Muskrat Ondatra zibethicus Cool fact: Muskrats often build feeding platforms next to their lodges where they eat their meals. Muskrats are medium-sized semi-aquatic rodents that are native to North America, with a range throughout the United States, Canada, and a small part of northern Mexico. They primarily inhabit wetland areas with dense vegetation — including Read More
Creature Feature
The Natural Resources Council of Maine works to protect important wildlife habitat for our vast array of animals that live in our state. Our Creature Feature is a way to highlight those animals and share "cool facts" and other important information about them.
NRCM's Creature Feature highlights birds, fish, mammals, and other wildlife that play an important role in the nature of Maine. We have featured "creatures" that are directly affected by our work to protect our clean waters (sea lamprey, Atlantic salmon, lobsters, etc.) and protect wildlife habitat in Maine's North Woods, including in our new Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument (moose, Canada lynx, black bear, etc.)
Creature Feature: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Papilio glaucus Cool fact: Swallowtails in the egg stage resemble bird droppings, a means to keep predators away. The first known drawing of a North American butterfly was of an eastern tiger swallowtail, sketched in 1587 by John White, who was traveling with Sir Walter Raleigh during his third exploration of Virginia. Read More
Creature Feature: Atlantic and Shortnose Sturgeon
Atlantic & Shortnose Sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchu & Acipenser brevirostrum Cool Fact: Sturgeon have been around for more than 200 million years Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon are the only two native species of sturgeon found in Maine waters. They are anadromous fish, which means they spend most of their adult lives in saltwater but migrate Read More
Creature Feature: Red-winged Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus Cool Fact: Red-winged Blackbirds can reach flight speeds up to 30 MPH and will travel as far as 50 miles to feed, returning to their roost at night. After last month’s feature about spring peepers, it seemed fitting to recognize another species that’s a harbinger of spring: the Red-Winged Blackbird. Its Read More
Creature Feature: Spring Peeper
Spring Peeper Pseudacris crucifer Cool fact: Spring peepers survive the winter by becoming dormant under leaf litter and under logs, relying on the same sugars they use as nutrients to also serve as a kind of natural “antifreeze” that keeps the tiny frogs safe to temperatures around six degrees below zero. The northern spring peeper became Read More
Creature Feature: Northern Cardinal
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis Cool Fact: Or in this case…”cold” fact—Cardinals don’t migrate or fly south for the winter like most other birds. They will shiver and tense their muscles to generate heat, having the ability to drop their body temperature 3 – 6° in order to survive cold temperatures. Named by early European settlers because of their resemblance Read More
Creature Feature: Wood Turtle
Wood Turtle Glyptemys insculpta Cool Fact: * The temperature of the developing eggs determines whether the offspring will be male or female. If eggs incubate above 87.8 °F the babies will be female; if below 81.86°F, they will be male. Wood turtles have likely been in New England for about 10,000 years, following the retreat Read More
Creature Feature: Bobcat
Bobcat Lynx Rufus 3 Cool Facts: Did you know that the bobcat’s fifth toe is raised on its front feet, so there is no fifth impression when it walks? Bobcats can run at speeds up to 30 mph — the same speed as domestic cats. President Calvin Coolidge once had a pet bobcat named “Smoky.” Read More
Creature Feature: Woodchuck
Woodchuck Marmota monax Cool Fact: Woodchucks are also called whistle pigs (because of the alert whistle they make when alarmed), earth pigs, land beavers, and grass rats! Most of us are familiar with the legend of the groundhog seeing its shadow (or not) to determine whether there will be six more weeks of winter or Read More
