Eco's Holiday Adventure part 3.

Greetings friends!
I traveled with my friend to visit family over Thanksgiving. I checked out Auntie Jacqui's Christmas tree (I was really good at climbing it).

I ate some of Grandma's cranberries. I love love love berries! 

 I also helped my good friend put up some Christmas decorations at Grandma's. Here family was so nice to me! They didn't try to shoo me out the door or anything!

It was great! 
Until next time my friends, 
Eco

Eco's Holiday adventure pt. 2

Greeting friends!

I am hanging out with my Friend Jack. He made me a VERY comfy bed out of a recycled diaper box. It is much better than sleeping outside on some leaves! Here is a picture of me resting with my best friend. Batman has always been a great friend to the raccoons.

I love how Jack thought to RECYCLE the box, too. There are so many amazing things we can build using our imagination things we find around the house. Boxes are one of my most favorite things to play with. A box can be a house, a cave, a ship, a car, or millions of other things! Send me pictures if you come up with something amazing!

Love,
Eco

Eco's Holiday adventure!

Greetings!

I am very busy this week going on adventures with my friends! I will try to keep you up to date as best I can.

Today I was hanging out with my friend, Joe. I got to ride a really big ship! I had to share with a turkey, but he was pretty cool about it. Joe told me it was called the Mayflower. I thought it was a silly name for a boat. I thought it should have been called Fallleaves.

Thanks Joe!

Until next time my friends!

Eco

Hello Mr. Squirrel! Hope you find your nuts!

My squirrel friends are super busy this time of year. I'm sure you've noticed! Around Eldridge Park and the eastern side of the country we see the Eastern Gray Squirrel, or Sciurus carolinensis. The genus name (that first latin name) means shadow-tail. That second name refers to where it was first recorded, the Carolinas. They are a native mammal to the eastern U.S but have been introduced to some European countries, parts of Africa, Australia and parts of the western U.S. 


Most people know that squirrels bury their hoards but I don't think you realized how nuts these little fury things are! It's estimated that one squirrel can have several thousand caches per season. They have two different types of caches, long term secure ones and ones that they bury in an unsecured location that they plan to retrieve in a few hours or days for reburial. They use distant and nearby landmarks and their sense of smell to retrieve their caches. They have even been known to pretend to bury things if they feel they are being watched! Those tricky little rodents! Amazing! So next time you see a squirrel burying their stash avert your eyes - give them a little privacy!

It's also very difficult to tell whether you are watching a boy squirrel or a girl squirrel because they have the same body length, weight and color. Gray squirrels can live up to 20 years in captivity and live to about 12 years in the wild. 

They love seeds and berries and will do just about anything to get to them. So watch your bird feeders! Here's some helpful hints on squirrel-proofing your feeders: http://bit.ly/f3qhLF

In conclusion, sometimes I get a little jealous of my squirrel friends. They are the little rockstars in the local wildlife world. With their awesome climbing and great spacial memory. Raccoons also have the ability to turn our paws around in order to climb down a tree head first. But no way do we look as adorable doing it. 

Next time you see a squirrel tip your hat to them and let them know you appreciate how awesome they are.

Till next time, my friends!
Eco

Disclaimer: raccoons are still better.

Fall colors!

Hello my friends!

I hope you all have gotten a chance to be outside and soak in all the amazing colors of fall! The trees are looking beautiful here at Eldridge Park. I have been enjoying crunching leaves, piling them up and throwing them into the air!

Why do we call it fall? Say it with me: "the leaves fall!" Nice job you smarty pants, you. That's the reason. Autumn used to be referred to as "harvest" but as people moved more and more to an urban life they started referring to it "fall of the leaf" and it gradually turned into just plain old "fall".

Leaves are falling which is awesome but I think the best part of fall is the colors! "Why do leaves turn different colors?", I hear you say. Great question!

Leaves change different colors because the actual chemical composition in the leaf is changing. There are three molecules that are responsible for color in leaves:

Chlorophyll - Green

Anthocyanin - Red

Carotenoid - Orange

Chlorophyll you might remember from science class as the green stuff in plants that absorbs the sunlight used for photosynthesis. Chlorophyll starts breaking down when the hours of daylight start to slowly diminish. Once the chlorophyll starts going away the other chemicals that were always present in the leaf get their time in the spotlight.

