Tag: wildlife

Cougar

A cougar searches for guanacos, wild llamas indigenous to the grasslands of Patagonia, their primary prey

Common Name: Cougar, mountain lion, puma, catamount (cat of the mountain), panther, American lion, and many others – Cougar is derived from the language of the Tupi people, an indigenous group from central Brazil. The original name cuguacuarana was a modification of suasuarana, which literally meant false (rana) deer (suasu). This was presumably to distinguish the large cat with fur that was similar in color to deer from the jaguar, another large cat with spots which is also indigenous to South and Central America.

Scientific Name: Puma concolor – The generic name Puma is taken directly from the Quechua language of the natives of southern Peru in the Andes Mountains. Concolor means to have one, consistent color, noting the same attribute as the similarly colored deer – cougar etymology. Also listed on occasion as Felis concolor. Felis is the Latin word for cat. [1]

Potpourri:   The cougar has the largest geographic range of any terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, extending from the boreal forests of northern Canada and Alaska to the open grasslands of Patagonia at the southern tip of South America. As a solitary apex predator, it is without equal, adapting to extremes of climate and variety of prey from snowy tundra in the north across the desert Southwest into the rainforests of Brazil to elevations of over 15,000 feet in the Andes and back to sea level in southern Chile and Argentina. [2] Recognized and feared by many populations of people along the way, the cougar has accumulated a long list of common names … over forty applied according to the local languages of diverse tribal populations. The cougar/puma/mountain lion/et cetera holds the record for the most names of any mammal species [3] As a result, cougars convey a sense of mystery and intrigue in being somehow different animals even though they are the same.

Unlike most of the other large cats, cougars hunt day and night, favoring daylight in wilderness areas and night when near populated regions. Sightings by humans are almost universally fleeting resulting in frequent mistaken identities. The similarly colored bobcat (Lynx rufus) can easily look like a mountain lion based on a coup d’oeil of a darting large, brownish, furry animal. However, like the alleged encounters with yeti in the Himalayas and sasquatch in the Pacific Northwest, there have been no confirmed sightings of cougars in the Eastern United States for decades. This was the result of expanding settlement over the last two centuries and the near extirpation of the white-tailed deer, its primary food source. The last documented and validated records for cougar sightings were 1871 in Pennsylvania and 1887 in West Virginia. Further west confirmed sightings have been more recent; 1956 in Alabama and 1971 in Louisiana and Tennessee. [4] In 2008, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute sponsored a six-month long program to assess the mammal populations along the Appalachian Trail corridor in Northern Virginia and Maryland using scented bait and a motion sensitive camera. With over 4,000 sightings including multiple bobcats, bears, and coyotes, among many others, there were no cougars.  While absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, it is indicative of rarity at the very least. That is not to say that cougars won’t be back, as the surge in white-tailed deer will likely draw the adventuresome seeking a reliable source of food at some point.

The near pole to pole range of the cougar is testimony to the geographic adaptability of the Felidae or cat family as a whole, which originated in Asia in the Oligocene Epoch 35 million years ago. The “intelligent” evolutionary design of the basic felid has stood the test of time as the 8 genera and 37 living species migrated globally. Almost all cats are solitary (only lions having pride in association) and share the characteristics of consummate predators―lithe, muscular bodies, tearing teeth and claws, keen senses, and camouflaged fur coats. This suite of attributes has changed little over the diaspora, testimony to the versatile success of cats. Based on DNA analysis of living cat species, the big cats of the genus Panthera, consisting of lions, tigers, leopards (including snow and clouded), and jaguars were first to become differentiated from ancestral species 10.8 million years ago in the Miocene Epoch, the age of mammals. Note that all the “big cats” could also be called panthers, and, for those with fur darkened by melanin for nocturnal hunting stealthiness like leopards and jaguars, the term black panther is widely used. It is hypothesized that an ancestral cat species migrated across the Beringian land bridge connecting Asia to Alaska 8 million years ago to give rise to the New World cats. The subsequent movement of cats through the Americas gave rise to cougars, lynxes, ocelots, and, ultimately, domestic cats. The closest DNA relative of the cougar is the cheetah, which evolved in North America and crossed back through Asia and into Africa about one million years ago to become the world’s fastest terrestrial animal. [5]

The cougar is not a “big cat” of the Panthera genus, a fact borne out by the observation that cougars don’t roar, a trait of note due in no small part to the MGM movie studio’s leonine opening sequence. The cougar might be thought of as the largest version of the domestic cat; both having diverse geographic and habitat adaptability suggests genetic similarity. The origins of cats as human companions has long stymied biologists since they don’t fit the pattern of domestication, lacking social group organization in which there is some sort of leadership hierarchy wherein the humans can become surrogate herd leaders. Herding cats is one of the maxims used to characterize missions impossible. The aloofness of cats is a matter of literary record; they are the “wildest of all wild animals” in Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Cat Who Walked by Himself. [6] Since the cat was proclaimed a sacred animal in the 5th dynasty of ancient Egypt about 4,000 years ago according to the hieroglyphic record, it was long thought that this led to domestication when cats proved their utility in ridding granaries of rodents. [7] However, recent archaeological and genetic research has revealed that domestication of cats began in Mesopotamia (Greek for mid river) between the Tigris and Euphrates over 10,000 years ago. DNA from 979 domestic and wild cats was analyzed to reveal that all cats evolved from Felis sylvestris lybica, the Middle East wild cat subspecies. In 2004, archaeologists digging on the island of Cyprus discovered a 9,500-year-old burial site containing a human and a cat, presumably imported as a pet from mainland Asia Minor (why else would they be buried together?). The current consensus is that domestic cats seeking rodent prey drawn by grain storage coevolved with humans in the Middle East as a matter of mutual benefit during the Neolithic (New Stone Age) Period. [8] Cougars that remained in the Americas sought larger prey and avoided human contact altorgether.

As an apex predator, cougars have a profound though largely unappreciated impact on ecosystems. Males occupy large, non-overlapping territories that range in size of over 500 square kilometers abutting several female territories that are about half that size. Other than biennial breeding during which they cohabitate for several weeks to propagate several cubs (not kittens), they live and hunt alone, which is the norm; 179 of 247 terrestrial carnivores are solitary. [9] A metanalysis of published research conducted several years ago revealed that puma-cougars preyed on 148 mammals, 36 birds, 14 reptiles and amphibians, and 5 fish. Of these, 40 species were found to avoid cougars due to fear effects, notably the cervids like deer of North America and camelids like the guanaco. the wild llamas of Patagonia. Predator avoidance results in reduced grazing, with evidence that 22 plant species benefited from the presence of cougars. Cougar deer kill has a more direct effect in removing on average one deer per week per cougar. The introduction of cougars to South Dakota is estimated to have saved over one million dollars due to a reduction in deer-vehicle collisions. [10] It is widely recognized that the burgeoning population of white-tailed deer in the Eastern United States is a matter of concern due to a combination of ecological damage in the consumption of seedling trees and the ever-present danger of running into one on the road. It is appropriate to at least entertain a change in public policy to promote the reintroduction of the mountain lion to the Appalachians.

There already is one population of cougars on the east coast in the state with the seventh highest population density. The Florida panther has struggled for survival against the onslaught of humanity for decades. Up until the beginning of the 20th century, the Puma concolor coryi, as the subspecies is designated taxonomically, ranged across the southeastern United States. Gradually, its preferred habitat of swampy forestland was cris-crossed by roads connecting population centers to the point that they retreated to southwestern Florida, where Big Cypress National Preserve and the adjacent Everglades National Park provide a survivable bastion. The population shrank to less than 50 animals and is now listed as threatened with projected extinction after 2050. [11] The problem is inbreeding, the bane of biology. Lack of mate variability promotes the advancement of harmful genetic traits, like low sperm count and heart murmurs in the case of the cougars. Over the last thirty years, efforts have been made to widen the gene pool. Eight Texas panthers were captured and released in south Florida in 1995. Thurty years later, sequencing of 29 genomes found “increased heterozygosity across the genome and reduced homozygous deleterious variants” which means increased diversity which promote survivability. [12] Florida panthers are so good at hunting white-tailed deer that there is some concern that deer hunting by humans needs to be curtailed as part of the statewide effort to save the panther, now that it is the official Florida state animal. [13] Having brought back bison, bears, eagles, condors, and wolves, it is high time for the renaissance of cougars.

References:

1. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, G. and C. Merriam Company, 1971.

2. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/18868/97216466      

3. Guiness Book of World Records –     https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/search?term=cougar&page=1&type=all&max=20&partial=_Results&    

4. Whitaker, J. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1996. Pp 788-796.

5. Johnson, W. et al “The Late Miocene Radiation of Modern Felidae: A Genetic Assessment” Science, Volume 311 6 January 2006

6. Kipling, R. Just So Stories, The Odyssey Press, New York, 1902, pp 197-221.

7. “Cats” Encyclopedia Brittanica Macropedia, Willam and Helen Benton Publishers, Chicago, Illinois, 1972, pp 996-1000.

8. Driscoll, C. “The Taming of the Cat. Genetic and Archaeological findings hint that wildcats became housecats earlier- and in different place- than previously thought”. Scientific American. June 2009, Volume 300 Number 6 pp 68–75.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5790555/  

9. Elbroch, L. et al. “Adaptive social strategies in a solitary carnivore”. Science Advances. October 11, 2017, Volume3 Number 10.  

10. LaBarge, L. et al.  “Pumas Puma concolor as ecological brokers: a review of their biotic relationships”. Mammal Review. 18 January 2022, Volume 52, Number 3 pp 360–376. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mam.12281  

11. Nowell, K. and Jackson, P.  “Wild Cats. Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan”. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, 1996. p 131 http://carnivoractionplans1.free.fr/wildcats.pdf       

12. Simonti, C. “Saving the Florida Panther” Science 4 September 2025, Volume 389, Issue 6764.

13. Bled, F. et al “Balancing carnivore conservation and sustainable hunting of a key prey species: A case study on the Florida panther and white-tailed deer”. Journal of Applied Ecology. 9 June 2022, Volume 59, Number 8 pp 2010–2022. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14201

Porcelain-berry

The multi-colored somewhat translucent berries are reminiscent of porcelain

Common Name: Porcelain-berry, Amur peppervine, Blueberry climber, Porcelain berry vine – Porcelain is a hard and translucent ceramic made from kaolin (a type of clay) mixed with a variety of other minerals such as feldspar and quartz noted for its aesthetic properties. The multi-colored berries of this grape family vine are similarly attractive.

Scientific Name: Ampelopsis brevipedunculata – The genus is derived from ampel, the Greek word for grapevine. The species name means short (brevi in Latin) peduncle, the main stem that holds the flower that becomes the seed-bearing berry when fertilized. Formerly (and more frequently) listed as A. glandulosa and more recently as A. glandulosa var brevipedunculata.

Potpourri: While kudzu may be the vine that ate the South, porcelain-berry is well on its way to becoming the vine that ate New England. Both are invasive plants of the first order, combining supercharged seed reproduction and rapid vegetative growth of up to 15 feet in a single season. They are also both vines, employing the insidious and parasitic characteristic of using stems of other plants for support, the floral equivalent of spineless. Both plants were intentionally introduced to North America in the late 19th century mostly for their appearance. In the age of horticultural innocence that then prevailed, the only consideration for importation of alien plants was as an attractive addition to a garden. All went well for a time, until the mass movement of people from cities to suburbia with lawns and gardens after 1950. Porcelain-berry went with them, now in close proximity to natural fields and forests to which it soon spread unchecked. The exponential growth of invasives in the last twenty years does not augur well for the future of humanities’ continuing diaspora into exurbs and beyond. [1] In that garden plants are selected by horticulturalists for their hardiness and rapid growth, their emergence as invasive species when unintentionally released is no surprise.

The name Amur peppervine is apropos, as the plant is native to the Amur River basin that extends from Mongolia eastward through central China into the Strait of Tartary and ultimately the Pacific Ocean. It is also indigenous to Japan, India and parts of Southeast Asia having spread southward and eastward. [2] On its home turf, where porcelain-berry evolved in concert with a community of native and competing flora and predatory fauna, it is held in check. All that is gone with transplantation an ocean away in an equally fertile and climatically consistent locality like North America. In the absence of any of the constraints that drove its evolutionary characteristics in its homeland, some plants (and animals) can spread unchecked and outcompete native species.

Invasion of porcelain-berry

There are several factors that contribute to the success of porcelain-berry over the native flora of North America. Success may seem an ill-chosen description for a nuisance invasive, but proliferation and dominance are the evolutionary goal of every living thing. In late spring to early summer, an array of small, greenish-white flowers appear in flat-topped clusters called cymes that offer the promise of nectar to visiting pollinators. Porcelain-berry is monoecious, meaning that each plant has both male and female flowers, facilitating fertilization by roving pollinators, mostly bees. In early fall, the now fertilized flowers give rise to the reproductive berries, that start out white and gradually change to yellow, lilac, green, and turquoise. The attractive multi-colored berries that have been compared to miniature bird eggs are what drew the horticulturalists and their gardener clients in the first place, giving rise to the name porcelain-berry as a marketing moniker to evoke the comparable beauty of its namesake ceramic. [3] It is ironic that China is the fons et origo of porcelain, dating from the Han Dynasty of the first century CE. Porcelain was called china without attribution in the United States for many years. It is doubly ironic that Japanese stilt grass, called packing grass for its functional purpose, was the material used to protect the imported porcelain/china during transit whence it escaped into the wild as discarded shipping waste to become invasive, now joined by porcelain-berry.

The rainbow-hued berries afford an appealing visual palette that must be attractive to animals, mostly birds; humans are somewhat more sophisticated animals with similar aesthetic preferences. Since the fruits produced by most plants are nearly universal in having a single hue when ripe, it is relevant to consider not only how color variability is accomplished, but also why. It is well established that the reds and blues of fruits and flowers are due to the chemical anthocyanin, which literally means “blue flower” in Greek. It was named colored cell sap by the German botanist Ludwig Marquart in 1835 when he determined that it formed by the reaction between the sugar produced by the plant and proteins in the sap. [4] Most plants leave it there, the green chlorophyll-colored fruits infused with colored cell sap to turn them mostly red but sometimes blue. The color change indicates ripeness to roving animals to promote fruit consumption that spreads the seeds of propagation for the next generation. Amur peppervine creates a second chemical from the broad category of phytochemicals called flavonols that interact with anthocyanin to produce color variability. [5] This must be by design and not by chance.

Flower and fruit colors are evolutionary elements that result from a random mutation that proved effective in advancing the porcelain-berry genetic code. Accordingly, it is probable that the color-changing flavonol, once initiated, resulted in increased consumption, propagation, and germination of new generations with the multi-colored fruits. Eventually, these became dominant to the extent that all future generations carried the flavonol genetic code. Or, if one were to follow the logic of Michael Pollan in The Botany of Desire, it could be that the driving force was human aesthetics, spreading the seeds in order to fulfill a desire for berries of porcelain beauty. [6] Whatever effects different colors may have on attracting animals, the facility with which porcelain-berry seeds germinate and their multi-year viability also contributes to its spread. And even if there are no seeds, the plant spreads vegetatively and asexually by sprouting from its roots. [7] Taken together, the end result of seed and vegetative growth is a highly invasive plant that “is making a bold attempt to take over the world.” [8]

There is another good reason why the porcelain-berry was imported and widely planted without ecological concern or constraint. One of the key field identification features of porcelain-berry is that it has leaves that frequently look like those of the wild grape, although they can vary considerably, even on the same plant. This is because peppervine belongs to Viticeae, the grape family, cultivated since antiquity for fermentation as wine. When and where viniculture started is a matter of some conjecture, but the inclusion of Dionysus as the god of wine in Greek Mythology suggests a Paleolithic time frame. Recent research using DNA analysis of wine-stained chards from the Transcaucasian region provide evidence that modern wine making dates to at least 3,000 BCE. While 99 percent of modern wine is made from one of the many variants of Vitis vinifera var sylvestris, there are almost 1,000 species globally and it is almost certain that many other varieties were made into wine. [9] Therefore, most members of Homo sapiens that emerged in Africa about 50,000 BCE were familiar with some type of grape. The idiom I heard it through the grapevine has been around for awhile.

The unusual leaf shape of porcelain-berry is characteristic of Grape family plants.

