Skunk

 Skunk: Mammals in the family Mephitidae.

Kingdom: | Animalia

Phylum: | Chordata

Class: | Mammalia

Order: | Carnivora

Family: | Mephitidae

There are 10 living species of skunks. They may be found in the following three genera: Conepatus, Mephitis, and Spilogale.

Size and Weight:

The size of a skunk varies depending on the species. They can range in length from 15.6 to 37 inches, and in weight from about 1.1 to 13 pounds. Spotted skunks are the smallest species. The largest are the hog-nosed skunks.

Appearance:

Skunks have moderately elongated bodies with relatively short, well-muscled legs. They have five toes on each foot, and long front claws for digging. Most skunks have black and white fur, but some may be brown or grey. All skunks are striped. Depending on the species, a skunk may have a single wide stripe along the back and tail, or two thinner stripes, or a series of white spots and broken stripes.

Diet:

Skunks are omnivores. They eat both plant and animal material. Their diet may include insects, rodents, lizards, birds, snakes, eggs, berries, roots, fungi and leaves. When living near human populations, skunks are known to scavenge garbage left by humans. They also may scavenge bird and rodent carcasses left by other animals.

Habitat:

Skunks live in a wide variety of habitats, including deserts, forests and mountains.

Geography:

Skunks inhabit North America and South America.

Breeding:

Early spring is skunk mating season. Skunks are polygynous, meaning successful males may mate with additional females. The female gives birth in a den after a gestation period of about two months. She will give birth to a litter of four to seven kits, which are born blind, deaf and vulnerable. After about three weeks, the kits open their eyes. They are weaned at about two months but will stay with their mother until they are ready to mate at about one year old. Mother skunks are protective of their young and are known to spray at any sign of danger. Males are not involved in raising the young.

Social Structure:

Skunks are crepuscular and solitary animals when not breeding. However, in the colder parts of their range, they may gather in communal dens for warmth. Skunks dig burrows to use for shelter during the day. For most of the year, a skunk’s normal range measures 0.5 to 2 miles. During breeding season males travel an expanded range, 4-5 miles per night.

Although skunks may shelter in their dens for extended time periods in the winter, they are not true hibernators. They go into a dormant stage when they are typically inactive and feed rarely. During the winter months, males often den alone but multiple females may huddle together, returning to the same den year after year.

Lifespan:

In the wild, skunks live two to four years. In captivity, they may live for up to ten years.

Threats:

Skunks are threatened by a long list of predators including humans, coyotes, domestic dogs, red foxes, lynx, bobcats, badgers, mountain lions, and fishers. They also can be prey for aerial predators like eagles, great horned owls and crows. Skunks are highly susceptible to diseases like canine distemper and West Nile Virus, among many others. While skunks have an excellent sense of smell and hearing, they have poor vision and are unable to see objects clearly at a distance of 10 feet or more. This leaves them vulnerable to road traffic.

To protect themselves from predators, skunks have a well-known stink strategy. In response to a threat, a skunk will first try to escape. If escape is impossible, it will hiss and stamp its feet. If the threat persists, a skunk can position itself in a U-shape so that its front and back ends are facing the threat, ensuring that its spray will hit the mark without getting a drop on itself. The skunk then emits a well-aimed cloud of stench.

Most predators are deterred by this tactic, which is one of nature’s most effective defense mechanisms. The skunk spews an oily, yellowish liquid produced by anal glands under its fluffy tail. While the liquid does no permanent damage, its stench may linger for days. And, since one of the spray’s noxious ingredients is water resistant, bathing has little effect on relieving the stench.

Conservation Status:

Eight of the ten skunk species are listed as “Least Concern” by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The pygmy spotted skunk (Spilogale pygmaea) and the eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius) are listed as “Vulnerable.”

Snow Goose

 The snow goose (Anser caerulescens) is a species of goose native to North America. It breeds north of the timberline in Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and the northeastern tip of Siberia, and spend winters in warm parts of North America from southwestern British Columbia through parts of the United States to Mexico.

