by Roland D. Hallee

Porcupines. Nuisance, or ecological necessity?

It all depends with whom you talk. I know some people who are overrun by the animals to the point where they are raiding the gardens, and having to deal with their dogs being injured by porcupine quills due mostly to their own curiosity. While others find a use for them.

Simply put, porcupines are rodents. That puts them in the same class, and are actually related, with raccoons, rats and beavers. They are indigenous to the Americas, Southern Asia, Europe and Africa. They are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and beaver. They can grow in size to be 25 – 36 inches long with an 8 to 10-inch tail, and weigh from 12 – 35 pounds.

The common porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum, is an herbivore, so look out gardens. It eats leaves, herbs, twigs and green plants. They may eat bark in the winter, evidence of which I have seen in many places. The North American porcupine often climbs trees to find food. Like the raccoon, they are mostly nocturnal, but will sometimes forage for food in the day.

Because of the scarcity of predators, porcupines are plentiful and are not endangered.

The name porcupine comes from Middle French porc espin (spined pig). A regional American name for the animal is quill pig.

The porcupines’ quills, or spines, take on various forms, depending on the species, but all are modified hairs coated with thick plates of keratin, and they are embedded in the skin.

Quills are released by contact with them, or they may drop out when the porcupine shakes its body. The porcupine does not throw quills, but the flailing muscular tail and powerful body may help impel quills deeply into attackers. The quills’ barbed ends expand with moisture and continue to work deeper into flesh. Porcupine quills have mildly antibiotic properties and thus are not infectious. Quills, however, may cause death in animals if they puncture a vital organ or if a muzzle full of quills leads to starvation.

Once embedded, the hollow quills swell, burn and work their way into the flesh every time a victim’s muscles contract, digging a millimeter deeper each hour. Eventually, they emerge through the skin again, some distance from the entry point though sometimes they spear right through the body.

I have had first hand knowledge of how painful a porcupine quill can be. Many years ago, my children had chores to do after they got home from school. One of them was to make sure they picked up after themselves following their after-school snack. Upon returning home from work, I found a folded paper towel on the counter. I grabbed it to crush it into a ball to throw away when this sharp pain shot through my hand. When I unwrapped the towel, I found a porcupine quill inside, but now imbedded in my hand. It turned out my daughter had brought it home from school to show it to me. She obtained the quill from a “show and tell” session at school.

Because they have few effective predators, porcupines are relatively long-lived. The average life span of the porcupine is 7 – 8 years, however, they have lived up to 15 years in the wild, and 18 years in captivity. A predator needs to learn only once to leave a porcupine alone. Bobcats, great-horned owls, mountain lions, coyotes and wolves, when extremely hungry and unable to catch anything else, may give it a try anyway. The fisher, however, is a skilled porcupine killer. It uses its speed and agility to snake around a porcupine’s rear guard defense and viciously bite its face until it dies.

At one time, however, especially when game was scarce, the porcupine was hunted for its meat and considered a delicacy. A practice that continues in Kenya today. Because they are slow, and can remain in the same tree for days at a time, they are about the only animal that can be killed simply with a large rock. Native people of the North Woods also wove elaborate dyed quillwork decorations into clothing, moccasins, belts, mats, necklaces, bracelets and bags. Because the work was so time-consuming and highly valued, quill embroderies were used as a medium of exchange before the coming of Europeans.

When not in trees or feeding, porcupines prefer the protection of a den, which can be found in rock crevices, caves, hollow logs, abandoned mines and even under houses and barns.

Porcupines are highly attracted to salt. They may chew on any tool handle that has salt left from human sweat. They have even been known to chew on outhouse toilet seats. Road rock salt is very tempting to them, and puddles of water from the snow-melt in the spring are especially luring and could account for their high road-kill mortality rate. They have even been seen gnawing on automobile tires that have been exposed to rock salt.

In Maine, porcupines join a short list of other animals that are open to hunting all year, including coyotes, woodchucks and red squirrels.

So, are porcupines a nuisance, or do they have a role in the grand scheme of things, ecologically?

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Who is the only player in New York Yankees history to achieve over 3,000 hits in his career?

Answer can be found here.

by Roland D. Hallee

I came across something quite interesting last week while watching the Animal Planet network. It was a story about Pink Pigeons. Now, you have your general, run-of-the-mill rock doves, or common pigeons, that we all know all too well, marking up our landscape and just making a plain nuisance of themselves in parks, parking lots, and at backyard feeders. But these guys, the pink pigeons, were a little different.