Were it not for the alarming spread of porcelain-berry, it would be perceived as largely benign and even beneficial as are other grape family plants.  The porcelain-berry fruit can be safely eaten, providing some nutrition. However, it is not palatable, lacking the sugar content of cultivated grape varietals. In general, the two dozen species of wild grapes in North America, in which there is no reason not to include porcelain-berry, have edible fruits, shoots, and leaves. The average nutritional profile for 100 grams (~1/4 pound) of wild grape family fruits is 70 calories with several important minerals like potassium, calcium, phosphorous and iron and vitamins A and C in addition to the metabolically important B vitamins. [10] Similarly, wild grapes have a broad range of medicinal properties.  Native Americans used grape leaves made into a tea to treat stomachache and diarrhea and poulticed leaves were applied to treat rheumatism and headache. More recently, grape seed extracts have been shown to be effective in treating circulatory problems like varicose veins. [11] On the whole, it is reasonable to conclude that porcelain-berry is potentially a useful invasive.

References:

1. Young, J. National Research Council, Washington DC, “Fact Sheet, Porcelain-berry” National Park Service Plant Conservation Alliance Alian Plant Working Group, 20 May 2005, http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien

2. Zhiduan C. and Jun W. “Ampelopsis glandulosa (Wallich) Momiyama, Bull. Univ. Mus. Univ. Tokyo. 2: 78. 1971″, Flora of China online, vol. 12 p. 178-179.

3. Plants for a Future (PFAF) Charitable Database. “Porcelain Berry” https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Ampelopsis+brevipedunculata 

4. Hiker’s Notebook. “Autumn Leaf Color” at https://hikersnotebook.blog/2020/10/26/autumn-leaf-colors/

5. Nafici, S. “Weed of the Month, Porcelain Berry” Brooklyn Botanical Garden https://www.bbg.org/article/weed_of_the_month_porcelain_berry     

6. Pollan, M. The Botany of Desire, Random House, New York, 2001 pp. xiii-xxv.

7. Kling, A. “Invasions in your Woodland – Porcelain-berry” University of Maryland Extension. https://extension.umd.edu/resource/invasives-your-woodland-porcelain-berry-updated-2025/ 

8. Dingwell, S. “Unwanted and Unloved – Porcelain-berry” Virginia Native Plant Society. 12 August 2014.

9. McGovern, P. Ancient Wine, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 2003 pp 1-63.

10. Angier, B. Edible Wild Plants, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 2008, p. 80

11. Foster, S. and Duke, J., Medicinal Plants and Herbs, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 2000, p 338.

Corn Snake

Corn Snakes are well camouflaged in the brown and tan leaf litter of forest soil.

Common Name: Corn Snake, Red rat snake, Red corn snake, Pine snake, Chicken snake – Corn may refer to habitat, as they frequent corn fields in search of rodents. Corn may also refer to appearance, as the alternating light and dark scales on the bottom, belly, or ventral side, resemble Indian corn with its similar contrast of light and dark kernels.

Scientific Name: Pantherophis guttata – The generic name means panther-snake (ophis) in Greek. The etymology of panther is not well established. Panthera is the genus of large cats (tigers, lions, leopards, and jaguars) that probably is from the Sanskrit word for tiger, pundarika. Panther widely applied to large cats that have a black coat for night stealth (i.e. black panther).[1] Its use in this case is likely due to the more common and prevalent black rat snake, also a member of the genus. The Latin word guttatim means “drop by drop” and may suggest a dappled pattern. [2] Formerly known as Elaphe guttata, the genus Elaphe has been reorganized in recent years due to DNA inconsistency but is still in wide usage in field guides. [3] Elaphe is Greek for deerskin, which may be due to tan color similarities.

Potpourri: Corn snakes are closely related to the more common black rat snakes and share many behavioral characteristics, especially a preference for rodents as repast. The alternative common name red rat snake is a measure of close association. Geographically, corn snakes inhabit only the warmer, southern regions of eastern North America, suggesting a preference for agricultural meadowlands where corn is common whereas their black cousins venture northward into New England. As with most snakes, the color and arrangement of scales are the main distinguishing feature. Corn snakes, though quite variable in hue with angular blotches that can range from red to brown to dark gray, are nonetheless distinct from the uniformly black scales of the black rat snake. [4] Since every aspect of an animals appearance and behavior must have arisen according to environmental factors as a matter of survival as a species, there must be a causal explanation for the color scheme.

Snakes comprise a physiologically consistent group of the class Reptilia in the suborder appropriately named Serpentes. Three lineages of reptiles emerged from the Permian extinction about 250 million years ago, when approximately 90 percent of all species were wiped out, most likely due to massive lava outflows incident to the formation of the supercontinent Pangaea. Two lineages survived through the succeeding Mesozoic era; the dominant dinosaurs of which birds are the only vestige; and the scaled reptiles which gave rise to lizards and then snakes. While the current, Cenozoic (post Pangaea) era is widely known as the age of mammals, it could equally be considered the age of birds, if numbers are more important, or the age of snakes if rapid adaptive radiation was the key criterion.  More than 90 percent of all reptiles living today are lizards or snakes, of which snakes are the vast majority with 2700 species on all continents except Antarctica. [5] Recent phylogenetic research has revealed through DNA associations that the ancestral rat snake arose in tropical Asia in the Eocene Epoch and crossed over the Beringian Land Bridge to North America in the Miocene about 25 million years ago, following the rodents that became their defining source of sustenance.[6]

The adaptive radiation of snakes to occupy new habitat niches precipitated changes in diet, behavior, and appearance as a matter of evolutionary mutations for survival. It is clear from the fossil record and from the presence of vestigial pelvic girdle and hind limb bones in some snakes that they evolved from four legged lizards. Legless reptiles are testimony to the irrefutable progression of Darwin’s evolution. Amphibians that first emerged from the oceans with fins needed legs for locomotion and scaly skin to maintain body fluids to continue as terrestrial reptiles. The success of snakes was necessarily advanced by the loss of quadrupedal capability. The most compelling rationale for this extreme retrogression is rodent burrows. Legs and feet get in the way when slithering down a rabbit hole to access its inhabitants. There was never going to be a case where a cold-blooded snake would chase down a warm-blooded mouse in the open, regardless of the ultimate outcome of Aesop’s tortoise and hare. Cornering rodents in their dens was the impetus and proto snakes with smaller legs were successful in survival, passing their genes down to their eventually legless progeny.[7]

Corn Snakes are often confused with milk snakes

The color scheme of corn rat snakes is also with purpose. For some animals, notably birds, colors are in many cases a matter of mate choice. This cannot be the case with reptiles with no visible distinction between the sexes save perhaps size. What is important is blending into the surrounding environment. If an animal is subject to predation, and most are, then being difficult to find is a survival asset. Snakes are subject to predation by carnivores like foxes, bobcats, and raccoons in addition to birds of prey like hawks. However, an equal and opposite reason for rat snake camouflage is stealth for predation. The black rat snake stands out, literally. Among the greens and dappled hues of the forest floor, jet black is hardly stealthy. Arguably, black confers stealth at night and this surely plays a role as black snakes hunt at night in summer and frequently climb trees in search of songbirds and squirrels. Corn snakes not so much, mostly lurking in underbrush like cornstalks in search of prey. While a limited data point, two corn snakes were eviscerated in Virginia in 1939 to reveal the remains of a field mouse, a skink lizard, and a wood-boring beetle. [8] The variable colors of corn snakes in darker blotches on a lighter background are not unlike those of other snakes like copperheads and timber rattlesnakes in addition to the nearly identical milk snake. It must be concluded that snake color pattern is not all that important as a survival attribute and color variability is therefore not constrained by it.

Detecting, localizing, overpowering, and killing prey for food is a matter of snake survival.  Sensory perception is therefore central to snake hunting success. Vision, hearing, and smell all play a role. Taste does not play a role, as snakes need no sensors to sample food swallowed whole and headfirst. The unblinking, lidless eyes of snakes are sinister and effective. Short range vision of corn rat snakes is good even under the low light conditions of darkness. Since snakes lack mammalian middle ears, connective eustachian tubes, and eardrums (tympana), they are relatively insensitive to airborne noise. However, sound induced ground vibrations are detected by conduction through the solid bones of the skeleton, allowing for initial detection of activity but lacking any directional specificity. Smell is the most important corn rat snake sense [9], enhanced by employing the tongue as an air sampling appendage. The twisting, forked tongue is an equally sinister snake attribute. Chemical molecules in the air that convey smell are sampled by the flickering tongue and deposited into two small ducts in the top of the mouth cavity. This repository is the vomeronasal, or Jacobson’s organ, which sends scent data to the brain for interpretation as food, foe, or friendly mate.[10] When a corn rat snake is encountered on the trail, it will first feel footsteps, localize with beady-eyed vision, and conduct a full evaluation with smells sampled lingually. It will respond according to instincts tempered by experience.

