What Lives On Assateague Island? - The Mammals

Lots and lots of creatures live on Assateague Island, and/or in and on the surrounding waters. Despite the often harsh conditions that occur in a coastal environment, a wide variety of animal species have managed to find a niche on, or around, Assateague, which stretches from southern Maryland to northern Virginia in the Atlantic Ocean.  Each of the island's different ecological zones provide habitat for a multitude of animals; these include birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates.  Today, I'll write about the mammals - those air-breathing, warm-blooded creatures like us, who walk upon the ground or swim in the ocean.
   More than twenty-five types of mammals live in or around the island of Assateague; the most well-known are the wild ponies.  They are descendants of feral horses and ponies; the first-known being the blinded Spanish pit ponies that were ship-wrecked on the island from the galleon La Galga, and were noted in a report to Spain by the Spanish ambassador.  The people of coastal Maryland and Virginia were taxed upon ownership of livestock, and they allowed their stock to run free on Assateague to avoid payment of said taxes, and, so, the "wild ponies" of Assateague came about.  The 80-plus ponies living on the Maryland end of Virginia receive only contraceptive darts for care; the ponies in Virginia belong to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, and are kept on Assateague via a contract with the US government.  The ponies feed primarily on salt-marsh cord grass, but also consume beach grass, greenbriar, bayberry, poison ivy, and many other types of vegetation that are not in the usual horse's diet.
   Other large mammals also roam the parks (the Assateague National Seashore and the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge) grazing and browsing on low-lying vegetation.  They are the indigenous Virginia White-tailed deer, and the non-native Sika deer, a miniature type of Asian elk, who were introduced to Assateague in the 1920s.  On-going research is evaluating the ecological effects of Sika deer on both native vegetation communities and their effect upon other wildlife, including the native white-tailed deer.
   The other other mammals range in size from small rodents, to bats, to furry critters, to large marine mammals - including the bottlenose dolphin and several species of whale that feed in the island's offshore waters.  Besides the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, the Atlantic white-sided dolphin, and the common dolphin are frequently seen around the island - in the ocean and in the channels and bays.
Whale sightings include the fin whale, humpback whale, pilot whale, sperm whale and right whale. Seals are occasionally seen resting on Assateague Island, also; usually sighted are the harp seal, harbor seal, and, rarely, the hooded seal.
   Red foxes build dens in sand dunes and roam the island hunting for mice, birds, insects, and berries. Opossums  and raccoons provide the important environmental service of waste removal, feeding on the island's carrion, as well as insects, larvae, berries and small rodents.  The only marsupial in North America, the opossum give birth to premature young which complete their development in a pouch on the outside of the mother's body.
   Rodents such as the meadow jumping mouse and meadow vole live in grasses bordering both salt- and freshwater wetlands.  They feed on seeds, wetland plants, and in the case of the jumping mouse, insects.  Though seldom seen, both river otters and muskrat make their home in the island's marshes and adjacent waterways.
 A listing of mammals on and around Assateague Island:
Chincoteague/Assateague ponies
Red fox
Whales - fin, humpback, pilot, right, and sperm
White-tailed deer
Bats - little brown, red, and silver-haired
Delmarva fox squirrel
Raccoon
Eastern cottontail rabbit
Dolphins - Atlantic bottlenose, Atlantic white-sided, and common
Sika deer (miniature Asian elk)
Mice - house, meadow jumping, and white-footed
River otter
Rats - Norway and rice
Least shrew
Muskrat
Virginia opossum
Meadow jumping vole
Seals - harbor, harp, and hooded

This and That...

While sitting and working at my computer yesterday evening, I saw two bats fly by; and this morning, I saw the first goldfinches of the season.  And I just had an immature house finch alight on the balcony railing, and inspect my desk and me through the window.  It was very  curious, and kept tilting it's head from side to side, while chewing on a pumpkin seed that was larger than it's bill.  And there are now 31 foals kicking up their heels on the southern end of Assateague.  - Today, if I were in Scotland, I'd say it was a soft day - overcast with a misty drizzle.
 
  I realize that it's the normal course of Mother Nature and our Earth, but I'm appalled by the loss of life in the Rift Valley in Kenya.  They had over a year of drought, and now have had two months of torrential rains.  The majority of jobs and industries there are agricultural, and owners build reservoirs on top of hills.  With the rains, the walls are breaking, sending floods down through the homes built below them.  More than 157 people have died in the last month, either drowned or buried in mud.
  Then, of course, there's the eruption of Kilauea on the big island of Hawaii, that began on 3 May.  More than 15 volcanic vents have opened around the caldera, spewing lava and toxic gases.  The latest warning say a large eruption could toss boulders as large as 10 tons in almost any direction, should there be an explosion within the caldera.

