Species of the Month

The elk rut is upon us, so to that end the Species of the Month for September is the elk. In North America there are four surviving subspecies and two that are extinct. In Eurasia, where it is known as red deer, there are eight subspecies. 

Female elk herd

Scientific name: Cervus elaphus

Kingdom: Animalia (animals) 

Class: Mammalia (mammals) 

Order: Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates)

Bull elk

Range: Western North America, northern Europe, northern Asia, isolated reintroduced populations in eastern US, introduced populations in Ireland, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and Chile

Habitat: Open woodlands

Lifespan: Average 20 years, but difficult to gauge due to hunting

Diet: Grasses, sedges, forbs; woody growth in winter

Predators: Gray wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, bears

Conservation Status: No special protection 

Elk calf nursing

Other Information: The elk is known for the haunting bugle call of the male during the rut. Bugling is used for attracting a mate and advertising territory. Like other horned or antlered mammals, male elk will spar to establish dominance. Dominant males form a harem of females. On occasion, a lesser male will sneak in to mate with one or more of the harem. Elk are social and form segregated herds. Females and calves are dominated by a single alpha female. Males form a bachelor herd. The sexes mingle during the late summer/early fall migration and mating season. Following the birth of calves, mothers and their babies form a separate nursery herd away from the rest of their normal herd. Aside from being larger than deer, elk can also be distinguished by a larger head, dark mane, and large white rump patch. Like deer, elk are most active in early morning and late evening. Coming around a bend on the way to work and seeing the big white butt in the road is a great way to start the day, if given enough stopping distance. Elk browse on grasses and forbs in spring, summer, and fall. Their winter diet may include green woody growth. As ungulates, they have a multi-chambered stomach and chew their cud. Only male elk grow antlers, which they shed annually. Eastern populations of elk were extirpated in the 19th century. Several successful reintroductions of Rocky Mountain elk have since occurred, notably in Elk County, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.

Bull elk showing off his rump patch

This week's information comes from University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Web. Stay tuned for a recap of the 2020 firefly season next week.

The Ozarks

 Last month I visited family in Missouri. I'd been through Missouri many years before, and remember it being mostly flat. I was travelling out of St. Louis towards Kansas City then. This time, I went southwest out of St. Louis. The road was like sailing the ocean over the waves. Up down one hill then up the next. I always thought the Ozarks were in the southwest corner of the state. It turns out pretty much the whole southern half of Missouri is Ozarks. The undulation leveled out a bit once I reached the Springfield Plateau in the southwest. But it was nowhere near as flat as Illinois.

The wildlife in the Ozarks is different from what I'm used to in Pennsylvania. However, I didn't get to see very many new critters. There are freshwater clams in Stockton Lake. I saw plenty of armadillos, but they were all dead. No roadrunners, no rattlesnakes, no scorpions, and no tarantulas. I saw some insects that I have at home, like a wheel bug, a milkweed bug, and the ubiquitous deer. Southern leopard frogs in a spring house at a Civil War battlefield was a nice surprise.

Wheel bug

Bird poop moth

Milkweed beetle

Black swallowtail

Freshwater clam

There was more forest than I expected to see. I got to check out some oak savanna. Most of the land in the Springfield Plateau that I saw was farmland. There were some crops, mostly corn, but the majority was cattle pasture.

It was nice to see some butterflies finally. Compared to last summer, I haven't seen very many this year. Apparently once you leave Bucks County they are everywhere. The Flight 93 memorial in western Pennsylvania has quite a few grasshoppers too. Turkeys flew across the road ahead of me somewhere in that area. Elsewhere, the sky was full of turkey vultures and hawks that I couldn't identify. A fox ran across the road ahead of me in Indiana.

Dead luna moth

Fence lizard

Fritillary (left) and buckeye (right) butterflies

Southern leopard frogs

Dead armadillo

Even though I didn't set out to explore nature on this trip, it still happened. It happens everywhere I go now that I've been trained to see things everywhere. Next time you are out and about, take a look around and notice what you see.

Tiger swallowtail

Oak savanna

Hard Working Animals

Police dogs, draft horses, barn cats, and lab rats are all animals that could be considered to work a full time job. In a salute to Labor Day, here are a few wild animals that work just as hard as humans and domestic animals.

Earthworms are working hard to keep your garden healthy. Often overlooked because they remain unseen, these slimy little guys are tunneling all day, allowing air and water to move around the soil. They cycle nutrients by eating decaying plant matter, creating fertilizer that living plants can use. 

Earthworm (Christian Science Monitor)

Mound building termites built mud homes that can reach heights of 17 feet and displace a quarter ton of soil. It can take years to build, and a single heavy rainstorm can damage or destroy it. Worker termites are always on the ready to make repairs as needed. Additionally, they also farm a fungus as a digestive aid. The fungus breaks down partially digested cellulose from the wood and grass the termites had eaten. After the fungus does its thing, the termites re-ingest what the fungus broke down.

