Endangered Species

This week Nature Minute will take a look at something most have never seen before- endangered species. You may have seen one or two because there are so many species that are endangered, but most likely not because there are so few of each species. They come in all shapes and sizes, from lichens to flowers to trees and from insects to corals to snails to whales.

In legal terms, an endangered species is defined by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as being in danger of becoming extinct. A companion term in ESA is a threatened species, which is under threat of becoming endangered. ESA requires protection for endangered and threatened species as well as their habitat, because how can a species survive without having a place to live?

While ESA is an American law, it also extends global protection to species listed as threatened or endangered wherever they may be found. For example, the cheetah is listed as a foreign endangered species. While US laws regarding the conservation of cheetahs and their habitat can’t be enforced in Africa, the extent of the law here at home prohibits trafficking in them and other foreign endangered species.

Currently there are close to 2000 threatened and endangered species just in the US. When a species is listed, the appropriate state and federal agencies must develop a recovery plan. The recovery plan outlines how to increase the species population and preserve habitat and specifies a target population to be considered sustainable so the species can be delisted. Lead federal agencies that oversee ESA listing and recovery plans are the US Fish and Wildlife Service for terrestrial species and National Marine Fisheries Service works with oceanic critters. Both partner with state fish and wildlife agencies, local and tribal governments, private organizations.

My time in the field gave me the opportunity to work on conservation projects aimed at species recovery. I was even lucky enough to see some of the species I was trying to help.

In the US, four of the five Pacific salmon species (pinks are excluded) are listed as threatened or endangered. I volunteered with the Nisqually Land Trust, an organization that works to preserve and enhance salmon habitat. Although the salmon is a fish, salmon habitat begins with healthy forests that keep the rivers cool and clean.

Chinook salmon returning to spawn

I also volunteered with the Center for Natural Lands Management on two prairie preserves. I removed invasive blackberries and Scotch broom from the Glacial Heritage Natural Area and also collected wildflower seeds from there and the Mima Mounds Natural Area. The work I did was to open space for native plants to grow and collect seeds for propagation at other sites. The prairies are home to the endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly, Mazama pocket gopher, and golden paintbrush, a flower. 

Golden paintbrush

Mazama pocket gopher (US Fish and Wildlife)

Taylor's checkerspot (US Fish and Wildlife)

My list of endangered species that I’ve seen in their natural habitat is short, but probably longer than most other people’s. I’ve seen the beluga whale (Alaska), golden paintbrush (Washington), Chinook salmon (Washington), black-footed ferret (South Dakota), and West Indian manatee (Florida).

Black-footed ferret (National Park Service)

West Indian manatee

I am glad that we have ESA to protect endangered species. Several, such as the bald eagle and the alligator, are considered recovered and have been delisted. The road to recovery takes a long time, and sadly the list gets longer as new species are added before the existing species recover. 

Bald eagle

American alligator (National Park Service)

My only regret about ESA is that it takes a reactive approach to protecting species with critically low populations, rather than a proactive approach that prevents them from needing to be listed in the first place. For more information on the Endangered Species Act visit the US Fish and Wildlife website here.

Species of the Month

November’s Species of the Month is another animal that is related to Thanksgiving. Last year, we covered the turkey, which is the traditional centerpiece in many a holiday feast. But recall that Massasoit’s braves also arrived at Plymouth with five deer. There are several species of deer in the world, and even in the US there are more than one. But the species found in Massachusetts and much of the country is the white-tailed deer.

Scientific name: Odocoileus virginianus

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Mammalia (mammals)

Order: Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates)

Range: Southern Canada to Bolivia in South America

Habitat: Nearly universal in their range: forest, grassland, swamp, and urban areas. Wooded cover and open browse are ideal.

Lifespan: 2-3 years in the wild, on average with a maximum of 20 years.

Diet: Grasses, forbs, shrubs, succulents, twigs and shoots of trees

Predators: Wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, jaguars, bears, humans

