River Hills Traveler » Trav Sez He’s Seen It All

Animal Valentines: the 10 strangest animal lovers

Jo — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:37:14 +0000

(Missouri State office The Nature Conservancy news release.)
Missouri’s Greater Prairie Chicken and the American Burying Beetle
Made the List, But Both Species Face Threats

So you think you’ve had some strange dates? This Valentine’s Day, The Nature Conservancy compiled the top 10 most bizarre examples of love in the wild.

Photo from outdoorhub.com

“Nature can get pretty wild, especially when love is in the air,” said Todd Sampsell, The Nature Conservancy’s Missouri State Director. “While we may find the mating habits of some of these critters bizarre, they actually may remind you of someone you know.”

Unfortunately, many of these creatures are at risk of disappearing forever because of habitat loss, climate change, and other threats.

“Here in Missouri, the greater prairie chicken faces an uncertain future because of habitat loss and fragmentation,” Sampsell said. “The American burying beetle is also in rapid decline, and is now listed as critically endangered. It has been absent from Missouri prairies for decades, but this year we’re partnering with the Saint Louis Zoo and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to bring the beetles back to the Show-Me state.”

To make sure these incredible animals survive in the future, The Nature Conservancy is restoring temperate grasslands in northwest and southwest Missouri. These grasslands are the most endangered, least protected land habitat on Earth, and restoring them not only ensures a future for native Missouri grassland species but it also helps protect Missouri’s rural heritage and economy.

“Nature is powerful, but for many animals their future now depends not only on their mating prowess but on what help we give them,” Sampsell said. “If we don’t act now to protect the lands and water these creatures call home, they may not be around for future generations.”

Learn more at www.nature.org/wildlove

Do these wild lovers remind you of anyone?

1) Deep sea angler fish: “Losing yourself in love”
Male anglerfish bite their mates and permanently fuse to their bodies. Over time, the male’s brain, eyes and organs dissolve until he turns into a small lump, releasing sperm whenever the female is ready to lay eggs. Scientists first thought the lumps were fins before discovering they were the males.

2) Prairie Chickens: “Strut Your Stuff”
Male prairie chickens attract females with loud “booming” noises that can be heard miles away. They also perform an elaborate dance — lowering their heads, erecting their neck feathers, inflating orange air sacks, dropping their wings and pointing their tails, all while frantically stamping their feet.

3) American Burying Beetle: “Family Oriented”
American burying beetles not only are monogamous but also raise their children together. Expectant parents bury dead birds or mice and lay eggs nearby. The parents lie on their backs and use their legs like a conveyor belt to move carcasses up to 200 times their own weight. Once hatched, larvae feed on the carcass or the parents rub their wings together to call the larvae and regurgitate meat into their mouths.

4) Freshwater mussels: “The bait and switch”
Male mussels release sperm into the water, which females capture downstream. Larvae hatch inside the females’ shells but must then attach to a fish to grow. To lure fish, mother mussels wave appendages that look like worms, crayfish or other bait. Some emit a smell of rotting flesh to attract scavenger fish. When fish approach, the mussels shoot the larvae onto the fish.

5) Prairie Vole: “Born to be Faithful”
Unlike most rodents, prairie voles are monogamous. Scientists have discovered that prairie vole faithfulness is caused by hormone receptors located in their brain’s reward centers, giving them the sense of pleasure from monogamy.

6) Bower birds: “Bachelor Pads”
Male bowers of Australia and New Guinea build large and elaborate bachelor pads on forest floors, decorated with flowers, leaves, shells and even stolen coins – anything they think will attract a mate. Some paint the walls with chewed berries, others build lawns of moss. Drab males build the flashiest pads to compensate for their dull colors.

7) Lions: “One Track Mind”
When lions mate, the coupling usually lasts only about 20 seconds. But the pair will repeat the act every 20 minutes or so – sometimes up to 40 times a day. This will continue for three to seven days straight, with the male and female neglecting to hunt or eat during the entire time.

Tree crickets: “Smooth talker”
Male crickets bite holes in leafs to amplifier their love songs and attract females. Once they mate, however, male sperm packets don’t fit inside the females’ bodies so a portion hangs out. The ever-ravenous females try to eat the packet before fertilization can occur. To distract her, the male sings and secretes a tasty goo from his back, feeding her until the eggs are fertilized.

9) Day Octopus: “Keep Your Distance”
Female day octopi are known to eat their partners after mating, so the males keep their distance. When a male finds a female, he extends one arm and waves. If she responds, he uses his arm to place a sperm packet under the female’s body covering. The octopi stay at an arm’s length – appearing as though they are holding hands.

