Listen Now

  Hello, I'm the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/  Here's your outdoor tip on skunks. Skunks are not aggressive animals, but a close encounter with a skunk in the wild usually raises some level of fear in a person’s mind.  Usually they will only be aggressive when surprised, cornered or when protecting their young.  The first line of attack for many skunks will be to growl, spit, raise their tails, and stamp the ground. But if you don’t heed its message to “get out of town” seriously, the skunk will turn, lift its tail and spray in your direction. Sometimes an overly-enthusiastic pet dog, even in an urban setting, may bring a sampling of this disgusting scent to your backdoor when returning home after a skunk encounter. This powerful sulfuric deterrent against predators is a strong smelling oily liquid produced by the glands under its tail.  They are known to shoot this foul spray as far as #1____________ (How far do you think? I’ll give you several quiz questions such as this one in this podcast.  Keep track of your answers and find the correct answers at the end of the podcast). The odorous spray is mostly an irritant, but close range exposure can product nausea, headaches, and vomiting. It can be temporarily incapacitating. Major damage is usually not done to the skunk’s victim, but the smell may linger for days defying attempts to remove it. This defense is so widely known that even most animals respect the skunk’s territory and give a wide birth to even a hint of the smell. The smell of the skunk’s spray is very unique but some describe it as being like cat pee and rotten eggs—others say burnt rubber.  Many think that they way to remove the scent from your body is by bathing in tomato juice. This is only true if you want you or your dog to smell like some kind of rare, but unappealing spaghetti dish. It is best to neutralize the skunk spray with baking soda (1/4 cup) and hydrogen peroxide (1 quart) with some liquid soap to break up the oil—you may experience some hair color change. It is best to just throw your clothes away as effective smell removal is not practical. And here’s another quiz question for this podcast.  How far away can you

Alligator Gar Hello, I'm the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/ Here's your outdoor tip on alligator gar—frequently called the misunderstood big daddy of freshwater fish. I’m not getting in that water! One of those gar might take my arm off! People are often weary of the toothy-snouted fish called the alligator gar. The prehistoric looking fish does have a mouth full of teeth, but there are no publicized cases of a gar attacking a person. Of the seven species of gar, the alligator gar is the largest. These monsters can grow almost to 10 feet in length and reach over 300 pounds. They are an olive green or yellow with a heavily scaled body. Its mouth is filled with teeth and its snout is wide and long like an alligator’s thus giving it its name. It is believed that this species with a prehistoric appearance has remained largely unchanged since the dinosaur—they might even be called living fossils. They have a fierce look, but there are no recorded attacks against people. An important fact, however, is that their eggs are poisonous if eaten by humans. The prehistoric ancestors of this giant fish used to live throughout the world, but today gar inhabit only North and Central America. You will find them in much of the southeast coastal United States. They inhabit waters from Texas and Oklahoma then as far north as the Mississippi and the lower Ohio/Missouri rivers--in addition to Mexico. The alligator gar’s reputation as a “trash fish” is changing slightly with television shows like the Animal Planet’s River-Monsters .showing the gar as a sought-after fish by Texas citizens and visitors to the state. They are moving the fish from nuisance species to a species to be conserved. Texas is an important player in conservation of the alligator gar as it is one state that still has a healthy population that it hopes to maintain with a one-per-day bag limit. Biologists hope that future research will provide ideas of how to further preserve the species. Alligator gar have few predators in the wild, however alligators have been known to go after them and large fish will attack their young. You can label them as oppo

