Posts tagged animals
I've seen different types of hummingbird nectar, some red and some clear. My question is, will the red be able to attract more hummingbirds, vice-versa, or will they both attract the same amount? N...
We live in a suburban town in Massachusetts, Northeast United States. We keep a lot of bird feeders stocked all year with things birds and animals like, excluding meat and fruit. Yesterday, Oct...
I live in the suburban town of Holden, in Central Massachusetts. Many hundreds of acres of mature woodland areas are being torn down nearby to create new roads and housing developments, and it's ge...
I've been told that the only place Emperor penguins live is Antarctica. They live in colonies which can be anywhere from 500-20,000 birds. Unlike some other birds, including other penguin species, ...
There is a massive alligator in Florida that lives near a golf course, and he is estimated to be the largest alligator in Florida history assuming the estimations of his size are correct. Estimati...
This morning when out on one of my usual walks I discovered an Amphibian / Lizard on the path - I did not take a picture as it had clearly been attacked at some point, it was not alive at this time...
I was backcountry camping recently in the Canadian Rockies and there was a sign that said “please don’t urinate around the campsite, it is attracting bears”. Of course, following LNT principles, I ...
Roughly 10 years ago I hiked up Lassen Peak in Northern California, and there was a huge (hundreds of thousands) butterfly migration going right over the top of the peak around this time of year. I...
I was recently told that there are organizations, at least in the United States, that study migration of monarch butterflies by tagging them. The purpose, as in most animal migration monitoring, is...
There is a video of a seal sucker punching a kayaker with an octopus, Source I suppose the seal wasn't exactly trying to hit the kayaker, but why would it be flinging the octopus around above t...
I know that rabbits eat their droppings (cecotropes) and I have heard of feeding rabbit droppings to pigs. Rabbits are vegetarians. There droppings do not have the same consistency or negative sec...
I was recently told that many of the clothes we wear are made up of materials that are dangerous to marine wildlife, and the undersea environment. I'm curious as to whether or not it's true. I kn...
Hiking on the west coast of British Columbia, there are likely to be cougars around the trails. What do you do if you see one?
Is bear spray (pepper spray specially formulated to be effective against bear attacks) effective against other animals, especially mountain lions or wolves? Or is there something in it specifically...
For some reason I have had multiple encounters with mountain lions. In my 20's while camping in a somewhat remote campground near the continental divide in CO I woke to a large mountain lion layin...
I am looking to purchase a ski jacket. I want it to be warm in the temperature range of -5ºC to -13ºC and have decent impermeability characteristics. I am female, my height is 163cm, my weight is 5...
So pen launcher bear bangers have apparently been around for quite a while, the training video for Truflare looks like something from out of the 90's, but they don't appear to be very popular, and ...
We've often heard that moose are most active in the early morning or late in the day, around dusk, and are usually near a natural water source. Every year, we travel a few hours away to areas tha...
It is said you not only need to keep food at least 30-100 meters away from the tent, which is easy do to, but you also can't sleep in the same clothing which was worn while eating, which can be ver...
Excluding hybrids it seems like there are eight species of bears. Which are most and least likely to injure or kill a human? Related Do black, brown/grizzly or polar bears ever prey on humans? ...
If I remember correctly, someone proposed that the problem of wild horses over populating in the western United States would be to let the mountain lions control the populations. Would mountain li...
One of the most debated issues concerning wilderness, in Italy, is the reintroduction (or bizarrely large increase in the population) of animals almost extinguished till recently. While in most c...
I recently came across an article discussing Omura's whales, which I had never heard of, off the coast of Sri Lanka. I was positive I then read something saying they got up to 125 feet long, longer...
We found this snake in our backyard today. It was stuck in a mesh we use to protect a small fish pond from falling debris. Just wondering if it's dangerous. My kids play in the area where it was f...
One of the older fairy tales is The Ugly Duckling where the one oddball of the bunch is considered ugly by the other ducks but turns out to be a swan at the end of the story. From what I have read...
