Did You Know? Some Facts About Animals
- Moira Rosser-Peterson
- 4 minutes ago
- 2 min read
~wildlife education~
Deer have microbes in their stomachs that help them digest coarse food such as lichen. If rich foods like alfalfa or apples are introduced to these microbes, it can cause bloat and may lead to the death of the animal. It’s best not to feed wild deer in the winter unless you have small amounts of local hay to offer.
Anna’s Hummingbirds don’t migrate in the winter; they become dormant daily to conserve energy, entering a state of torpor on cold nights. Their body temperature lowers, and their heart rate slows. Hummingbird feeders should be cleaned weekly and stocked with sugar water made of four parts water and one-part white sugar. Hummingbirds depend on this for energy when their usual food sources are unavailable.
Bats are natural pest controllers. All BC bats feed exclusively on insects and are vital for maintaining healthy and balanced ecosystems. Our local bats eat night-flying insects including mosquitoes, beetles and moths. A nursing female bat can consume up to 600 insects an hour and 100% of her body weight in a night!
Owls have very large eyes in relation to the size of their bodies. Their eyes gather and concentrate much more light than ours do. Owls have forward-looking eyes, giving them binocular vision and excellent depth perception, which is an advantage in hunting. They can focus on both near and distant objects at the same time, a special adaptation allowing them to accurately gauge distance when they are pursuing prey.
Turkey vultures are often called “Nature’s garbage collectors”. While it’s believed they will eat anything dead, they prefer their ‘meals’ to be no more than three days old. Turkey vultures have keen eyesight and a razor-sharp sense of smell. A large nasal cavity in their beak helps them detect a carcass from great distances. The vulture can put its featherless head into a rotting carcass without soiling or damaging its feathers. It is thought that their strong digestive juices counteract most harmful bacteria. They defecate on their legs to disinfect them.
The American bullfrog, the largest frog in North America, is an invasive species due to its voracious appetite and the large number of eggs it produces. Frogs eat any animal that can be captured and swallowed, including all kinds of vertebrates and invertebrates. Bullfrog adults eat insects, snakes, small mammals, birds, and smaller native frogs.
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