A corn rat snake’s reaction to its encounters with other animals depends on how its brain interprets what its sensory suite detects. According to the analogous mammalian amygdala, sometimes referred to as the reptilian brain, reactions include fight, flight, fear, and, if you happen to be a corn snake of the opposite gender, sex. The mnemonic used by neuroscientist students for these functions is “the 4 F’s” of the amygdala, substituting carnal knowledge fornication. If a threat is perceived and an escape route is open, corn snakes take flight and slither to safety. Laboratory testing has demonstrated that corn snakes are adept at finding an escape route based on spatial awareness and learning when confronted with multiple options. Fleeing to leaf litter bowers is a practiced strategy. [11] If cornered, corn rat snakes will fight, taking up a defensive, coiled, readiness to strike posture, bobbing and weaving to confront the threat. Corn rat snakes also vigorously shake their tails like rattlesnakes when threatened, lacking only the noise-making rattle. While the reason for this evolutionary trait is unknown, it is speculated that it is defensive, presenting a confusing tableau of a double-ended body to a potential predator. It is a relatively common trait among members of the Colubrid snake family.  However, if fear is not a factor according to the sensory profile and there are prospects for a meal or a mate, escape changes to engage.

The adaptations necessary and sufficient for snakes, obligate carnivores, to subdue their quarry without the benefit of arms and legs to hold and pummel or teeth to impale and tear is testimony to the consequential driving force of evolution.  Poisonous snakes engage in chemical warfare, injecting toxins with fangs to immobilize prey. The constrictors, like corn rat snakes, employ brute force. The widespread use of constriction among snakes suggests that it probably was an early adaptation, arising in the Paleocene Epoch, contributing to the rapid radiation of constrictor snakes to new habits. [12] An evaluation of prey handling complexity comparing constrictors with jaw holding and body pinning practiced by other species revealed the simplicity and effectiveness of the former. It is surmised that the constriction method evolved to subdue “vigorously struggling prey” which may have been necessitated to successfully catch and kill rodents. Constrictors mastered the physics of muscular compression. [13]

And then there is the matter of mating, which begins with sensory perception of a potential partner of the same species. Since snakes are solitary and mostly hidden from view over wide-ranging habitats, the importance of pheromones in mate localization cannot be understated. The search for a mate begins in early spring, and, if successful, results in the deposition by the female of up to 30 eggs in a secluded location chosen with enough heat (82 °F is ideal) and humidity to promote incubation. As with almost all reptiles, there is no parental support and protection. The eggs must remain undiscovered by predators for over 60 days when they hatch out as foot-long juveniles. In the three years that it takes to reach full size; many are lost to the gene pool due mostly to either becoming prey or due to the inability to find prey. [14] For corn rat snake population stability, one male and one female must, on average, survive, meet, and mate from each clutch of eggs. In the native habitat in the southeastern United States, corn rat snakes hold their own, in spite of being killed by humans, many of whom wrongfully fear all snakes. For those who like snakes, corn rat snakes make good pets, as they are docile and do not object to being handled. This has led to corn rat snakes becoming an invasive species in many of the islands of the Caribbean as they have been imported and escaped to a predator free habitat. [15]

References:

1. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, G. C. Merriam Company, Chicago, 1971, p 1632

2. Simpson, D. Cassell’s Latin Dictionary, Wiley Publishing, New York, 1968, p 211.

3. Crother, B.  “Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding” Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles Herpetological Circular. 2012 Volume 39: pp 1–68

4. Behler, J. and King, F. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians, Alfred A Knopf, New York, 1979, pp 604-607

5. Starr, C. and Taggart, R. Biology 5th Edition, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California, 1989, pp 580-585.

6. Burbrink F. and Lawson, R “How and when did Old World rat snakes disperse into the New World?”. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 27 September 2006 Volume 43 Number 1pp 173–189.

7. Title, O. et al “The macroevolutionary singularity of snakes” Science, 22 February 2024, Volume 383 Number 6685. pp 918-923.

8. Linzey, D. and Clifford, M. Snakes of Virginia, University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1981, pp 96-102

9. Saviola, A et al “Chemosensory responses to chemical and visual stimuli in five species of colubrid snakes”. Acta Herpetologica. 19 April 2012 Volume 7 Number 1 pp 91–103

10. Dowling, H. “Reptilia” Encyclopedia Brittanica, Macropedia, University of Chicago, Illinois, 1974. Volume 15 pp 725-739.

11. Holtzman, D. et al “Spatial learning of an escape task by young corn snakes, Elaphe guttata guttata“. Animal Behavior. January 1999 Volume 57 Number 1 pp 51–60.

12. Greene, H. and Burghardt, G.  “Behavior and Phylogeny: Constriction in Ancient and Modern Snakes”, Science 7 April 1978. Volume 200 Number 4337.

13. Saviola, A. and Bealor, M. “Behavioral complexity and prey-handling ability in snakes: gauging the benefits of constriction”. Behavior. 30 May 2007 Volume 144 Number 8 pp 907–929.

14. Smithsonian Zoo. Eastern corn snake | Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute   

15. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux International. (CABI) database https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/cabicompendium.84655

Mallard Duck

The brightly colored male drake is chosen by the camouflaged hen as her mate.

Common Name: Mallard – From the Old French mallart and Latin mallardus, a combination form derived from the word male. The etymology is not well defined, but it is likely that the distinctive plumage of the male duck is the basis for distinguishing the species with a name derived from “male of the wild duck.” In France, the mallard is known as le canard colvert, roughly translated as duck with the green feathers on the side of the head. Duck is derived from Middle Dutch as düken, to dive underwater. Mallard ducks duck but don’t dive.

Scientific Name: Anas platyrhynchos – The generic name is the Latin word for duck which is ascribed to the Sanskrit ati meaning aquatic bird.  The species name is from the Greek platy meaning flat and rhynchos meaning snout, bill, or beak. Taken together the scientific name literally means flat-billed duck. [1]

Potpourri: The contrast between male drake and female hen mallard, known as sexual dimorphism, is among the most extreme of all vertebrates, affording an unmistakable visual key for identification. Carl von Linné originally listed the male and female as different species in the Linnean taxonomy classification system, believing that they could not possibly be the same.  The male drake’s iridescent dark green head, white neck ring, chestnut brown breast, brownish gray back and white flanks stand in stark contrast to the female’s maculation of buff, ecru, and dark brown. Mallards are prolific, having spread across the northern hemisphere as a global species. The North American contingent of mallards can even be considered a single population. [2] The evident evolutionary success of mallards, even though they are preyed on by human duck hunters, is due to several factors. Drakes are aggressive sexual predators, even though those that succeed settle on a single partner. Hens are selective in choosing mates that meet their criteria, which must impart qualities in their combined offspring that advance favorable adaptability and survival traits. Mallards are masters of ponds and lakes, which provide a measure of protection from terrestrial predators, and furnish an ample supply of water plants, their primary food source. Mallards are a duck dynasty.

Mallards are members of the Anatidae family, named for its characteristic “type” species, the duck genus Anas. It is comprised of ducks, geese, and swans, consisting of 49 genera and 158 species that range across the globe on every continent except Antarctica, a cosmopolitan distribution. Anatids are adapted for aquatic habitats, employing open water as a means of transport. For the most part, they have webbed feet for paddling locomotion and large, round bodies due to the physics of floatation. [3] The buoyancy that provides an upward force to float a duck is equal (and opposite) to the gravitational weight of water displaced by its semi-submerged body. This is important for ship hull construction and duck anatomy, both of which are elongated, rounded cylinders. Waterfowl are also unusual in that they are one of only a few types of birds (3 percent) that have a penis, necessary to ensure successful sperm transfer in an aqueous environment. It is a given that the ancestral bird cum dinosaur had a penis as it was reptilian in origin. The reduction and eventual elimination of the male sexual appendage in most birds is attributed to social behavior. Mating is based on mutual choice with the female usually having the greater say in the matter; many partnerships are lifelong. Since penetration is not forced, the act of intercourse amounts to what is euphemistically called the cloacal kiss. The cloaca (Latin for sewer) is the channel that serves as the passage for excrement and, in some cases like most birds, reproduction. Geese and swans follow the normal bird arrangement of mutual, lifelong partnerships in spite of the retention of a shortened penis for aquatic penetration. In Greek Mythology, Zeus took the form of a swan to impregnate Leda, who gave birth to Helen of Troy. Mallard sex is altogether different.