  Hello, I'm the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/ Here's your outdoor tip on zebra mussels. Non-native zebra mussels were found for the first time about 20 years ago in North America. It is thought they were carried in the ballast tanks of ships from western European ports to Lake St. Clair and the lakes Huron and Erie. Now, a great deal of attention has been on the ballast water of cargo ships to prevent more introductions of this invasive animal into the Great Lakes region. The name “zebra mussel” comes from the striped pattern of their shells. The pattern does vary from very dark to the point of only light stripes on some shells. The mussels can grow to a size of about 50mm but are only 5-10 mm during their first year of age. Zebra mussels have upset the aquatic food chains of many inland lakes in the United States Their voracious filter systems deplete the microscopic organisms that are critical parts in each lake’s ecological food system. This affects the food for larval and juvenile fish that support the sport and commercial fishing industries. As other mussels, zebra mussels attach themselves to hard surfaces in the water. Unlike others, though, zebras will attach to native mussels—a behavior known as bio-fouling that reduces the populations of native mussels. Of great concern is this may eliminate some of the rarer species of mussels. The affinity of zebra mussels to attach to hard surfaces also has made water intake structures for power and municipal water treatment plants susceptible to colonization and causes significant reductions in pumping capabilities and can cause periodic plant shutdowns. Research shows that zebra mussels rapidly accumulate organic pollutants such as PCBs and PAHs with levels 300,000 times greater than concentrations in the natural environment. These items are deposited in their pseudofeces and can be passed up the food chain to fish and waterfowl. Humans are in turn exposed to these pollutants by eating the fish and birds. Invasion biology has been expanded by the intrusion of zebra mussels. US Legislation has been introduced to treat the ballast water of ships. Salt water acts as a natural preventat

  Hello, I'm the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/ Here's your outdoor tip on earthworms. As a kid, I can remember the favorite bait my family used for fishing was night crawlers. They were easy to keep alive in a “bait box” as long as it was in the shade and were easy to put on the hook—much easier than keeping minnows alive and on the hook—and worms always seem to catch as many fish. You may have had the experience of taking a shovel out in the backyard and digging some fresh worms for a fishing trip. Or maybe, you went out after a rain in the evening and gathered what you called “night crawlers” for fishing. While you may think an earthworm is an earthworm, there are about 6000 know species of earthworms. In most cases in the United States you have a species of what’s called a common earthworm and red worms largely used in composting—although these two general categories represent a number of different species. The two general types have a number of characteristics in common, but there are significant differences in the worms. Earthworms are commonly found in your yard and garden so I will spend most of my time talking generally about them. They consume the soil getting their nutritional needs from things living in it such as fungi and bacteria. They leave castings or waste behind that is good for growing plants. They also are active burrowers that are good for aerating the soil. Earthworms are frequently called nightcrawlers, although many nightwrawlers are specialized European species. Rainstorms at night bring nightcrawlers to the surface and you will often find them in the driveway or street. It not known for sure why they surface with the rain, but some ideas include: They might surface for oxygen if their tunnels fill with water, Their skin must stay moist and the rain gives them the chance to slide quickly over the land. They mate on the surface and want to stay out of the sun. Earthworms are sensitive to poisons that rain might wash into their tunnels forcing them to escape. Earthworm bodies are composed of ring-like segments called a

Tarantulas  Hello, I'm the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/ Here's your outdoor tip on tarantulas. They are fearsome looking, but they are a novel and adored pet for some people. They also serve as delicacies at the dinner table for people of the Amazon. Tarantulas are the largest spiders and hold a position in folklore across the world. There are about 850 species of tarantulas in the world and more than four dozen species in the United States. In the southwestern US, they live alone in desert basins, mountain foothills and forest slopes. Their nests can be in burrows or crevices sequestered in the ground, in cliff faces and between tree roots. Some produce a buzzing sound by rubbing their jaws or front legs against each other. Tarantulas will attack anything that they can subdue including beetles, grasshoppers, other spiders, lizards or even mice. They kill by using their fangs to inject venom into their victims. They inject a chemical into the prey that dissolves the flesh. During mating season, the male may be accepted or rejected by the female—in either case becoming the female’s next source of protein to support her young. After mating the female produces an egg sac and six or seven weeks later hundreds of tiny spiderlings hatch. After a few weeks, the young will leave the nest to be out on their own. As tarantulas mature, they molt several times shedding their old exoskeleton for a new one. Male are expected to live for only a few years, but females will live for decades. Here are some of the characteristics of tarantulas in the United States: Red to tan to black in color Body up to three inches Three to five inch legs Body and legs are hairy Males are slimmer and longer than females Exoskeleton has fused head and thorax connected with a narrow waist to an oval abdomen Eight eyes in two groups on the forehead Backward pointing fangs and mouth below the eyes Four pairs of legs connected to the fused head and thorax