Conservation Status: No special protection

Other Information: The white-tailed deer is one of America’s most popular game animals. Hunted nearly to extinction, due to better game management and habitat enhancement (often incidental to loss of habitat for other species) it is believed that there are more deer now than in pre-Columbian times. White-tailed deer are a nuisance in some areas, destroying crops and ornamental plants, striking vehicles, and overconsuming forest resources due to overpopulation. They are also disease vectors, hosting ticks that carry Lyme disease. White-tailed deer also played an important role historically in the US. Native Americans and European settlers alike used the deer as a source of food, clothing, and tools. White-tailed deer mate in the fall, usually in their second year. Births are usually single or double. Fawns can walk immediately and have no scent. Lack of scent, coupled with camouflage pattern that makes them resemble the forest floor, is an adaptation to protect against predators. When startled, the mother will bolt and leave the fawn(s) behind, triggering a predator’s chase instinct. Bucks grow antlers annually prior to mating season. They will spar with other males, using antlers as a weapon and to impress females. Antlers, which are made of bone, grow covered in velvet, which supplies blood to the growing bone tissue. After the velvet is shed, the antlers stop growing and eventually weaken and break off after mating season ends. Summer and winter coats differ in color, ranging from brown to grayish. The underside of the tail is white and is flicked as a warning signal to others, giving the white-tailed deer its name. White-tailed deer is an ungulate and as such, has a multi-chambered stomach like cows. Food is partially broken down, regurgitated, and digested more completely. This allows the deer to break down tough cellulose in plant material to more efficiently gain energy from it.

November’s Species of the Month is another animal that is related to Thanksgiving. Last year, we covered the turkey, which is the traditional centerpiece in many a holiday feast. But recall that Massasoit’s braves also arrived at Plymouth with five deer. There are several species of deer in the world, and even in the US there are more than one. But the species found in Massachusetts and much of the country is the white-tailed deer.

Scientific name: Odocoileus virginianus

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Mammalia (mammals)

Order: Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates)

Range: Southern Canada to Bolivia in South America

Habitat: Nearly universal in their range: forest, grassland, swamp, and urban areas. Wooded cover and open browse are ideal.

Lifespan: 2-3 years in the wild, on average with a maximum of 20 years.

Diet: Grasses, forbs, shrubs, succulents, twigs and shoots of trees

Predators: Wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, jaguars, bears, humans

Conservation Status: No special protection

Other Information: The white-tailed deer is one of America’s most popular game animals. Hunted nearly to extinction, due to better game management and habitat enhancement (often incidental to loss of habitat for other species) it is believed that there are more deer now than in pre-Columbian times. White-tailed deer are a nuisance in some areas, destroying crops and ornamental plants, striking vehicles, and overconsuming forest resources due to overpopulation. They are also disease vectors, hosting ticks that carry Lyme disease. White-tailed deer also played an important role historically in the US. Native Americans and European settlers alike used the deer as a source of food, clothing, and tools. White-tailed deer mate in the fall, usually in their second year. Births are usually single or double. Fawns can walk immediately and have no scent. Lack of scent, coupled with camouflage pattern that makes them resemble the forest floor, is an adaptation to protect against predators. When startled, the mother will bolt and leave the fawn(s) behind, triggering a predator’s chase instinct. Bucks grow antlers annually prior to mating season. They will spar with other males, using antlers as a weapon and to impress females. Antlers, which are made of bone, grow covered in velvet, which supplies blood to the growing bone tissue. After the velvet is shed, the antlers stop growing and eventually weaken and break off after mating season ends. Summer and winter coats differ in color, ranging from brown to grayish. The underside of the tail is white and is flicked as a warning signal to others, giving the white-tailed deer its name. White-tailed deer is an ungulate and as such, has a multi-chambered stomach like cows. Food is partially broken down, regurgitated, and digested more completely. This allows the deer to break down tough cellulose in plant material to more efficiently gain energy from it.November’s Species of the Month is another animal that is related to Thanksgiving. Last year, we covered the turkey, which is the traditional centerpiece in many a holiday feast. But recall that Massasoit’s braves also arrived at Plymouth with five deer. There are several species of deer in the world, and even in the US there are more than one. But the species found in Massachusetts and much of the country is the white-tailed deer.

Scientific name: Odocoileus virginianus

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Mammalia (mammals)

Order: Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates)

Range: Southern Canada to Bolivia in South America

Habitat: Nearly universal in their range: forest, grassland, swamp, and urban areas. Wooded cover and open browse are ideal.

Lifespan: 2-3 years in the wild, on average with a maximum of 20 years.