The iridescent green head of the drake is limned by a white neck ring.

The sexual overdrive of mallards in particular and ducks in general can take extreme forms. In June 1995 a flying mallard collided with the glass front wall of the Rotterdam Natural History Museum in Holland and fell, limp and thoroughly dead at its base. A curator from the museum went to investigate and found not only the dead duck but also a live mallard actively engaged in intercourse that persisted for over an hour. The paper written on the subject, entitled “The First Case of Homosexual Necrophilia in the Mallard” won Harvard’s Ig Nobel prize in biology in 2003. The museum continues to celebrate “dead duck day”. While this particular observation may be an aberration, it is similar in sexuality if not in degree to other mallard drake behaviors such as gang rape. Groups of males are wont to chase after single hen females with repeated sexual assaults that sometimes results in fatal injuries. The cuckold whose mated hen was the object of the chase usually responds with aggressive assault to try to dissuade the rapists, manifesting male fitness evolution. [4] In the absence of available females, drakes have been observed attempting copulation with other (live) males. The evolution of mallard drake’s super libido is matched by the physical size and complexity of the penis. While the record goes to the Argentine lake duck with a 17-inch penis, the mallard is amply endowed with a spined member one third as long. It operates like a coiled party blowout noisemaker, unrolling and everting with lymphatic system pressure as it extends into the vagina of a willing or unwilling hen. In less than a second, it coils counterclockwise inward and upward as a flattened tape with a groove (the sulcus) on one side serving as sperm conduit.[5] However, male sexual dominance is not the whole duck story.

The only notable color of the hen mallard is the blue speculum on the trailing edge of the wing.

Female mallards exercise mate choice, just like most of their avian counterparts. It is not, however, a simple yes or no. The complex nature of duck sexual behavior became a matter of scientific interest early in the century. The explosive, almost instantaneous erection of the penis of mallards and several other ducks must have had some evolutionary origin and was a matter of some interest to the biological sciences. The first area of investigation led to the study of the vaginal structure of duck hens. A series of dissections of different species revealed considerable anatomical differences. While most ducks had simple, tubular passages as would be expected, mallard hens had convoluted structures with a number of side openings that led to dead ends. And, most surprisingly, the vagina was coiled clockwise, in the opposite direction of the counterclockwise drake penis. This led to the hypothesis that species of female ducks partnered males with intimidating sexuality had evolved a coping mechanism, coital sidetracking. To test the hypothesis, an ingenious experiment was devised in which male ducks were encouraged (using a hen as stimulation) to ejaculate into purpose-built glass vesicles that simulated either a corkscrew vagina with cul-de-sac outlets or a simple tubular design with no twists or turns. The data showed that the ducks using the straight, normal tubes were successful in full erections 80 percent of the time while those using the actual hen twisted coil arrangement were only 20 percent successful. This was supported by DNA testing of drakes, hens, and the resultant chicks showing that even though 40 percent of all mallard copulations are forced, no more than 5 percent of the chicks genetically matched to rogue drakes. In other words, the female was able to employ mate selection 95 percent of the time. [6

Scientific research conducted to unravel the complex sexuality of ducks contributes to a better understanding of birds in general and of biology more broadly. Mallards are particularly important for a number of reasons. One is population size. It is estimated that the 23 million individual mallards that make up the global population range over about 10 million square kilometers (one tenth) of the earth’s land surface. In some areas like the Chesapeake Bay, mallards are considered invasive. [7] A second is sexuality, for, in addition to assaulting hens and even dead males, mallard drakes are insatiable paramours. Introduced mallards interbreed with native duck populations to the extent that hybridization threatens to extirpate other duck species; it is estimated that 95 percent of New Zealand’s native gray ducks have been hybridized and that the Hawaiian duck has become completely hybridized on the island of Oahu. [8] Last but not least is human health and nutrition.  Ducks are the principal reservoir on Influenza A viruses, including the H5N1 variant, which, as recently as 2013, resulted in outbreaks in poultry in over 60 countries resulting in 622 human infections. [9] However, studying duck sex, when taken out of context, can sound ludicrous, not unlike many other scientific studies. As part of the political news cycle, the study was dubiously called Duckpenisgate and newscasters asked whether the public was aware that $385,000 of their tax dollars had been spent to study duck dicks. The war on science was just getting started.

Mallard behavior is hard-wired by genetic heritage, focused on reproduction. The annual cycle starts with the initiation of pair bonding in late fall that continues through to spring, migrating in most cases to breeding grounds for the mating season. [10] The sexual hormones ramp up from minimal during winter to what can only be described as overdrive as gonads grow thousands of times larger in only a few months.  Problems arise because the ratio of drakes to hens is skewed with the former outnumbering the latter, as is the case with most duck species. The problem is exacerbated by the concentration of ducks in their habitat. Ponds are limited in size and have an abundant food supply of aquatic plants. Since it would not be possible for any drake-hen couple to defend a pond, ducks are not territorial. [6] The combination of too many males in a restricted area with a large number of paired couples committed to copulation and reproduction is a recipe for mayhem. Males struggle to defend their mates from the testosterone driven bachelor drakes in search of fulfillment. After successful mating, controlled in part by hen selectivity, the favored drake continues to guard his mate during selection of a ground nest near the water and the laying of 9-13 eggs. The burden of sitting on the nest for a month and leading the hatched chicks to water rests entirely with the hen. The drake departs, molts and regrows flight feathers needed for the reverse migration to find a new mate for the next season. [11]

The love it and leave it behavior of male ducks is blighted according to human morality. Anthropomorphism, however, has no place in nature other than amongst us. The mallard drake dynasty is a product of time, space, and survival, as is the evolution of every other living thing. The evolution of the mallard is fairly recent, the genus Anas is thought to have originated sometime in the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene epoch, about two million years ago, probably in Siberia.[12] During the relatively brief geologic time scale period since then, the combination of aggressive males preying on females and the selectivity of females in their choice of males (presumably preferring those with coruscating green heads) has been a resounding success. The loss of hens sitting on ground nests to predators like foxes contributes to their numerical imbalance. The high demands on chick survival according to the same constraints would also result in survival of the strongest, usually male, of the species. There are therefore more males for the females to choose from to ensure that those with the “right stuff” get the reward of progeny. Drakes are aggressive because they have to be. Disney’s irascible Donald Duck character as foil to the benign Mickey Mouse is well cast.

References:

1.  Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged Meriam Webster Company, New York, 1971, pp 78, 698, 1267

2. Starr, C. and Taggart, R. Biology, The Unity and Diversity of Life, Fifth Edition, Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, California, 1989, p 539, 543.

3. Alderfer, J. ed Complete Birds of North America, National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, 2006, pp 2-42.

4. Barash, D. “Sociobiology of Rape in Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos): Responses of the Mated Male” Science, Volume 197 Issue 4305, 19 August 1977, pp 788-789

5. Schilthuizen, M. Nature’s Nether Regions, Penguin Group, New York, 2014, pp 125-129.

6. Prum. R. The Evolution of Beauty, Doubleday, New York, 2017, pp 149-181. The relevant chapter is entitled “Make Way for Duck Sex”

7. Smithsonian Institution Invasive Species https://invasions.si.edu/nemesis/chesreport/species_summary/anas%20platyrhynchos

8. Levin D. Hybridization and Extinction” American Scientist, Volume 90 Number 3, May-Jun 2002, p. 254.

9. Huang, Y. et al. (2013). “The duck genome and transcriptome provide insight into an avian influenza virus reservoir species”. Nature Genetics. April 29, 2014, Volume 45 Number 7 pp 776–783.

10. Cornell University Ornithology Laboratory https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mallard/id

11. Rogers, D.  University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan, “ Anas platyrhynchos” https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Anas_platyrhynchos/

12. Johnsgard, P. “Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus – Evolutionary relationships among the North American mallards”. The Auk.1961 Volume 78 Issue 1 pp 3–43

Groundhog/Woodchuck

Groundhog foraging for food along the edge of a field not far from one of the entrances to its den refuge.

Common Name: Groundhog, woodchuck, forest marmot, whistle pig, marmotte commune (French), waldmurmeltier (German), Marmota canadiense (Spanish) – Groundhog is thought to derive from a translation of the Afrikaans aardvark; aarde means “earth” and vark means “pig”. This may have come to North America with the Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam. Earth pig and ground hog are synonymous.

