Volunteers plant trees for nature center in West Atlanta

Urban areas experience increasing amounts of paving and land development that convert large areas of spongy natural land to hard surfaces that cannot absorb water.  When rain hits paved-over or built-over areas, it runs off directly into storm drains and eventually into area streams and rivers.   A hard, fast rain, with no vegetation or natural land to slow it down can hit these water bodies with such speed and force that it will result in flooding and severe erosion problems.  Downstream areas such as bays and estuaries can get deadly slugs of sediment and chemical pollution from these run-off surges.

Anyone who has stood under a tree at the beginning of a rain shower (not advisable in lighting storms) knows that tree canopy absorbs falling rain.  In urban areas this can reduce water run-off by as much as 10 percent and that can make a huge difference in the speed and erosive force of the rain shower.  That is one reason trees are increasingly becoming a standard design feature for automobile parking lots which, left uncovered, are huge run-off generators.  These same parking lots are also heat on hot summer days and contribute to spikes in temperatures know as “heat islands.”  Tree canopy is an effective coolant in these areas and that is likewise good for local wildlife and water.

Trees also need water to grow and can help consume excess water in urban areas.  Urban planners and designers are paying more and attention to filling remaining “plantable” spaces in cities and suburbs with trees.   The recent trend of planting areas called “rain gardens” in parking lots and other developed areas that are specifically designed to capture rain water and help it percolate into the ground.  This absorption is facilitated by tree planting.

Please be sure to visit the original post to read the whole thing, and learn about the ways NWF is partnering with the National Aquarium to protect the Chesapeake Bay and other coastal areas.

Also, celebrate National Wildlife Week by donating to our tree bank today! You can help us reach our goal of planting 75,000 trees this year>>

Crows and Ravens

Raven U.S. FWS

• They remember your face. Once a crow is mad at you and it will remember it doesn’t like you for ages and will raise a real fuss when it sees you.
• They conspire. Crows communicate at a high level with one another using dozens of different “caws.” This helps them organize to pursue certain food sources (Farmer Brown’s corn), post lookouts and chase off predators.
• They use tools and can plan ahead. Crows have been seen using twigs to pry open food or to check on whether a snake is alive but their most unbelievable feat is to lay hard-to-open nuts on a road and wait for a vehicle to come by and break it open. Now THAT is scary!

Spiders

They are so frightening to so many people that their images have become a constant for Halloween. They even have their own psychiatric condition: Arachnophobia

Giant Spider Web Texas FWP

• You can’t get away from them. There are about 70,000 species in the world.
• Black widow spiders may be the scariest because they often cannibalize they mates.
• Some species of tarantulas can fight off predators by shooting irritating hairs at them.
• What might be the largest spider web ever was found in a Texas Park a few years back and covered several trees.  It was so big it drew thousands of visitors.
• The true spiders of the order Araneae comprise the largest group of carnivorous animals on Earth.

Bats

Bats have become associated with blood sucking vampires. They are mostly nocturnal and certain species (vampire bats) do indeed draw blood in small amounts from animals for food. This make them seem scary but they do not harm humans. There are other things about bats you should know.

• They are the only flying mammal. A flying squirrel does not actually fly, it glides.
• The largest bat (the Malaysian flying fox) has a six foot wingspan
• One bat will eat 2,000 to 6,000 insects per night.
• The Honduran white bat, a colorful snow-white, cuts leaves to make “tents” to protect its small colonies from drenching jungle rains.
  

  Flyin Fox Bat Cns. Intnl.

• Sadly, North America’s bat colonies are besieged by a life-threatening fungus that is wiping out entire colonies. Scientists are working hard to find cures and solutions.

Black Cats

They are associated with bad luck.  If one crosses your path, legend has it you are in for hard times or a mishap. Black domestic cats are fairly common in the U.S. but you have to go pretty far to find a true American black cat. The Jaguar may be the best candidate.