Pink pigeons, not classified as a true pigeon, are endemic to Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 1,200 miles off the southeast coast of the African continent.

The pink pigeon was on the brink of extinction in 1991 when only 10 individual birds remained, but its numbers have increased recently due to the efforts of the Durrell Wildlife Conservations Trust since 1977. While the population, estimated at 450 birds in 2011, is still of concern, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) downlisted the species from critically endangered to endangered in 2000. A healthy captive population is also kept as “backup.”

Reclassified with recent DNA tests, the pink pigeon is more closely related to the Madagascar turtle dove, and has been suggested that it takes its place with a genus mostly contained as turtle doves.

An adult pink pigeon is about 14 – 15 inches in length from its beak to tail. They have pale pinkish-gray plumage on their head, shoulders and underside, along with pink feet. The beak is a drak pink color with a white tip.They have dark brown wings, and a broad, rust-colored tail. Their eyes are dark brown surrounded by an eye-ring of red skin.

A related subspecies, the Reunion pink pigeon, that resided on the neighboring Reunion Island, became extinct around 1700. As of 2016, there are five locations where wild populations of the pink pigeon can be found. Four of these locations belong to Black River Gorges National Park and the fifth to the Isle aux Aigrettes.

The species is not migratory.

They prefer upland evergreen forests, although they can also be found in coastal forests as long as the vegetation is native and not dominated by introduced species such as Chinese Guava or the privet. Destruction of such primal forests has been a major cause for its decline in numbers.

There are more males than females in the population due to a greater life expectancy of the male – about five years more. One reason for the difference is that producing eggs is extremely taxing on the female. Female birds are nearly constantly producing eggs – similar to the domesticated chickens. This can end up totaling to a large metabolic tax on the female’s survival.

Habitat degradation, introduced predators and wildlife disease are the major ongoing threats to the pink pigeon’s survival. Only two percent of the native forest remains on Mauritius. Common predators include the crab-eating macaque, the small Asian mongoose, rats and feral cats. Invasive plants such as the Chinese guava and privet dominate native forest plants, preventing their growth.

Feeding stations that provide supplementary feed may accelerate the spread of disease between individuals, since they congregatge at greater than normal numbers at stations. An ongoing concern faced by the pink pigeons, as by many other endangered species that exist in small remnant populations, is inbreeding depression.

Several foundations and organizations have contributed to conservation efforts. In addition to direct conservation efforts such as captive breeding, genetic research, and supplementary feeding efforts, more general research on the species may aid in the formation of more applicable conservation actions.

It’s an interesting species of bird that exists in only a small area of the world, far away from central Maine. But it’s still interesting to learn about this wildlife that I had not heard of a week ago.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Which MLB pitcher owns the distinction of having won the most games, and having lost the most games during his career?

Answer can be found here.

by Roland D. Hallee

A reader called the office last week to inquire about a bug that resembles a ladybug, but is green in color. She was wondering if it was a pumpkin bug. Well, it very well could be.

The pumpkin bug, or squash bug, are also called stink bugs, but are not the traditional stink bug. Although some pumpkin bugs are called stink bugs, not all stink bugs are pumpkin bugs. If you ever spot a sizable green stink bug, there’s a good chance that it’s a pumpkin bug. They are similar in appearance to stink bugs because they both have a foul odor when squashed. However, stink bugs are wider and rounder.

The squash bug, Anasa tristis, is common throughout the United States. It primarily attacks squash and pumpkins but can also attack other cucurbits, such as cucumbers.

They are the bane of a gardener. They are difficult to kill and can cause a lot of havoc.

The adult bugs are somewhat flat, large insects, measuring 5/8 inch long and 1/3 inch wide. They are usually dark gray to dark brown. The edges of the abdomens protrude beyond their wings and typically have alternating orangish and brown stripes. They are able to fly, however they often simply walk around on plants.

These bugs overwinter as adults in sheltered places, such as under plant debris, around buildings, or under rocks. When adults emerge in the spring, they fly to growing cucurbit plants to feed and mate. Females lay eggs individually in small clusters of about 20 commonly on the undersides of the leaves, especially between the veins where they form a V. The females usually begin to appear in gardens in early June, and continue to lay eggs through mid-summer.

These bugs have piercing-sucking mouth-parts they use to suck the sap out of leaves. This process produces yellow spots that eventually turn brown, and disrupts the flow of water and nutrients, which can cause wilting. Young plants are more susceptible to extensive damage. Larger, more vigorous plants are more tolerant of feeding damage, although they can also be injured or killed if they are severely attacked.