Scientific Name: Marmota monax – The generic name comes from the French marmotte which is a shortened form of the Old French marmontaine which is from the Latin mures monti, which means “mountain mouse,” which is metaphorically similar to ground hog.  The specific name is from the Greek monos, which means single or alone, referring to characteristic solitary and  asocial behavior.

Potpourri: The groundhog is also known colloquially as woodchuck from a disparate Native American etymology. The various tribes of the Northeast were  familiar with the indigenous mammal, as it ventures abroad openly yet furtively in search of food during daylight hours. On being startled by a relatively large, and surprisingly fast woodchuck inadvertently encountered alongside a hiking trail, “big – brown – fluffy” was the descriptive name blurted out by one hiker. Perhaps due to similar and more frequent run-ins with different members of different tribes with different  languages, a variety of names were adapted over thousands of years of encounters: ockqutchaun in Narragansett; otchig in Ojibwa; otcheck or wuchak in Cree. [1] It is not clear that this was the name given to the groundhog, as one translation of the Cree name is “he who fishes” which  was given to  any of various fishing animals and groundhogs are not noted for catching or eating aquatic animals. Regardless of the precise etymology, which is rarely a matter of certainty, the  name wuchak was adopted by colonists. Many plants and animals of the New World had no European equivalents and were similarly christened. When words are taken from one language and used in another, modifications to suit familiarity are the norm. Thus, wu became “wood” to account for the animal’s habitat and chak became “chuck” perhaps as an onomatopoeia for the clucking noises that it made. The calque word woodchuck was the result. The palindrome that results from the reversal of the words led to the language exercise (tongue twister) phrase” how much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.” It was never clear what chuck wood was supposed to mean, but it suggests gnawing.

Groundhogs/woodchucks are in the Order Rodentia in the Family Sciuridae and are therefore closely related to squirrels and chipmunks, collectively the sciurids. The rodents are the largest group of mammals, comprising roughly 50 percent of all species, closer to 70 percent if based on the number of individual animals due to their geometric population growth and proliferation. Like all rodents, groundhog incisors grow at a rate of several millimeters a week throughout their lives (less during hibernation), which promotes and necessitates gnawing hard objects frequently. [2] While woodchucks may not chuck wood the way beavers do, it is not unlikely that they do. If there is nothing available to grind the teeth, malocclusion can proceed with potentially fatal result. Woodchucks are herbivores as are all rodents; foraging for food is the primary daily activity. While they favor grasses and herbs, they also regularly eat the leaves and twigs of dogwood, black cherry, and sassafras trees. Groundhogs are  synanthropes, thriving  in habitats planted and maintained in support of human enterprise. They are notorious for damaging consumption of farm crops such as corn, vegetables and fruit trees,  eating over a pound a day on average to maintain a body weight of 10 pounds. [3]

Groundhogs have strong, clawed forelimbs to dig elaborate dens that consist of an underground tunnel system with over 45 feet of tunnels extending to a depth of 5 feet underground.  The amount of effort necessary to excavate a maze of interconnected tunnels is near herculean, transporting about 100 cubic feet of soil weighing more than three tons. The tunnelling process would almost always include cutting through plant and tree roots, providing the tooth grinding necessary for survival. The den is accessed by a number of entrances, one of which is a plunge hole that extends vertically to the main tunnel for rapid ingress to escape predation. Occupied dens have a characteristic pile of fresh dirt at the entrances as a result of frequent cleaning. The den is arranged with a special chamber for excrement and a chamber for sleeping/hibernation that is a cozy 15 inch diameter padded nest.  The dens are both a boon and a bane as far ashumans are concerned. Their aeration and fecal fertilization of  the subsoil transforms it into topsoil, estimated by the state of New York to amount to 1.6 million tons per year. On the other hand, the burrows can damage building foundations and are a hazard to horses, who have been known to break a leg  on penetrating a hidden tunnel. [4]

Groundhogs have been traditionally characterized as solitary, agonistic animals, meeting only for the conjugal act necessary for survival of the species. Mating occurs soon after emergence from hibernation in early spring, the males on occasion fighting for the rights to reproductive activities with local females where geographic ranges overlap. The pugilistic ritual brings out the range of noises that make up the vocabulary of the animal which consists of  barking, squealing, chattering, and whistling; the name whistle pig is attributable to the cacophony. Female woodchucks have about three to five young called kits, that they raise for the most part on their own. The kits are naked, blind, and helpless and don’t even open their eyes until the fourth week. At six weeks, they are expelled from the den and forced to disperse. Not too many survive the first summer. The widely held belief that groundhogs are loners has been challenged by field studies. Recent research with modern radio tracking equipment has established that some if not most groundhogs belong to small groups consisting of one male and two or more kin groups of females consisting of an adult and a juvenile from the previous mating. “Interactions within the kin group and with the adult male were relatively frequent and generally amicable.” [5] Or maybe groundhogs are evolving so that the genetic traits that foster cooperation in raising kits results in increased survival of those who practice it.

Groundhogs are true hibernators in that they enter a state of torpor over extended periods during the colder months of winter. Hibernation is an evolutionary trait necessary and sufficient for survival (of the fitter) during periods when there is limited food available. It was most likely an adaptative genetic mutation that occurred soon after animals emerged from the oceans, where food is floating or swimming around at all times, to the challenges of seasonal terrestrial food availability. According to this theory, hibernation emerged during the transition from amphibians to reptiles and was retained in the mammalian diaspora during the Eocene Epoch. Human mammals would then have retained its genes, making the study of groundhog hibernation relevant to human treatments involving methods to slow metabolism   During sleep torpor, groundhog body temperature drops almost fifty degrees from 95 °F to 46 °F and heart rate slows form 100 to 15 beats per minute. In the mid-Atlantic groundhog hibernation begins in October and does not end until March or early April, lasting about 100 days. Research over the last twenty years has revealed that groundhogs do not stay in the lower metabolic, energy preserving state continuously, but rather reheat periodically to arouse and move about. It is hypothesized that arousal cycles may be needed to limit the physiological harm caused by long term shutdowns and contribute to readiness for spring mating. Arousals occur throughout winter becoming more extensive toward spring, which may then include short forays above ground, where they can be spotted by superstitious humans and named Punxsutawney Phil.[6]

Groundhog Day (February 2) is based on sound practical science even if its modern interpretation is fraught with the holiday hype of the social media age. When growing food became the norm during the Neolithic Age, knowing when to plant in spring for the fall harvest was a matter of life and death. The decision is essentially the same as that made by a hibernating animal that must decide based on environmental clues that it is safe to wake up and expend energy in search of food (and a mate).So looking for a hibernating animal out and about would provide a reliable prediction of the last frost and signal the start of preparatory measures to plow the fallow fields to sew the seeds of spring. Where and how this started is not known, but Romans purportedly celebrated hedgehog day in a similar manner, the indigenous hedgehog providing the shadowy omen. This practice spread across and was retained in medieval Europe. Since there are no hedgehogs in the New World, the majority of colonists who followed the Old World predictive prescription  eventually settled on groundhogs. While there are other animals that hibernate, including bears, skunks and snakes, the groundhog was common, easy to spot, and benign.

February 2 has a celestial significance that was important to early humans governed by the seasons as measured by the movement of the sun, the moon, and the visible stars. The Celtic tradition, which was incorporated into cultures that succeeded it in Britain and Ireland, is notable. The winter and summer solstices when the sun stood still and the spring and fall equinoxes with equal night and day were evident by careful observation. To provide for some transition between the four “quarter points,” the day that was midway between the two was known as a “cross-quarter” day. February 2, Groundhog Day, is  the quarter point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. According to the Celtic tradition, it was called Imbolc, meaning lamb’s milk. A cloudy day was considered a harbinger of warm spring rains to prepare the ground for planting. Imbolc was symbolized by Brigantia, the goddess of light. When the Christian faith penetrated the Celtic lands, the holiday became Candlemas, when the candles of the church were blessed in celebration of the presentation of the Christ Child at the temple in Jerusalem. The other three cross quarter points are May 1, Beltane, generally the rite of spring now May Day, August 1,  Lammas, from “loaf mass” to celebrate the wheat harvest, and October 31, Samhain meaning “summer’s end” and the end of the old year, a time of the spirits of the dead. This became All Hallow’s Eve, now Halloween, returning to religiosity on All Saint’s Day on November 1. [7]

Hoary Marmot on Highline Trail in Glacier Park

The groundhog is the most solitary of the marmots, which are large ground squirrels that live in burrows and subsist on vegetative matter that can include grasses, berries, lichens, mosses, roots and flowers. The marmot appellation is more commonly applied to the species that live in mountainous areas, such as the Hoary Marmot (M. caligata) of the North American northwest and Siberia (right).  The Yellow-bellied Marmot (M. flaviventris) is also indigenous to the northwest and is noted for being the host for the tick that carries Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The Alpine Marmot (M. marmota) of Europe is thought by some historians to be the primary carrier of the Bubonic Plague, otherwise attributed to rats, which are also rodents. [8] It is not all bad. Groundhogs are the best non-human models for studying Hepatitis B since they suffer from a similar ailment and are also useful in studies of obesity, metabolism, and endocrinology. [9]

References:

1. Bento, H, publisher, Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged, Encyclopedia Brittanica, Inc. Chicago, Illinois. 1971, p 2630

2. Wood, A. “Rodentia” Encyclopedia Brittanica, Macropedia William and Helen Benton Publishers, University of Chicago. 1974, Volume 15 pp 969-980.

