Menu
Tag: Wildlife
-
TEDx Speaker Champions Safe Passage Project for Wildlife
When Nikki Robinson walked out onto the stage during the final dress rehearsal for TEDx Asheville last month, the spotlights of the Diana Wortham Theatre shining in her eyes, she thought, “This is what it feels like to be a deer in the headlights.”
And then she smiled and relaxed a bit, realizing the irony of that thought. After
Read more...
-
Northern River Otters Stage a Comeback
Intriguing, humorous, and stealthy, river otters are seldom seen. But after being gone for 50 years, they have reclaimed their place as denizens of the Southern Appalachians.
“Otters make their homes in many watersheds in and around our mountain region and in Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” said Supervisory Wildlife Biologist
Read more...
-
Don’t Forget to Look Up
Photos by Sue Wasserman
The more I wander along trails in the Smokies, the more I notice how much time I spend looking down. It’s not just that I love to see what just-blossomed flowers Mother Nature is offering up for my enjoyment, but it feels important to be on the lookout for slithery creatures who might be trying to enjoy them
Read more...
-
Permanent Camp: Harbingers of Spring
Image of George and Elizabeth Ellison by Quintin Ellison
By George Ellison
When spells of cabin fever become more frequent, each observer of the natural world will have his or her personal “harbinger of spring” to use as an indicator that spring is just around the corner. Mine is the mourning cloak butterfly, which
Read more...
-
Of Salamanders and a Perpetual Passion for Learning
Reptiles & Amphibians of the Smokies was used to I.D. this as a Four-Toed Salamander. Photo courtesy of Sue Wasserman.
If you haven’t noticed by now, I am a pondering wanderer or a wandering ponderer. One of the things I pondered recently was my general disinterest in science when I was in school. While I vaguely
Read more...
-
Echoes in the Mountains: Facts and Curiosities of Elk Biology
Images by Phoebe Carnes
The elk found in the Great Smoky Mountains today are Manitoban elk, or Cervus canadensis manitobensis—a subspecies of elk found in southern Canada, the Midwest, and some parts of the eastern US. Manitoban elk are larger in mass (weighing 500–1,000 pounds), though they possess smaller antlers, an adaptation
Read more...
-
Supervisory Forester Kristine Johnson Leaves a Legacy of Preservation
Did you know that some plants and trees exist only in the Southern Appalachian Mountains? Because the Smokies has been above sea level and escaped glaciation for millions of years, it has the perfect conditions to support biodiversity—including the best old-growth watersheds in the eastern U.S.
Preserving diversity in Great Smoky
Read more...
-
Echoes in the Mountains: Elk Return to the Smokies
Images by Phoebe Carnes
I was around seven or eight when my dad first took me to Cataloochee Valley. My memory of that day is hazy, but I remember seeing a bull elk bugle for the first time and being awestruck. The sound shook me to my core and conjured up instinctual feelings of admiration and wonder.
Growing up in the shadow of the Great
Read more...
-
Travis Wilson Helps Provide Safe Passage for Wildlife Near the Park
Biologist Travis W. Wilson spends his days on the road—literally. It’s his job to assess the impacts of transportation projects and their effects on the fish and wildlife of North Carolina.
As the Eastern Department of Transportation Habitat Conservation Coordinator with North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), Wilson
Read more...
-
What we can learn from the wild turkey
If you traveled around in Western North Carolina or East Tennessee to visit friends or family and eat turkey for the Thanksgiving holiday, there is a high likelihood you passed a rafter of wild turkeys along the way. Though a group of them can also be called a flock, the term “rafter” is also correct and was adapted because when
Read more...