So poor little carotenoids and xanthophylls. They wait their whole little existences for the brief seasonal transition when they can shout "Hello world! I'm here and I'm beautiful!"

The anthocyanins, however, only join the fall fiesta once the chlorophyll starts leaving. The amount of anthocyanins produced is related to environmental factors. You want fall days that are bright and cool, and nights that are chilly but not freezing for some great reds and purples.

So next time you are out for a walk take a moment to thank some lesser known molecules for the beauty that surrounds you! "Thanks for caring carotenoids, thanks for always being there for us, anthocyanins."

Love,
Eco

Predator vs. Prey

Greetings Friends!

As a human, I'm sure you have never had to worry about getting eaten. And I'm sure that feels nice. Unfortunately, as a raccoon, I have never had the luxury of being a top predator. When I say "top predator" I am talking about an animal that is a carnivore (or in your case an omnivore) and at the top of a food web.

http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/education/site_students/foodweb.html

Now, don't forget that a food web contains multiple food chains. A top predator is one of the scary animals at the top like a wolf or bald eagle. Or human... we can still be friends, though. I know raccoon isn't on your list of yummy animals.

So what makes a top predator so scary?

www.downloadcollection.com

I am glad you asked! They have special things (or adaptations) that help them achieve that rockstar status. They are great hunters. This could be because of some awesome eyesight like the bald eagle or a great sniffer like the wolf! They also have some great weapons! The birds of prey (the family of birds the eagle is in) have super sharp talons and can be really stealthy in flight. Coyotes have mastered the hunt and actually change their behavior based on the type of prey they are hunting. They will sneak up on a small mouse by themselves but take on a deer with a whole team.

I know what you are thinking... Those poor widdle prey animals! As a member of that group I appreciate your sympathy but we don't need your pity. We are pretty good at what we do, too!

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I have a buddy who is an opossum. Whenever he is attacked by a predator he lays down and plays dead. And I mean really dead. Most people think of a dog trick when they hear "play dead" but the opossum is hardcore. The more accurate name for it is apparent death. They can't wake up when he want to. It's a state of shock where they are just laying there until their body snaps out of it. Some lizards, sharks, rabbits, beetles, and stingrays also can go through tonic immobility (another fancy name for it).

There are so many reasons why prey animals are good at staying alive. Camouflage, special hiding tricks, staying with a herd or large group but there is one amazing one I will leave you with...

Smaller animals perceive time differently than larger ones. Let that sink in for a minute. The distance of your head to the ground actually makes a difference. So as a raccoon, my little brain processes information at a faster rate than you lumbering humans. That's why flies are so hard to swat!! Even though predators may be big, small preys' brain gives them more time to react. Score one for the prey!

Until next time my friends,
Eco

The farm!

Greetings!

I wanted to share with you what we have been doing at the Eldridge Environmental Education Center. Me and my friends started a millipede farm! We also have some roly-poly bugs in there, too! We collected from the area. We found them by turning over rocks by Salt Creek! You could find them in your backyard, too! They live in our soil and help break down detritus. That's the fancy word for dead leaves and sticks and stuff.
  Here is a picture of our tank. We put in soil that we found in the area, alot of dead leaves and a decomposing turkey tail mushroom. Turkey tails are those fungi that you see growing like little steps up the trunk of a tree.

  Millipedes and pill bugs (another word for the roly poly) are herbivores. That means they don't eat meat. If you look closely at them you can see that there bodies are in segments - or little parts. Not all one part like us (mammals) are. They are very different animals but they have the same defense - curl up into a ball. When they get nervous they curl up into a little ball and they stay very still. (You can see this if you try to pick them up.) Animals that like to eat bugs lose interest in eating if a bug is not moving and looks dead. So curling up into a ball is a pretty good strategy to avaoid being eaten!

Here is a picture of a millipede  tickling my face. I named him Max.

  Millipedes and pill bugs are part of a big group of animals called arthropods. These are animals that wear their skeleton (their hardest parts) on the outside of their bodies! A skeleton on the outside is called an exoskeleton. We are mammals so we have an endoskeleton! Exo- in front of words means "outer or outside" and Endo- means "inner or inside".
  Tune in next time for more juicy details of our farm's residents!
Eco.