3. Light, J. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Animal Diversity Web. https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Marmota_monax/

4. Kerwin, K. and Maslo, B. Ecology and Management of the Groundhog (Marmota monax)  Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences    https://njaes.rutgers.edu/e361/ 

5. Meier, P.  “Social organization of woodchucks (Marmota monax)”. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Volume. 31 Number 6,  December 1, 1992, pp 393–400

6. Zervanos, S, “Professor sheds light on groundhog’s shadowy behavior” Penn State University Newsletter, January 2014

https://berks.psu.edu/story/2398/2014/01/23/professor-sheds-light-groundhogs-shadowy-behavior

7. Rothovius, A. “Ancient Celtic Calendar: Quarter Days and Cross-Quarter Days”            https://www.almanac.com/quarter-days-and-cross-quarter-days       

8. Whitaker, J. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mammals, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1996, pp 438-445.

9. Kerwin and Maslo, op. cit.

Timber Rattlesnake

The coiled position is not necessarily for an imminent strike. It is mostly a defensive posture.

Common Name: Timber Rattlesnake, Canebrake Rattlesnake, Banded Rattlesnake, Black Rattlesnake, Eastern Rattlesnake – The name ‘timber’ describes the snake’s preferred habitat of rocky hills and forest uplands. The species is one of several that employ the rattle’s auditory warning.

Scientific Name: Crotalus horridus –   A crotalum is one of a pair of small cymbals that were used in antiquity to make a clicking noise; the castanet is a vestige. The generic name derived from it refers to the clicking noise made by the segments of the rattle. The species name horridus, in spite of its seeming etymological association with ‘horrid,’ has nothing to do with either the human perception of the snake or its venom. Horridus is Latin for ‘rough’ or ‘bristly’ and refers to the rough appearance of the scales due having a raised keel-like edge in marked contrast to the smooth skin of many snakes. [1]

As the only large and relatively common poisonous snake in the Appalachian Mountains, the timber rattlesnake evokes both existential fear and an abiding respect from all who cross its path. There is certainly a justification for these perceptions: its size ranges from 3 to 5 feet (the record is 6 feet); its venom is exuded in copious quantities through long and penetrating fangs; its potentially lethal strike is launched at lightning speed that is almost too fast for the eye and certainly too fast for the reflexes; and its bite can be deadly to humans if untreated. [2] However, the incidence of timber rattlesnake strikes on humans is vanishingly small, resulting in one or two fatalities per decade nationwide. The most common cause is handling snakes as a part of a religious ceremony [3]. The reason for the disparity between the potential for injury and the incidence of injury is that the timber rattlesnake is docile and will only strike if repeatedly provoked and threatened.

Ophidiophobia, the fear of snakes, is the most common type of herpetophobia, which applies to all reptiles. This fear is innate and almost certainly the result of evolution which may extend back in time to the earliest mammals, huddling in dark recesses to escape predatory dinosaurs. [4] Fear of snakes was reinforced in primates that evolved as tree dwellers where constricting snakes followed them in search of a meal. Recent research on macaque monkeys in Japan revealed that a region of the brain that is unique to primates called the pulvinar was especially sensitive to sighting snakes. Furthermore, monkeys that were raised in captivity without prior exposure to snakes displayed fear on first encounter. [5] Culturally, the serpent became a symbol of pernicious influence, chosen by the writer of Genesis as the tempter of Eve. Consumption of the fruit of the tree of knowledge led to expulsion from the Garden of Eden and God’s proclamation that the serpent would always crawl on its belly and eat dust. [6] Fear of snakes is embedded in the brain’s amygdala along with the fight or flight response that triggers panic action. However, cognition based on information stored in memory can override fear, a point enunciated by Roosevelt’s in his first inaugural address: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.

The timber rattlesnake can be up to 6 feet long.

The timber rattlesnake is a consummate predator, well endowed with both the sensory tools and the physical agility to sustain its wholly carnivorous nutritional needs. As a pit viper, it has the namesake opening, or pit, just below the feliform vertical eye slit; the pit is the primary means of detecting prey.  The sensory organ in the pit is a heat receptor, capable of detecting a 1°C difference at a range of about one foot. This is both necessary and sufficient to detect and engage its warm-blooded prey during the preferred nocturnal forays when the cooler air accentuates the temperature differential. The strike is executed by the reflex-quick straightening of the lateral muscles to transition from either an S-shaped or coiled stance to full length extension; the fanged triangular head is projected about half of its body length. In other words, a 4-foot snake can strike at 2 feet. Contrary to popular folklore, the coiled position is not a strike prerequisite, though the snake will typically assume this posture in anticipation of a mammal’s traverse. Following the consummation of a successful strike, the olfactory sensors on the forked tongue are used to locate the head from the emanations of the victim’s mouth odors to initiate cephalic ingestion, a preference based on the anatomical connections of any attached appendages. Digestion is almost total; the gastric fluids in the rattlesnake dissolve everything including the bones, adding about 40 percent of the snake’s body weight annually. The prey consists almost entirely of small mammals. A 1939 survey in George Washington National Forest, which included the capture and evisceration of 141 timber rattlesnakes, found that the stomach content was 38% mice, 25% squirrels and chipmunks, 18% rabbits, 13% birds, and 5% shrews; one had eaten a bat. [7]

Two male snakes “wrestling” to win the heart of a nearby female.

Sex is vitally important for nearly every living thing on planet Earth. While perhaps historically overemphasized and of late deemphasized among humans, it is the essence of evolution. The random genetic mixing that is the result of the male-female “interaction” to form the gamete is how speciation (including our own) occurred. This is equally true for timber rattlesnakes, who take sex pretty seriously. While many snakes spend the cold winter months in a communal burrow called a hibernaculum, they range separately in search of prey for the remainder of the year. About every second year, females over the age of five years will release pheromones in the spring or early summer as they ply the leaf litter pathways of their home turf. The scent is strong enough to attract any and all males that happen by. The stage is then set for one of the most intriguing contests for the right to breed among all animals. Lacking arms, legs, and claws with only venomous fangs for teeth, what amounts to the timber rattlesnake version of an arm-wrestling contest ensues. Rising upward in intertwined arabesque coils, they try to push each other over. The prize goes to the one with the most stamina as the loser retreats dejected from the field. On first encountering the snakes depicted in the photograph, I was convinced that it was a male-female pre-coital ritual until learning of its even more surprising purpose from an expert. [8] Following insemination with one of the successful male’s two copulatory organs called hemipenes, the female gives birth to about a dozen young who are immediately on their own to face the world armed only with venom and slithering stealth. Most will not survive.