10) Little Brown Bats: “Waiting for the Right Time”
Because these bats mate in the autumn — but hibernate during winter – females store sperm for seven months to delay pregnancy until springtime. While bats normally hang upside down, females stand upright to give birth and catch their babies in a membrane between their legs. Newborns cling to their mothers even during nighttime flights as they search for food.

Roadkill Cafe? Yummm!

Jo — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:50:41 +0000

Traveler friend and MDC Twin Pines manager Melanie Carden-Jessen sent along this note about the Roadkill Cafe, to be held February 11th, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Twin Pines Conservation Education Center just off U.S. 60 a few miles east of Winona.

Larry Lindeman, an outdoor skills specialist, will teach people how to prepare, preserve and enjoy roadkill, including deer, squirrel, beaver, rabbit and more. There is no cost for the workshop, which is limited to 20 people.

According to Carden-Jessen, “Featured on the menu will be animals often seen on the road that are actually pretty tasty if prepared properly.”

Call 573-325-1381 to see if there are any spots left (and to see if Lindeman has any good raccoon or possum recipes.)

Now, because it’s that time of year

Jo — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 05:56:37 +0000

One of Jo’s favorite Da Yooper’s songs: “The Second Week of Deer Camp.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb9yhhflmvY

Jo was fortunate enough to attend a Yoopers musical event (she hesitates to call it a concert) in 2004 in Marquette, Michigan on the UP. Free music and free beer. It doesn’t get much better than this. (Yes they have a song about free beer, too, but it doesn’t seem to have hit the Internet.) The secret reason she likes Da Yoopers, of course– the UP is world famous for copper and iron mining, and their establishment in Ishpeming, Michigan, is actually a

Enjoy.

First modern-day Missouri deer kill with atlatl

Jo — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:02:01 +0000

St. Louis County hunter becomes first in the state to take deer with atlatl

ST. LOUIS — On opening day of the Missouri November firearms deer season, a Show-Me –State hunter used the most ancient of weapons to bag a deer in modern day St. Louis County.

Photo courtesy Missouri Dept. of Conservation

Luke Boenker, 54, of Maryland Heights, became the first hunter in Missouri to take a deer using an atlatl—a primitive spear-throwing weapon—when he harvested a four-point buck just after 4 p.m. on Nov. 12. He was hunting 30 feet up in a tree stand on private property in the vicinity of Clayton and Clarkson Roads.

“The buck approached to within about 15 yards of the tree I was sitting in,” said Boenker. Boenker grunted to get the deer to pause. He took advantage of the opportunity, letting loose the fatal shot, which made contact with the buck at its back and penetrated the deer’s rib cage. The buck continued for approximately 150 yards more before dropping, Boenker said.

“It was the ultimate feeling,” recalled Boenker of the experience.

The atlatl predates the bow and arrow. It is used to throw a 4-to 6-foot-long, spear-like projectile known as a dart. The atlatl is a wooden shaft approximately a foot-and-a-half long with a socket or knock at the rear to engage the dart.

The dart is placed along the shaft with its back end resting in the socket or knock. The hunter grips the atlatl near its front end and performs a forward throw using the upper arm and wrist. The flipping motion of the atlatl creates angular momentum that propels the dart with greater speed and power than can be achieved with the arm alone. Darts thrown from the weapon can achieve velocities of nearly 100 miles per hour.

Boenker constructed the atlatl himself from Osage-orange wood. He assembled the dart using a 7-foot ash shaft crafted by dart maker Bob Berg of New York and an Ace broad head tip.

The atlatl became a legal method for taking deer in Missouri for the first time last year, during the 2010 firearms deer season. Boenker is the first person known to actually have taken a deer in Missouri with the weapon. The atlatl may be used during all portions of the firearms deer season, with the exception of the muzzleloader portion.

Boenker said that he was relatively new to using the atlatl, having taken it up only three months ago. He was introduced to and mentored in the use of the weapon by his friend and president of the Missouri Atlatl Associate (MAA), Ron Mertz. Boenker is also an MAA member.

Boenker is not new to hunting, however. He’s has been pursuing deer with firearms and bow and arrow since age 16. He said he chose the atlatl because of the unique challenge it presented.

“I’d hunted with bows and guns before,” he said, “But I didn’t even load my guns this year. I wanted to do something different.”

He said he intends to take the tenderloins and back straps of his deer, and have the rest processed into hamburger.

