So you think you know a lot about Maine’s game birds and mammals? Let’s find out. Here’s a little quiz, and don’t cheat. Take a guess before reading the answer.
What general group of mammals do rabbits and hares belong to? The snowshoe hare, named for the large furry feet that facilitate faster flight in fluffy white powder, is not a rodent. It sports obvious “buck” teeth that resemble many large rodents like the woodchuck and beaver. If you look more closely, you’ll see another, smaller pair of incisors right behind the bigger ones, a characteristic it shares with other lagomorphs like rabbits. Furthermore, baby rabbits are altricial – born blind, naked and helpless. Hares are precocial, born fully furred with eyes open and ready to run.
What makes the opossum so distinctly different from other Maine mammals? The short answer is reproductive strategy. It doesn’t have any close cousins in Maine, or even North America. In fact, it’s the only New World marsupial. Like kangaroos and wombats, they lack a placenta, which nourishes a growing embryo. Instead, young are born while still in early stages of development (after only two weeks of gestation) and must then crawl into an external pouch where they latch onto a teat and continue developing for three to four months before venturing into the world. This reproductive strategy is very primitive, as are their teeth. If you really want to impress folks with your trivial knowledge, look up where the ‘possum gets its scientific name Didelphis from.
What strategy do black bears use to while away the winter? Bears go into what’s called torpor. True hibernators like the woodchuck enter a deep sleep where heart, metabolic and breathing rates are significantly reduced, sometimes to a 10th of normal levels. Bears don’t eat, drink or pass waste and may sleep for extended periods. But they can wake in an instant, and sows even give birth in their winter dens. This strategy is so similar to true hibernation that animal behaviorists actually redefined the term and now consider them “highly efficient hibernators.” So if you answered “hibernation,” you get partial credit.
What unique strategy do roughed grouse sometimes use to weather long winter nights? More often they’ll simply roost in the protective limbs of dense softwoods, but they will literally dive into a snowbank and use its insulating properties to conserve heat. This strategy probably doesn’t work well on roadside snowbanks.
What characteristics make woodcock distinctly different from other game birds? Hint: it has something to do with the way they feed. They evolved a strategy of probing their long bill deep into the ground in search of worms and other invertebrates, mostly at night. This technique, the long bill and large eyes at the back of the skull, forced the brain to change position within the skull so it’s essentially upside down. For extra credit, the tip of the bill is actually prehensile, meaning it can open and close like a tweezer while the rest of the bill remains closed.
These are but a few fun and fascinating facts about the feathered and furred fauna we pursue. Knowing them may not boost your odds for success in the fall, but you never know when they might come in handy on trivia night.
Bob Humphrey is a freelance writer and Registered Maine Guide who lives in Pownal. He can be reached at: bob@bobhumphrey.com
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