The signature rattle is a curiosity in its constitution and a conundrum from the standpoint of how it may have evolved; rattlesnakes are found only in the Western Hemisphere. The rattle starts as a bell-shaped horny protuberance called a button at the end of the tail. Every time the snake molts, which ranges from one to five times a year according to age and growth rate, the caudal end remains attached to form a segment of the rattle; the rattle grows in length by one segment for each molt. While it would theoretically be possible to count the number of times that the snake had shed its skin by counting the segments that constitute the rattle and thereby estimate the snake’s age, in actual practice this is fallacious. The rattle is loosely attached at each of the segments so that the assembly is subject to periodic breakage; it is not unusual to find a detached rattle segment on the trail. The conundrum associated with the rattle is that the rattlesnake employs both aposematism and crypsis simultaneously.  The purpose of the rattle is ostensibly to ward off an attack by a potential predator, an aposematic behavior. However, their primary predators – which include hawks, owls, coyotes and foxes – are apparently not put off by the warning of the rattle. King snakes, the preeminent rattlesnake predators, are immune to the toxins of the rattlesnake. The defensive behavior of rattlesnakes in the presence of a king snake does not involve the rattle in any way; the midsection is arched with the extremities held to the ground in an attempt to club the attacker. Experiments have revealed that the smell of the king snake triggers this response. [9]

Charles Darwin was also perplexed by the peculiar rattle of the American snakes. He wrote that “Having said thus much about snakes, I am tempted to add a few remarks on the means by which the rattle of the rattle-snake (sic) was probably developed. Various animals, including some lizards, either curl or vibrate their tails when excited. This is the case with many kinds of snakes.  Now if we suppose that the end of the tail of some ancient American species was enlarged, and was covered by a single large scale, this could hardly have been cast off at the successive molts. In this case it would have been permanently retained, and at each period of growth, as the snake grew larger, a new scale, larger than the last, would have been formed above it, and would likewise have been retained. The foundation for the development of a rattle would thus have been laid; and it would have been habitually used, if the species, like so many others, vibrated its tail whenever it was irritated. That the rattle has since been specially developed to serve as an efficient sound-producing instrument, there can hardly be a doubt; for even the vertebrae included within the extremity of the tail have been altered in shape and cohere. But there is no greater improbability in various structures, such as the rattle of the rattle-snake.” [10] The improbable evolution of the rattle had to have a provenance that was unique to the Americas; there are no rattle snakes anywhere else. There must therefore have been a predatory threat to the snakes that created the evolutionary rattle warning behavior. It was not human predation, as the land bridge of Beringia was not traversed to bring them from Eurasia until about 10,000 years ago. The only reasonable explanation must be that there was a snake predator among the extinct megafauna of the pre-human Tertiary Period and that the rattle developed as an effective tool to ward off that predator, presumably as an indication that the poisonous venom was, while perhaps not deadly, certainly unpleasant.

The black variant with keeled scales to prevent reflection and improve stealth.

Timber rattlesnakes, for the most part, are colored with earth tone banded markings to blend with the browns and blacks of the forest; this is the camouflage of crypsis which can be employed to deceive prey but is equally useful as concealment from predators. However, it should be noted that there are at least two different cryptic color variants: the first is the canebrake rattlesnake, which was once considered a separate species, – it is more brightly colored to match its cane field habitat; the second is a much darker, predominantly black variant which is an adaptation to promote nocturnal hunting. The stealth of coloration is enhanced by the snake’s keeled scales – each having a central ridge to interrupt the otherwise scintillating sheen of reflectance as is the case with snakes with smooth scales without keels (the etymology of the species name horridus). The overall effect is that the snake is well concealed against its prey, but also against its predators. The fundamental question remains―why did the rattle evolve?

The venom of the timber rattlesnake poses a different evolutionary question that has resulted in some hypotheses as to its origins. Darwin offered “It is admitted that the rattlesnake has a poison fang for its own defense, and for the destruction of its prey”  but offered no specifics as to its likely evolutionary origin. [11] Current thinking is that snakes evolved as large tree dwelling constrictors in the Miocene Epoch some 30 million years ago. When the climate changed so as to promote the grassy savannahs, the snakes became smaller and ground dwelling; some evolved a venomous chemistry for their saliva that promoted hunting and therefore their fitness to survive.  Snake venom evolved as a complex chemistry of protein synthesis; depending on the species of snake, it may have a predominant neurological effect or a predominant vascular effect. Viper venom is of the latter category; its most obvious and potentially fatal symptom is slowing of blood circulation due to coagulation. From the standpoint of its intended small mammal prey, the venom achieves its objective of immobilization attendant to consumption. While the venom can be and to some extent is used to attack predators, it is not very effective. The king snake is immune to rattlesnake venom and other predators are either unaffected or able to avoid its application. One firsthand account reports that a wild turkey held down a timber rattlesnake with both feet that was “repeatedly striking at the bird’s long, armored legs and folded-in wings, but to no avail.”  The turkey eventually killed the snake by cutting it through at the neck and then ate it. [12] Humans are another matter.

In any given year, approximately 45,000 people are reported to have been bitten by snakes in the United States; 6,000 of these are from venomous snakes and less than 10 results in fatalities – due almost entirely to the Eastern and Western variants of the Diamondback Rattlesnake. A larger number of domesticated animals are also bitten, though the numbers are of questionable merit as reporting is arbitrary and not required by law. The symptoms for snakebite vary according to the size of the snake and the amount of envenomation; about one fifth of poisonous snakebites are inflicted without the transfer of venom. This may be due to a dearth of venom after a recent kill or due to an intentional forbearance in order to preserve the venom for a future kill. The immediate symptoms of envenomation by a rattlesnake include intense pain at the point of penetration, edema and hemorrhaging. As the venom spreads through the body in the first few hours, the swelling and discoloration become more pronounced and systematic cardiovascular distress causes weakness, nausea and a diminution of the pulse to near imperceptibility. In the worst cases, a comatose state and death can result. In the twelve-to-twenty-four-hour period that follows, the affected limb suppurates and swells enormously, a condition that can also lead to cardiac arrest. In most cases, the symptoms abruptly cease after about three days as the body neutralizes the toxins. [13]

What to do in the case of a poisonous snakebite is and always has been a matter of some considerable conjecture.  Traditionally (the cowboy hero western paradigm), a tourniquet is established between the bite and the heart to arrest the flow of blood-borne toxin, the area of fang penetration is cut open to afford better access, and an oral suction is established to extract the venom. Snakebite kits were (and probably still are) sold that have a razor blade and a suction cup to carry out this procedure with some efficacy. According to current thinking, the cut and suck method does not work very well, though human trial data is probably nonexistent. But the logic against the cut and suck method is compelling. Applying a tourniquet concentrates the venom to a smaller area, where the damage will be more profound. It is actually better to allow the body to dilute it the venom to diminish its effects. The location of the penetration is not necessarily where the venom is concentrated, as the snake’s fangs are long and curved; cutting will likely only result in a greater potential for infection. Suction is not a good method to remove the viscous venom, as it will have immediately permeated the tissue to the extent that it cannot be extracted with a vacuum pressure.  The generally accepted procedure at present tends to a more plausible and less radical approach. After getting the victim clear of the immediate vicinity of the snake, the bite area should be cleaned with antiseptic wipes (if available), any jewelry or tight-fitting clothing should be removed to allow for swelling and the victim should then immediately be transported to a medical facility for the administration antivenom, which is now widely available. In the event that the snake bite has occurred in a remote area, the victim should be transported, either by being carried if possible or by slowly walking if not to the closest point of egress where medical attention can be obtained. [14] However, the only certain way to ensure survival from the bite of a timber rattlesnake is to not get bitten in the first place; if you see a timber rattlesnake on the trail, give it wide berth.

References:

1. Simpson, D. Cassell’s Latin Dictionary, Wiley Publishing, New York, 1968, pp 159,279.

2. Behler, J. and King, F. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1979, pp 682-689

3. “Snake-handling W.Va. preacher dies after suffering bite during outdoor service”. The Washington Post. The Associated Press. May 31, 2012.

4. Öhman, A. and Mineka, S. “Fears, Phobias, and Preparedness: Toward an Evolved Module of Fear and Fear Learning” Psychological Review, 2001 Vol. 108 pp 483-522.

5. Hamilton, J. “Eeek, Snake! Your Brain has a Special Corner Just for Them” National Public Radio All Things Considered, 28 October 2013.

6. The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Edition, Thomas Nelson and Sons, Camden, New Jersey, 1952, p 3 Genesis 3:14.

7. Linzey, D and Clifford, M. Snakes of Virginia University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1981, p 134-138.

8. Demeter, B.  Herpetology expert for the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Private communication.

9. Linzey and Clifford, Op. cit.

10. Darwin, C. The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. New York, D. Appleton & Company, 1872):  pp 102-103

11. Darwin, C. On the Origin of Species, Easton Press special edition reprint, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1976. p 166.

12. Furman, J. Timber Rattlesnakes in Vermont and New York, University Press of New England, Lebanon, New Hampshire, 2007.

13. Linzey and Clifford, pp 124-126

14. American Red Cross First Aid/CPR/AED Participants Manual pp 96-98. Available at https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/atg/PDFs/Take_a_Class/FA_CPR_AED_PM_sample_chapter.pdf