Happy #WildlifeWednesday! You may have noticed Eastern chipmunks are particularly active right now. The cheeky rodents are busy with their winter preparations, which means gathering as much food as possible to stockpile in their dens. Their dens are located underground, with extensive tunnel systems and multiple entrances. They conceal the entryways by covering them with leaf litter, twigs, and small rocks. Chipmunks dig crevices in the walls of their burrows to store nuts, seeds, and bulbs. They can gather over one hundred acorns in a day, and tend to stash more food than they actually need. Eastern chipmunks are active during the daylight hours, and spend most of their time foraging. They live mostly solitary lives, interacting with others only during the mating season and while raising their young. They are very territorial and will defend their burrows, where they will spend the winter. They do not enter true hibernation, but instead go into a state of reduced physical activity and metabolism called torpor, relying on the cache of food they collected to get them through the cold weather months. They use their cheek pouches to gather and transport food and look pretty cute while doing it. The Wilderness Center and its fans like them so much, the Eastern chipmunk was voted to be our official daytime mascot! Written by Michelle Leighty, TWC Environmental Education Specialist
Happy Wildlife Wednesday! We’re in the middle of Bat Week, a time to appreciate and celebrate bats and raise awareness about the need for their conservation. So let’s highlight some of their amazing characteristics and behaviors! *There are more than 1400 species of bats worldwide, living in habitats all over the planet other than extreme desert and polar regions. *Bats are the only mammals that are capable of true flight, and their wings are actually modified hands with 5 elongated digits *Most species of bats use echolocation to navigate and find prey, emitting high-pitched sounds that bounce off objects in the environment. *Bats are primarily nocturnal, spending their nights hunting for food. Most bats in North America eat insects, eating their body weight in bugs in a single evening. *Some bats eat fruit, nectar, and pollen, and a handful of species have a diet that consists of small animals and blood. *The tiny bumblebee bat weighs less than a penny, while flying foxes are quite large, with a wingspan approaching 6 feet. *When not flying, bats roost by hanging upside down from their feet. Their tendons lock their claws around a perch, requiring no muscle energy to be spent. The hanging position allows them to achieve quick flight, simply by letting go and dropping into the air. Hanging in caves, under bridges, and in tree cavities keeps them hidden and out of reach of daytime predators. *The big brown bat and the little brown bat are the most common species in Ohio. *Bats are threatened by disease such as white-nose syndrome, habitat loss, pesticides and chemical pollutants, collisions with wind turbines, and predation by domestic and feral cats. *Bats are important due to their role as pollinators, for keeping insect populations under control, dispersal of fruit seeds, and as inspiration in engineering (biomimicry). Ways to help bats include installing bat houses in your yard, planting native and night-blooming flowers, turning off outdoor lights to reduce light pollution, limiting chemical use, and supporting conservation organizations. Written by Michelle Leighty, TWC Environmental Education Specialist
