Massasaugas strongly prefer small mammal prey, yet individuals occasionally consume other prey, including amphibians, reptiles and birds.
The post What do Michigan rattlers chow down? first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2023/07/03/what-do-michigan-rattlers-chow-down/
Before the era of plastic, freshwater mussels were the material of choice for the global button industry.
The inside wall of a freshwater mussel’s shell can range in color from pure white to shimmering lavenders and iridescent purples.
European settlers were thrilled to find an abundance of button-worthy mussels in the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/08/shell-middens-mussels-muskrats/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Chioma Lewis, Great Lakes Echo
Freshwater turtles have become less abundant in coastal areas of Greater Toronto that have significantly decreased wetlands.
That’s according to researchers in Toronto who conducted a study to assess the turtle communities in coastal wetlands of Lake Ontario.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/08/depleted-wetlands-freshwater-turtles-toronto/
I Speak for the Fish is a new monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor Kathy Johnson, coming out the third Monday of each month. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/fish-vernal-pools-baby-salamanders/
Waterfowl hunters began buying them nearly a century ago. Just after that, collectors joined the fun.
Since its inception in 1934 when Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act into law, the duck stamp (as it’s commonly known) has garnered more than $1 billion for habitat conservation in the national wildlife refuge system.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/duck-stamp-impacts-great-lakes-nationwide-refuge/
Last year when the Midland dams gave way, more than 21 billion gallons of water rushed into the Tittabawassee River. More than three and a quarter billion gallons of that ended up in the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/wetlands-property-damage-save-lives-floods/
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Payments for dead wolves. Unlimited hunting of the animals. Shooting wolves from the air.
Wolf hunting policies in some states are taking an aggressive turn, as Republican lawmakers and conservative hunting groups push to curb their numbers and propose tactics shunned by many wildlife managers.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-us-states-wolf-kills-pushed-by-republicans/
Intense storm events and flooding are changing the ecology of rivers in the Great Lakes region.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/intense-storms-climate-change-harming-michigan-streams-rivers/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Department of Natural Resources policy board narrowly refused Republican legislators’ request Friday to implement a wolf hunt immediately, citing concerns that the department can’t move that fast and Wisconsin’s Native American tribes haven’t been consulted as per treaty rights.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/ap-wisconsin-dnr-board-refuses-early-wolf-hunt/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — One of the world’s longest-running wildlife field studies has fallen prey to the coronavirus pandemic.
Since 1959, a research team has spent most of the winter observing the interplay between wolves and moose at Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/ap-pandemic-interrupts-longtime-isle-royale-wolf-moose-study/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin will resume its wolf season next November after the animal is dropped from the federal endangered species list, the state announced Friday.
The Department of Natural Resources said wolf season will begin Nov. 6. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last month that it would delist gray wolves, citing thriving populations in the western Great Lakes region, Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/ap-wisconsin-wolf-season-next-november/
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Wildlife advocates and environmental groups have announced that they are challenging the removal of federal protections for gray wolves across most of the U.S.
Two coalitions of groups filed formal notices over the past several days that they plan to sue the U.S. Interior Department in federal court unless protections are restored.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/11/ap-groups-gray-wolf-protections/
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) — Trump administration officials on Thursday stripped Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in most of the U.S., ending longstanding federal safeguards and putting states and tribes in charge of overseeing the predators.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/ap-trump-officials-end-gray-wolf-protections-across-us/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Eric Freedman, Capital News Service
To keep healthy this fall, deer hunters have more to worry about than just COVID-19 and the flu.
On the beware list: a group of chemicals known as PFAS and lead from ammunition.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/hunters-contaminated-game-pfas-lead/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Gray wolves that were taken to Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park to rebuild its nearly extinct population are forming social groups, staking out territory and apparently mating — promising signs despite heavy losses from natural causes and deadly fights, scientists said Monday.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/isle-royale-wolves-moose-herd/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — State environmental and health officials warned people Tuesday to avoid eating the livers of deer harvested around the Marinette area to avoid exposure to PFAS chemicals.
PFAS are man-made chemicals that research suggests can cause a range of health problems in humans. The chemicals have been used for decades in a range of products, including nonstick cookware, fast-food wrappers and firefighting foam.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/ap-dnr-pfas-deer-livers-wisconsin-marinette/
Josh Otten reached down and pulled two turtles from the bow compartment of his kayak. One was the size of a dinner plate; the other was barely the size of a silver dollar pancake. Both were northern map turtles, the most common species of turtle in the Kalamazoo River watershed, according to Otten who played a key role in the rescue and rehabilitation of more than 2,000 turtles in 2010 following the Kalamazoo River oil spill.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/turtle-recovery-kalamazoo-river-enbridge-oil-spill/
After a stint as an intern for Great Lakes Now, Kathy Johnson is shining a light on the Kalamazoo River oil spill 10 years ago and the subsequent turtle recovery efforts with her first fully produced segment for Great Lakes Now.
Like many journalists working in the Great Lakes region covering stories about the Great Lakes, Kathy Johnson’s roots begin in the region.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/great-lakes-producer-ecosystems-life-water-covering-lakes/
The animals at various aquariums are dealing with their own COVID-19 lockdown struggles as they adjust to new routines, new procedures and a distinct lack of the public, and each animal handles it a little differently.
Thanks to Great Lakes aquariums like Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, the Aquatarium at Tall Ships Landing in Brockville, Ontario, and Belle Isle Conservancy in Detroit, the public can get a peek at the various things staff are doing to keep the animals happy and entertained.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/05/animal-quiz-great-lakes-aquarium-animal-covid-19-quarantine/
Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium is one of the more popular, well-known aquariums around the country with 2 million visitors every year.
But the COVID-19 pandemic has closed it to the public, which is a big change for the penguins, whales, fish and other creatures that live in the Shedd’s various habitats.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/05/covid-19-shedd-aquarium-visitors/
Masks or no, the otters at the Aquatarium at Tall Ships Landing in Brockville, Ontario, know exactly who’s in their den space.
“They really recognize us more by our smell and our boots,” said Jennipher Carter, senior aquarist at the Aquatarium. For the otters at least, adjusting to their caretakers all wearing masks didn’t take long.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/05/ontario-aquatarium-covid-19-virtual-engagement/
