Category Archives: Mammals

If You Think Gray Squirrels Are Cute …

Mammals
Gray squirrel (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

20 January 2023

Squirrels can be annoying at bird feeders but their expressions can be endearing.

If you think our eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) are cute you ought to see the native red squirrel of Europe (Sciurus vulgaris).

These native squirrels have been declining in the UK, Ireland, and Italy due to competition from eastern gray squirrels, imported from North America in the 1890s and spread by humans to new locations(*).

However, the native red squirrels are stabilizing in Scotland, in part because European pine martens (Martes martes) are increasing and they selectively prey on gray squirrels.

The European pine marten is pretty cute, too.

European pine marten (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

p.s. Gray (grey) squirrels are invasive in the UK but a 2016 study found that their populations are genetically distinct from their neighbors and they didn’t invade new places on their own. Humans spread them!

One of the worst offenders at spreading grey squirrels was the 11th Duke of Bedford, Herbrand Russell. Russell was involved in many successful animal conservation projects, but released and gifted many grey squirrels around the UK from his home at Woburn Park.

Russell also released populations [of grey squirrels] in Regent’s Park, likely creating the London epidemic of greys. 

— Imperial College London: Don’t blame grey squirrels: their British invasion had much more to do with us

(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)

Fermented Fruit Tastes Too Good

Mammals
Groundhog hanging onto a tree (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

19 January 2023

Fermented fruit tastes so good that wild animals large and small overindulge until they can barely walk.

Some, like this red squirrel, are puzzled by the odd feeling that overcomes them.

video from @TheSun on YouTube

Groundhogs just keep going despite that wobbly feeling, not realizing that it’s hazardous to stand up. This particular groundhog got grouchy. He’s not a happy drunk.

video from @DJSKROBOT on YouTube

And then there’s the story of a drunken moose who got stuck in a tree.

Why The Apple Tree Came Down

(photo from Wikimedia Commons, videos from @TheSun and @DJSKROBOT on YouTube)

Busy Beaver at Frick Park

Mammals
Beaver at Frick Park, Jan 2023 (photo by Malcolm Kurtz @woodlandpaths)

13 January 2023

This winter Frick Park has a returning resident though he or she may not be the same individual that used to live there.

In late December Malcolm Kurtz photographed and video’d a busy beaver in Nine Mile Run which he posted to his Instagram account @woodlandpaths. (page to the right below to see video)

Malcolm’s story was picked up by the Pittsburgh Park Rangers @pghparkrangers who named the beaver Castor — part of his scientific name Castor canadensis.

The Park Rangers’ story was picked up by CBS News at Park rangers watching over Castor, the new resident beaver at Frick Park. This beaver is a celebrity.

If you visit Frick Park’s Nine Mile Run valley, keep an eye out for Castor. Beavers are nocturnal but Castor is apparently a daytime camera hound.

(photo by Malcolm Kurtz @woodlandpaths via Instagram; posts are embedded)

Drunk On Fermented Fruit

Bird Behavior, Mammals, Plants & Fungi
Cedar waxwing in Ohio (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

28 December 2022

After five days of extremely cold weather the temperature is rising into the 40s today and will stay above freezing in the week ahead. Hard fruits that were softened by the freeze are now poised to ferment in warmer weather. Soon we may see drunken birds.

Birds leave crabapples and Callery pears on the trees in November because they’re too hard to eat. Freezing breaks down the starches into sugars and when the fruit thaws it is soft and yummy. However yeast gets into the fruit and ferments it. Birds gobble up the soft tasty fruit. If they eat too much they get drunk.

Callery pear fruit, before and after freezing (photos by Kate St. John)

When abundant rowan berries fermented in Gilbert, Minnesota in October 2018, waxwings gorged on them and became quite drunk.

video from Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul on YouTube

This black-billed magpie didn’t care that he was eating fermented apples until he could barely walk. He staggers among the apples and is only slightly more agile by the end of the video.

video from @ViralSnareRightsManagement on YouTube

Pumpkins are a fruit and, yes, they can ferment. When they do, squirrels get drunk.

Discarded pumpkins in Bloomfield, Dec 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

video from @ShadiPetosky on YouTube

In 2015 a study reported that fermented fruit is becoming more common because of climate change. There’s more news in this vintage article.

Drunk On Climate Change

(photos by Kate St. John and from Wikimedia Commons, videos embedded from YouTube; click on the captions to see the originals)

Baby Wolf Howls

Mammals
Baby wolf (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

9 December 2022

Happy Friday with this video from Voyageurs Wolf Project @VoyaWolfProject, a research program of the University of Minnesota.

Learn more about the project and see more videos at the Voyageurs Wolf Project.