• It is the largest cat in the Americas at 200 to 250 pounds and six to eight feet in length.  It roams the forests of Central and South America but a few of them live in the Southwest U.S.
• There are black jaguars in the wild whose darker color is due to a variation known as melanism.  The basic spots are still there but are just harder to see.
• Jaguars are terrific swimmers and (like bats) they mostly hunt at night.
• The jaguar’s name means “a beast that kills its prey with a single bound.”  That is pretty scary too.
• The North American Jaguar is extremely rare and highly endangered and will require more territory to survive.

Halloween is surely a time for family fun and maybe even a little outdoor (spooky) time with the kids.  But it is also a time to appreciate the fascinating and complex creatures that we love to make us scared.  These “scary” creatures pose no real threat to humans and many are suffering from the effects of habitat loss, pollution and more.  National Wildlife Federation is working every day to protect our most endangered species for many Halloweens to come. Here is how to support and contribute to NWF.

Scattered to the Winds

Seagoing Northern Gannet: U.S. FWS

Sea birds and waterfowl are most exposed in hurricanes.  Songbirds and smaller woodland birds, by contrast, have less difficulty. They are specially adapted to hold on, lay low and ride things out. In very strong winds, their toes automatically tighten around their perch. This holds them in place during high winds or when they sleep.  Woodpeckers and other cavity nesters will, barring the destruction of the tree itself, ride out storms in tree holes.  Shorebirds, such as sandpipers, often move to inland areas. In a unique effect of cyclonic hurricanes, the eye of the storm with its fast-moving walls of intense wind can form a massive “bird cage” holding birds inside the eye until the storm dissipates.  It is often the eye of the storm that displaces birds, more than its strong winds.  Sandy’s eye was less well-defined when compared to other hurricanes.

Birds are not the only species affected by the winds.  Sea mammals can be harmed too.  While many can seek shelter in open water or in near shore shelter, some dolphins and manatees have actually been blown ashore during major storms.

Flattened Forests

The “tree toll” of Sandy has not yet been tallied but in 1992, Hurricane Andrew generated incredible wind velocities onshore and knocked down as many as 80 percent of the trees on several coastal Louisiana basins, such as the Atchafalaya. Tree loss during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused even more extensive damage. Loss of coastal forests and trees can be devastating to dependent wildlife species and migratory species. Many wildlife species have very specialized niches in these forests, and specific foods can disappear too. High winds will often strip fruits, seeds and berries from bushes and trees.

Want to help? Donate to NWF through CrowdRise and Craig Newmark will match your donations up to $25,000.

Dune and Beach Loss

Sandy has clearly been tough on the Midatlantic’s sand shoreline. Storm surges, wave action, and winds cause beach and dune erosion and that can severely affect wildlife species. Many wildlife species live in ecological niches in the sandy areas and dunes of coastal barrier islands.  In some cases the storm can cause a beach area to fully disappear.  Sea turtle nests, for example, are dug right in to the beach and can be washed out, or a water surge, called a “wash over” can submerge these nests or nearby tern and plover nesting areas.

Saltwater in Freshwater Areas

The sustained and powerful winds of a hurricane will cause salty ocean water to pile up and surge onshore.  Sandy pushed water into lower Manhattan and that has gathered most of the headlines but coastal marshes and bays can litterally be poisened by too much salt.  These “storm surges” can be huge. Hurricane Irene’s surges, in 2011, brought water levels that were as much as 8 feet above normal high tide and Sandy’s peaked between 10 and 13 feet.  Katrina, in 2005, pushed a 30 foot high surge onto the coast.  In addition to the physical damage this causes, the salt contained in sea water dramatically shifts the delicate balance of freshwater and brackish wetland areas such as in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic Coast.  Creatures and vegetation that are less salt-tolerant will be harmed and many will not survive the influx of sea water. Marsh grasses, crabs, minnows, fish hatchlings, insects, and myriad creatures of freshwater and estuarine environments are harmed by a surge. The salt water intrusion in these some of these areas does not drain off very quickly and can even harm or kill off bottomland forests and other coastal trees.

