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BACKYARD SECRET: ONE-WAY CHIPMUNKS WARN OTHERS WHEN A PREDATOR IS NEAR
Chipmunks are common residents in Georgia yards. While they can be regularly seen during the warmer months of the year, at no time are they more often seen than from late summer throughout autumn. This is the time when chipmunks are busy gathering and storing food for winter.
As you might expect, this is a time when they are more likely to cross paths with predators. When one chipmunk sees a hawk, fox or other predator they warn the other chipmunks in the area that danger is close by. Remarkably, they warn their cohorts when a predator is near using two distinct calls. One is uttered when an aerial predator is close by. A totally different call is vocalized when the threat comes from a ground predator.
Now that is pretty neat!
TRAPPING ARMADILLOS
Since armadillos first arrived in the Peach State less than 50 years ago, these odd animals have become a nuisance in our yards. While we are sleeping armadillos roam our backyards hunting their favorite foods that include a wide variety of insect larvae, adults such as termites, cockroaches, as well as scorpions, worms, frogs and the like. Homeowners would consider this their feeding activities commendable, except while foraging for food they uproot valuable vegetable and ornamental plants. As a result, these odd alien animals are reviled more often than not and leave folks searching for ways to eradicate them.
Live-trapping these animals is an ideal way to control them, however, most folks that try this technique have poor results. The reason for this most do not know how to go about it. They buy a live trap, set it up and bait it with a variety of baits including bananas, rotten vegetables, fresh fruit name it. If you find an armadillo in a baited trop, more than likely it accidentally walked into the trap.
In order to be successful, a live trap needs to be large enough to hold one of the creatures. This means it should be at least 12 inches tall and 10 inches wide.
An excellent location to locate a trap (without any bait) is alongside your house. Once you have put it in place, erect a board or section of construction fencing at a 45⁰angle away from the mouth of the trap. This works because the wall of your house and the board or fencing creates a large funnel. If an armadillos wanders through the large funnel, it will eventually end up in the trap. If armadillos are foraging away from your house, set a trap up in the area they are prone to feed and create the funnel using two boards or construction fencing.
Now that that you know the secret of armadillo trapping, with patience and little luck you should eliminate the armadillo problem in your yard.
BACKYARD SECRET – PARTS OF FOX SQUIRRELS SHINE IN ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT
Remarkably, when viewed under ultraviolet light, the teeth, bones, and flesh of fox squirrels shine pink. This trait is so rare that in Florida researchers use it to identify their remains at archaeological sites.
ARE SQUIRRELS DETERRED BY COFFEE GROUNDS?
Recently it has been reported that coffee grounds spread below bird feeders deter squirrels from visiting bird feeding stations.
Before I recommend this practice, I want to know if you have tried this technique. If you have experimented with it, please let me know his bizarre practice actually works.
BACKYARD SECRET – CHIPMUNKS CAN RUN FASTER THAN GRAY SQUIRRELS AND HUMANS
I guess it is just human nature to wonder what is the largest, smallest, oldest, or most beautiful. With that in mind, when you see an eastern chipmunk scurry across you yard, have you ever wondered if you could out run it? I know that I have.
Remarkably, the eastern chipmunk can run at speeds of up to 21 miles per hour. This might not seem like a lot until it can you realize that they can out pace most of us.
The average running speed for humans it 15-20 miles per hour. In my case, it would be difficult for me to run 15 miles per hour, however, the best sprinters can race down a track at 23-25 miles per hour.
In comparison, the gray squirrel can keep pace with the tiny eastern chipmunk running at upwards of 20 miles per hour.
BACKYARD SECRET – GRAY SQUIRRELS EAT BONES
One the wonderful things about wildlife watching is every day when you walk outside you have a chance of spotting an animal you have never seen before, or observing wildlife engaged in a behavior you have never witnessed. A few days ago, my daughter, Angela, saw a gray squirrel do something that she had never seen.
As far was my daughter is concerned, she sees squirrels in her backyard far too often. While she doesn’t have anything against the agile tree inhabitants, her major complaint is they eat more than their share of the seeds and suet she offers her bird neighbors. Then on top of that, they destroy her feeders. That being said, they engage in some fascinating behaviors. A few days ago, she witnessed a gray squirrel do something she had never seen before.
As she idly watched a squirrel scampering down the top of the 6-foot wood fence that stands along the backside of her yard, she noticed it was carrying a bone about four inches long and about the width of a nickel. It looked to be one of the bones left by her dog.
When she told me about the experience, I told her that she was probably correct since gray squirrels do eat bones. While gray squirrels devour a variety bones, they are particularly fond of those that are sun-bleached.
Gray squirrels dine bones for a couple of reasons. First of all, the bones help wear down their front teeth. This is necessary because these teeth continually grow throughout their lives. If the squirrels do not gnaw on hard bones the teeth will continue to grow and eventually curl and prevent the animals from eating.
The second reason is bones are an excellent source of much-needed calcium and phosphorus.
If you happen to see gray squirrels carrying or eating bones in your yard, you will know why they are engaged in this bizarre behavior.
Isn’t it amazing what you can see taking place just outside your backdoor?
BACKYARD SECRET – ARMADILLOS DON’T HIBERNATE
Since armadillos are rarely, if ever, seen scampering around our yards when it is cold, it is easy to assume they hibernate. In truth, they do not hibernate.
Since they are essentially hairless, they have a rough time keeping their bodies warm during frigid weather. Consequently, the only way they can keep warm on cold winter days is to retreat to burrows dug in the ground. Once the air temperature rises, these odd mammals leave their warm hideaways and resume searching for insects and worms.
BARKYARD SECRET – SQUIRREL TEETH NEVER STOP GROWING
Thank goodness, our incisor teeth are far different from those of squirrels. While our teeth reach a certain length and do not grow any longer, such is not the case with squirrels.
Take the gray squirrel, for example, its incisors grow roughly six inches per year. This necessitates their having to wear them down. They accomplish this task by gnawing on hard objects such as bark, wood, and nuts. If they are unable to do so, the incisors get longer and longer and being to curl. When this happens, the teeth eventually curl. A squirrel with is malady can starve. In some cases, the teeth can also grow into the animal’s mouth. In extreme cases, the teeth will actually grow into the hapless creature’s brain!
BACKYARD SECRET – GRAY SQUIRRELS CAN BE LEFT OR RIGHT-HANDED
I am willing to bet you have never wondered whether gray squirrels can be ambidextrous, right, or left-handed. I know I didn’t. However, research conducted by scientists at the University of Exeter found that gray squirrels can indeed be ambidextrous, right, or left-handed.
Interestingly, those squirrels that show a paw preference are not as adept at learning tasks as those that are ambidextrous.
Since the gray squirrels that call my backyard home have no problem quickly figuring out how to raid any new feeder I put out, they must be ambidextrous!