These bugs inject a toxin into the plant and suck the sap right out of it with their sharp mouthparts. This causes yellow spots that eventually turn brown. The leaves will wilt because the damage prevents the flow of nutrients to the leaves, and then they will dry up and turn black.

The most important times to control squash bugs are when the plants are young seedlings and when they are flowering. Early detection is important because adult squash bugs are difficult to kill.

Remove or knock off and kill nymphs and adults by dropping them into a bucket of soapy water. This can be challenging because the bugs hide under leaves and move quickly when disturbed.

Crush the eggs that are attached to the undersides and stems of leaves.

Trap the bugs by laying out boards or pieces of newspaper. The bugs will congregate under the boards at night, and then can be collected and destroyed in the morning.

Check your plants daily. If there are no more than a few vines infected, keep collecting and destroying the bugs and crushing the egg clusters that you find.

Insecticides are not generally needed to control these bugs. They can be used if cucurbits are found wilting early in the season. Carbaryl/Sevin is most effective if applied when eggs are hatching. Consult your local garden center for controls that are locally approved. When using an insecticide, make sure to read the instructions well.

Planting time is approaching. Make sure your garden is free of these little pests. There is no worse feeling than seeing your plants being destroyed and you have no idea what is causing it. Check under the leaves.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

In addition to pitching a one-hitter in game two of the 1967 World Series, who became the first Red Sox pitcher to win the AL Cy Young Award in 1967?

Answer can be found here.

by Roland D. Hallee

“What’s for suppah, Granny,” is the question that comes from members of the Clampett family on the 1960s TV series, The Beverly Hillbillies.

“‘possum stew and crawdad pie,”replies Granny.

Not exactly appetizing if you ask me.

So, let’s get this question out of the way, right now.

First crawdads, or crayfish. They are delicious, but that’s a story for another time.

Opossums, on the other hand, taste pretty bad. They are edible, but are extremely greasy. They would probably be consumed only in a survival situation. They are high in protein, but must be well cooked. One person described it as “tasting like it had been cooked in a burning, plastic garbage bag.”

Why all this about opossums? Well, I saw one last week on my way to work, laying dead by the side of the road. I remember, a few years back, reporting about an opossum sighting in Winslow. But have heard very little since then.

Are they common in Maine? They are usually associated with the deep southern U.S.

Opossums are North America’s only native marsupial. They resemble a cross between a house cat and a giant rat. They are common in Maine, but mostly in the southern part of the state. They have migrated into Maine over the last 50 years, probably because of lack of habitat in their native areas.

At first, people were not all that thrilled about this creature supplanting itself in our environs. The animal has always been perceived as dirty and a possible threat to carrying rabies. All these theories are false.

Opossums may be your best defense against Lyme disease.

A study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that opossums, who are diligent self-cleaners with a tough immune system, are about eight times less likely to be carrying rabies than a feral dog. As they are constantly cleaning themselves, they can destroy up to 95 percent of all deer ticks that try to feed of them. Rick Ostfeld, author of a book on Lyme disease, and a senior scientist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, best described opossums as “basically walking tick vacuums.”

Many ticks try to feed on opossums, but few of them survive. Opossums scurry about the forest floor sucking up ticks at a voracious rate. If you want to rid yourself of ticks from the backyard, it would be better if you had some opossums hanging around. You can go online and find instructions on how to build an opossum house, similar to birdhouses.

With the escalation of tick populations in Maine, opossums are man’s best friend. Opossums consider ticks a tasty snack, and an easy one at that. According to a study conducted by the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a single opossum can wipe out between 5,500 and 6,000 ticks in a week.

John Smith, who founded the Jamestown colony in 1607, first recorded the name “opossum,” from the Powhatan language (opassom). Smith described the opossum: “hath a head of a swine…tail like a rat…of the bigness of a cat.” The Powhatan word is derived from a Proto-Algonquain word meaning “white dog or dog-like beast.” William Strachey, the first secretary of Jamestown, described the animal this way: “beast in bigness of a pig and in taste alike.”

The opossum, Didelphis virginiana, is a marsupial endemic to the Americas. They originated in South America and entered North America in the Great American Interchange following the connection of the two continents. Their flexible diet, and reproductive habits make them successful colonizers and survivors in diverse locations and conditions.

