Wednesday Evening

Do you figure out the picture of the wood? It was a tree that had been cut down by a beaver. Can you see how they gnawed around the tree. Their front teeth are like chisels. They are large orange in color and they have iron in them. They grow constantly and they need to gnaw on wood to keep them from getting too long.

We have couple, Andrew and Karen from Australian on our team. Here are some words and phrases that are different.
Dodgy is suspicious
Scarper is to run away
Faffing is wasting time
Singlet is a tank top
Swimmers or cossie are bathing suits
Sunnys are sunglasses
Firey is fireman
Ambo is ambulance driver
Walkabout is wandered off
Torch is a flashlight
Servo is a pertrol station(gas station)
In new Zealand togs are bathing suits

Here are some new vocabulary words to think about? Do you know what they mean?
Nocturnal
Hibernation
Torpor
Herbivore
Omnivore
Insectivore

Today we did not have an as much luck trapping the rodents. We did catch 2 flying squirrels which was really interesting. Here is a short video of his capture. One of them was released back into the area where it was captured and it scampered up trees until it got back to where we were. We got to see it glide right in front of us and land on the other side of the road. We got to take some more pictures while it sat and ate nuts. It was so cute!

Here is some information about the flying squirrels. They are nocturnal. We were surprised that the flying squirrel came back to eat. They do not really fly they glide from one tree to another. One of the flying squirrels was not very active when we took it out of the trap. It had moved the nesting material and was sitting on the cold metal. We think it had started to go into torpor. Torpor occurs when they lower their body temperature to lower their metabolism. Torpor is different from hibernation in that they can go into torpor at any time. It does not require a certain amount of day length. It can also be brought on by getting wet and cold or by physically being in bad shape.
Some examples of animals that go into torpor are bats, flying squirrels, nightjar(bird), bears and hedgehogs.


Wally was helping us look for Beaver last night.The beaver lodge is the family home. The entrances are underwater so that the predators can’t find the entrance. The sleeping chambers are inside the lodge above the water level. A baby beaver is called a cub and they stay with the family for a year. Beavers are herbivores. What does that mean? They spend the fall eating plants to get fat for winter. They also start gathering sticks and taking them inside the lodge. They will use them to gnaw on over the winter. Beavers can hold their breath for 15 minutes. Beavers have 3 eyelids. One eyelid is transparent which means that they can have their eyes closed but still can see while they are swimming in the water. While we were watching the beaver one of the adults smacked her tail on the water. It was a very loud noise and that told the rest of the beavers that there were other animals around (people) and conveyed a message to us that they knew we were there.
If you want more information go to National Geographic Beavers

In the afternoon we did 12 - 25 square meter mammal droppings transects. We found deer, snowshoe hare, spruce grouse, and chipmunk scat. We also saw 2 different types of salamanders, a smooth green snake and a purple toadstool. the picture of the salamander is an Eastern Red Eft.

Tomorrow will be our last day to check our traps in the field. I should be able to give you some totals as to how many species were found and how many of each.