautiful bird that breed in Wood Buffalo National Park in Northern Alberta. The Migrate every year from Texas to Northern Alberta. They are an endangered species at risk due to large amounts of pollution and habitat loss along their migration route.

Ask the students to think about one of the last quotes from the Lorax.

“Think about the quote: unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot nothing’s going to get better it’s not.”

Ask the students to commit to one action to help these animals, and their habitats.

Students can visit https://cpaws-southernalberta.org/get-involved/take-action/ to learn more ways to help wilderness and wildlife here in Alberta!

Answer Key – How does Habitat Impact Wildlife

In this activity you had your students brainstorm ways that they could have helped the animals in The Lorax. While this is intended to be inquiry activity to get students thinking about how peoples actions affect wildlife, and what can be done to change it with no real “right answers”, we have provided some examples answers here.

1: Brown Barbaloots

• Set aside an area of land in the Lorax where truffula Trees were not allowed to be cut down to make thneeds. This would protect the Brown Barbaloots food source.
• Ask the factory to plant 10 truffula trees for every thneed sold.
• Find a more sustainable way to make Thneeds, so that less truffula trees get cut down.
• Create a public awareness campaign about how harmful thneeds are to the Brown Barbaloots

2: Swomee Swans

• Ask the thneed factory to filter their air so that they are not releasing so much smog.
• Protect a portion of the truffula trees so that they can clean the air for the people and the Swomee Swans.
• Mandate that the Once-ler plants as many truffula trees as he cuts down.
• Educate the public about how harmful thneeds are to the Swomee Swans
• Ask people to not buy thneeds, or to buy less thneeds because of how harmful they are.

3: Humming Fish

• Mandate that the factory clean their water before dumping it back into nature so they are not polluting the waters of the humming fish
• Create a way to use the waste and leftover goo so that it gets recycled instead of polluting the Humming Fish Ponds
• Educate the public about the harm of buying so many thneeds.