Features (Creature Feature)

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 8/25/11

This Week’s Creature Feature ... A New Tree Grows in...

Pumpkin Ash found at Jug Bay adds to number of native species

When your official list of trees includes only 29 species, the addition of one more makes a big boost. Anne Arundel’s rise to 29 from 28 came from the addition of Fraxinus profunda. Profunda, familiarly known as the pumpkin ash, was identified and measured at Jug Bay Wetland Sanctuary this month by Maryland Big Tree volunteer Dan Wilson of Harford County. The pumpkin ash has its peculiarities, one of which is its territorial preference for the...

Article - Creature Feature; by Margaret Tearman - 8/18/11

Dog Days’ Creature Feature

Canine Candid Camera

We all think — make that know — that our dogs are the smartest, funniest, sassiest, most beautiful creatures in the world. To prove it, more and more of us are picking up video recorders to share our dearest with the planet. The Internet makes it easy to become an international celebrity. Sites like YouTube allow millions to watch Fluffy shred toilet paper or see Spot chase the squirrel up a tree. If you have a computer, you’ve surely...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 8/11/11

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Travels with Buck

Like John Steinbeck, this osprey wanted to see America

In between migrations most osprey are homebodies. Conventional wisdom holds that male osprey almost always return to the vicinity of their nests to breed. Not every osprey is conventional. That’s the latest from osprey scientist Rob Bierregaard, who’s been studying the birds since 1969. Since 2000, he’s been tagging juvenile and adult birds with satellite transmitters and following their lives and adventures. Each bird has its story, and...

Article - Creature Feature; by Margaret Tearman - 8/4/11

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Political Animals

Endangered species squeeze through DC's budget war

Off limits to some members of Congress in the contentious budget war that’s been raging in Washington. In a Republican proposal, the Endangered Species Act would have been amended so that no new species — regardless of numbers — could be added to the threatened or endangered list. The bill would, however, allow species to be removed from the list. Republicans argued that the Endangered Species Act costs the government tens of millions of...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 7/28/11

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Beating the...

Whether mammals sweat or pant, heat gets us all down

You’re not the only species suffering in this summer’s dog days. Farm animals overheat much the same way you do, according to the Maryland Farm Bureau. So Maryland farmers get creative to keep their charges cool. You can’t sweat like a pig because, like dogs and cats, pigs don’t sweat. The species’ natural remedy, mud, not only cools them down but also works like sunscreen. When the temperature climbs...

Article - Creature Feature; by Margaret Tearman - 7/21/11

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Skeeter Season

After an active spring, the native mosquito populations
are naturally declining. But not the Asian tiger mosquito.

A rainy March and April kept mosquito slappers busy. “We had populations in larger numbers than expected this spring,” says Mike Cantwell, chief of Maryland Department of Agriculture’s Mosquito Control Program. “High rainfall brought out exceptionally large broods of woodland species. But these are single-generation species. Once they’re done, you don’t see them until next year.” At the same time, higher than...

Article - Creature Feature; by Margaret Tearman - 7/14/11

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Get Buzzed with the...

Download your widget and find out who’s out there

You may need to get down on your hands and knees for this one. And you will definitely need your computer or smart phone. Bee counting has gone hi-tech. YourGardenShow.com — a social network for gardeners — is asking gardeners, nature lovers and community members to join in a Citizen Science effort to count bees in backyards, balconies and public spaces across North America. For the...

Article - Creature Feature; by Margaret Tearman - 7/7/11

This Week’s Creature Feature ... The Cat’s Meow in...

Disneyland Mousers get housing, food, health care — and a job

The cat’s out of the bag. And Calvert’s feral cats may be out of a home. After nine mostly quiet years, Calvert County’s feral cat sanctuary is roiled by the national debate on birds vs. feral cat colonies. Now the county is divided over whether the managed population of cats should be allowed to stay on the county-owned tree farm in Prince Frederick — or be kicked out to fates unknown. While opinion rages on...

Article - Creature Feature; by Margaret Tearman - 6/30/11

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Crane Flies Bugging...

While they don’t bite, mosquito-like giants do pester

First it was the invasion of the stinkbugs that had Bay Country residents bugged. Those pests have, for the most part, left our homes for the outdoors — unfortunately to eat their way through summer crops. But that’s another story. Now it’s another flying insect driving some of us nuts. “Has anyone at Bay Weekly investigated the flying insect infestation at the Windward Key Development?” asked Chesapeake Beach reader Angie...

Article - Creature Feature; by Margaret Tearman - 6/23/11

This Week’s Creature Feature: Protecting a...

Five Smithsonian cheetah cubs thriving

For five cheetah cubs born May 28 at the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., the first doctor’s visit was a house call. In mid-June, Smithsonian biologists spent a few minutes examining the two-pound furballs — and happily reported all five cubs to be healthy and active. “When I was weighing the last cub, he was being a very tough little guy,” said Adrienne Crosier, cheetah biologist. “We...