(photo from Wikimedia Commons, click on the caption to see the original)

Dolphins Just Wanna Have Fun

Mammals, Water and Shore
Northern right whale dolphin, Monterey Bay, Calif. 30 Nov 2022 (photo by Robin Agarwal via Flickr Creative Commons license)

4 December 2022

Dolphins are very intelligent and engage in many kinds of play. Robin Agarwal photographed their antics while on a pelagic tour in Monterey Bay on 30 November 2022. For instance …

The northern right whale dolphin (Lissodelphis borealis) in mid-leap, above, looks super sleek because he has no dorsal fin.

A Pacific white-sided dolphin, below, went way beyond mere jumping. He leapt, turned, and sometimes entered the water tail first. Somersaults!

Dolphin somersaulting! Pacific white-sided dolphin

Here’s a calmer view of this species (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) with a cape of bubbles from his spout.

Pacific white-sided dolphin surfaces with a cap of bubbles on its back, Monterey Bay, Calif, 30 Nov 2022 (photo by Robin Agarwal via Flickr Creative Commons license)

Another favorite dolphin game is to ride the pressure wave at the front of a fast moving boat. Called “bow riding,” the bow wave pushes dolphins fast forward without any flapping on their part.

Dolphins like this game so much that they rushed toward the whale watch boat. Robin Agarwal says of this photo, “Pacific White-sided Dolphins and Northern Right Whale Dolphins stampeding towards the boat to bow ride – my favorite sight in the world.”

Dolphins stampede toward the whale watch boat in order to bow ride, Monterey Bay, Calif. 30 Nov 2022 (photo by Robin Agarwal via Flickr Creative Commons license)

Here they are bow riding with an “unusual swirl color morph” among them.

Unusual ‘swirl’ color morph Northern Right Whale Dolphin joins the other NWRDs and Pacific White-sided Dolphins at the bow

Dolphins just wanna have fun!

Check out the great photos by Robin Gwen Agarwal on Flickr.

(photos by Robin Gwen Agarwal on Flickr Creative Commons license.)

The Largest Living Organism is Dying of Deer

Deer, Mammals, Trees
Pando in October snow, 2021 (photo by Beth Moon via Flickr Creative Commons license)

29 November 2022

In 1976 Jerry Kemperman and Burton Barnes discovered that 106 acres of quaking aspens (Populus tremuloides) in the Fishlake National Forest of Utah were actually all the same male plant, one root with thousands of suckers that grew into trees. It came to be known as Pando — “I spread.”

Quaking aspen, Pando, in fall (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Pando weighs 6,600 tons making it the heaviest known organism on Earth and it is very old, though no one is sure whether it’s 10,000 or 80,000 or even a million years old.

Aerial image of the location of the single aspen tree, Pando (highlighted in green) at Fishlake National Forest, Utah (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

However, almost as soon as Pando was discovered researchers found that sections of it were not rejuvenating because new sprouts were being overbrowsed by deer. In that part of the U.S. the species is mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus).

Mule deer in Colorado (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

So they fenced it — twice — one fence in 2013, another in 2014.

Map of 2018 Pando study partially funded by U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Grant/Award Number: L21AC10369 (map downloaded from Wiley Online Library)

Then in 2018 Paul Rogers and Darren McAvoy of Utah State University conducted a followup study sampling Pando’s health inside and outside the deer exclosure fences and concluded that the fencing was not working.

According to September 2022 Sci.News “The unfenced areas are experiencing the most rapid aspen decline, while the fenced areas are taking their own unique courses — in effect, breaking up this unique, historically uniform, forest. … Fencing alone is encouraging single-aged regeneration in a forest that has sustained itself over the centuries by varying growth.”

“One clear lesson emerges here: we cannot independently manage wildlife and forests.”

— Sci.News, October 2018: Pando, World’s Largest Single Organism, is Shrinking

Aldo Leopold’s experience in his early career when he worked to eradicate wolves from the American West changed his perspective on trees and deer. At one point he shot an old female wolf and was there to see the green fire go out of her eyes as she died. He wrote …

I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.…

I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer. And perhaps with better cause, for while a buck pulled down by wolves can be replaced in two or three years, a range pulled down by too many deer may fail of replacement in as many decades.

— Aldo Leopold: Sand County Almanac, “Thinking Like a Mountain”

Pando’s days are numbered because new trees are not growing up to replace the old ones. This is how a forest dies.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons, map from Wiley Online; click on the captions to see the originals)

Did You Sleep Enough?