Massive Flooding of Rivers, Bays and Wetlands

The reverse is true too.  The heavy rains generated by hurricanes will dump water in coastal area river basins (called watersheds) and this, in turn, can send vast amounts of fresh water surging downstream into coastal bays and estuaries.  This upsets the delicate and finely tuned freshwater/salt water balance that can be so vital for the health of these ecosystems.  In 1972, Hurricane Agnes sent such massive amounts of freshwater into the Chesapeake Bay.  A similar thing is happening with water from Sandy’s eight to 10 inches of rainfall.  The normally brackish (partially salty) water of the Bay was fresh for months following Agnes placing great pressure on the species living there.

Dark, Muddy Water

Heavy rainfall in upstream areas also washes soil, sediment and many pollutants into coastal and marine environments.  After Hurricane Agnes, the turbidly or cloudiness of the water became so severe in the Chesapeake Bay that the native grasses growing on the bottom of Bay died off in huge quantities.  These grasses provided critical habitat from crabs, fish spawning and many species.  It took the Bay years to recover. Similarly, sediment can wash over coral reefs, blocking needed sunlight and even causing algae to grow.

Violent Waters Everywhere 

Hurricane Irene, like other hurricanes, generated massive waves and violent action on the surface.  When hurricane Andrew hit Louisiana the government estimated that more than 9 million fish were killed offshore.  Similarly an assessment of the effect of that same storm on the Everglades Basin in Florida showed that 182 million fish were killed.  Hurricane Katrina also had a huge effect on dolphin species.  Many dolphins were hurt during the storm and were rescued and underwent rehabilitation.

Climate Change

The prognosis for wildlife surviving hurricanes can be hard to assess. There are many success stories and also accounts of major devastation. The question remains, however, about whether wild creatures will. like humans, be experiencing more catastrophic hurricanes in the future. Amanda Staudt, NWF’s climate scientist, posted a piece at Wildlife Promise a couple of days ago that looks at how continued warming through climate change may be fueling major hurricanes and may have been a factor with Sandy.

What Can You Do?

The forces of hurricanes, such as Sandy, are so immense that they deserve tremendous respect.  So the first thing you can do is to stay safe yourself. Heed public safety warnings, prepare your property by collecting and storing lose items outside, be prepared for power outages and use common sense. Following a storm, birders and wildlife enthusiasts can help by keeping their eyes peeled for unusual or rare species that turn up. It is useful for wildlife agencies to hear about rare appearances.  Wildlife rescue organizations should be contacted if someone sees a creature that was injured in a storm. It always recommended to avoid trying to handle and injured animal on your own unless you have had specific training.  If you usually feed birds at your home, the post storm calm is a good time to fill up those feeders. Your pals will probably be hungry and tired after waiting out the storm.

In addition, be wildlife friendly during this election and demand action on climate change. Urge our candidates to tell us their plans to address climate change now.

1. Lightweights–The average Ruby-Throated Hummingbird weighs about 3 grams which is roughly the same as a penny. The Bee Hummingbird of Cuba is the smallest bird in the world and only measures in at around 2 inches and 1.5 grams. Hard to believe they are in the same family as the huge African Ostrich!   My inner nerd calculated that it would take 30,000 Bee Hummingbirds to match a grown Ostrich’s weight.
2. Speedsters–Hummingbirds are small but they have blinding speed. Their wings flap 50 to 200 times per second. This is faster than any other bird species and, like most species, they speed up during times of courtship. Hummingbirds can fly 30 MPH in a straight line and dive bomb intruders at about 60 MPH.
3. World Travelers–The Rufous Hummingbird wins the distance competition with the longest migration of any hummingbird species at more than 3,000 miles from nesting grounds in Alaska and Canada to winter habitats in Mexico. Many Ruby-Throats make a 2,000 mile journey to Central America including, for some, an astounding 500 mile non-stop flight over the Gulf of Mexico
4. Aerial Acrobats–watching a hummingbird in flight is an incredible treat.  They are masters of amazingly quick starts and stops in any direction. Hummingbirds can even fly short distances upside down, a maneuver they often employ when being attacked by another bird.  Their wings sweep in a figure 8 motion (shown in slow motion) while flying.
5.  Tiny But Tough–These tiny little birds establish territories and will fight to keep others away. Hummingbirds will sometimes attack larger birds — even hawks or crows!  And they are oh so bossy. Hummingbirds and make deep-throated guttural sounds mixed in with mouse-like chirps, squeaks and twitters.
6. Micro Parents–As “micro” birds, they use micro fibers in nesting.  They make their nests from plant fibers, plant down, delicate mosses and even spider webs.  Hummingbirds also lay the smallest eggs of all birds. They measure less than 1/2 inch long.
7. Brainiacs–A hummingbird’s brain is 4 percent of its body weight, but is proportionately the largest in the bird kingdom.   Hummers have terrific memories and can remember where they found food from the previous year.
8. Fast Lane Livers–Hummingbirds are metabolic race cars. A hummingbird’s heart beats up to 1,260 times per minute and they take 250 breaths per minute.
9. Hungry, Oh So Hungry!– Hummingbirds eat every 10 minutes or so throughout the day.  They are such active eaters that one may visit as many as 1,000 flowers daily.  A hummingbird must consume approximately 1/2 of its weight in sugar daily.  In some circumstances, a “hummer” can starve to death in a couple of hours.   To make it through the night, they go into a suspended state called torpor – a state in which their metabolic rate is only one-fifteenth that of normal sleep.
10. Living Color–A hummingbird’s color does not really come from pigment.  Instead it comes from iridescent qualities in its feathers.  The light is reflected and a hummer’s bright colors wink on and off, depending on the light source and the angle of the observer.  This allows birds to flash colors when it wants to show off or hide them.