Termite mound (Journal of Experimental Biology)

Beavers are the best known engineers in the animal world. They build water tight dams out of sticks and mud. Ponds form behind the dam, and while the beavers selfishly build dams and create ponds for themselves, the important wetland habitat benefits many other species as well. Even humans benefit, as the wetlands filter water and serve as flood control.

Beaver preening

Beaver dam

While you're enjoying a long weekend, just remember the critters that work hard 365 days a year just to survive. This week's information comes from National Geographic for worms and termites.

Crater Lake

This month is six years since my visit to fabulous Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. America's deepest lake at nearly 2000 feet in depth, it sits inside the collapsed caldera of an ancient volcano. Wizard Island near the west side of the lake is a volcano within a volcano. The lake is fed entirely by rain and snow. The amount falling in each year is nearly equal to what evaporates of leaks out the bottom. Crater Lake is what I can only describe as being impossibly blue. Pictures don't do it justice.

Crater Lake seen from West Rim Drive

In addition to the lake, the park also features forests, wildflower meadows, waterfalls, pumice deserts, cinder cones, and formations called pinnacles. The pumice deserts were formed by volcanic eruptions depositing pumice. Like sand, it drains very well so there is little moisture retained in the ground. Like in a true desert, only the hardiest plants can scratch out a living. 

Pumice desert

The pinnacles were originally volcanic steam vents. As gas and steam were released, moisture mixed with the surrounding ash and formed a thick cement. Mount Mazama, the ancient volcano that formed Crater Lake, had its last major eruption 7700 years ago. Following a massive eruption of ash and pumice, a huge explosion caused the mountain to collapse into itself. 

Wizard Island, a caldera within a caldera

Red Cinder Cone, a shadow of the volcanic past

While visiting Crater Lake, I got to do a bit of exploring. I started a sunset hike up The Watchman, one of the peaks along the crater's rim. I got turned around by an incoming thunderstorm. On another hike across the pumice prairie and through a burned forest, I turned around when I lost sight of the horizon with more storms in the forecast. I went down into a canyon along a mountain stream and back up, saw the pinnacles, a waterfall, and small meadow with varying degrees of wetness. Different wildflowers were growing in different areas due to elevation, soil, and moisture levels- a great example of zonation.

Some of the wildlife in the park includes Clark's nutcracker, golden mantled ground squirrels, mule deer, black bears, foxes, bobcats, and pika. I was lucky enough to see the ground squirrel, deer, gray jays, and a tiny frog.

After leaving Crater Lake, I headed to the coast and stayed at the Oregon Dunes. There was no activity at the Sea Lion Caves nearby. The next stop before going home was a quick visit to Mount Hood. I stank after a week in the woods without showers, but the adventure was worth it. This week's information comes from USGS and NPS. All photos are my own. I'll be taking a break for vacation and will return in September with a look at some hard workers, just in time for Labor Day.

Species of the Month

Introduction: World Elephant Day is next week, so to celebrate we’re profiling one of the world’s three

elephant species. In addition to the Asian elephant, did you know there are two different African

elephants? There’s the forest elephant and the more commonly known bush elephant, the August

Species of the Month.

African bush elephant (Wikipedia)

 

Scientific name: Loxodonta africana

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Mammalia (mammals)

Order: Proboscidea (elephants)

Range: Central and southern Africa

Habitat: Savannah, forest, deserts

Lifespan: 60-70 years

Diet: Grasses, herbs, fruit, tree leaves, and tree twigs, roots, and bark

Predators: Lions, African wild dogs, hyenas, crocodiles, humans

Mother and calf (Wikimedia Commons)

Conservation Status: Elephants are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list. They are threatened under

the US Endangered Species Act.

Other Information: The African bush elephant is the largest land mammal in the world. An adult male

can weigh over six tons with a shoulder height of ten feet. Adult males live alone or in small groups,

while females and calves will form a larger herd led by a matriarch. Calves are raised communally

and are totally dependent on maternal care for several months. They reach full independence around

eight years old. Elephants don’t grow their tusks until after they’re a year old and the baby teeth fall

out. They also have a conveyor belt of six molars that wear out and fall out, allowing the next in line

to move forward. After losing the last molars, they can no longer eat properly. The large ears are great

for hearing, but also dissipate heat. Elephants are very mobile with a large range because of the

massive amount of food they need to eat. They can drink up to 50 gallons of water a day. Mud and

dust baths help them keep cool. Predators mainly go after small calves that fall behind the rest of the

herd. The greatest challenges facing elephants are caused by humans. Development has caused habitat

loss, and keep in mind these giants need a lot of room to roam. Poaching is also a serious threat. Most

elephants are confined to protected areas, limiting their population sizes. However, even at a protected

reserve elephants aren’t safe from poachers.

Young elephants at the watering hole (Sierra Club)

This week’s information comes from Animal Diversity Web.