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Archive for the ‘wildlife’ Category

A juvenile black squirrel

Posted in Rodents, wildlife, tagged , , , on May 18, 2013 | 1 Comment »

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I came across this little melanistic gray squirrel today, and naive as he is, he just sat there on that white oak branch and let me take a few photos and a few seconds of video of him.

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In this particular stretch of woods there are black variants and normal gray variants, but they come in more color variants than I can describe here.

Eastern gray squirrels have two litters per year. This one was born in the late winter winter litter.  Its mother is likely already pregnant with her midsummer litter which will be born some time next month.

As I mentioned, I did get a little bit of video of this squirrel before he darted off:

Source.

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14 coyote fetuses

Posted in wild dogs, wildlife, tagged , on May 12, 2013 | 17 Comments »

Hunters killed this very pregnant coyote bitch:

coyote fetuses

As you know, I am far more interested in zoology than animal rights, and if pictures of human fetuses weren’t going to make me “pro-life,” then these coyote fetuses aren’t going to make me opposed to coyote hunting.

In my high school biology class, there was a jar of dog fetuses that were preserved in formaldehyde. I was really fascinated by it. It didn’t disgust me. It had come from a local veterinarian who had spayed a pregnant bitch.

It is still pretty interesting to me that a coyote bitch would have that many puppies. It’s doubtful that all would have survive to maturity or even weaning had she lived to give birth to them.

 

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Spot the deer

Posted in wildlife, tagged on May 11, 2013 | 1 Comment »

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The grass isn’t that high. It’s just that the deer is standing on the other side of a little rise.

I took this photo this evening. I had a much clearer shot at one earlier on, then this one’s head popped up.

The deer are still losing their gray winter coats.

Fawns are coming soon.

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Snail shell

Posted in wildlife, tagged on May 10, 2013 | 2 Comments »

The occupant had already been eaten.

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Tent caterpillar outside its tent

Posted in wildlife, tagged on May 10, 2013 | 1 Comment »

The tent caterpillars have started to leave their tents. Here’s one on a blade grass:

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Tent caterpillars on a black cherry tree

Posted in wildlife, tagged on May 4, 2013 | 3 Comments »

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These are tent caterpillars, the larvae of the moth called Malacosoma americanum.

In late April and early May, these caterpillars appear in their little tents in just about every black cherry tree (Prunus serotina), and during certain years, they actually denude the trees of nearly all their leaves.

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Otter!

Posted in Carnivorans, wildlife, tagged , , on April 28, 2013 | 3 Comments »

Look what popped up at the pond near my uncle’s condo at Myrtle Beach!

Photo by Jeanne or Catie Westfall.

Photo by Jeanne or Catie Westfall. Click to zoom in, 

We have otters in West Virginia, too, but they aren’t nearly this tame!

 

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Death of a Wisent

Posted in wild dogs, wildlife, wolves, tagged , , , , on April 27, 2013 | 5 Comments »

death of a wisent

This comes from Brehm’s Tierlauben (Life of Animals) (1893).

It shows a pack of European wolves killing a wisent, also known as a European bison.

The wisent was already extinct in Germany by mid-eighteenth century, but wolves held on in Germany until the beginning of the twentieth century.

Brehm would have known about wolves hunting wisent from accounts from Eastern Europe.

However, wolves have been steadily recolonizing Germany from the east, but wisent have been gone a long time.

But they were recently reintroduced to a forest in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The wolves are largely concentrated to the eastern part of the country, so scenes like this one aren’t going be seen any time soon.

But the potential is there.

Some day.

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Gray fox documentary

Posted in wild dogs, wildlife, tagged on April 22, 2013 | 1 Comment »

Source.

Americans don’t realize what a unique animal this creature is.

The word “gray fox” makes it a bit too banal sounding.

It’s not even an actual fox. It’s actually an offshoot of the dog family that isn’t closely related to any other members.

No other species of dog is as adept at climbing trees as this animal is.

It’s a real cat-dog.

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A kill

Posted in golden retriever, Miley, wildlife, tagged , , on April 20, 2013 | 2 Comments »

Blond wolf kills quarry.

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