During Garden for Wildlife Month, you may want to attract hummers and have them scooting around the yard. Here is a fine guide on how to make your own nectar, and NWF has some hummingbird-friendly feeders and bird baths. And you can always consider certifying your yard as an NWF habitat online. 

Tornado damage: Photo FEMA

But even as these interviews were occurring, you could see tears on their faces.  They began the interviews with seeming calm.  As they went on, however, their voices began to shake and they welled-up.  Soon they could hardly finish their sentences and could only shake their heads, speechless. This happened over and over as media interviewers traveled about in the aftermath of the twisters. These victims and thousands of people throughout these stricken areas have become text book examples of people in the early throes of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).   And yet, the stunning shock they felt and the piercing pain of their loss and uprooting will largely be glossed over as efforts quickly shift to rebuilding their communities. The problem is, without proper treatment, the PTSD and other related mental problems will only get worse.  Violent weather is becoming a known by-product of climate change and even if climate change is not to blame for this year’s early onset tornado season, it demonstrates what a few degree temperature increase will produce in the years ahead.

A new NWF report says that the damage inflicted by “global weirding” and related violent weather does not stop with loss of property and businesses. The report finds that, in coming decades, 200 million Americans will be figuratively and literally smacked in the face with climate change’s many violent manifestations just like the people we recently witnessed breaking down on National television.

Climate scientists now say that warming trends will trigger significant increases in violent weather, more intense and longer heat waves, larger and more frequent floods, massive wildfires, agonizing crop failures, worrisome water shortages, pest infestations, military conflicts and more.   These will cause mass psychological misery on scale never before seen.  By examining this often overlooked subject, coauthor Lise Van Susteren, MD and I hoped to reveal the human dimension of global warming and how it will have millions of people coping with fear, trauma and loss. Examples include:

Summer heat waves: the physical distress arising from prolonged heat waves is well known.  A 2003 wave heat spell killed 70,000 people in Europe. But psychological distress and aggression also triggered by rising temperatures.  

Coastal and river flooding: these weather and climate related events are especially likely to force people from their homes as we saw when 1 million people were evacuated along the Atlantic coast during 2011’s Hurricane Irene.  There is huge psychic injury from such displacement which could, with rising seas, someday become permanent in low lying areas.   

Post storm distress: Photo: FEMA

Severe drought: the unrelenting day by day despair of watching and waiting for water that doesn’t come will have a singularly damaging impact on the psyche of the people who have depended on Mother Nature’s rainfall for their livelihood. Texas has recently experienced a drought (with accompanying wildfires) the likes of which has not been seen in more than 50 years.

