Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) Cool fact: Gray squirrels will hide food all over the neighborhood, each time taking note of surrounding landmarks and use spatial memory and smell to recover buried food. This is harvest season, a time to prepare for the long winter ahead. In the city and in the country, gray squirrels are 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: River Otter
To encounter a river otter in the wild is to know joy. How could it be otherwise? “Otters are highly intelligent; their inclination to make a ‘game’ out of almost any activity is almost legendary,” wrote Maine Inland Fisheries & Wildlife biologist John Hunt.
NRCM’s Creature Feature helps you learn about many species of wildlife that live in Maine and whose survival depends upon a clean and healthy environment.
Creature Feature: Ermine
Cool Fact: Ermine can reach speeds of eight miles per hour, and they can jump as high as six feet.
Creature Feature: American Marten
Many cultures consider marten to be symbolic of luck, bravery, or kinship.
Creature Feature: American Shad
Shad look like the “perfect” fish: forked tail, tapered body, and silvery all over, with a dark spot just behind the gill.
Creature Feature: Black Bear
The American black bear (Ursus americanus), one of three bear species native to North America, is the only bear that lives in the eastern United States.
Creature Feature: Wild Turkey
Did you that know Wild Turkeys have good eyesight, strong hearing, and are very good runners?
Creature Feature: Atlantic Puffin
The Atlantic Puffin is among the most recognizable birds, and one of Maine’s favorites. Did you know that their nickname is “clowns of the sea”?
Creature Feature: American Woodcock
To many Mainers, spring hasn’t officially arrived until we’ve heard the “peent” of a woodcock.