Biologists have spent a century or more pondering why organisms look the way they do. Two common principle ideas include camouflage and mate attraction.
We thought that stripes on zebras were to confuse predators, break up the outline of the animals, or even provide individual identity (no two zebras look alike, at least to other zebras).
Why do some deer species retain spots in adulthood? Read More »
The more you learn about nature, the weirder it becomes. Take the case of the “zombie” parasite Cordyceps. Spores from this fungus end up on an ant in a tropical forest. The spores take over the ant, infiltrating its muscles, causing it to move to a warm, humid place, and to lock its jaws into a plant.
The ant is no longer in control of its behavior. I might wish that this sort of behavior stops with ants and fungi. But alas, it doesn’t.
Can microorganisms control a deer’s behavior? Read More »
It’s hard to escape the attention that the decision by the leadership of the American Ornithological Society (AOS) to change any bird name that was coined to honor a person to something more descriptive about its habitat or appearance. So a Cooper’s hawk or a LeConte’s sparrow will be called something else in the future, like Medium-Sized Bird-Snatcher or Streaked Little-Brown-Job.
Efforts to change names of birds named after people divisive topic among ornithologists Read More »
The Minnesota DNR sets limits for game fish that can vary from lake to lake. For example, on Lake Winnibigoshish, anglers may keep (and possess) six walleyes – one over 23 inches (tail pinched) or all under 18 inches. Whereas on Leech Lake, a few miles away, the limit is four walleyes, with one over 20 allowed in the limit.
Of course, you’re on the honor system. If I have six walleyes in my freezer at my place on Leech, I’d have to say they came from Winnie.
Fish slot-setting: Based on science, or arbitrary? Read More »
Approximately 11% of Minnesotans over 15 years of age hunted deer in 2022, harvesting about 170,000 animals, roughly 17% of the estimated deer herd. Venison has been popular table fare for centuries. But because venison is not USDA-inspected, its safety is sometimes questioned.
One safety concern involves the diseases affecting deer, and currently, primary concern is chronic wasting disease. CWD is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cervids for which there is no widely available vaccine.
CWD: Where we are now, and where are we going? Read More »
I recently gave some thought to an age-old question that many – well, maybe just me – have pondered.
Let’s say you’re taking your “unfixed” male Deutsch drahthaar on a walk. The dog asks you how far you’re going. You decline to acquiesce to his request. It depends on the number mosquitoes and deer flies you encounter.
To pee or not to pee: Sometimes it’s complicated in a dog’s world Read More »
Concerns about the effects of chronic wasting disease on deer populations continue to broil as the role of game farm escapees spreading the disease to wild deer becomes more evident.
The main point that seems established is that once a deer in an enclosure develops CWD, other animals penned in proximity are more likely to get CWD than would deer in wild populations. It’s common to read that CWD is spread by animal-to-animal interactions or by contacting a contaminated environment.
More to fear on CWD? A look at the tick-and-deer connection Read More »
Why don’t northern deer change their coat colors with the seasons? Might it not be adaptive to grow a white coat in the winter?
Perhaps the difference between deer and rabbits is about predator avoidance. Snowshoe hares are hunted regularly by goshawks, the largest of North America’s bird-hunting hawks. Sharp eyesight allows goshawks to pick off movement, and a brown hare against a white background probably makes the goshawk’s job way easier.
Survival strategies among species can be perplexing Read More »
A couple of springs ago, my wife returned from walking our drahthaars and told me that there was a hawk on the ground near a streambank, flapping its wings.
Oddities examined afield and at home Read More »
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