Spinning Tales of the Nine-banded Armadillo

The armadillo (little armored one in Spanish) originated in South America.  The United States claims only the nine-banded armadillo—7-11 bands are possible.  These bands are joined by flexible skin.  The leathery armored shell consists of bony plates covered by scales.  The anteater and sloth are relatives.

During reproduction, a female can delay implantation for months if stressed or planning to colonize.  This mammal usually delivers Identical quadruplets.  Babies have soft shells—similar to human fingernails.  The adult weighs about 12 pounds.   Longevity spans 7-20 years.

In Florida, the armadillo is common because it seeks moist soil and warm climates—cold can be fatal.  However, increasing temperatures are promoting northward expansion.  Forests, grassland, or yards are suitable habitats. 

This solitary, primarily nocturnal animal is a lawn and agriculture pest.  It excavates several burrows with multiple entrances for shelter.  Such burrowing destroys gardens, especially plant roots.  It also exposes foundations and utility areas.  Filling and blocking tunnels sometimes discourage revisits.  It is also effective to avoid excessive irrigation and fertilization, since moist soil and luscious vegetation bring earthworms and insect larvae (armadillo candy) to the surface.  Scavenging, especially for insects, is facilitated by a long, sticky tongue, capable claws, and a keen sense of smell which substitutes for poor eyesight. 

Armadillo - photo Brett Pigon

 
Dens provide refuge from such animals as black bears and alligators.  The protective armor and fast, short legs also allow quick escapes into thorny patches.  It is a misconception that the nine-banded armadillo rolls up into a ball for defense—only the three-banded armadillo qualifies.   Realistically, the biggest threat is becoming roadkill.  Though its body is small enough for a car to pass over, it jumps high when startled and encounters the undercarriage of the vehicle.

Since the armadillo can hold its breath up to 6 minutes, it can walk on a river bottom for a short span.  To swim above water, it inflates its stomach for buoyancy. 

Low body temperature renders the armadillo susceptible to Hansen’s disease, leprosy.   Mangabey monkeys, rabbits, and mice can also contract leprosy systematically.  Yet, the event of a person acquiring leprosy by handling an armadillo or consuming the meat is extremely low.  (Never undercook the meat.)  During the Great Depression of 1929-39, many safely consumed the armadillo—flavored and textured like pork.  Sarcastically, it was labeled the Hoover hog after President Hoover was vilified for the economic collapse.   
 
Because of leprosy and a weak immune system, the armadillo is ideal for research—especially identical quadruplets.  As usual, some benefit is found in every creature.

Spinning Tales About Bobcats

Bobcats allegedly evolved from the Eurasian lynxes which crossed the Bering Land Bridge to North America around 2.6 million years ago.  They are prevalent in Florida. The name is derived from the bobbed (short) tail of around 5-6 inches, although a few reach 18 inches.  Coats are variations of tan, brown, or gray; spots and stripes enhance camouflage.  Florida also claims rare melanistic bobcats; subtle spots may adorn the black fur.  

Regularly, bobcats are mistaken for the shy, elusive, mostly spotless, golden-brown Florida panthers.  However, long, large tails distinguish panthers.  Moreover, males may weigh up to 150 pounds compared to 40 pounds for male bobcats—these sizable panthers prey on bobcats.  Still, panthers in the first year of life also have spots and are close enough in weight to be confused with big bobcats.

Bobcat - photo Charlie Corbeil

Habitats include forests, mountains, semi-deserts, hammock lands, and swamps.  These animals are territorial and largely solitary.  Ranges vary significantly, but areas of 5-6 square miles are common.  Overlapping occurs.  Because of land development, relocation to fragmented urban edges may shrink ranges to 1-2 square miles.  Such patchy habitats hinder roaming which decreases genetic diversity.

Each cat maintains one main den (natal den), frequently a cave or rock shelter; several auxiliary shelters are also utilized.  In Florida, saw palmetto patches and dense thickets provide choice dens.  Claw marks and scents define territories.  

Established home ranges are believed crucial for reproduction.  Gestation is around sixty days, typically producing two or three kittens yearly.  Second litters are possible.  Females are sole caregivers.  Kittens may become independent around eight months.  Lifespan seldom exceeds ten years.

Carnivorous and opportunistic, bobcats are cunning stalkers; they prey by chasing, pouncing, climbing, and swimming.  Sharp claws and needle-like teeth are lethal.   Fortunately, they rarely attack humans, but pets are vulnerable.  In Florida, food may include rabbits (favorites), abundant migrating birds, feral cats, small deer, and livestock.  Moreover, adult males consume other bobcat kittens when prey is scarce. 

Yet, huge dogs do chase bobcats up trees.  Also in pursuit are humans—Florida has a hunting season.

