Cattle ranching, meet conservation: The National Audubon Society’s case for “bird-friendly beef”
Muskrats are agile swimmers – Dickinson County Conservation Board
Muskrats are active mid-afternoon into the night, and they spend much of their time in the water where they look for green vegetation to eat. In the summer, they will dive to eat the roots of aquatic plants — they’re able to stay underwater for up to 15 minutes — and in the winter, they will swim under ice to look for vegetation. Muskrats can swim in frigid water due to something called regional heterothermia, which regulates blood flow to their non-furry feet and tails, allowing these body parts to be cooler than the main part of the body, so their main body stays nice and warm in cold water.
muskrat in the water
The water is a safe space for muskrats, because they can escape predators such as raccoons, coyotes and owls by diving deep or by swimming into their burrows and nests. They paddle with their large, webbed back feet and use their flat tail to help them change direction. They can even swim backward.
Researchers Develop Poison Bait to Control Feral Pigs | Field & Stream
This is pretty cool science, building a safe pesticide for controlling feral pigs using sodium nitrates, the same thing used to cure bacon. Basically pigs are slightly more sensitive to sodium nitrate than humans, so they can be poisoned by it. But the sodium nitrates don't bioaccumulate. I do wonder though about the production of Nitroso compounds and if they could cause problems downstream.
Study Says Opossums Don’t Eat Ticks By The Thousands | Field & Stream
In the 2021 study, Hennessy and Hild used a dissecting microscope to look for ticks or tick body parts in the stomachs of 32 Virginia opossums from central Illinois. They found absolutely no evidence of ticks and concluded that ticks are not a preferred diet item for opossums.
I hate when people say, “that’s bad for the environment”
I hate when people say, “that’s bad for the environment”. The environment doesn’t give a rats ass about you, or anything else, because it doesn’t have feelings, emotions or any ability to think.
Missouri Department of Conservation will buy back your pear tree
COLUMBIA - The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is trying something new to limit the presence Callery pear trees in local environments.
Callery pear trees, also known as Bradford pears, are the top invasive plant species in Missouri. They are easily identifiable right now because of the white petals of their blossoms.