Increased large-scale wildfires: raging wildfires are dangerous and have a particularly savage effect on our psyches by devastating landscapes, wiping out homes and possessions, incinerating wildlife and clogging the air with pollutants that sicken people locally and can travel hundreds of miles to sicken people at a distance. Persistent psychological stress is common, with anxiety reactions recurring from unavoidable re-exposure to the odors, smoke and ash.

New disease threats: higher temperatures favor the formation of ozone which triggers asthma attacks. Anyone who has asthma and parents of children with asthma are familiar with the fears this illness engenders. People die from untreated asthma. Many other fears linked to disease are harder to “nail down.” As malaria and dengue fever and other infectious diseases march northward due to warmer temperatures, inchoate fears of threat and vulnerability drift into people’s consciousness.

The report, funded by the Robert Wood John Foundation, aims to fill a gap in public understanding of the profound mental health implications of the climate threat. It summarizes an extensive body of research showing how people will react to global warming’s many impacts including: widespread experiences of stress, anxiety and depression and even full blown psychotic episodes. 

Tragically, certain segments of American society, such as children, the elderly, low income Americans, and those with preexisting mental health conditions will be particularly hard hit.  And, people living in disaster-prone areas such as along coasts and rivers, in heat-prone urban centers, or places where the economy depends on predictable climate conditions will likewise experience great hardship.  Existing mental health services will be stretched far beyond their current capacity. It calls upon mental health professionals to use their unique skills to help people work through a range of potentially severe psychological responses to global warming’s many approaching human horrors.

Download: The Psychological Effects of Global Warming — And why the U.S. Mental Health Care System is not adequately prepared

Extra-Large Wildlife

Blue whales reach lengths of 110 feet (with females being bigger than males), making them the largest animals to ever live! They are also one of the loudest animals on Earth, songs can reach nearly 200 dB (louder than a jet engine!) and travel for hundreds of miles across the ocean.

For another animal with impressive length, here is a video of a 49 foot long python, being held in captivity in Indonesia. Over the centuries there have been many tales of giant snakes. This 983 pounder tells us the tales were mostly true. In recent years, pythons have become an extra-large threat to the Florida Everglades ecosystem, where pet owners have released the non-native species into the wild.

Similar tales of exotic wild creatures at sea may have been spawned by such as this 2,000 pound, nine foot long loggerhead turtle that, sadly, only came to view because it snagged in buoy cable. NWF and colleague organizations took many needed steps during the 2010 BP Gulf oil disaster to protect loggerheads and other turtle species.

We all know that giraffes are our tallest land animal and that some have reached heights in excess of 20 feet, but the world’s tallest subspecies of giraffe, the Rothschild, is now in danger of extinction.

Scientists exploring Madagascar reported the discovery of what is thought to be the world's smallest chameleon, Brookesia micra, a leaf chameleon. Photo by Glaw, F., et al., PLoS ONE

Extra-Small Wildlife

By contrast, the smallest of reptile was recently discovered in Madagascar: Brookesia micra. It is a tiny leaf chameleon that measures an inch when fully grown.  Recent efforts to inventory wild species in tropical forests are finding hundreds of previously undocumented species, including this little guy who lives in leaf litter and only comes out at night.

Speedy Birds

There are many record-breaking speedsters in the animal kingdom. The Peregrine falcon gets the nod for being able to dive at speeds close to 150 mph, but Siberia’s spine-tailed swift wins the overall prize for flying across the sky at 106 mph.

And while cheetahs are the fastest land animal, able to run at 70 mph, the ostrich is the fastest land bird, having been clocked at about 45 mph.

My favorite speedster may be the Gentoo penguin which can swim at about 25 mph through Antarctic seas. These penguins need their speed and smart maneuvering to keep from becoming food the large predators such as orcas. This two minute video, called Happy Gentoo, shows how this all works for a worn out but clever penguin being chased by a pod of orcas. It has a surprise ending you may like. By breaking a record, the little guy avoids becoming a statistic.

Big Leapers

The highest land-based leaper seems to be the cougar, which can jump straight up over 20 feet. The highest ocean leaper seems be a toss-up between orcas and sharks which can get themselves some 20 feet above the waves.

