Mother's Day, 2020 in Quarantine...
Saw these deer in Herring Run Park yesterday...
A little dog scared them away....
4/13/2020
I went for a walk yesterday in Herring Run Park with my dog. She led me to a hole in the ground. I sniffed but didn't smell the distinctive musky fox odor I usually smell near a fox den. I looked around the entrance for fox tracks but wasn't sure, since the soil was hard and not muddy. I did see some track remnants of a kind of circular shape, that could have been from a fox. I looked around for another entrance, since I know that groundhogs make a front and back door. Foxes usually only have one doorway. There was another entrance nearby, so I wondered if it could be a groundhog home.
However, upon closer inspection, I found more evidence... a black and white bird feather just inside the entrance. What animal would eat a bird? Certainly not a groundhog!
Groundhogs don't have any canines for eating meat!
There was also a part of a very small deer outside the entrance. Just two hind legs, with most of the meat chewed off. That's when I decided it must be a fox den. Maybe it was even a mother fox who brought part of a dead fawn carcass to feed her kits. I guess a fox can kill a fawn. I know that fawns lie perfectly still with their eyes open if their mother leaves them alone. I saw one like that once. I thought it was dead, so I ran to get my camera to take a picture of it, but when I came back it was gone. I wonder if the fawn would have stayed still while a fox bit it.
fawn playing deadWhat do foxes eat? You can often tell what an animal eats by studying its teeth. Look at this fox's teeth...
And here is a fox skull...
What kinds of teeth does a fox have?
If you look closely, you will see 42 teeth, including 12 incisors, 4 canines for catching and killing prey, 16 premolars, and 10 molars.4 canine teeth.
Incisors are good for eating fruit like blackberries and raspberries.
Molars are good for grinding grains like grass.
Go to this site to see a video of a fox hunting for worms.
https://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/animals/article/red-fox-diet-what-foxes-eat
How many teeth do you have? Look in a mirror or count them with your tongue.
What kinds are they?
What do you use your incisors for?
What about your canines? If you are vegan or vegetarian, as many people are, notice how much smaller your canines are than a fox's. Maybe people a long time ago had bigger canines and needed them for eating meat, but maybe human mouths have evolved to not have such big canines anymore.
fox eating a squirrel
What do you eat with your Molars? Do you eat rice, barley, oatmeal, cereal, buckwheat groats, cornbread?
Creative Snack
Materials: Fruits, vegetables, grains, etc.
Eat a variety of foods and try to pay attention to which teeth you are using for each.
Do you have any pets? Look (safely) into their mouths to see what kinds of teeth they have and how many. Only look in if they open their mouths; don't pry it open! Does your cat have more canines than you? Does your cat ever eat anything besides meat?
Did you know that dogs can be vegetarians, but cats can't?
Look up pictures of animal teeth. Here's a sheepshead fish that has teeth very similar to humans.'
If you have any skulls that you found on the ground in the woods (I have found raccoon, fox, dog, and deer skulls), compare their teeth and try to guess what their diet might be (what kinds of foods they eat).
Deer Skull, compared with possum and coyote skulls ...
Carnivores eat meat, herbivores eat plants, and omnivores eat all kinds of things.
Art Activity: If you have a skull or jawbone or feather, get some paper and a pencil (preferable HB) and draw a picture of it. Expect to spend at least a couple of hours on it. There are so many details. The skull will have holes where the tendons were inserted to hold on the muslce, and where ligaments were inserted to hold bones to each other. Or draw any object you find. Post it here so we can all see!
April 17
In Herring Run Park, I saw three deer run out of the woods into the field. One just stood there while the other two ran across the field. One was running back and forth with its head down in a butting position. I am guessing the one standing still was a female, and the other two were males fighting over her.
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