Antler Asymmetry
White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are a common sight throughout the Chautauqua-Allegheny region. These large mammals are often seen within the forests, fields and backyards that make up the area and all look relatively similar, having a brown and white body, big black eyes, black snouts and that characteristic white tail. This widespread ungulate often goes overlooked due to our familiarity with its presence and its rather ordinary look throughout most of the year. However, as autumn approaches, deer become much more interesting to some as males adorned with their large, bony...
Read MoreDeKay’s Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi)
With last week’s warm temperatures and sunny days, many critters took advantage of the ideal autumn conditions and were out hunting or in search of their soon to be used winter hideaways. This seemed to be the case for a little DeKay’s Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) that was found slithering across a forest road in the Finger Lakes National Forest by my husband and me. The little snake was soaking up the sun and was moving towards the leaf litter of the nearby forest floor, a place they often seek prey and hide in. As the snake was making its journey we took a few snapshots…...
Read MorePennsylvania Elk
Typically when most people think of North American Elk (Cervus elaphus), they picture them scattered across a beautiful mountainous landscape in the Rockies or dotting a grassland prairie in the Midwest. What many fail to think of however, is elk in their own backyard or wooded property right here in the eastern United States; many except those in “elk country” Pennsylvania. Historically, Pennsylvania was like most states having a healthy elk population with copious amounts of prime habitat capable of sustaining the largest member of the deer family. However, upon the arrival of...
Read MoreTimber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) leaving den
For a final Timber Rattlesnake post here’s the third “teenage” individual that we saw, coming upon this one leaving its den. It decided to go back home once it found ferocious humans. I find it endlessly engrossing that some of the wisest early Americans used the rattlesnake as a unique symbol for the burgeoning nation – “a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America” as Benjamin Franklin said. In his infamous “Join, or Die” political cartoon, created during the French and Indian War, Franklin depicted a rattlesnake in eight pieces...
Read MoreCrotalus horridus
Notice anything about the Timber Rattlesnake’s Latin name? Crotalus horridus? The species was named for the undeserved dread it inspired in many of the first colonists 300 years ago and the persecution of apex predators begin as soon as they arrived. The Gray Wolf is another example of a misunderstood and exaggerated fear that has been passed on unnecessarily through generations in America. Thanks to intensive research and a renewed educational media focus (less Little Red Riding Hood and more informative, factual documentaries) they have had a much more positive perception in recent...
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