Southern cricket frogs are one of the best jumpers in the amphibian world, reaching heights of over 60 times their body length (that’s like a person jumping up a 38 story building!).

Eastern Hercules Beetle

Longest Commutes

The arctic tern seems to win in the “longest commute” category with its annual 21,000 mile round trip from pole to pole and the North American caribou does a 5,000 mile round trip on land.

Hercules! Hercules!

Last but not least, rhinoceros beetles–sometimes called Hercules beetles because they possess strength of a herculean proportions–can lift objects 850 times their weight. That would be equivalent to a human lifting 9 fully grown male elephants!

Protect Record-Breaking Wildlife

You can help wildlife – adopt your own record-breaking animal today! >>

Bar-headed geese migrate over Himalyas - Photo: Dan Rhoads, Migrations.

But some creatures have made more extreme adaptations than seem physically possible.  Here are a few examples.

The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayan mountain range – the world’s highest. To do this, they achieve heights higher than Mount Everest which is just shy of 30,000 feet. When these geese are flying nearly 6 miles up, they are in what mountain climbers calls the “dead zone” because the oxygen is impossibly thin and the temperatures are 40 degrees below zero. The good news is, however, that the geese can take advantage of the jet stream and a 100 mile per hour tail wind. A special mix of hemoglobin in their blood and an extraordinary tolerance for pain lets them complete the thousand mile trip in fine fashion.

Another high altitude adaptation is by sheer accident. Small spiders and aphids can get swept up from ground level in a windstorm and end up being carried four miles up where they can float, frozen solid, half way around the globe. A rainstorm or some other weather occurrence will eventually carry them back to earth where many will revive!

Some sizable animals are well adapted to the cold including whales, seals and penguins. But one surprising cold water dweller is the 12 foot long bluefin tuna. The bluefin spawns in the tropical waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean but its large size and calorie needs force it into colder waters where food fish are more abundant than in warmer regions. Their blood vessels are specially adapted to let them easily make this hot-to-cold transition.

There are amazing adaptations in desert environments too. The sand grouse of African deserts have an uncanny ability to find thousands of seeds in the sand, each day, that are blown in from distant places during storms. They also fly long distances from their nests to reach drinking water.  The males of the species have specially adapted breast feathers that soak up water at the watering spot so they can carry it miles back to the nest and offer a vital drink to their thirsty young hatchlings.

Big ears seem to make a difference in the desert too and it is not just for better hearing. Desert hedgehogs, foxes and rabbits have large ears that act as panels for the cooling of their blood and bodies. The American jackrabbit is a prime example. Its ear-to-body ratio is amazingly efficient at cooling these animals living in ground temperatures sometimes in excess of 130 degrees.

The dorcas gazelle wins the prize for desert adaptation. It does not drink water at all. It gets all of its moisture by ingesting desert plants and it does not urinate. Instead it discharges small dry uric acid “pellets.”

Many close-to-ground environments are dangerously hot. This can be a problem for birds called plovers that, worldwide, lay their eggs directly on sandy beaches and dune areas. The crab plovers of the Persian Gulf lay their eggs on sand that gets so hot it would literally cook them. But these birds have adapted to the hot surface and dig deep holes where the cooler sand at the bottom is better suited to egg hatching.

Flamingos are well adapted to both heat and the exploitation of quite toxic salt lake sites. They feed on specialized algae that grow in salt (soda) lakes and they nest by building small islands in the middle of waters so caustic that predators will not venture into them. They build these nesting mounds high enough that the wind will not blow toxic salt-laden mist onto the eggs.

Tubeworms - Photo: NSF

Another bird, Temmick’s courser of Africa has learned to take advantage of areas that have been burned over by wild fires. It feeds on the insects that have been baked in the fire and it lays ash-colored eggs that blend in with the burnt environment it prefers.Perhaps the champions of all adapted species live at the bottom of the ocean and congregate around thermal vents that emit water as hot as 600 degrees. The vents are a fairly recent discovery and have shifted some theories about the origins of life itself. These vents support a wide range of unique fish, crabs, shrimp, mussels and huge tube worms that live in water that is often near 150 degrees. What makes these adaptations scientifically amazing is that the vent-supported food chain is not based on sunlight, which is the universal source of life elsewhere in the world. Instead these creatures feed on bacteria that derive their energy from the sulfides the vents emit. They have adapted to an entirely unique food web and demonstrate how life manages to thrive in nearly any environment.