This bird belongs to the genus Anser and the family Anatidae. Both white and dark varieties of this goose exist, with the latter often known as blue goose. The name snow goose derives from the typically white plumage.

The snow goose feeds on roots, leaves and grasses, using their bills for digging up roots in thick mud. Their most common predators are artic foxes and gull-like birds called jaegers. They usually nest in colonies and travel in large flocks made of many family units.

artic foxes

The population of the snow goose is increasing at an estimated rate of 130,000 birds per year. The cause of this may be the heavy conversion of land from forest and prairie to agricultural usage in the 20th century. They are currently listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

SNOW GOOSE TAXONOMY

The snow goose belongs to the genus Anser, which includes the grey geese and the white geese. The snow goose was originally placed in the genus Chen. The scientific name for the species is from the Latin anser, “goose”, and caerulescens, “bluish”, derived from caeruleus, “dark blue”. The snow goose is the sister species to Ross’s goose (Anser rossii).

The greater snow goose is distinguished from the nominate form by being slightly larger. While the lesser snow goose can be found in two color phases, white and blue, the greater snow goose is rarely seen in a blue phase. The blue phase results from a single dominant gene and the white phase is homozygous recessive.

While the two color morphs of the snow goose were once thought to be separate species, they are now considered two color phases of the same species because they are found together throughout their ranges and interbreed. Because they interbreed, offspring may be of either morph. When young birds choose a mate, they will most often select a mate that resembles their parents’ coloring. If the birds were hatched into a mixed pair, they will mate with either color phase.

SNOW GOOSE CHARACTERISTICS

Male and female snow geese are similar in appearance although males are usually larger. These birds usually stand 63.5 to 78.7 cm tall and have a wing length between 135 to 165 cm (53 to 65 in). They weigh from 2 to 3 kg. The two subspecies of snow goose can be differentiated by their size — the lesser snow goose is smaller than the greater snow goose.

The snow goose has two color plumage morphs, white (snow) or gray/blue (blue), which gives the birds the common description of “snows” and “blues”. White snow geese are white except for black wing tips, while blue snow geese have a bluish-grey plumage all over, except for white on the head, neck and tail tip. Both morphs have rose-red feet and legs, and pink bills with black tomia (“cutting edges”), giving them a black “grin patch”.

SNOW GOOSE LIFESPAN

The exact lifespan of the snow goose is unknown but it is believed they have quite long lifespans. They may live for up to 26 years.

SNOW GOOSE DIET

The snow goose is mainly a herbivore and eats eat roots, leaves, grasses, and sedges. Their main sources of food include saltgrass, wild millet, spikeruch, feathergrass, panic grass, seashore paspalum, delta duckpatato, bulrush, cordgrass, cattail, ryegrass, wild rice, berries, aquatic plants and invertebrates, and agricultural crops.

In northern breeding grounds, their most common food source is American bulrush, but in the south during winter, they feed on the aquatic vegetation in wetlands and estuaries. They also hunt for food in agricultural fields, eating oats, corn and winter wheat.

To forage, they use their strong bills to dig up roots in thick mud. They also graze and shear plants off at ground level, or rip entire stems from the ground.

SNOW GOOSE BEHAVIOR

Snow geese are social animals that travel in large flocks made of many family units and fly during both night and day during migration. Snow geese frequently travel and feed alongside greater white-fronted geese.

They are strong fliers, walkers, and swimmers, and spend most of their time feeding and resting. They forage on foot and sleep while sitting, standing on one leg, or swimming.

The males are territorial toward other males, and the females toward other females. These animals are very vocal and can often be heard from more than a mile away. They are particularly known for their loud squawking and honking.

SNOW GOOSE REPRODUCTION

Snow geese breed from May to mid-August. They are monogamous, with long-term pairs forming in the second year, although breeding does not usually start until the third year. Snow geese most often nest in colonies and females are strongly philopatric, meaning they will return to the place they hatched to breed.

