The word porcupine comes from the Latin words “porcus spina,” meaning “pig spines”. The porcupine is a slow-moving, peaceful rodent. They are also vegetarians and mostly nocturnal. Their scientific name, Erethizon, means to "irritate with back."
The Porcupine is the second largest of all rodents. It has a small head, large, chunky body with a high arching back and short legs. Its head and body are 25 to 40 inches long, with long, thick, muscular tail growing as long as 8 inches. It weighs from 10 to 40 pounds. Long, yellowish hairs cover the front half of its body while up to 30,000 quills are placed among the dark, coarse hairs of the back and tail. These quills are the most distinguishing characteristic of the Porcupine. Actually modified hairs, the black-tipped, yellowish quills are stiff, barbed spines about 3 inches long that can be easily barbs once embedded in another animals' flesh. The Porcupine's feet have 4 toes on the forefeet and 5 on the hind feet all with long, curved claws and small pads on the bottom. The porcupine's undersides are soft and vulnerable. Porcupine babies are called kittens.
The porcupine lives in all the North American desert regions, and the entire west, north to Canada. It lives in wooded areas ,in light marshlands and in deserts.
Porcupines are vegetarians. In the Spring they feed on leaves, twigs and green plants. In Winter, they chew through the outer bark of fir, hemlock, aspen and pines trees to eat the tender layer of tissue below. Sometimes, they will completely chew threw, and thus kill, trees. They may also gnaw used ax handles, canoe paddles and other items for the salt and oil they contain. The two large, front gnawing teeth continue to grow as long as the Porcupine lives.
When threatened, the North American Porcupine places his snout between his forelegs and spins around presenting its rear to the enemy. If attacked, contrary to popular belief, the Porcupine does not throw its quills; instead, it drives its tail against the assailant and dozens of quills detach easily from the skin to remain embedded in the attacker.
Grizzly bears live in a variety of environments .All of which includes dense forests, subalpine meadows, open plains and arctic tundra . In the past though, they could be found from Alaska to Mexico, and from California to Ohio. Though Nowadays there are efforts trying to make it so grizzly bears can make a comeback and the wild, and all of their efforts are proving to be working, there are 4 times as many grizzlies in the wild as there were in 1975, at
A.The ferret is a member of the weasel family and it is not a rodent. It is thought to have originated from the wild European polecat.
As the deer fed at the marsh's edge, its tail flickering as it nibbled tender and ripe green growth, the nervous animal paused in its feeding and lifted its head to listen. Whatever hint of danger the deer had sensed was ignored once the threat could not be located. It stamped a forefoot, lowered its head, and began to eat once more. This deer had failed to detect a Florida panther that was downwind (going into the wind) and crouched low in the underbrush. Amber eyes, however, estimated the distance between himself and the deer.
Manatees, commonly called Sea Cow, are large aquatic mammals that are found in warm coastal areas, rivers and warm water springs in the Amazon Basin, West Africa, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the Southeastern United States. Manatees can be found in salt water, fresh water and brackish water. They spend most of their time eating aquatic plants, resting, migrating and nurturing their young. The manatee species has evolved over the last 45 million years. The adult manatee evolved into an average of approximately 10 feet long and weighs between 800 and 1,200 pounds (Site This).
These are just a few old school tactics for hunting squirrels this season. It adds a little more of a challenge but is a great way to reminisce of the old times and teach younger hunters about the old ways of hunting and keep the tradition alive. I hope this season and many more to come you will dust off that old rifle or shotgun, if only for a day, and do a little old school squirrel hunting and take someone along and show them the ways so those old school ways aren't lost in time. Happy Hunting.
The Alaskan moose is the largest sub-specious of the deer family which is very closely related to the Elk in Europe. The adult bull weighing up to 760 kg and the females can weigh up to 360 kg. The moose can grow to seven and half feet high, the highest point being at its large shoulders. The shoulders support “the males bear racks of flattened antlers that sometimes have a spread of 6 feet or more” Their front legs are longer than their rear legs and their body is covered in thick fur which is shaded in many hues of brown. Their heads are long peninsular in shape which is completed with a large upper lip and nose. Under their neck lies a dewlap or dangling “bell “which is a flap of skin near the throat. They have short tails and small ears.
The Arctic Tundra The Tundra is located in the northern regions of North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. as well as a few regions of Antarctica. The Tundra is the second largest vegetation. zone in Canada. It can be divided into three different sections: the High Arctic Tundra, the Low Arctic Tundra and the Alpine Tundra.
Although moose lack teeth in the front of the upper jaw, they have little trouble dealing with woody plnat material that constitues much of their diet. They feed on fresh leaves by browsing and may even pull a shoot sideways in there mouth, freaquently stripping off up to two feet in vegitation with aid of the tonuge. They also browse the tips of twigs, particularly the most recent growth. Regardless of how it is attained, the plant material is thoroughly crushed between twleve sets of broad, flattened teeth at the rear of its mouth, six pairs of molars and six pairs of pemolars.
peregrines range across the treeless regions of Alaska and Canada. They are also found in
What it looks like: Siberian tiger is the largest and most rare of all members of the cat family. This cat is 8-10 feet long, excluding their 25-38 inch rattling tail. This species of tiger weighs 400-700 pounds. Like all members of the tiger family, males are significantly larger than females.
This specific deer is an herbivore or plant eater. It feeds in the early morning hours and in the late afternoon. This deer's diet changes depending on its habitat and the season. It eats green plants in the spring and summer. In the fall, it eats corn, acorns and ot...
Sikes, Roberts. and William L. Gannon. "Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the Use of Wild Mammals in Research." Journal of Mammalogy 92.1 (Feb. 2011): 235-253. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2011.