Learn more about how you can celebrate EXTRA-ordinary species during this year’s National Wildlife Week, March 19-25.

Chimp with termite stick: Photo INHS

But, such “in the moment” uses of tools do not really capture the extraordinary and often surprising abilities of some animals to think ahead and use tools in innovative ways.

Nutcrackers, Alarms, Depth Testers, Floss, Nose Guards and More

Crows offer one such example. They have made a clever adaptation to modern society through the use of automobiles. While they surely don’t drive, they have figured out that the crushing weight of a car or truck can crack walnuts and other delicacies. Crows will place their prospective treats on the road and wait for a passing vehicle. They know exactly where the wheels are most likely to fall on the roadway!

Crows, considered by many to be among the brightest of creatures, have also been seen dropping stones into a water pitcher with a narrow neck in order to raise the water level sufficiently to take a drink.

Orangutans have made an adaptation that uses leaves to ward off predators. They don’t shake the leaves at the menace but, instead, make “whistles” from the leaves that make a shrill sound in an effort to scare the threat away.

As a safety measure, gorillas and other apes will approach a body of water with a stick specifically selected to test the depth of the water they would like to cross. They don’t swim so the stick becomes an important survival tool.

In Thailand, macaques (small apes) will use their stealth to pluck hair from the heads of tourists and others and use it to floss their teeth. Adult macaques have been seen applying this tooth cleaning method in elaborate slow motion as a way to teach this dental care to juveniles.

Herons use small shiny fish as lures, credit Jorja Feldman

Dolphins, often considered to be one of the most intelligent of all mammals have been seen pulling off pieces of sponge, wrapping it around their beaks and then using to forage along a sandy sea bottom for food.  The sponge protects their beaks from irritations and abrasions.

Perhaps the most elaborate “tool” user is the bowerbird of Australia.  It collects shiny objects such as bottle caps and pieces of glass to make an elaborate (and wholly attractive) nest that will lure a mate.  Many days will go into the preparation of the nest and only the finest shiny items will be selected.

These insights into how wild creatures innovate and think ahead can help us all to appreciate their extraordinary lives and abilities.

For more EXTRA-ordinary wildlife facts, check out the National Wildlife Week website >>

1. Make a home habitat — NWF can help you create and certify your own habitat at home in your yard or on your deck.  Learn about our Certified Wildlife Habitat program and get started today. Join 150,000 homes with their own certified wildlife sanctuaries.

2. Plant a Tree — NWF can supply your family or local scout group or school with tree planting kits that come complete with lesson plans about trees for kids of all ages. Order a Trees for Wildlife kit.

3. Become a wildlife watcher — Join NWF’s Wildlife Watch team!  Kids and adults across America help us keep track of and record wildlife sightings on line.  You don’t need to be an expert. Start recording species this week!

4. Read with Ranger Rick — Help kids read while they learn about wildlife. NWF offers award winning children’s magazines that are proven to improve their reading skills while getting them more interested an involved with wildlife. You can order these Parent’s Choice Foundation approved publications today: Ranger Rick, Big Backyard and Wild Animal Baby. Ranger Rick also comes with a free online educator’s guide.

5. Volunteer for Wildlife — You can become an official NWF Habitat volunteer! We call them Habitat Stewards and they take special training to learn how to help schools, homeowners, gardeners and others get more involved with gardening for wildlife. Learn more about how you can become and NWF Habitat Steward.

6. Help Support Wildlife Conservation — You can support wildlife during National Wildlife Week by donating or fundraising for conservation and education programs through our special Razoo page.

7. Green Your School — You can encourage your kid’s entire school to be greener. Our amazing Eco-schools USA program offers children of all ages the opportunity to learn about energy and water conservation, recycling and get more involved with outdoor learning and wildlife. You can also create wildlife habitat at your school or place of worship with NWF’s Schoolyard Habitat program.

