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Spring Snake Romance
Published On 2/8/2013With a blanket of snow on the ground we don’t expect to see local reptiles or amphibians but, as the days get longer, we are more likely to encounter our cold-blooded neighbors. In February, you can find spotted salamanders walking slowly under the ice, looking for mates. Later in the month, the noise of woodfrogs, spring peepers, and chorus frogs advertise territories. Amidst this flurry of amphibian breeding, garter snakes begin to emerge from their hibernacula. Though garter snakes relish a frog or salamander meal during the summer, this time of year they have one goal—mating.
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Our resident garter snake -
Can you find the garter snake? -
Keeping an eye on visitors
Once bred, female garter snakes retain their eggs (known as ovoviviparity) rather than lay them in a rotting log, like a rat snake. In this way it is easy for the female to move the eggs from one warm patch of sun to another, even in places where the ground stays very cold late into the summer. This behavior has allowed garter snakes to spread further north than any other group of snakes and ensures that garter snake babies are born earlier in the year than any other snake. It also explains the biology behind all the stories of kids bringing one big garter snake home, only to later find the house full of pencil-sized baby snakes.
Chicago and surrounding couties are home to a particularly striking color form of the garter snake. In addition to the hadsome yellow and olive pin-striping of the standard garter, the Chciago garter has vivid red blotches on the side. If you can't go out looking for garter snakes yourself, you'll find the Nature Museum's resident Chicago garter snake in our Istock Look-In Lab.
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Chicago Volunteer Expo
Published On 2/6/2013Remember back in November when we blogged about all the ways your life will improve when you start volunteering? Well we have great news for you. We are hosting the first-ever Chicago Volunteer Expo right here at the Nature Museum on February 10th. This is your chance!
This Sunday, you can meet folks from over 60 nonprofit organizations in need of smart, talented volunteers to do such a wide variety of projects that we can only mention a fraction of them in this blog post.Working Bikes Cooperative needs handy mechanics to repair bicycles. The Chicago Bird Collision Monitors want volunteers to traverse the city rescuing injured birds. FreeGeek Chicago is looking for people to help recycle old computer parts and teach community members how to use them. Sarah’s Circle needs volunteers to lead workshops in nutrition, job searching, and self defense for women who are homeless in Uptown.
There are so many ways to help out and so many needs to be met. But here’s the big secret. This Expo is not really for the organizations. It’s for YOU.
For anyone who made a new year’s resolution to give back to their community. For anyone who wants to fight for the cause they truly care about. For anyone who wants to add a little meaning to their workaday lives. You are the people these nonprofits are searching for. Come meet them at the Chicago Volunteer Expo and start the conversation.
Did we mention it’s free?
Sunday, February 10
10 am to 4 pm
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
2430 N Cannon Drive
Free! All ages welcome!Jill Doub, Sarah and Nick Anderson
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Organizing Committee for the Chicago Volunteer ExpoGroundhog, Woodchuck, or Whistlepig?
Published On 2/2/2013Squirrels are a very diverse group of rodents. This little Bornean tree squirrel is among the smallest while the American groundhog is among the largest. The groundhog (Marmota monax)can be found through most of the country and consequently have many names like woodchuck and whistlepig. Here is a groundhog skin from the Academy’s collection next to North America’s smallest squirrel, the Red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)—not to be confused with the Fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), which is pretty big compared to a red squirrel.
Borneo Tree Squirrel Groundhog and Red Squirrel
Although all of these animals are squirrels, the bushy-tailed tree squirrels remain active year round, relying on cached food to help them make it through the winter. However, ground squirrels, like Groundhogs have a different strategy. They eat as much tender grass and other easily-digested plant material as they can during the growing season, and may double their spring weight with fat. Then, once cool weather sets in, they go deep in their burrows for a long winter’s sleep, dropping their heart rate from around 140 beats per minute to less than 20 and cooling their body down as well. Groundhogs will periodically rouse from torpor and re-warm their body before settling down again. Legend has it that during one of these warming bouts, they can predict the end of winter. While this is a fun tradition, there’s no evidence that squirrels actually have predictive powers. In fact, the legend apparently began in Germany where the most common charismatic hibernator is the hedgehog. Lacking hedgehogs in America, German immigrants transferred the idea to the local woodchucks and a fun holiday was born.
Fox Squirrel View Comments