White-tailed Doe

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The Fastest Swimmers

The sailfish is considered the fastest swimmer among fish, often reaching 70 mph. Although a black marlin was recently clocked at 80 mph so the sailfish record may fall to its cousin.

The fastest swimming mammal is the orca (often called killer whale) which can swim over 55 mph but the Dall’s porpoise of the north Pacific has been clocked at the same speed.

We all know that birds can fly fast.  In flight, the fastest bird is the spine-tailed swift of Siberia which can reach speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, but the fastest bird in the water is the Gentoo penguin, which swims at about 22 mph. (Watch this video of a Gentoo swimming madly to avoid a pod of hungry orcas.)

The Gentoo’s speed is about the same as the fastest sea turtle, the leatherback.

Using a different mode of movement, squid can achieve 25 mph through a form of jet propulsion.

The Deepest Swimmers

Scientists once thought that the deepest parts of the ocean were too dark and cold to sustain life.  But they have been discovering that the deep ocean holds a rich ecosystem of many living forms.

For example, they have recently found a type of snailfish that lives happily nearly five miles down where the water pressure is almost unimaginable. (Watch this video of these true denizens of the deep.)

People are also often amazed to learn that whales once lived on land and liked swimming so much that they went back to living in the sea.  These sea-going mammals can dive down to some of the deepest parts of the ocean.  The sperm whale routinely dives to depths of 10,000 feet (about two miles) to hunt for giant squid.

Slowest Swimmer

Scientists believe that the sea horse is the slowest fish in the ocean.  It moves along at about 0.01 (one hundredth) mph.  (Watch this video shows how the sea horse swims.)

Largest Swimmers:

The whale shark is the largest fish in the sea.  One was measured at 41 feet in length and weighed over 35 tons. This (Watch this video of divers swimming near a whale shark.) However, the blue whale (a mammal) is the largest living creature.  Adult blue whales can reach 100 feet in length and 200 tons in weight.

The largest giant squid ever recorded was captured in the North Atlantic in 1878. It weighed 4 tons and its tentacles measured 10 m (35 ft) long.

The heaviest crustacean ever found swimming along the bottom was a lobster weighing 42 lbs, caught in 1934.

Secret Swimmers

Some animals have reputations for not being able to swim or being afraid of the water.  Take cats, for example.  The truth is cats can swim. Some cats, such as the jaguar of South and Central America are excellent swimmers.  Tigers are good swimmers too as it turns out.

With primates, most indications are that gorillas do not swim but that chimpanzees are swimmers, if reluctantly.

Other animals that are identified as not being able to swim range from camels to armadillos (although the long-nosed armadillo of South America is an armadillo species that can swim).

Unconventional Swimmers

Some fish swim vertically.  The sea horse is one example but there are many others in the fish world including the razor fish or shrimp fish, that swim a vertical position.

Many fish can swim backwards.  Eels are best known for this.

Anadromous species, such as salmon and shad, live in the ocean and travel up rivers to spawn.  These fish know to return to the same place from which they hatched.

Just Plain Different

Once in a while, something unexpected will happen.  Forget about the Loch Ness monster.  One time, in 2007, a deer was sighted miles from the shore in the Chesapeake Bay.  The fisherman who saw the deer took her on board his boat and released her safely on shore.

Another animal that is simply fascinating to watch in the water is the elephant.  (This video shows elephants swimming in deep water from an underwater perspective.)

Polar bears are also champion swimmers.  Recently, however, a lack of ice in the Arctic Ocean forced a particular polar bear to have to swim 426 miles over nine straight days to reach an ice flow.  The bear lost 100 pounds and a cub, and reminds us, during National Wildlife Week, of how important it is to protect natural environments worldwide – especially those of champion swimmers.

A baby pudu was recently born at the Woodland Park Zoo.

A baby pudu was recently born at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.  Pudus are the smallest deer species in existence and are native to tropical forests of South America.  Our friends at the zoo were kind of enough to post a video of the little guy to YouTube, which is sure to elicit a great big “AWWWWWWWWW!” from anyone who watches it.