8. Go on a Nature Outing — And if you want something even easier on National Wildlife Week, you can also help wildlife by getting the kids outdoors for a little fun time at a local park or nature center. Not sure if there is one near you?  Just plug your zip code into our Nature Find locator map and find great outdoor areas and events near you.

Celebrate National Wildlife Week

Our National Wildlife Week website celebrates extraordinary characteristics of 45 wildlife species and has posters, trading cards, lesson plans and more for kids and educators.

Readers are, of course, encouraged to support National Wildlife Federation’s work by making a much-needed contribution to our ongoing campaigns to protect wildlife across America.

Ute Children Learning Science of Phenology

They have different reasons, but the effect is the same – our kids are losing out on essential education concerning the greatest and farthest-reaching environmental threat of our time.

What’s worse is that it is a problem we “adults” are imposing on our kids for the entirety of their lives.  It is surely a fundamental American idea that our children deserve to have the knowledge and tools they will need to handle the risks and opportunities of an uncertain future.  Agreed?  Maybe not!

Defunding Climate Change in the Classroom

In a disturbing twist, the Obama Administration has eliminated or drastically cut back on the few federal programs that exist to provide K-12 students with specific education on climate change and the environment.

Using fiscal austerity as the rationale, the White House has, in its 2013 budget, cut out environmental education grants to schools, nature centers, zoos, aquariums, teacher training programs and more.  The costs of these programs are the equivalent of numerical “rounding errors” in the context of the immense federal budget.

The administration has, nonetheless, axed environmental education programming at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and has scaled back targeted climate change education grant programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF).   Thousands of teachers and millions of students will lose out on the professionally-developed and delivered educational programs these agencies support.  And, despite counter assertions by the White House, there is nothing truly available to replace them.

The sad irony is that the extreme right wing will applaud this move by the Obama Administration because it is what they have unsuccessfully sought to accomplish for nearly two decades.  The elimination of climate change and environmental education in the federal budget has been a basic pillar of climate skeptics and conservative group plans  from the beginning.  Recent revelations in the media about tactics of right wing conservative groups show efforts to increase skepticism through school programs about the validity of climate change science.   But, eliminating federal funding for climate education is an even greater victory for the extreme right wing.

Handicapping the Next Generation

And what of the kids, themselves?  The harsh reality of climate change will present truly unimagined levels risk and uncertainty for the next generation.  Today’s children are being saddled with a lifetime of abrupt changes and challenges including: sea level rise and flooding, dislocations, violent tornados and wildfires, diseases, water and food shortages, the conflicts of war and more.

You would think this to be a good time to pull out the stops and get the next generation prepared and ready, right?   Not really.  And here is why that is morally wrong and strategically shortsighted:

• The weather extremes, natural disasters, and other physical and economic problems associated with global warming will harm our vulnerable children most of all – this has been proven out in disasters, famines, war and every other major national disruption.
• The lack of school-based climate change education will leave our children without basic knowledge and skills on how to understand and handle climate related problems they will be forced to cope with as adults – we give them the mother of all problems but keep them in the dark on it.
• These cut backs will deprive U.S. children of a “leg up” on pursuing solutions to global warming — causing them to miss out on significant economic opportunities as the rest of the world develops innovative new, less green-house gas polluting, approaches to energy and economic development.

Just last year, the House of Representatives tried to eliminate these programs but, fortunately, the Senate restored them and even provided some small increases.

Now, however, the prospects are made much worse with the withdrawal of Administration support.  The Obama White House has placed itself in practical alignment with the former Bush/Cheney Administration which consistently called for the elimination of climate change and environmental education in our schools and zeroed-out these programs with enthusiasm, repeatedly forcing public-interest education organizations into pitch battles on Capitol Hill to restore funding.

If climate change itself is the injury to the next generation, then failing to educate our kids with solid school-based programs has to be the unforgivable insult to their future prospects.

National Wildlife Federation and colleague organizations plan to challenge the Obama White House on this and seek reconsideration of these decisions in next year’s budget — we will be seeking allies to help overcome this strange new alignment of unusual bedfellows.  You game?