Answered by Diana Lowrey, Archaeologist and Bat Expert, Idaho National Laboratory (This post was originally published on April 15, 2008.) Bats have evolved to have an exceptional navigation system called echolocation, which helps them to find their prey in the dark. Bats make sounds just like we humans make sounds, by expelling air from the…
Answered by Doug Halford, Wildlife Biologist, INL ESER Program Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by humans, and is driven primarily by availability of food. It…
Question Answered by Marilyn Case, Health Physicist, INL ESER Program Mosquitoes are pests whose only purpose seems to be to torment humans and animals with their vicious, blood-sucking bites. However, as annoying as mosquitoes are, they do play an important role in the food web on the planet. During the course of their lifespan, mosquito…
Answered by Alana Jensen, INL ESER Program http://www.idahoeser.com If you’ve seen cartoons where chameleons can seemingly change to almost any color to match their environment, you may be disappointed to learn that the truth is quite different. Many species can’t even change to a color other than different shades of gray, green, and brown. Chameleons…
Answered by Kurt Edwards, Geologist and GIS Analyst, INL ESER Program he short answer is yes, coal is a sedimentary rock. Coal is formed mainly from plant material that accumulates in a swampy environment. These plants that become coal, lived before and during the time of the dinosaurs. When the plants died they would sink…
Question Answered by Gregg Losinski, Environmental Science Educator Mule deer are an icon of the West. Unlike other members of the deer family such as elk and moose, mule deer distribution was always limited to the wide open spaces of the Intermountain West. Over the past decades, a succession of adverse factors has resulted in…
Answered by Alan Jensen, Registered Pharmacist Many medications can be used to treat the symptoms of a cold or flu. I am going to restrict my comments to the five categories of medications found in most over the counter cold and flu remedies. They are pain and fever reducers, nasal decongestants, antihistamines, cough suppressants and…
Answered by Dr. Chuck Trost, Emeritus Professor, Idaho State University As long as the feeders are clean, the food gives birds the energy to survive during a stressful period. Personally I fed birds because I like to watch them. I’ll have to admit that it does concentrate them, and predators such as cats and hawks…
Question answered by Bryan Bybee, Biologist, INL ESER Program The simple answer is that badgers do not hibernate. Hibernation is a seasonal behavior pattern characterized by long periods of reduced body temperature, inactivity, lowered heart and breathing rates, and suppressed metabolism. Body temperatures may be reduced to nearly that of the surroundings. By this definition,…
Question Answered by Greg Burak, Biologist, Fish and Wildlife Service, Boise Office That is a great question! During hibernation, ground squirrels, such as the northern Idaho ground squirrel, enter long periods of time when they are inactive and sleeping. This is called torpor. While in torpor, the body temperature of a ground squirrel is about…