These wildcats are nocturnal but also wander at dusk, dawn, and daytime since they sleep only two to three hours at a time.  Due to declining space, they sometimes saunter through front or back yards.  Unsecured garbage cans are attractions.  Probably, a bobcat visited your yard if you discover clawless (due to retractable claws) four-toed tracks with direct register—hind prints on top of fore prints.  

Perchance, if you behold one of these graceful creatures, discreetly relish its elegance!

Haiku by Hailey Scalia, 8-year-old conservationist

    Bobcats:  Nocturnal     

Hunting, lurking, beautiful Neighborhood creatures!

              

Spinning Tales About Snakes

Apparently, snakes evolved from lizards.  Cold blooded, these reptiles are more evident in warm climates.  Many reproduce by laying eggs (soft and leathery).  However, in colder climates, where incubation may be compromised, live births occur.

Allegedly, humans fear snakes because they are conditioned through evolution to fear threats.  Actually, snakes avoid confrontation, but they injure when disturbed.  Though more species are nonvenomous, they still bite.  Venomous snakes use fangs to inject venom (saliva), often striking below the knee.  Fortunately, defensive dry bites (no venom released) are common, since snakes intend to subdue prey and not humans.

In this country, annual estimates reveal 7,000-8,000 venomous snake bites on humans, resulting in as few as 5 fatalities because exceptional treatment is available.  Comparatively, car-deer accidents cause around 200 fatalities—habitat fragmentation forces deer into traffic.

Florida has about 44 snake species, and 6 are venomous:  copperhead, cottonmouth, coral, and three rattlesnakes—diamondback, canebrake, and pygmy.  In addition, beware of released or escaped pythons (constrictors) invading the Everglades.  

Pygmy Rattler visits back porch - photo Brett Pigon

Rattlesnakes cause more deaths.  They warn with a hiss, coil, or rattle.  However, if stepped on, they strike immediately.  Coral snakes are sometimes handled when mistaken for colorful nonvenomous mimics; displayed is red, yellow, and black banding, but red on yellow will kill a fellow.  Furthermore, coral snakes have round pupils and not elliptical (slit) pupils like most venomous snakes. 

Venomous coral snake - yellow on black - photo Brett Pigon

Prey for snakes includes rodents (especially around farms), insects, and other snakes.  Milk snakes seek rodents and not cows.  Pythons may consume deer.

Milk snake, coral imitator - black on yellow - photo Brett Pigon

Snakes prey efficiently:  legless bodies quietly slither (boas and pythons, primitive reptiles, display claw-like remnants of hind limbs); because snakes have no outer ears, jawbones transmit vibration to inner ears; forked tongues flick to pick up scent; a pit viper senses the heat of prey with a pit between the eyes and nostrils.

  

To subdue, these carnivores grip by their teeth, inject venom, or squeeze.  They do not chew food.  Prey, often larger than predators, is swallowed whole, usually headfirst, and alive or dead.  Expandable jaws

allow mouths to open wide to swallow.  Throats, stomachs, and intestines also stretch.

Periodically, snakes shed their skins which have silky, not slimy, scales.  Transparent scales which protect eyes are also shed.  (Eyes are seemingly hypnotic without eyelids.)  Molting involves rubbing heads against hard or rough objects until peeling occurs.  Eventually, snakes crawl out of old skins which turn inside out in the process.

Undeniably, these creatures are beneficial.  They control pests, and their venom helps blood-clotting disorders and may help stop cancer.  So, prudently walk away from snakes.  Or live in Antarctica where there are none!

Spinning Tales About Honeybees

Honeybees are essential commercial crop pollinators.  They are worth billions to the global economy.

Hollow tree beehive - photo Brett Pigon

These insects develop an organized social colony accommodating a queen (elongated body), worker bees (multi-tasking females), and drones (males).  A beehive with an internal honeycomb provides nesting for some species; it is sometimes located in a rock crevice or hollow tree.  The honeycomb consists of hexagonal cells constructed from beeswax, from the stomachs of worker bees.  These cells contain the ongoing brood:  eggs, larvae, and pupae. During summer, possibly 80,000 bees complete the colony.  

Other shelters are exposed aerial nests.  Also, a beekeeper might provide an artificial hive—beekeeping is even depicted in stone-age cave paintings.   

From a larva selected by worker bees, the queen bee matures.  This larva is fed exclusively on royal jelly from worker bees—otherwise, the queen develops as a worker.  A virgin queen may fly more than once to a drone congregation area to mate for life with multiple drones from other colonies; drones have huge eyes to perceive her.  She stores millions of sperms.  During her lifetime, she may lay 1 million eggs; she controls the sex of offspring.  Obviously busy reproducing, the queen bee is maintained by worker bees.  Her scent (pheromone) regulates hive behavior. 