Glowing Animal Eyes   Hello, I'm the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/ Here's your outdoor tip on why animal eyes glow in the dark. Have you ever caught a deer in the headlights of your car at night and seen a luminescent glow in its eyes? Have you gone along a river or lake at night shining the shoreline with a spotlight and seen a spooky glow of eyes seeming to stare at you through the dense darkness? This phenomenon is caused by a series of special adaptions designed to help animals see in low light. The shine from the eyes is caused by a layer of tissue, Tapetum Lucidum, located behind the retina that reflects light back through the retina giving the receptors a second chance at the rays of light.  This increases the available light providing a kind of night vision for the animal. Also, when a light shines, it reflects a bright glow that can be seen from a distance. When light enters the human eye, it passes through the pupil that regulates how much light strikes the retina at the back of the eye. Receptors there called rods and cones receive the light. Working best in low light, rods help you to see movement and broad details. Cones work in bright light to help you see fine details and colors. Humans have more cones while night animals typically have more rods. Nocturnal predators have almost no cones relying on sudden movement to spot prey and guide their attacks. Animals such as deer are largely active during dawn and dusk so their eyes have larger pupils than animals that are mostly active during the day. This increases the glowing eye effect since in the dark, the pupil can expand to cover most of the front of the eye. This opens much of the shiny layer beneath the retina increasing the glowing effect. The eye shine of animals will vary within the same species. Genetics, diet, injury, and other factors make the glowing eyes of one animal different than that of another. Animals that have the tapetum lucidum include deer, dogs, cats, cattle, horses and ferrets. Humans and other primates do not along with squirrels, kangaroos, and pigs. And all glowing animal eyes do not glow the same color due to different substances such as bioflavin or zinc in the tapetrum. Va

Natural Ways To Combat Fleas!     Flea season is here! Try these chemical-free remedies to prevent and rid your home and pets of these pests!   Source: Natural Ways To Combat Fleas! READ

   

Hello, I'm the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/ Here's your outdoor tip on cattails. The cattail is one of the most common plants in large marshes and on the edge of ponds. It is called the wetlands supermarket by many people. White, dense, and furry cigar-shaped seed heads sit at the top of very long stalks. There are two common species in the United states—broad-leaved cattail and narrow-leaved cattail. Their flat-blade leaves reach heights from3 to 10 feet. Both can be propagated by rhizomes or seed dispersion. Hybrid and Southern cattail are also other varieties found in the United States. Cattails like shallow, flooded conditions establishing themselves in 1 to1.5 foot of water. Pollinated flowers develop into fluffy seed heads that blow through the air. They spread through their root systems with thick white roots called rhizomes. Large amounts of food are stored in the root system and the dense foliage and debris from the old plants make it difficult for completing plant species to grow. Cattails prefer shallow, flooded conditions and easily get established along a pond shoreline or in waters one to 1.5 feet or less in depth. When unimpeded however, the cattail beds will expand and can extend their hefty rhizomes well out into pond into much deeper waters.  Cattails need to have “wet feet” during most of the growing season. Many pond owners view cattails with uncertainty because they have a tendency to grow in thick, nearly impenetrable stands, blocking the view of open water and raising the concern that they will take over and cover a pond. When undisturbed cattails beds can expand out from the shore taking over deeper water areas. Cattails can become a problem in irrigated farm land and managed aquatic systems impeding water flow and increasing siltation. The animals most associated with cattails are red-winged blackbirds that often build their nest in them. Ducks and geese nest in them and frogs and salamanders lay their eggs in the water with them. Cattails are food for muskrats and they use them to bu