#pnw wildlife

[natureisthegreatestartist]

What pretty shells. Who do they belong to? Pacific sideband snails (Monadenia fidelis), which are native to the Pacific Northwest.

[willoftrees]

finally managed to snap the local elk herd!

kept a respectable distance as not startle them~

[seabeck]

Barred owl

[weirdcreaturefeed]

Weird Creature of the Day: Bleeding tooth/Devil's tooth fungus

CW: Trypophobia, hemophobia. It's covered in holes that look like they're bleeding, which might be unpleasant to look at for some.

Yeow, that's a rough case of gingivitis! It's Hydnellum peckii!

The blood-like fluid they excrete when the fruiting bodies are younger is theorized to protect them from predators or to attract insects to assist in spreading their spores. It's produced when the root system of the fungus absorbs too much rainwater and pushes the excess out through the visible mushroom portion of the the organism.

The "tooth" part of their common name comes from the small tooth-esque protrusions on the underside of the fruiting bodies, which release their spores.

They're widespread across North America but particularly common in the Pacific Northwest, and often found among fir, pine, and other woods. It has also been found in Scotland and Germany, and more recently in Iran and Korea. There are populations on the decline in the Czech Republic, Norway, and the Netherlands. It is suspected that pollution and deforestation are the cause of the increased rarity in these areas. They build mycorrhizal relationships with the root networks (as far as 11 feet/3.4 meters away from the fruiting bodies!) of coniferous trees around them. I would like to join them.

They're not dangerous to eat but they taste downright awful. I keep on finding words like "acrid" and "bitter" if that gives you an idea.

They're valued for their dying capabilities. Different dye recipes with this fungus can produce ranges of brown, green, and blue. (Natural dyes are cool please talk to me about natural dyes)

This was very fun for me to find out because its common names were made up well before we learned this: the "blood" (or more specifically its red pigments) possess a sizeable amount of an anticoagulant compound! Isn't it funny how things work out sometimes? The anticoagulant is called atromentin, and it's very similar to a frequently used blood thinning medication called heparin. Atromentin is only found in certain types of fungi (Agaricales and Thelephorales classes), and heparin is only found in certain animals (humans, whales, salmon, shrimp, turkeys, others). It's just fascinating to me that we as humans are still so in sync with not only our Animalia peers, but our even more distant relatives in the Fungi kingdom as well.

Reminder that mycelium is cool and fucked up, why does it look like this

Photo: Bernypisa [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

[rebeccathenaturalist]

If you aren't following the news here in the Pacific Northwest, this is a very, very big deal. Our native salmon numbers have been plummeting over the past century and change. First it was due to overfishing by commercial canneries, then the dams went in and slowed the rivers down and blocked the salmons' migratory paths. More recently climate change is warming the water even more than the slower river flows have, and salmon can easily die of overheating in temperatures we would consider comfortable.

Removing the dams will allow the Klamath River and its tributaries to return to their natural states, making them more hospitable to salmon and other native wildlife (the reservoirs created by the dams were full of non-native fish stocked there over the years.) Not only will this help the salmon thrive, but it makes the entire ecosystem in the region more resilient. The nutrients that salmon bring back from their years in the ocean, stored within their flesh and bones, works its way through the surrounding forest and can be traced in plants several miles from the river.

This is also a victory for the Yurok, Karuk, and other indigenous people who have relied on the Klamath for many generations. The salmon aren't just a crucial source of food, but also deeply ingrained in indigenous cultures. It's a small step toward righting one of the many wrongs that indigenous people in the Americas have suffered for centuries.

[pnwander]

[orofeaiel]

Barred Owl

[organicmatter]

northern flicker, photo by Loi Nguyen

[mcromwell]

If you're as excited as me and @echomary about seeing a rough skinned newt then chances are we're friend material (sound on)

[acidicbug]

these are not deer but i still saw them

[crows-before-bros]

Oregano on a cold winter day.

[starbirdpnw]

Glad to made it to Skagit for the shorties. Always fun and pleasure to watch and photograph.

[macphoto]

jellyfish 🪼 pacific sea nettle 4.12.23

[seabeck]

Bald eagle in the fog

[theodorenussphotography]

More of the Strawberry Hill seals

[rebeccathenaturalist]

This is HUGE news! Sea otters have been absent from Oregon shorelines for more than a century due to overhunting for fur. While Washington and California have healthy populations, Oregon hasn't seen any new otters move in, other than the occasional transient. This is due largely to the fact that they are not normally migratory animals, and so are more likely to stick around relatively close to their birthplaces. Since all the sea otters of Oregon were exterminated to make coats and other fur products, there was no remaining population to rebuild locally.

However, reintroduction could make a difference by deliberately relocating sea otters from other areas to Oregon, particularly in places that have lots of food for them, like sea urchins. This grant would fund research in finding the best places to reintroduce them and the best existing populations to draw from, among other tasks that need to be addressed before the otters can meet their new homes.

This grant is an incredibly important move forward in returning this keystone species to a part of its native range. Bringing back sea otters would vastly improve the health of kelp forests in the ocean, which are currently being decimated by an overpopulation of sea urchins. In turn, healthier kelp forests means better marine biodiversity offering more food and shelter for a wider range of species, giving them more resilience in the years to come.