Honeybees ready to swarm - photo Brett Pigon

Woodpecker nest beehive - photo Brett Pigon

During winter, for warmth, worker bees cluster around the queen—drones are ejected.  Usually, in springtime, especially when overcrowding occurs, the current queen prime swarms with many bees to establish a new colony.  After swarms may follow.  The former colony sustains with a new queen.  Queens survive 2-8 years; worker bees and drones survive weeks or months. 

Honeybee on Florida native Rusty Lyonia - by Brett Pigon

Pollination occurs when worker bees seek nectar (later processed into honey) and pollen—nourishment stored in honeycomb cells.  Dance communicates food sources.  A single worker bee produces 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey per lifetime.  When foraging, bees intoxicated by ingesting fermented nectar or ripe fruit become aggressive, have flying accidents, or cannot find their hives—similar to humans.

How about stings?  Queens may sting especially rival queens without dying.  Worker bees sting and die.  Drones have no stingers but die after mating.  The sensationalized Africanized honeybees (killer bees) do not deliver a more potent sting, but they defend relentlessly in greater numbers.

Wild or kept, honeybees are in alarming decline:  colony collapse disorder.  Bees never return home—possibly disoriented.  Plausible causes are pesticides, breeders causing lack of genetic diversity, radiation from cell phones and communication towers, and genetically modified crops (less nutritious pollen).  Are honeybees canaries in the coal mine?

Undeniably, honeybees are indispensable.  For example, bone wax, made of beeswax, controls

bleeding during surgery.  90% of our cherries depend on honeybee pollination.  And honey, besides potential health benefits, is savory—ask any bear.

Spinning Tales About Birds

Supposedly, birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs.  Worldwide, there are over 10,000 species. 

The largest bird is the ostrich; it is flightless.   Research suggests that after the demise of dinosaurs, a flying bird like the ostrich’s ancestor was able to forage on the ground.  Over time, it grew bigger and ultimately lost the ability to fly.  An ostrich egg weighs 3-5 pounds, the size of a cantaloupe, and takes two hours to hard boil!

The smallest species is the bee hummingbird.  Why the hum?  The wings beat fast (hum) as they hover like a helicopter.  Flying backwards is also possible.  Its egg is the size of a pea, and the nest is one inch in diameter.  An adult may reach 0.071 ounces.

Two categories classify newborns.  An altricial bird, such as a songbird or hummingbird, is born featherless or sparse, eyes closed, and helpless.  A precocial bird, such as a duck or shorebird, is born down covered, eyes open, and active.  The black-necked stilt, a shorebird, may leave its nest within one hour of birth; it readily combs the shallow water for food.  Yet, an altricial bird gains independence sooner.

When a nestling (completely dependent stage) matures, it leaves the nest and becomes a fledgling.  It may not fly well and often hops around, vulnerable to predators.  Identifying features are short flight feathers on wings and tail.  Generally, the parents guard nearby. 

Juvinile Cardinal - photo Brett Pigon

Distinguishing age relies on molt patterns and plumage.  The feathers of a young bird are less organized and stubby.  Sexual maturity varies.  A smaller bird matures earlier—the northern cardinal takes one year, and the bald eagle takes four to five years.

Communication abounds.  Even before birth, a chick inside an egg issues calls to parents.   A bird releases short and simple calls for flight and danger; an intricate song attracts a mate or declares territorial defense.  

Singing is learned early.  A nestling memorizes.  As a fledgling, it practices for months.  One song or more is memorized with varying versions.  The brown thrasher song types exceed 1,000.  

The mockingbird, Florida’s state bird, is a songbird that can mimic other birds, insects, frogs, cats, and even squeaky doors.  Its own varied and repetitive vocals may last all night in the springtime.

Trivia…Eat like a bird is misleading—a bird may eat twice its weight daily.  Feeding waterfowl white bread crumbs causes malnutrition—nourishing food is shunned.   A bird’s heart beats up to 1000 times per minute when flying.  A bird does not sweat. 

Indeed, birds are essential!  They eat insects, pollinate, and disperse seeds.  Moreover, especially during the breeding season, breathtaking colors are displayed.  Such treasures!

Spinning Tales About Bats

Bats, those creatures of the night!  Relentlessly, literature, movies, and cultures stigmatize these weird-looking, mostly nocturnal mammals.  For example, Dracula transforms into a bat.  Some Native Americans label them trickster spirits.  Nevertheless, in China, they symbolize happiness.

Meet the real bats!   After rodents, they are the second largest order of mammals.  Species number around 1,000; Florida claims 13 native species.   Reproduction cycles are controlled by the female to coincide with food availability.  Mostly, a female yields one pup yearly.  Adult size varies from that of a bumblebee to a Canadian goose, wing to wing.  Lifespan exceeds 30 years.  Except for colder regions like the Arctic, bats dwell worldwide.