We live in Massachusetts, Northeastern United States. It's late July, and our temperatures this month have ranged between 70°F (21°C) and 90°F (32°C). Mourning doves, Zenaida macroura, live here ...
I keep seeing a particular bird lately and I don't recognise it. Can anyone help? I've only ever seen it from the car and in flight so I have no photo's unfortunately. It's black and white about...
Our tent was featured as ants free thanks to protective grids. However ants just ate holes in the wall material. Some research shows this is not unusual. Which tent wall material do I need to p...
I am hoping for more than anecdotal evidence about the negative effects on black bears of the human scent -- ranging from meh to Yecch. This question is prompted by two anecdotes I have to offer:...
I was thinking about heading to a place where there is a chance to confront a coyote. It worried me a lot then..this question popped up. If I have big enough speaker that can play sound of coyote'...
I am going to go to the Yellowstone park and other parks in the north-west (e.g., Glacier park); I'll be there for a couple of weeks in the late summer and we will sleep in tents in campgrounds par...
There as been the claim that European and North American wolves behave differently, especially when it comes to encounters with humans. This was brought up in a comment in this question on a wolf e...
After seeing this question which had this animation: I was left wondering whether this behavior was "normal" or at least healthy. I know sometimes when an animal exhibits odd behavior there's so...
In Malaysia, the country I'm from, almost nobody puts up bird feeders. I have just bought a bird feeder from overseas, but the birds don't seem to know what the feeder even is, as they may not have...
I was recently at a music festival in a field here in the UK. It was a nice hot day and I was staring up into the lovely blue sky. I noticed there were high numbers of seagulls circling above, seem...
In season 3 episode 1 of Survivorman, Les Stroud uses a guitar and a can of some consistently shaped chips made from potatoes of an unknown brand <cough>Pringles</cough> to make a trap ...
Where can I hunt for rabbits with slingshots do I have to ask land owners or could I go into a forest away from people and hunt there?
There is an area that I would like to explore at daytime and at night time. I have seen only two foxes in that area during the day time. One of the locals told me not to go out at night because fo...
At any given time in our yard, we have at least 20 birds, up to the same number of squirrels, 15 or so chipmunks, and a few rabbits. Our many feeders and birdbaths are mostly under big trees and ne...
There are some big raven's I've noticed visit our housing estate in the early am. They're big majestic birds and I quite like them. What food would you put out to encourage these into your garden? ...
I bet the first thing that came to your mind, was... because humans are evil and hurt animals because we're bigger than birds because we are louder than birds because of all of the above ...rig...
I have a light gore-tex jacket. The pocket zip has detached from shell. The jacket is not ripped. Does anyone know how to "repair" it? Are there agencies in US who can do it for me?
Question prompted by: Should I run if I see wild dogs? Since Hyenas physically resemble Wild Dogs, more or less, is the advice in that discussion applicable for encounters with Hyenas too? Are th...
A friend said she heard there's a species of bird that hibernates during the winter. I was surprised because I've only heard of birds that either migrate to warm weather as it gets cold; or stay ac...
I'm going on a multi day backpacking trip and I am planning on taking only a backpacking hammock instead of a tent. When I mentioned this to a friend of mine he jokingly referred to me as a bear t...
Stallions will kill unrelated foals, but I have heard that male mountain lions will kill their own kittens, ostensibly to bring the females back into heat so they can breed again. (Bears will do th...
Cougar population is in decline. I wonder where the hunt for them is still possible in the US? Also what are the specific regulations for the hunt (especially in regards to the endangerment of the ...
In addition to all of the ducklings currently around the area, one will also see mallard ducks without, (the mallards would run the duck with a red head off if they had ducklings). Lots of other...
The common House Sparrow, Passer domesticus, is one of the few birds not protected under federal law in North America, because it's considered a non-native species. However, it currently lives in v...