The state’s second deer to be taken by atlatl was killed in northwest Missouri’s Grundy County Nov. 13 by Scott Rorebeck of Trenton. Rorebeck is a member of the MAA as well.

Complete information on Missouri hunting seasons and regulations can be found at the Department of Conservation’s website, www.mdc.mo.gov.

Additional information about the atlatl and related event listings are posted at the World Atlatl Association webpage, www.worldatlatl.org. To learn more about atlatl activities in Missouri, contact MAA president Ron Mertz at devoemertz@sbcglobal.net.

Please let your breakfast settle before viewing this

Jo — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 06:10:52 +0000

According to a story on Ozarks First.com (out of Springfield, MO) a weird wild animal killing farm animals in the daylight was shot near the town of Strafford, by the farm owner at the end of last week.

What is it?

The animal resembled a chupacabra. A chupacabra, if you don’t know, is a legendary beast, literally “goat sucker” in Spanish. The most likely explanation is a coyote with a parasite disease, but other small furbearing animals (including raccoons) have been identified in other chupacabra killings.

Here’s the link. What do you think? Thanks to Brian Waldrop for bringing this to our attention.

Giant Bat sighted at Traveler Office!!!!!!!

Jo — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:20:51 +0000

Jo was quietly working at the Traveler office this morning when a GIANT BAT flew down and roosted on the eave in front of her desk.

It’s been hanging around ALL MORNING. Even though she’s a caver, a bat with a 10 foot wingspan is something she’s not used to. She did check…it does not appear to have WNS, but is making a LOT of high-pitched whining sounds… almost louder than the traffic noise.

We’d GREATLY appreciate if YOU’D COME BY and take a look at the giant bat today sometime before 5 p.m.
I think it will let you get into the office…we’ve got Trav on the job to defend us right now, but we don’t know…that bat might get aggressive once it notices that there are only two of us in the office.

COME BY…21-B Vance Road…CHECK OUT THE GIANT BAT! and come in (IF YOU DARE!!!!)

Trav defending his territory....

Congrats on the Cardinals’ win!

Jo — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:30:52 +0000

Congrats to the Cardinals, the squirrels and the fans who all believe in miracles.
Trav got this hat from Buschie. He and his friends are sleeping it off in the dumpster right now.

Mounted Rally Squirrels: this no doubt was inevitable

Jo — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:23:37 +0000

(Spoiler alert: this is my commentary. Trav had nothing to do with it. Jo)

I’ve sort of been waiting for this to happen.

Ever since the “Cardinals Go Nuts” crowd adopted Buschy the Rally Squirrel a few weeks ago, I’ve sort of been waiting for this story to surface. Illinois taxidermist Rick Nadeau, who specializes in squirrels, has begun dressing up his offerings in Cardinal red.

(Now, remember, cardinals are critters, too, but maybe we’re just too inured to them as a baseball symbol to remember that they are actually beautiful (and pretty scrappy) birds. Just like ball fans, real cardinals rarely fly alone. Just wait a moment. Another will be along, often the flashy one’s green-gray and more modest mate.)

The original story is here:
http://www.stltoday.com/business/

While I’m usually only vaguely aware of what is happening in the baseball world, the squirrel story is a cute one, just like those mostly friendly rodents. It helps that both baseball fans and squirrels like peanuts.

Photo flagrantly stolen from my friend Aaron Smith on Facebook

I’ve had several Facebook friends with exquisite Photoshop skills, (or good sources of cut and paste) who have been decorating real squirrels for several weeks. I’ve been unsuccessful at ignoring the whole thing:
one positive is that the whole craziness is a bit of lighthearted creativity in a world that is increasingly polarized, and waaay too serious.

I’ve always had an affinity for squirrels, and St. Louis squirrels, at that. As a small child, I lived on the top floor of a two-family flat in South St. Louis. I looked out from my bedroom window at telephone wires, and those telephone wires were often squirrel interstate highways.

We fed the little rascals peanuts from our windowsills. They’d do the death-defying leap from wire to windowsill, just for a couple of nuts, then sit there and eat them. My mom even managed to coax a couple to eat from her hand. I was about age 4, and too scared to do that, but they did seem to be quite intelligent, especially since they had managed to eke out a living in the red brick city.

So the Buschy Squirrel thing seemed inevitable as soon as that gray streak crossed the field. Maybe that’s part of what attracts people about nature. These creatures don’t have jobs, they don’t fight traffic, they don’t carry cellphones, but somehow they seem to survive. When the groundskeepers arrived with the cage, it was just a “wink, wink” moment — there were plenty more where that one came from.