Some bats are solitary.  However, thousands colonize and hang upside down by clawed toes from cave ceilings and walls to roost (rest) during the day, safe from predators.  (Bracken Cave in Texas—an estimated 20 million.)  Spectacular are evening mass exits!  Caves are also utilized for hibernation.  With habitats disappearing, some bats are roosting in abandoned mines. 

Bat drawing by Hailey Scalia, age 8

The only mammals capable of true flight are bats.  Some fly 40 miles per hour and cover 50 miles nightly.  Dives are spectacular!  Many migrate from Canada to Mexico.  Bat wings are thinner than bird wings—better maneuverability.  These membranous wings have arms, long fingers, and little thumbs.  Regrowth of membrane repairs tears.

Most bats are insectivores.  One bat may consume hundreds of insects in one hour.  Others may ingest pollen, nectar, fish, blood, and even other bats.   Younglings nurse on milk.  Sharp teeth facilitate insect and fruit penetration.  Tube-lipped nectar bats display the longest tongues of mammals, relative to size.  After deep-flower probing, such a tongue coils up inside the rib cage. 

Vampire bats are native to Latin America.  The common species lick (do not suck) blood from sleeping mammals like cattle and occasionally humans.  Only a tablespoon is drawn.  Bat saliva contains Draculin, the anticoagulant named after Dracula, to keep the victim’s blood from clotting.  Fortunately, less than 1% of bats carry rabies. 

The ultrasonic shrieks of nocturnal bats (typically not audible to humans) echo off objects.  Unique ears and noses assist in echo interpretation to locate prey and navigate—echolocation, natural radar.

Blind as a bat?  Bats dart at night, seemingly blind.  However, they can see, night or day.  Vision varies from poor to excellent.  And bats do not entangle in hair—they dive towards insects surrounding people’s heads. 

Let us go to bat for bats!  They control insects.  They pollinate.  Guano (feces) is a great fertilizer—also used for gunpowder during the Civil War.  Furthermore, bats are vital for hibernation, sonar, and blood-clotting research.  Beneficial creatures!

Spinning Tales About Albinism in Nature

Albinism appears in approximately three hundred animal species in North America.  This is a rare inherited absence of pigmentation or coloration.  It is speculated that factors other than genetic ones, such as age or diet, may cause this abnormality.  Plus, fish eggs exposed to heavy metals, like copper or mercury, can produce albinos.

Albino rat photo by Hailey Scalia, age 8

Initially, verification of albinism relies on pigmentation and coloration.  For instance, the majority of mammals have just the melanin pigment, but many animals have pigments other than melanin.  Some, like certain butterflies, have pigments and structural colors.  Such diversity hinders interpretation! 

Generally, defining traits are white hair or fur, skin, feathers, scales, and cuticle.  Yet, not all albinos are pure white!  Eyes are commonly red or pink resulting from the lack of pigment in the iris which exposes the blood vessels of the retina.  However, blue or green eyes do surface. 

Misleading are animals mistaken for albinos, such as those with leucism, a partial loss of pigmentation.  This happens to many creatures—like tigers, hawks, fish!  They emerge white, pale, or patchy but usually have normal eyes.  How about flamingos which appear white if they have insufficient red carotenoid pigments in their food? 

In reptiles, birds, and amphibians, albinism is more prevalent.  Large snakes like diamondbacks and boas tend to be affected—often pinkish and yellowish. The occurrence is 1 in 1800 birds, often house swallows and American robins.  In mammals, it is 1 in 10,000.  

Unique are albino bottlenose dolphins.  Only 15 were reported since 1962.  In 2007, a pink one appeared in a Louisiana lake—pink because blood vessels were exposed through blubber and unpigmented skin.  The last sighting of an apparent true albino was in December, 2014, in the Indian River, right here in Brevard County!

The pet industry thrives on breeding albinos, especially Norway rats (also named brown rats); moreover, they are esteemed laboratory rats.  Other favorites are albino Burmese pythons, patterned white with yellow and orange.  Often bred, but scarce, are blue-eyed leucistic Burmese pythons; though non-albinos, they are equally stunning with their white bodies void of markings.  In 2013, a 13-foot albino Burmese python was captured in Hialeah, Florida.  An escaped pet?  

Captivity increases survival for albinos.  In the wilds, life is challenged by such obstacles as exclusion from family, lack of camouflage, impaired hearing and vision, and sun sensitivity.  Alligators might survive only 24 hours.  Perplexing are albino squirrels which seemingly survive as well as pigmented species! 

Tame or wild, albinos intrigue!  On a nature walk, a little scrutiny might reveal an albino land snail gliding by.