Diet: Grasses, forbs, shrubs, succulents, twigs and shoots of trees

Predators: Wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, jaguars, bears, humans

Conservation Status: No special protection

Other Information: The white-tailed deer is one of America’s most popular game animals. Hunted nearly to extinction, due to better game management and habitat enhancement (often incidental to loss of habitat for other species) it is believed that there are more deer now than in pre-Columbian times. White-tailed deer are a nuisance in some areas, destroying crops and ornamental plants, striking vehicles, and overconsuming forest resources due to overpopulation. They are also disease vectors, hosting ticks that carry Lyme disease. White-tailed deer also played an important role historically in the US. Native Americans and European settlers alike used the deer as a source of food, clothing, and tools. White-tailed deer mate in the fall, usually in their second year. Births are usually single or double. Fawns can walk immediately and have no scent. Lack of scent, coupled with camouflage pattern that makes them resemble the forest floor, is an adaptation to protect against predators. When startled, the mother will bolt and leave the fawn(s) behind, triggering a predator’s chase instinct. Bucks grow antlers annually prior to mating season. They will spar with other males, using antlers as a weapon and to impress females. Antlers, which are made of bone, grow covered in velvet, which supplies blood to the growing bone tissue. After the velvet is shed, the antlers stop growing and eventually weaken and break off after mating season ends. Summer and winter coats differ in color, ranging from brown to grayish. The underside of the tail is white and is flicked as a warning signal to others, giving the white-tailed deer its name. White-tailed deer is an ungulate and as such, has a multi-chambered stomach like cows. Food is partially broken down, regurgitated, and digested more completely. This allows the deer to break down tough cellulose in plant material to more efficiently gain energy from it.

November’s Species of the Month is another animal that is related to Thanksgiving. Last year, we covered the turkey, which is the traditional centerpiece in many a holiday feast. But recall that Massasoit’s braves also arrived at Plymouth with five deer. There are several species of deer in the world, and even in the US there are more than one. But the species found in Massachusetts and much of the country is the white-tailed deer.

Scientific name: Odocoileus virginianus

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Mammalia (mammals)

Order: Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates)

Range: Southern Canada to Bolivia in South America

Habitat: Nearly universal in their range: forest, grassland, swamp, and urban areas. Wooded cover and open browse are ideal.

Lifespan: 2-3 years in the wild, on average with a maximum of 20 years.

Diet: Grasses, forbs, shrubs, succulents, twigs and shoots of trees

Predators: Wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, jaguars, bears, humans

Conservation Status: No special protection

White-tailed doe resting in the cover of a forest

Other Information: The white-tailed deer is one of America’s most popular game animals. Hunted nearly to extinction, due to better game management and habitat enhancement (often incidental to loss of habitat for other species) it is believed that there are more deer now than in pre-Columbian times. White-tailed deer are a nuisance in some areas, destroying crops and ornamental plants, striking vehicles, and overconsuming forest resources due to overpopulation. They are also disease vectors, hosting ticks that carry Lyme disease. White-tailed deer also played an important role historically in the US. Native Americans and European settlers alike used the deer as a source of food, clothing, and tools. White-tailed deer mate in the fall, usually in their second year. Births are usually single or double. Fawns can walk immediately and have no scent. Lack of scent, coupled with camouflage pattern that makes them resemble the forest floor, is an adaptation to protect against predators. When startled, the mother will bolt and leave the fawn(s) behind, triggering a predator’s chase instinct. Bucks grow antlers annually prior to mating season. They will spar with other males, using antlers as a weapon and to impress females. Antlers, which are made of bone, grow covered in velvet, which supplies blood to the growing bone tissue. After the velvet is shed, the antlers stop growing and eventually weaken and break off after mating season ends. Summer and winter coats differ in color, ranging from brown to grayish. The underside of the tail is white and is flicked as a warning signal to others, giving the white-tailed deer its name. White-tailed deer is an ungulate and as such, has a multi-chambered stomach like cows. Food is partially broken down, regurgitated, and digested more completely. This allows the deer to break down tough cellulose in plant material to more efficiently gain energy from it.

Information this month comes once again from University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web. 

A mother and two fawns browse in edge habitat.
A buck is behind and uphill.

White-tailed buck (Pennsylvania Game Commission)

Feeling a Little Squirrely

If you live near a park, or even just a tree, you’ve probably noticed how busy the squirrels are this time of year. I’ve been watching them scurry about looking for acorns outside my office (no, this isn’t my day job) and getting into fights. In another one of those perfectly timed connections in the natural world, the acorns are dropping with the temperature and giving squirrels a feast to carry them through the lean winter months.

The eastern gray squirrel is the dominant squirrel species in my neck of the woods. Others that I’ve seen in my journeys are the Douglas squirrel and golden mantled ground squirrel in Washington and Oregon, the American red squirrel in South Dakota and Alaska, and I even saw a black squirrel in Minnesota. The black one was actually an eastern gray squirrel with a condition called melanism, which is sort of a reverse albino. 