Mammals
The Nap (painting by Jan Verhas, 1879)

20 November 2022

Last week as I walked past a team of Allegheny Goatscape goats munching invasive plants in Schenley Park, I noticed a sign that described their sleep cycles. The goats, who are guarded by a donkey, sleep 5 hours in a 24-hour day. The donkey sleeps only 3 hours. Imagine being able to function normally on so little sleep!

Goats and guard donkey at Frick Park in Aug 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

Some animals sleep less than we do, some sleep more.

We humans, who average 8 hours per day, are well aware of our pets’ sleep cycles. Cats sleep 12 hours a day (so do mice!). When this man gets up his cat will curl up in the warm spot and go back to sleep.

Cat sleeping on man (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Adopted greyhounds are champions at sleeping 18 hours a day.

Greyhound sleeping (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Brown bats have one of the longest sleep cycles at almost 20 hours (19.9 hours per day according to this table).

Little brown bat sleeping (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Birds are in the middle, sleeping 10-12 hours a day, but their sleep is highly variable by species, place and season, especially in the Arctic where a summer “day” can be 24 hours long.

Sleeping duck (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Guppies sleep slightly less than humans at 7 hours a day.

Trinidadian guppies (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

And giraffes win the prize for the least sleep at only 1.9 hours a day!

Giraffe (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Did you get enough sleep last night? No? Then it’s time for a nap!

For more information see:

(photos from Wikimedia Commons except where indicated; click on the captions to see the originals)

November Deer in Pittsburgh

Deer, Mammals, Schenley Park
Doe on the trail in Frick Park, 10 Nov 2022 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

13 November 2022

It’s mid November and the rut is at its peak in Pennsylvania. Bucks sniff the air for females in estrous (flehmen), chase does in heat, and hide with them in thick cover to breed repeatedly. Some run into traffic, including yesterday’s road-killed 6-point buck in Schenley Park. Meanwhile birders in Frick Park are seeing all of this up close. Very close.

On 10 November Charity Kheshgi and I encountered a group of five. Two does and an 8-point buck were hiding in a thicket when a 4-point buck walked onto the trail behind us, sniffed the air and looked down at the females. Meanwhile another doe (at top) walked onto the trail ahead of us. This could have been dangerous for the two of us. Fortunately the deer did not view us as competitors.

4-point buck on the trail looks down at the 8-point and two does, 10 Nov 2022 (photo by Charity Khseshgi)

The 8-pointer was hard to see in the underbrush but he resembled this 10-point buck Mike Fialkovich saw on 5 November that appears to be flehmening.

10-point buck in Frick Park, 5 Nov 2022 (photo by Mike Fialkovich)

Deer are a prey species, alert to the presence and intent of predators. “Is the predator here? Is it hunting?” And they move to locations of least danger. We see them up close in Frick Park because they have learned that humans in Pittsburgh’s city parks are not dangerous even during hunting season.

Meanwhile, hunting is currently in progress statewide and it’s good to be aware of it. We have so many deer in our area — Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) 2B — that hunting lasts longer here than in most of the state.

Map of Pennsylvania WMUs from PA Game Commission

Here’s a quick summary of deer hunting times and types, now through January, in WMU 2B both Antlered and Antlerless unless otherwise noted.

  • now – Nov. 25, including Sundays Nov. 13 and Nov. 20, WMU 2B: Archery
  • Nov. 26 – Dec. 10 including Sunday Nov. 27: Statewide Rifle (“Regular firearms”)
  • Dec. 26 – Jan. 28, 2023, WMU 2B:
    • Archery
    • Flintlock
    • Extended Rifle season (Antlerless only).
Wear Orange and be alert for hunters! Note hunting on three Sundays in November.

p.s. When you’re on the road, watch for deer running into traffic, especially at dusk.

(photos by Charity Kheshgi and Mike Fialkovich, WMU map from PA Game Commission, calendar marked up from timeanddate.com)

Come Closer. Listen.

Deer, Mammals, Musings & News
Spanish red deer stag, Cervus elaphus hispanicus (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

11 November 2022

Spanish cellist Diana Gomez plays music outdoors in many venues. Here’s what happened when she took her cello into a forest and played Bach’s Suite No.1.

Come closer. Listen.

The stags that approached her are red deer (Cervus elaphus), native to Europe and one of the largest deer species. Spanish red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) are not as red as other members of the species.

To hear more from Diana Gomez check out her YouTube channel at Chelodiana or follow her on Instagram at Chelodiana. Her video Ocean includes cameo appearances of egrets and flamingo.

p.s. Two years ago Roger Day played Bach on his tuba in Frick Park and, in his words, “got only cicadas” to respond. Check out his video here.

(photo from Wikimedia Commons; click on the caption to see the original. video from Chelodiana)