A female will select a nest site and build a nest on an area of high ground. The nest is lined with plant material and may be used year after year. The female will lay one egg a day until she reaches a full clutch of about 3 to 5. The eggs are incubated for 23 to 25 days while the male guards the nest and the mother. The hatched young are called goslings.

Goslings in the white phase have a body that is a dirty white in color with black wing tips, and in the immature blue phase they are a slate gray with little or no white. In both immature snow geese color phases they have red feet and legs but they are not as bright as the adult goose. Goslings may eat fruits, flowers, horsetail shoots, and fly larvae.

The young grow rapidly and are fully fledged within forty-five days, with females reaching sexual maturity between 2 and 4 years old. They remain with their family until this time.

SNOW GOOSE LOCATION AND HABITAT

The snow goose breeds north of the timberline in Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and the northeastern tip of Siberia. They reside in the vicinity of the coast, from the high arctic to the subarctic and prefer areas within 10 km of ponds, shallow lakes, coastal salt marshes, or streams.

Following the hatching of goslings, families move to brood-rearing territories with a lot of grasses and bryophytes, including tidal marshes and wet areas near ponds. In the winter, they prefer open habitats like marshes, grasslands, marine inlets, freshwater ponds, and agricultural fields.

SNOW GOOSE MIGRATION

Snow geese are a migratory species and spend more than half the year on their migration to-and-from warmer wintering areas. They can travel more than 3,000 mi (4,800 km). They leave their breeding grounds in September, and begin to arrive at the St. Lawrence River area in October and stay until early November when they continue to their American wintering grounds. Their main wintering grounds are along the gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas between the Mississippi delta and Corpus Christi, Texas. They leave their wintering grounds in March and head north over the New England states and over central Quebec, Canada.

Red-throated Loon

 Red-throated Loons are monogamous, but little is known about the longevity of their bonds or where and how pairs form. Pairs use displays to defend territories (chiefly the nesting pond and nest vicinity) against intruders, including humans. Adults may raise or lower the neck, splash-dive, slap the water with their feet (recalling a beaver tail-slap), to warn intruders, or may rush across the water with wings partly open and head extended, in threat. 

    Pairs are often observed in what researchers call a “plesiosaur posture,” in which they raise the body out of the water, extend the neck, raise the wings, and tip the bill downward. A similar display known as the “penguin posture” involves raising the body vertically, stretching out the neck, and pointing the head and bill downward. Males and females perform these displays typically at other Red-throated Loons who intrude on their territory. 

Both parents tend and feed the young. After the young birds are several weeks old, they sometimes move to a different pond or lake. Adults and young move toward coastlines in preparation for migration, which occurs at least partly at night. Daytime movements of many thousands are often seen along marine coasts. When foraging over the ocean, this species is highly mobile and may dive for prey, much like the Northern Gannet, which occupies a similar niche in winter, though gannets can consume larger prey and forage farther from shore.

Habitat

Red-throated Loons breed in rugged tundra and taiga wetlands in both lowlands and highlands, up to about 3,500 feet elevation. Their ability to spring into flight without first pattering on the water (as other loons have to do) permits them to use small ponds for nesting. They do use larger lakes in places where larger loons are absent. In migration, they fly along ocean shorelines and also along the shores of large lakes (such as the Great Lakes), but their precise migration routes are not known. Foul weather sometimes grounds migrants in places where they would not otherwise land, such as rivers and small lakes in interior North America. Wintering birds are found only in shallower marine waters near land, and in major estuaries and sounds. They are very rarely seen far out to sea.

Food

Red-throated Loons eat a variety of fish, leeches, copepods, crustaceans, mollusks, squid, polychaete worms, and aquatic insects. Among fish they eat herring, capelin, brook trout, stickleback, sculpin, tomcod, arctic char, cod, and sand lance. When breeding, they forage away from nesting areas and nursery ponds, usually in larger lakes and rivers, often in estuaries. Red-throated Loons hunt prey by diving underwater, swimming by kicking with the legs and then grasping prey with the bill. They often locate prey first by dipping their head underwater and looking around as they rest on the water’s surface.