Douglas squirrel

Golden mantled ground squirrel

Squirrels are one of my favorite critters. They are rodents and belong the family sciuridae. Several species of squirrels have a scientific name beginning with Sciurus and I just love that. Every time I see sciurus it makes me think of scurry, which is what those little guys do when they aren’t climbing trees.

Rodents have front teeth (incisors) that never stop growing. It’s great for beavers, since chomping on trees all night will quickly wear out their teeth. It is also helpful when you’re just a tiny little thing eating nuts and acorns. If you’ve ever gotten close enough to a squirrel to see its teeth, they are frighteningly large considering the size of animal attached to them.

Terrifying squirrel teeth (Capitol Theater)

Squirrels spend a lot of their time in trees, and they are agile climbers but they occasionally have an accident. You didn’t hear it from me, but a squirrel in the park fell into the creek once back in the 90s. It made me promise not to tell, and it’s probably dead by now but it’s best not to take chances. 

Eastern gray squirrel (Ohio Department of Natural Resources)

Red squirrel (World Association of Zoos and Aquariums)

All those nuts and acorns the squirrels are gathering now are too much for a meal and won’t fit inside a squirrel house. So they hide their overstock from other critters that might want them by burying them in the ground. With so many nuts hidden in so many holes, there’s no way a squirrel will remember each hole. The ones that get left behind stand a chance of germinating and growing into trees. So not only are squirrels terribly cute, they are also little horticulturalists.

In addition to your basic tree squirrels, there are also ground squirrels. The ground squirrel side of the family includes marmots, groundhogs, chipmunks, and prairie dogs. While they get their name from their dwelling, ground squirrels are not averse to climbing trees. 

Western chipmunk

Live Streaming

After so many stories from the road, this little story about one of my last events in Washington got shoved aside. I spent some time in Percival Creek with the Thurston County Stream Team conducting a stream bug survey, also known as a biological index of benthic invertebrates (BIBI). File this under “Things I wasn’t allowed to do 30 years ago”.

Stream bug monitoring is an important way to gauge the health of a stream. Some thrive in polluted water, some thrive in pristine water. To know how many of which kinds of insects are in the stream is a good indicator of water quality. Just what is a stream bug? The ones we looked for are actually the larvae of insects such as mayflies and caddisflies. The larvae are aquatic, living in freshwater, making a living in a variety of ways such as scrapers and shredders.

The method used by my group was to sample three areas within a riffle of the stream. A riffle is an area of faster moving water. Our leader, Debbie Smith, is the coordinator for Tumwater Stream Team. She supplied us with all the necessary equipment, minus our own boots. To collect samples, we used a funnel-shaped net that had a metal square at the front which marked the boundary of the sampling area. A weed fork is a great tool for the stream to, scaring up bugs on the rocks and in the substrate by rapidly mixing it around inside the metal square. Debbie also brought a stop watch, buckets, insect field guides, and lab equipment including magnifying glasses, headlamps, forceps, and sealed containers. While we began collecting samples, Debbie stayed behind with one other from our group to set up the lab. 

Net similar to the one we used for sampling. The front section defines the sampling area.

Weed fork

After washing our boots in a mild chemical solution, we took turns mixing up both the surface and substrate of the stream bed for a minute, loosening the bugs which then flowed into the net with the current. Large rocks in the square went into a bucket for analysis. Stream width and depth at the sample sites, as well as the length of the sampled riffle, were recorded for each sample. Distilled water (to prevent outside bugs from being counted in the sample) was used to rinse any bugs on the net into the collection bag at the bottom. 

Example of stream bugs clinging to a rock

Processing samples in the lab (Debbie Smith photo).

Our samples were taken to the lab for analysis. Our lab was a simple setup on a bridge that day. Small rocks in the collection bag were removed and inspected. Any bugs were removed with forceps and placed in alcohol for later analysis by entomologists that can ID them by genus and species. The same was true for the large rocks in the bucket. The collection bag was emptied and scoured for bugs. Rocks were not sent to the entomologists, but any organic matter in the net, such as leaves and woody debris, did go along with the insect samples. We did this at three different riffles, for a grand total of nine minutes of churning up creek bed.

We did our survey in because stream levels are low. If the water is too high, the bottom is unreachable and the current can be dangerous. There were always at least four of us in the water: one holding the net, one using the weed fork, one running the stopwatch, and one holding the bucket of rocks. If anything happened to one of us, there was always someone available to help. Always think safety in the lab and in the field. 

Stream Team following a successful morning of splashing around
Percival Creek. I am 4th from the left in the green shirt.
(Debbie Smith photo)