(I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that two species of pudu are listed as a Vulnerable due to loss of their habitat for farming and cattle ranching, as well as unsustainable hunting and competition with exotic species introduced by people.  National Wildlife Federation is working to stop that kind of habitat loss, and you can find out more about that work here.)

Enjoy the video below and the warm fuzzies you’ll surely feel from watching it, and be sure to check out National Wildlife Federation’s very own Wild Animal Baby for the kids in your life.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Pilgrims’ first thanksgiving celebration (which lasted three days) probably took place in mid October 1621, after an unexpectedly bountiful harvest. The newcomers invited local Indians—who had given them a lot of useful advice on farming—to join them. According to various sources, the Pilgrims enjoyed a wide range of wild animal foods collected from forest, meadow and sea. Those species continued as staple foods in America for at least another 250 years. But how do the creatures on which the Pilgrims dined fare today?

A wild turkey almost glows with bronze iridescence in this photo by Sonya L. Shaw.

Let’s take a look at eight types of wild creatures the Pilgrims ate:

Turkey

A large bird of woods and plain, the turkey was common across much of the area we know today as the United States. The Pilgrims and their Indian allies probably had access to roosts where dozens, even scores, of turkeys bunched up at night. Easy prey for arrow or bullet. Too easy, because within the next 300 years the turkey was nearly wiped out across much of the United States. Massive efforts were undertaken in the 1930s and onward to restore wild turkey populations, which today are common in most states and legal to hunt in season.

Heath Hen

This grouse was so common in the Plymouth area that the birds in later years became a staple diet for servants, being easy to get and cheap. Given that the birds flocked in open areas—scrubby heath barrens—they almost certainly were the species sometimes called partridges in accounts of the Pilgrim celebration. Heavily hunted throughout the colonial period and in the 19th century, and subject to habitat loss, the bird was extinct on the mainland by no later than 1870. The last of them disappeared on Martha’s Vineyard in 1932.

Waterfowl

Ducks, geese and swans were all on the Pilgrims’ table. The birds suffered greatly during the uncontrolled market-hunting years of the 1800s. One species, the Labrador duck, became extinct in the mid 1870s, probably because of egg collecting (it wasn’t favored for its unpalatable meat) and loss of the clam beds in which it found winter food. Drought in the early 1900s hurt waterfowl across the nation. But conservationists in the 1930s set to work helping the birds recover, often with the leadership of J.N. “Ding” Darling, the founder of the National Wildlife Federation. Today, waterfowl populations are carefully managed and hunting is controlled. Waterfowl numbers still have ups and downs, but they are unlikely to join the heath hen in oblivion.

Bald Eagle

Yes, the Pilgrims apparently served eagle during the celebration. In the mid 1900s, the use of pesticides nearly put the bald eagle and many of its relatives, from peregrines to condors, out of business. In the Lower 48 States, fewer than 500 bald eagle pairs survived in 1960. Now, almost 10,000 pairs live in the Lower 48, thanks to regulation of DDT and other pesticides, as well as a ban that NWF helped initiate on lead shot, which poisoned the birds when they scavenged waterfowl shot and lost by hunters.

Lobsters

Lobster populations as a rule remain safe, and the animals are still common on American dinner plates. These crustaceans are carefully managed by both state and federal agencies, and restrictions are based on increasingly refined data.

Atlantic Cod

Caught off New England, the fish that was so common and commercially important that it gave its name to a Massachusetts cape has not done so well. In the 1990s, the catch of cod was sinking fast because of overharvest by the fishing industry. Today, federal regulations are helping to restore the battered cod populations, though numbers are still down. However, catch data suggest that improvements are on the way, though the species still suffers the effects of overfishing.

Eel

These slippery, slender fish were once common in New England rivers, where they matured before returning to the Sargasso Sea in the middle of the Atlantic, a warm-water area where eels breed and hatch. Overfishing and damming of streams has greatly reduced eel populations in the Northeast. In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service turned down a petition to protect eels under the Endangered Species Act.