Opossums are usually solitary and nomadic, staying in one area as long as food and water are easily available. And, of course, we all know about the term “playing ‘possum,” the act of mimicking the appearance and smell of a sick or dead animal. What I didn’t know is that the response is involuntary, rather than a conscious act. The stiff, curled form can be prodded, turned over, and even carried away without a reaction from the animal. They will typically regain consciousness after a period of a few minutes or up to four hours.

Although not a handsome fella by most standards, the opossum has a very important place in our ecosystem, in regards to controling the dreaded tick. I wonder if I could convince a couple of them to hang around camp during the summer.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

In 2004, which Red Sox pitcher was the winning pitcher in the clinching games of the ALDS, ALCS, and the World Series?

Answer can be found here.

by Roland D. Hallee

Recently I read an article about the state of bumble bees and honey bees. It seems a common class of pesticide, neonicotinoids, is causing problems for honey bees and bumble bees, by attacking their central nervous systems, causing a reduction in weight and the number of queens in bumble bee hives. It also causes them to become disoriented, and fail to return to their hives.

Neonicotinoids are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine. As of 2013 neonicotinoids have been used in the U.S. on about 95 percent of corn and canola crops, the majority of cotton, sorghum, and sugar beets and about half of all soybeans. They have been used on the vast majority of fruit and vegetables, including apples, cherries, peaches, oranges, berries, leafy greens, tomatoes, and potatoes, to cereal grains, rice, nuts, and wine grapes. Imidacloprid is possibly the most widely used insecticide, both within the neonicotinoids and in the worldwide market.

For more than a decade, pollinators of all types have been in decline, mostly because of loss of habitat, inadequate food sources, diseases caused by parasites and viruses, and bee management practices, along with perhaps some pesticides.

In a British study, researchers dosed bees with the pesticide and moved their hives out to a field. After six weeks, they found the pesticide-treated hives to be 10 percent lighter than those that weren’t treated; and more important, the hives that had pesticides lost about 85 percent of their queens.

Even though lower doses were used with bumble bees, it seems that bumble bees are more sensitive to the pesticide and that issue is worthy of more study.

Honey bees, which aren’t native to America, are managed by professional beekeepers, carted from farm to orchard, and raised to produce honey. Bumble bees, native to this country, are wild pollinators.

Bumble bees are typically found in higher latitudes and high altitudes, through exception exist. They are also found in cold climates where other bees might not be found because bumble bees can regulate their body temperature.

Bumble bees are social insects that feed on nectar and gather pollen to feed their young. Bees are also needed to pollinate fruit, vegetables and nuts. Without them, experts say our diets would be very bland.

Bumble bees generally visit flowers exhibiting the bee pollination syndrome. They tend to visit the same patches of flowers every day, as long as they continue to find nectar and pollen. Pollen is removed from flowers deliberately or incidentally by bumblebees. Once a bumblebee has visited a flower, it leaves a scent mark on the flower. This scent mark deters visitation of the flowers by other bumblebees until the scent degrades.

Once they have collected nectar and pollen, bumble bees return to the nest and deposit the harvested nectar and pollen into brood cells, or into wax cells for storage. Unlike honey bees, bumble bees only store a few days’ worth of food, and so they are much more vulnerable to food shortages.

Queen and worker bumblebees can sting. The bumble bee stinger has no barbs and is capable of multiple stings. They are not normally aggressive, but will sting in defense of their nest or if harmed. They will attack host colony members, but usually ignore other animals and humans unless disturbed.

Multiple species of bees are either seing a decline or disappearing entirely from the European landscape, along with some native to America, some of them may even be extinct.

According to 20th century folklore, the laws of aerodynamics prove that bumble bees should be incapable of flight, as it doesn’t have the capacity to achieve flight with the degree of wing loading necessary. In 1934, French entomologist Antoine Magnan included the following passage in the introduction to his book, Le Vols des Insectes: “First prompted by what is done in aviation, I applied the laws of air resistance to insects, and I arrived … at this conclusion that their flight is impossible.” Apparently, the bumblebee’s wing function is that the wings work similarly to helicopter blades. Bees beat their wings approximately 200 times a second. Their thorax muscles do not expand and contract on each nerve firing but rather vibrate like a plucked rubber band.

So, environmental activists and some beekeepers are convinced the pesticide is a problem. Entomologists have said without bees, “we’d be a scurvy-ridden society.”

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Chris Sale is scheduled to be the opening day pitcher for the Boston Red Sox in 2018. Who was the last Red Sox lefthanded pitcher to start two consecutive opening days?

Answer can be found here.