Termite Mounds

Certain termite mounds, cathedral-like and elaborate, contain a maze of tunnels that effectively filter carbon dioxide out while bringing oxygen in – essentially acting like lungs. The mounds are made of soil, mud, chewed wood, saliva, and feces piled systematically by worker termites. The typical large mounds are about 10 feet high, but in some cases they can reach up to 30 feet high, as tall as a two-story house. Though about a four-year undertaking for the industrious workers, a mound will take generations of termites being born and dying before it’s complete.

In a colony, there is a king, queen, workers, soldiers and reproductives (the future kings and queens).

In one science experiment, a scientist and his team drilled a hole in part of the mound. The team noticed that five minutes later soldier termites arrived at the scene to stand watch while workers patched up the breach. (The soldiers have stronger jaws and bigger heads and normally protect the colony from ants.) It took the worker termites an hour to produce a “spongey” wall in the place of the hole.

If that wasn’t enough, two days later, the scientific team ended up chain-sawing the top of the mound, and what they saw inside amazed them. More workers were busy securing off another passage that led deeper into the nest after the first infraction days before. Termites don’t actually dwell in the mound but live underground, where down further still is the inner sanctum or the “royal chamber” of the king and queen, who have the longest life span in the colony.

Coyotes

A scientist has broken down coyote calls to eleven distinct vocalizations: the woof, growl, the huff, the bark, the bark-howl, the yelp, two kinds of whine, the ‘wow-oo-wow’ (a greeting to others), the yip-yowl in groups, and a simple howl in groups. He contends, though, that more research is needed.

During mating season, female coyotes will be able to choose from more or less half a dozen suitors who will typically follow her around from a courteous distance. The males don’t fight with amongst themselves however; they just obediently stick it out until they are the last one standing. Or else they might lose interest and wander off for other opportunities. When two male coyotes remain, the female will make her choice. Couple coyotes will perform howling duets, touch noses and wag their tails. Their bond being established, mating will occur some weeks later. Then one day, after the male has been met with licking and friendly overtures for some time, the female will bear her teeth and growl at her mate.

In preparation for pups, females will dig the den with the aid of the male. They usually renovate abandoned fox or badger dens, and outfit other dens nearby in case they have to abandon one spot. Sometimes dens will have a second entryway, like a back door.

 

Bovine Pleasures (or Till the Cows Come Home)

Last week I saw a cow trotting across a highway. I’ve never seen a cow move so fast before. Usually they’re grazing, stationary and swaying their tail from side to side — at least in my imagination. The cow, light brown in color, appeared somewhat excited about venturing out. Either that or scared shitless.

About an hour later right around that same stretch on Interstate 25, a highway patrolman had his lights on and was gazing out into the desert terrain spying on the same cow in the distance with binoculars. This apparently happens a lot out here in open expanses when a cow breaks free and wanders away. A sign with an image of a cow warns drivers to be on the lookout.

In Mississippi last month, a paper ran the headline, “Wayward Cows Cause Problems for Motorists,” when ten cows got loose and trudged across Interstate 10.  Three separate drivers struck three separate cows. Two of the animals were killed instantly, and the third died shortly after. Deputies went in search for the others.

“We rounded up four cows but there were three or four others we weren’t able to catch,” the local sheriff said. “They went back deep into the woods.”

It goes without saying that cows killing humans is minute in comparison. Death by cow mostly happened when someone was working and treating cattle in enclosed spaces or moving them toward other pens, pastures or barns, according to a study a few years ago that looked at fatalities caused by cows in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Most victims were men, and about half of the perpetrators were bulls. And in several of the attacks, the bull or cow was known to be dangerous. In one instance, a man’s family said the bull had been “threatening in the past.”

Spotted: Mule Deer

The other day, on my way to a trail next to the Rio Grande, mule deer came peeking out of the brush. One of the two looked at me with curiosity, and after a few seconds, she came closer, craning its neck and staring directly at me. I stood still. Then I accidentally made one false step, and the two of them leapt away as if they were kangaroos.