White-Tailed Deer

Venison was also on the 1621 menu. In the 1800s, deer in many states were nearly wiped out by uncontrolled hunting for meat and hides and by loss of habitat as forests were cut. But in the 1900s, wildlife managers began developing more scientific methods for monitoring and managing deer, which began to rebound as forests grew back. Today, deer may be as populous as they were in 1621.

Bonus Species

It’s not a meat species, being a tree, but let’s look at one last item on the Pilgrims’ plates—chestnuts. When the first colonists arrived in North America, the American chestnut tree ranged across New England and much of the region east of the Mississippi, with the exception of most of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and the southeastern coastal states.

About 25 percent of all trees in the Appalachia Mountains were American Chestnuts, which grew up to 150 feet tall. They provided food for myriad animals as well as for humans. In 1904, chestnut trees in what is now the Bronx Zoo began dying. The cause: a bark fungus inadvertently bought into the United States on Asian chestnut trees.

The Asian trees could withstand the fungus, but the American trees could not. Perhaps 3 billion American chestnut trees died as a result. Today, probably fewer than 100 large chestnut trees survive in the species’ original range. Trees still sprout from old root systems, but these trees rarely grow more than 20 feet tall before the bark fungus kills them. Efforts are under way to recover the species and return it to its former range.

Do you want to help conserve wildlife and wild places? NWF has just launched a new online feature called “Choose Your Cause.” Just click on the cause you care about most  and enjoy inspiring stories and photos from folks on-the-ground who are working tirelessly to protect the wildlife and wild places we all love.

A bear was caught on security camera at an apartment building in the 4800 block of Connecticut Avenue NW at about 6:45 a.m. Friday. The bear and two deer were eating.

The building manager said wildlife is common in the area — but not bears.

The animals were only in the courtyard for a few minutes before leaving.

As they adapt to human activity, wildlife have slowly been extending their range in the Washington, DC area. Until now, the most notable newcomer had been the coyote. Watch the security video showing the bear & the deer:

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcwashington.com/video.

With many people on the road traveling to visit family or friends over the holidays, here are a few tips you can follow to make sure you share the road with wildlife.

Tips for Sharing the Road With Wildlife

1) Think about Wildlife While Driving: This may seem like a silly suggestion, but the more you mentally prepare for your reaction to seeing an animal in the road, the more likely you will respond quickly enough to avoid it!

2) Go the Speed Limit: I know I know, it's hard to do sometimes–but really going the speed limit will allow you more time to react to wildlife such as deer darting across the road. While this may be the more obvious tip, it is probably the best thing you can do! The more reaction time the better.

3) Turn on Your Brights When No Cars are Coming: At night, turning on your brights will help spot deer and other animals crossing the road because their eyes will reflect the light.

4) Pay Attention to Signs: Most wildlife warning signs are there because there have been previous incidents–so paying special attention when you see the signs is an obvious but easy way to avoid a collision. Also keep in mind that just because you are on a busy road does not mean wildlife are unable to surprise you there.

5) Know When Animals Are Active: This is another important one, many animals that often get hit are nocturnal and so are either active very early in the morning or in the evening. Animals like deer are also active at these times but are mostly looking for a place to bed down for the night.

More Links:

• When Wildlife Hits the Road

• NWF's Critical Paths for Wildlife Project

• Touching Story about Wildlife Corridors

• Neat
  Story about Wildlife Surveillance

A BIG thank you goes to those of you who have participated in Subaru's Share the Love Event and chosen NWF as your charity. If you've recently bought a Subaru it's not too late!

Looking forward to years of sharing the love with wildlife. With you all it's possible.

Xinhuanet.com reports:

“Over 350 new species, including the world’s smallest deer, a ‘flying frog’ and a 100-million-year old gecko have been discovered in the eastern Himalayas, a biological treasure trove now threatened by climate change,” the World Wildlife Fund’s Nepal chapter said in Kathmandu Monday, releasing the report in which the findings have been documented. … The eastern Himalayas are now known to harbor a staggering 10,000 plant species, 300 mammal species, 977 bird species, 176 reptiles, 105 amphibians and 269 types of freshwater fish. The region also has the highest density of the Bengal tiger and is the last bastion of the charismatic greater one-horned rhino.   See full article.