Did You know - outdoor edition

[WV Sawmiller]

  Thanks for posting. I was never around enough muskrats to know anything about them. Maybe we should think of them as "Water Possums". :D

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you ever see a flying squirrel? Most people have not even though they may have plenty on their property. They don't fly - they glide. Flying squirrels are nocturnal and are rarely seen in daylight hours and only then when disturbed in most cases. They are about 6" long from the tip of their nose to the base of their tail and maybe 4"-5" wide when they spread their "wings". They have a section of thin loose skin between their back and front feet. When they stretch their legs out this skin tightens and allows them to glide from spot to spot. They have huge, limpid brown, bulging eyes and extremely soft, velvety fur. They typically live in small round holes in dead limbs or standing dead trees. I do not know if they take over woodpecker nests or make these holes on their own. They will sometimes live in splits or big cracks in trees and occasionally even in small leaf nests they build or take over from other squirrels. They have a flattened tail about an inch wide they use as a rudder in flight.

 If you are looking for flying squirrels go to your woodlot and look for standing dead trees on your property and search them for small round holes approximately 2" in diameter and normally near the top of the tree. An occupied den will usually show up as clean white wood. To check for occupancy you can lightly shake the tree or scrape the side of the tree with a nearby limb to simulate a predator climbing the tree. Be careful shaking these old trees as many are weak and can fall back on you. The area around the den if often especially weak and the tree top may break off at the base of the den. If a flying squirrel is present he will often stick his nose and face out to see what is causing the disruption. Sometimes he will often run out a few inches and stop while flattened out on the side of the tree. If you cease all noise and movement the flying squirrel will normally duck back in his hole. If you continue the disturbance the squirrel will generally run higher and higher up the tree. When he has what he considers sufficient height he will stop, squat down then launch himself out into the air as he spreads his legs and goes into glider mode. I have seen them glide and land on a tree 40-50 yards away but usually they have a target closer. They will often glide down at a very steep angle then flare out to slow and land on another tree. They often have another hole designated and sometimes look like they fly right into it.

 I had an old HS friend who several times tried to catch a flying squirrel that would fly directly to a hole in a large tree where he would escape. Jeff studied this and went home and sewed a thin cloth bag/pouch which he then stuffed and opened in the escape hole. He went over and shook the den tree and the squirrel jumped and glided right into the bag which Jeff then closed and pulled the squirrel out and took it home for a pet.

 Flying squirrels are very cute but not ideal as pets because they are nocturnal and are only active at night. When you want to play with them they want to sleep, when you want to sleep he wants to get up and chew and run around. As rodents they have to chew constantly it is essential you keep plenty of hard foods like walnuts or hickory nuts and such so they keep their teeth worn down.

 They will often target barns and feed on leftover tidbits of animal feed or chew holes in sacks of feed or grain. I had one co-worker in Albany Ga who had one get in the attic of his house and was keeping him up at night. When he finally found what it was George was able recover 20-25 lbs of pecans the squirrel had stored. George finally got the entrance holes closed so the squirrel could not get back in.

 A cousin of mine and I chased a flying squirrel into a den hole at the base of a hollow tree. It was near sunset and we came up with the truly brilliant idea of smoking him out. In case he got past us we put Randy up in the tree to grab him as he came by. I gathered a bunch of dry leaves and pine straw and lit them. The smoke did not go up in the hole as planned but came out and up choking me and Randy till I got the bright idea of putting my burlap catch sack over the opening. This worked better and in a minute or two I felt something scratching on my bag so I moved it to check and Rocky came running up with his tail on fire. He ran across Randy's bare leg burning/blistering it then past him to the top of the tree. He stopped momentarily and the fire in his tail died to a small red glow - till he jumped! The tail flared up and it was "Flame On" again as he glided from tree to tree. It was a pretty dry time of year and we were worried we were going to set the woods on fire which fortunately we did not. I always wondered if the hair grew back on his tail after that? In closing I can only suggest you do not try smoking an animal out of his den.

[Texas Ranger]

We had a bird house hanging by a wire, the limb was growing around the wire so the girls (11 and )  decided we needed to undo the wire so the tree "would not hurt".  Top of ladder, undoing the wire when a flying squirrel came out, jumped on my shoulder, and then the next tree.  I was lucky to keep my balance as that was not expected, the house being "empty" as far as we knew.  Girls ran after the squirrel and ignored me.

[WV Sawmiller]

TR,

  Your girls sound like they have their priorities in line with many of my buddies and, truth be told, family members. :D I am glad no squirrels or Texan's were injured in the making of this memory. I had forgotten they will take over birdhouses but seem to remember them doing so.

  I love to see them gliding as they are so graceful in flight. They look little almost square kites and they shift their bodies or their tail from side to side to direct their flight then when they land they just flare out and land ever so gently on their target tree.