Nesting

Males select the nest site, usually in wetlands at the edge of a shallow, small pond or on a small island in the pond. In the high arctic, they nest on larger ponds. Nests are always built on vegetation, not on rocks.

NEST DESCRIPTION

Both male and female build the nest, either on the shoreline or in shallow water near it. Nests are mounds of moss, decayed vegetation, grasses, sedges, and mud, sometimes lined with dry grass, gathered from the immediate vicinity of the nest and formed with the feet and body. In some cases, no nest material is used, just a depression in the vegetation. Nests average about 18 inches across and about 3 inches above waterline; the interior depression averages 9.5 inches across and 1.6 inches deep.

NESTING FACTS

• Clutch Size: 1-2 eggs
• Number of Broods: 1 brood
• Egg Length: 2.7-3.0 in (6.82-7.67 cm)
• Egg Width: 1.7-1.8 in (4.41-4.55 cm)
• Incubation Period: 24-31 days

Egg Description:

Elongated, with variable color ranging from brown to olive, with blotches or speckles.

Condition at Hatching:

Downy and active; capable of swimming within 12 to 24 hours.

Conservation

Red-throated Loons occur across North America, Europe, and eastern Asia. Partners in Flight estimates a global breeding population of 260,000. The group rates the species a 10 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, indicating it is a species of low conservation concern. In the late twentieth century, scientists recorded long-term population declines of about 50%, in some cases possibly due to lake acidification. These declines appear to have stabilized. Oil spills, hunting (in northern Canada and parts of Europe), degradation of marine habitats, industrial activity in breeding areas, overfishing of prey, and entanglement in fishing nets all pose threats to Red-throated Loons.

Coyote : Clever Animal

 A coyote is grayish- brown in color with white fur under its neck and belly. It has pointed ears and a long muzzle. A long bushy tail hangs from its backside. Coyotes belong to the dog family and have a lot of the same traits. They typically weigh between 15 to 25 pounds and measure about 35 inches long, with another 16 inches for the tail.

Coyote pairs mate between February and April. Two months later, the female will give birth to 3-12 pups in the den. Within about three weeks, the pups will come out of the den. After they are weaned at the age of 4 weeks, the parents will feed them regurgitated food. The male pups will leave their family in the fall (5-6 months after birth), but the female pups will stay in their mothers pack. The lifespan of a coyote in the wild is between 10 and 14 years.

Very popular in Native American folklore, highly adaptable to the environment, and cunningly smart, the coyote knows how to make the most of bad situations.

The Coyote (Canis latrans) is found over most of North America, in various environments such as grasslands, deserts, and forests. These clever animals belong to the dog family (Canis). 

Coyote Facts

Coyotes normally hunt alone or in pairs.

Dogs run with their tails up; coyotes run with their tails down.

These animals are very vocal.

The coyote has few natural predators. They include bears, mountain lions, and wolves.

In captivity, a coyote can live up to 20 years.

Coyotes are very good swimmers.

Coyotes will eat just about anything.

Coyote litter size varies from 3-12 pups.

Coyotes have excellent vision and a great sense of smell.

Coyotes can run about 40 miles an hour.

Coyotes make noise at night to communicate with members of their family or pack and to keep track of them.

Coyotes are monogamous, which means they have one mate their whole life.

Coyotes rarely build their own dens. They usually take over an abandoned one.

Coyote pups are born blind.

Coyotes are nocturnal.

Coyote Habitat

Coyotes are found in most of the United States and Canada and some of Mexico. They are not picky with their habitat because they can adapt so well nearly anywhere. They live mainly in deserts, grasslands, and forests.

Coyotes are primarily carnivorous, but will also eat fruits and berries on occasion. They hunt at night for mammals, birds, mice, and snakes. Most of the time they hunt alone, but when they hunt for large prey such as deer, they will hunt in packs.