Category: fauna

Anaxyrus americanus americanus

I was fixing to clean up around the base of my sycamore tree, ran into this fellow. Postponed the cleanup.
When cold weather comes, these toads dig backwards and bury themselves in the dirt of their summer homes, or they may choose another site in which to hibernate.[6] Their diet includes crickets, mealworms, earthworms, ants, spiders, slugs, centipedes, moths, and other small invertebrates. Some of these toads have been known to live over 30 years and currently a female specimen (over 13 centimeters long) is living healthily into her late 30s.–Wikipedia

Sus scrofa domesticus

In November 2012, scientists managed to sequence the genome of the domestic pig. The similarities between the pig and human genomes mean that the new data may have wide applications in the study and treatment of human genetic diseases.
With around 1 billion individuals alive at any time, the domestic pig is one of the most numerous large mammals on the planet
—wikipedia

And the pig has never attempted to contest mankind’s claims to their own noble superiority as the paragon of animals. Indeed, pigs have remained on ambivalent if not friendly terms with most all humans until that last clear moment of apprehension of the plans of those that intend to eat them.—Porkopolis

Lama glama

AlbCo llama

Berserk llama syndrome or berserk male syndrome (as it is more pronounced in males) is a psychological condition suffered by human-raised llamas and alpacas that can cause them to exhibit dangerously aggressive behavior toward humans. The term has been overused, however, and is sometimes inappropriately applied to llamas with aggressive personalities that are not truly “berserk”.–Wikipedia

Maladera castanea, Asiatic garden beetles

breakfast buffet for crows
The Asiatic Garden Beetles are back, feeding at night on tender oak leaves. The AGBs are attracted to electric light. Don’t swim well. So this tupperware pool, lit from below, attracts about twenty-five beetles per night. The beetles tread water until just after dawn when the crows come and enjoy crunchy breakfast buffet.

A native of Japan and China, where it is not an important pest, the
Asiatic garden beetle (Maladera castanea) was first discovered in
the United States in New Jersey in 1922. Asiatic garden beetle grubs
feed off the roots of grasses and weeds in early spring. Adult beetles
attack many different vegetable, herb, fruit, and ornamental plants,
feeding mostly at night where they strip, shred, and notch the foliage
of their hosts. Asiatic garden beetle damage is especially prevalent
around the leaf margins.–University of New Hampshire

Coluber constrictor

vertical wall
In C. constrictor, mating takes place in the spring, from April until early June. Around a month later the female will lay anywhere from 3 to 30 eggs in a hidden nest site such as a hollow log, an abandoned rodent burrow, or under a rock.–Wikipedia

Didelphis virginiana

Fritz the possum
Opossums have 50 teeth, more than any other North American land mammal.
Opossums have 13 nipples, arranged in a circle of 12 with one in the middle.
An early description of the opossum comes from explorer John Smith, who wrote in Map of Virginia, with a Description of the Countrey, the Commodities, People, Government and Religion in 1608 that “An Opassom hath an head like a Swine, and a taile like a Rat, and is of the bignes of a Cat. Under her belly she hath a bagge, wherein she lodgeth, carrieth, and sucketh her young.”–Wikipedia

Peromyscus leucopus

I encountered four very quiet juvenile mice in the house on Monday. Country mice. Polite. I moved them outside. They have Beatrix Potter to thank for my solicitous response.