  I took down a deer feeder several years back. Squirrels had chewed a 4" hole in the plastic barrel. There were a couple of inches of corn left from after my feeder battery had died. When I lowered the feeder I found a flying squirrel trapped. He had plenty of corn to eat but no water but the sides were too tall and too slick for him to climb out. He did not look to have been in there long as he seemed in good health. I put a feed sack over the hole and tilted the barrel till the squirrel jumped out in the bag. I brought him home and showed him to Becky. We took the squirrel back to the area he where I caught him and released him and she got several pictures of him on a small tree. No doubt his den/nest was near by and he returned safely as soon as we left.

  When we were in the woods if we found a den and happened to catch one I would normally take off one my boots and tie him up in my sock till I could get him home.

  We had one here in a hardware cloth cage and I was feeding him assorted nuts and such but I found he would not eat the pecans. It finally dawned on me he had never seen a pecan as they don't grow up here. I cracked a couple and put them in his cage and when I got up the next morning every pecan had been eaten. If it was a hickory nut or black walnut he knew what do do but not a pecan.

[timberking]

More than once got in deer stand and heard movement then see 2 big eyes with the light.

[WV Sawmiller]

   as you know I have the same problem with chipmunks. :D

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=112872.0

[KEC]

The last flying squirrel I saw was one with 2 babies in one of my bird boxes, which I left alone. When I did wildlife control work I found that they like attics and when the winters are rough they will go all over in a house looking for food. I trapped several out of one attic using rat snap traps, which are a mediocre trap for Norway Rats, but well suited for flyers. Some that I caught were partly eaten by the rest of the flyers; I found no other animals in that attic. Like many critters they are great when they stay out of the house.  They get into houses, usually up high and really like to get in where there is a bad screen by an attic vent fan. I think the most I removed from 1 attic was 22.

[thecfarm]

I cut a big beech here about 20 years ago. Out came a flying squirrel as the tree was falling. The only one that I have ever seen. 

[WV Sawmiller]

Cfarm,

   Beech trees are perfect den trees for flying squirrels and other den dwellers such as racoons, squirrels, possums, woodpeckers, screech owls etc because they they are notorious for have large hollow cavities.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know there is a nocturnal species of monkey? In South America especially in Columbia, Ecuador and Peru there is a monkey about the size of a Fox Squirrel and supposedly up to about 18" tall called the Noisy Night Monkey (Also called Spix's Night Monkey). It apparently is one of the fastest monkeys when traveling through the jungle because it is adept at using all 4 feet when moving and can hurl itself further through the trees than most monkeys. It apparently lives in small family groups with the father doing much of the child care. It has a series of, apparently, very loud calls it uses for protection and to find a mate and such. It is rarely seen, similar to our flying squirrel, because of its nocturnal nature.

   We saw part of a NNM on Christmas Day 2008 while overnighting at the Samona Lodge in the Cuyabeno in Ecuador. It was right behind the lodge near the water tank/tower where the lodge pumped up water from the Cuyabeno River to gravity feed to the bathrooms in the lodges and kitchen. The monkey was in a 4" diameter hole in a tree about 50' above ground. All we were able to see of the monkey was his face as he peered out to see what all the noise below was about. If our guide had not pointed him out I would never have seen this one.

[KEC]

The first flying squirrel I ever saw was when I was a kid. We liked to go in the woods and push over dead trees. One a day I pushed one over and when it hit the ground a flyer rolled out, climbed a tree then glided to another tree; I was mesmerized. Regarding hollow beech trees. When I hauled logs the company I worked for bought a stand of timber on state land with a lot of beech that looked really nice. When they cut it nearly every one was hollow. Luckily it was within reasonable distance to a mill in Pa. that chipped it into chips for masonite. 

[thecfarm]

I had a lot of big old beech on my land. Couple feet across was no big deal. I was cutting one and made the felling notch and than started the back cut. All at once I had liquid running out of something. I thought my saw had sprung a leak!!  :     Than I realized the saw did not have that much gas in it.  :D  It was hollow inside and there was water in it. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I dragged and cut up a clump of small beech trees yesterday for firewood. They were a clump on the edge of my creek that washed out and uprooted last year. I think there were 6-7 stems with the biggest was about 10" diameter. When I cut the stems off at the base the clump stood back up and dropped in the creek. The stems are pretty much dead and ready to burn. I am torn between whether to save the butt log from the largest stem for lumber or not as what little beech I have sawn has been beautiful lumber. I will look one more time before I buck it further. I do know beech is very dense and the hardest wood I ever tried to split. I'd hit it with a splitting maul and it would bounce back at me. I'd try to drive a wedge in it and it would bounce a foot or more up in the air when I hit it a good whack.

[Texas Ranger]

Back in the days when I used increment borers on a regular basis we would occasionally hit a hollow with water, more often a hollow with pressure built up, from bacteria most likely.  Also if not care full a hollow will eat an increment borer bit.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know frog sweat will make you see things? It will if it comes off the Giant Tree Frog in Peru. The GTF looks like our little green rain frogs, you know - the ones that stick on your window pane after a summer rain shower - only much bigger. The ones I saw were about 6" from nose to rump. When agitated they exude a thin milky looking sweat all over their body. This sweat has toxins in it that force a predator to immediately spit out the frog. I don't know if they would eventually kill the predator if they actually ate him or not. Native Indian tribes would collect this sweat/poison and take a burning ember and burn a spot on their skin and rub the frog sweat it it. This would cause them to have visions which they used to locate their next hunting area.