   After all the crap coming from the White House since the last inauguration, I should not have been surprised or upset by the latest leak of information from a staff meeting held "behind closed doors."  I'll be honest and say that I have rarely agreed with Senator John McCain's stance in politics.  However, the man was a pilot in the Viet Nam War; his plane was shot down; and he was held prisoner in Hanoi for 5 years.  He was a physical wreck when he returned home after his ordeal.  But to have a White House staff member say that the Senator's opposition to the appointment of Gina Haspel to lead the CIA, "...doesn't matter; he's dying anyway" is disgusting.  Special assistant Terry Sadler now claims that she said that as a joke, just as 45 always claims his disparaging remarks are jokes.  Because a Senator is fighting brain cancer is no reason for Cadet Captain BoneSpurs and his chosen few to disparage an American hero.

  Thoroughbred trainers are still deciding whether or not they'll have an entry in next Saturday's Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, outside of Baltimore, Maryland.  Justify, the colt who won the Kentucky Derby, has already had a 1 and 1/2 mile gallop over the track there.  Justify's regular jockey, Mike Smith, has received a 4 day suspension from the stewards at Santa Anita in California.  His mount, under a right-handed whip, drifted to the left and interfered with Kent Desormeaux's mount.  Smith's suspension will not affect his ride on Justify in the Preakness.

  And I am throwing my complete support behind Jared Polis in his run for Governor of Colorado.  Jared is a local from Boulder; he is gay, and he and his partner have adopted three children.  I firmly stand behind all that Jared represents as a father and as a legislator, as he is currently serving in the United States House of Representatives, serving the Second Congressional District.  He is also an entrepreneur and philanthropist.  -  And I laughed out loud at one of his tweets this morning:  You know you're living in the 21st century when your inbox contains an announcement about a "DNA Sale!" announcement for Mother's Day. Call me old-fashioned, but I'm getting Mom some beautiful flowers...

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No Schweddy Balls at Local Stores!

Yesterday afternoon I stopped by 5 different grocery stores that carry Ben & Jerry's ice cream here in Boulder.  Not a one had any Schweddy Balls; they were carrying Red Velvet Cake and several other new flavors, but no Schweddy Balls.  I was disappointed.  But then I stopped by the Ben & Jerry's Store on the Pearl Street Mall - and had a wonderful, delicious scoop of Schweddy Balls...  I enjoyed it very much.

In reading the news on-line today, I couldn't help but laugh...  A headline reads: "Loveland Man Bitten by Rapid Bat."  I am very sorry that the man was bitten by a bat - and by a rabid bat, at that - but, the typo made it hysterically funny to me.  The man was in his yard Tuesday night, and thought he heard or sensed a big moth nearby; a little later he thought he was bitten on the neck, behind his ear, by a mosquito.  The next day, his dog was tossing a dead bat around in the yard.  He took the bat in to be tested, and found out it was rabid, and found that his "mosquito bite" exactly matched the bats' teeth.  He is now undergoing that nasty, painful series of rabies shots.

Zenyatta is doing well at Lanes End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky.  She is turned out with another maiden mare, Tasty Temptations - and her sides are beginning to show her pregnancy.  Yippee!!  ....  The Albuquerque Zoo has a new pair of twin boy snow leopard cubs; the mother is Kachina, and the boys are Kiran and Kalmala.  ....  And I fell in love with a poor little pit bull puppy in Florida this morning.  Her name is Harper and she is 11 weeks old.  She was born with swimmer puppy syndrome (or disorder) - her chest wall was flattened and had no muscle mass, so she could not hold her head up or even move - she was like a splayed frog.  Her breeder had put her in a trash bag and placed her in a dumpster.  A good Samaritan picked up the puppy and had it evaluated at a local Humane Society.  She was told the best thing to do was put the puppy to sleep.  She wanted the puppy to experience some love and caring before it died, so she took it home for the night.  She spent most of her time massaging the puppies' legs, neck and chest, and she was rewarded by the puppy holding it's head up to follow her with it's eyes.  It was the first time the puppy had done so in her short (8 week) life.  The good Samaritan then took the puppy to the UF Veterinary School in Gainesville the next day, instead of taking her to be killed.  The prognosis was not good - but Harper, the puppy, has surprised everyone.  She goes to hydrotherapy to swim and gets massaged each and every day - and she is now walking on her own, at the age of 11 weeks.  Three weeks ago she could not make any movement.  This little puppy, Harper, is a true scrapper - If I didn't have my cats and my pet-sitting business, I'd adopt her in a heartbeat!