Hope. It’s the little gray thing on four feet with the bushy tail and bright eyes, holding a peanut in its small hands. Whatever happens with the World Series, it’s the rebound into the hope of nature that we’ll remember.

Big fish story from Spain..odd fish pictures, too.

Jo — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:48:53 +0000

Trav says he’s now seen it all.

Really.

A British woman is said to have caught a 215 pound, 8 ft 4 inch freshwater catfish in Spain…she claims she just went to spend more time with her fishing boyfriend. That might just make headlines in an angling magazine under world’s records for the largest fish caught by a British lady. However, the photos accompanying the story makes one wonder if the story (or the fish) is for reel, especially this one:

photo from UK Daily Mail linked below

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2045950/Woman-angler-took-fishing-spend-time-boyfriend-smashes-record-catch-215lb-catfish.html

The story says after taking photos they released the fish unharmed.
What do you think? Other than she probably really needed a scrubdown afterward.
Happy Friday!

Osceola, MO asks KU to end Jayhawker name

Jo — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:04:53 +0000

What with all the hoopla about Civil War reenactment, this had to happen.

The declaration asking for the end of the jayhawker mascot as being politically offensive was first reported by the AP on Sept. 18. Furthermore, the resolution asks that neither jayhawk, jayhawker or kansas be capitalized by any University of Missouri alumnus or alumna.

Now, the town of Osceola was indeed sorely tried (and burned to the ground) by an attack of pro-union kansans in September, 1861, resulting in the death of at least nine citizens. They do have a point. However, should their resolution stand, Mizzou may feel the backlash, as the “Tigers” were named for an armed Civil War militia who defended Columbia, not initially for the black and orange striped cat now called Truman. And Osceola, named for a mixed-parentage Creek Indian who aided the Seminoles against the United States in the 1830s, probably already has had some experience with the forces of political correctness when it comes to names.

According to the AP story, kU staunchly defends its conception of the jayhawk as “a blue bird with a red head and yellow shoes,” that any previous use of the term in a political sense has long vanished, and its football rivalry with Mizzou is mere coincidence to the respective states’ Civil War history.

As for Traveler, we’re not taking any position on Osceola’s resolution in regards to kansas, kU or jayhawks.

After all, both members of the editorial staff have degrees from Mizzou – RAH!

The text of the resolution appears below.

RESOLUTION

On this date, the City of Osceola, after hearing all of the evidence, and for good cause shown, finds the following:

1. That on September 21 – 23, 1861, a group of domestic terrorist, referred to as “the jayhawkers,” sacked the city of Osceola, St. Clair County, Missouri and burned all but four or five of the city’s buildings to the ground.

2. That on or around that date, twelve citizens of Osceola, St. Clair County, Missouri, were executed by said terrorist group.

3. That the above-mentioned occurrence eventually led to William Clark Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence, kansas, as Missourians had no choice but to defend themselves from the murderous attacks perpetrated by the jayhawkers, led by Jim Lane and James Montgomery.

4. That when the University of kansas fielded its football team in 1890, it referred to the team as“the jayhawkers,” an obvious celebration of the above-named terrorist group. This term was eventually shortened to “jayhawks,” a name which has since been officially adopted by the University of kansas as the mascot for all its sports teams.

5. That the present-day “jayhawks,” kU alumni, citizens of the state of kansas, et al,, have willfully, wantonly and recklessly disregarded the above-mentioned occurrence when discussing the roots of the “Border War” which currently existed between the University of Missouri Tigers and the University of kansas jayhawks.

6. Whereas, the Civil War Trust, Summer 2011 issue of “Hallowed Ground” published by the National Park Services does hereby acknowledge that partisan forces led by Jim Lane raided and sacked the town of Osceola, Missouri, executing nine men after a hastily arranged court martial.

IT IS THEREFORE RESOLVED

that the City of Osceola, Missouri, by and through its citizens, officially

CONDEMNS

the celebration of this murderous gang of terrorists by an institution of “higher education,” in such a brazen and malicious manner.

IT IS FURTHER RESOLVED

that citizens of the City of Osceola, Missouri requests the University of Missouri to educate the above-named Defendants on the FULL historical origins of the “Border War.”

IT IS FURTHER RESOLVED

that no citizen of the City of Osceola or the alumni of the University of Missouri shall ever capitalize the “k” in “kansas” or “kU,” as neither is a proper name or a proper place.

(signed)

Larry Hutsler, mayor