Mule deers are known for their jump. When alarmed, they spring with all four legs at the same time and land in the same fashion. First named by Lewis and Clark, the mule deer were noted by the explorers during an 1804 expedition through South Dakota. Clark wrote, “Colter killed … a curious kid of Deer of a Dark gray colour—or more so than common, hair long and fine, the eyes large and long, a small receptacle under the eyes like the Elk, the taile about the length of a Common Deer, round (like a cow) a tuft of black hair about the end, this Species of Deer jumps like a goat or Sheep.”

People seem to note their disproportionately large ears. While they have a fairly good sense of hearing and sight, their keen sense of smell is what they use to investigate whether a situation is dangerous. Supposedly they can detect humans from up to a half-mile away.

Females are attracted to the scent of a rutting buck, and females have been observed crawling on their stomach to a stranger buck to get a sniff of his tarsal glands, which are located on inside of the buck’s hindlegs and have been deliberately sprayed with urine.

Unlike their white-tailed deer relatives, mule deer live in more open areas. Their diet consists of bitterbrush, sagebrush, pinon and yellow pine, juniper, and mountain mahogany, and they seem to like broadleaf plants the best. Most of them feed during the early mornings right before sunrise or in the late afternoon. During the middle of the day, they bed down in cool places with the wind in their direction so they can sniff for predators.

Reasons to Admire the Hummingbird

You can’t miss a hummingbird’s bill. They can be straight or curved, but they’re always pointy like an extra-fine sharpened No. 2 pencil. Like swords, they are excellent for males when fighting for a mate or marking their territory on a perch.

During mating season, hummingbirds make spectacular dives to attract females. One species of hummingbird make a U-shaped courting dive and hiss, while another variety makes a V-shaped arc and squeaky buzz. Yet another makes a tight circle. (Sometimes during the season, the male organs are slightly visible as a “bulge” in the animal’s abdomen.)

Hummingbirds usually have 10 tailfeathers. They’re known as nature’s helicopter.  They can change directions, like acrobats, and fly upside down for brief periods when startled.

The heart of a hummingbird beats 500 times per minute when it’s resting, and 1,200 per minute when it’s excited. A human’s heartbeat is about 60-90 beats per minute in comparison.

Hummingbirds have the fastest metabolism of any bird, and they can tell the difference between really sugary and less sugary things. They seem to prefer sweeter things. The tongue is really long and can go far distances. Ornithologists used to think their tongues acted like a straw, but later learned the birds just lick nectar superfast.

One of These Things Is Not Like The Others

The brown-headed cowbird lays its eggs in other bird’s nests. The host bird, usually a songbird of some kind, then will raise the young cowbird like its own. Cuckoos do it too. That’s why they’re called brood parasites.

If you look at the history of the brown-headed cowbird, it makes sense why the species would lay eggs in other nests. For thousands of years, prior to the obliteration of the bison population, the cowbird had a symbiotic relationship with wild buffalo that roamed the American Great Plains. The cowbirds followed them so they could eat the insects that tormented the bison. It was a nice arrangement. So the practice of laying eggs in other birds’ nests along the way suited this nomadic lifestyle.

The host bird may do one of a few things if it suspects something is awry: abandon the nest altogether, weave over the egg like it’s not there, rebuild a nest on top of the existing one, or eject the imposter egg. In some cases, the soon-to-be mother risks damaging her own egg in the process of disposing of the fake.

But the worst scenario (at least to me) is a practice seen in one type of cuckoo. Noticing that their egg is gone or damaged, in what scientists have termed “mafia behavior,” the bird destroys the nest along with the eggs in it.

A brown-headed cowbird egg in the nest of an Eastern Phoebe.

Mate Binding

The male golden orb-weaver spider give back rubs to females in between copulation rounds. Otherwise the cannibalistic female, who is five to 10 times larger than the male, may decide suddenly to kick and eat him instead of continuing. The male spreads silk over her dorsum and crawls up and down her back. Seeing that the practice only occurred after a female became aggressive, scientists observed that the massage had a calming effect.