   On our vacation into the jungle of Peru we took a small boat up the Amazon in April of 2010 our local Indian crew caught a couple of giant tree frogs and staked them out spread eagled about 6" above the ground with 4 cords tied to small stakes driven into the ground. They tickled the frogs nose and belly with a green leaf until he began to ooze white sweat. They wiped the sweat off with what looked like a wooden coffee stirrer or popsicle stick. They would let this sweat dry and crystalize and sell it to some medical or pharmaceutical company who were studying it for possible medicinal use. After they finished collecting the frog sweat the frog was released. GTFs kept in captivity cease to produce the same toxicity apparently due to the change in diet. (Note: No GTFs were killed or injured in the making of this memory.)

   Our guide, a relocated Floridian game warden, living in Iquitos Peru and married to a local Peruvian lady, said he had tried the technique of rubbing the sweat into an open burn wound and it definitely sent him on a trip. He said when it wore off he was amazed that it had corrected his vision and some other improvements. There are still lots of strange things out there about nature we haven't learned yet.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that even though they look like a horse or donkey, a zebra barks like a dog instead of neighing, whinnying or braying? The first time I ever heard them was on our vacation to Kenya and we were on the Masai Mara preserve we kept hearing all these dogs barking and frogs croaking and I finally realized there were no dogs, jackals (which sound like birds BTW) or hyenas and it was actually the zebras feeding on the savannah. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that an African (I'm not sure there is any other kind) wildebeest croaks like a frog or toad. So does a Mongolian yak.

  As mentioned previously on our first trip to Kenya on the plains of the Maasai  Mara at the tail end of the annual migration we were surrounded by zebra and wildebeest and we kept hearing barking and croaking like frogs. The barking was the zebras but the constant croaking was coming from the wildebeests. In the summer of 2006 after completing an assignment in the Gobi desert and while on vacation in central and northern Mongolia we observed herds of yaks and to me, they sounded almost identical to a wildebeest. I don't know how closely the two might be related. I think a yak is closer to a cow.

[Walnut Beast]

The Elk is the only North American animal with Ivory . Two teeth 🦷 

[WV Sawmiller]

The Elk is the only North American animal with Ivory . Two teeth 🦷

Now wait just a minute for a fact check here. :D I thought walrus had ivory tusks and they lived along the coast of Alaska and Canada. I was not the world's best geography student (If I'd ever known I would travel as much as I did I'd have been a lot better student) but aren't they still considered N. America? ???

  I have a couple of carved shakers I bought somewhere in Africa - Cameroon I think. They are about 6-8 inches long and 1.5" diameter or so. Evidently they used to make them for kids rattles and fill them with beads or gravel to make some noise. They may have also been a teething toy. The guy that sold them to me swore they were hippo teeth. They may well be cow bone for all I know.

   BTW - I did not know elk teeth were ivory. Thanks for posting that tidbit.

[KEC]

I remember a long time ago in an outdoor magazine, I read about a guy who went to far Northern Canada. While there, the Inuits killed a walrus and cut it open and removed clams from the stomach and ate them. I think that it was in the same article that he told about a lake with landlocked cod in it that he fished for.

[WV Sawmiller]

KEC,

   I am surprised the clams were intact after being eaten by a walrus. I never thought about it but guess I always  assumed the walrus would crush the shell before eating them. I used to catch big alligator snapping turtles who were full of mussels but the mussels had been crushed before the turtle swallowed them. I am not surprised the Inuit ate intact clams they found inside. I'd bet most indigenous people would eat any stomach contents in their prey they found reasonably intact. I have used unlaid eggs I found in alligator snapping turtles. My wife made a bunch of cookies or brownies out of some one time just for the novelty of it. They tasted fine and the kids got a kick out of taking turtle egg brownies to school with them.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know dogs dream? My not so fearless Rat Terrier, Sampson, will often be laying here on his favorite spot on the rug in front of the TV and we will hear him sound like he has the hiccups or such. When we look at him we see his eyes are tightly closed and he is making little Woof, woof, woof sounds in his sleep and his feet are all twitching as if he is running. I don't know if he is chasing a rabbit or running from one.

[WV Sawmiller]

Did you know seal oil is supposed to help treat cholesterol problems? At least that is what the plaque says at the memorial at Cape Cross on the northern end of the Skeleton Coast in Namibia.

Cape Cross is home to a huge fur seal colony and previously the seals were harvested for their skins, meat and apparently their oil. Maybe this is why you never hear that Eskimos who eat seal blubber don't die of stroke or heart attack. (Then again - Maybe they do but we just don't hear of it.)

[barbender]

Come to think of it, I really don't hear much of anything about the eskimos🤷🏽‍♂️😊

[WV Sawmiller]

   Yeah, we are probably politically incorrect in using that term.: We likely should be referring them as Inuit or indigenous residents. I think Native and Indian and we know Redskin is no longer a PC term. >:( Oh well, at least my dog still loves me. :D