Author: Andrea Liberatore

Andrea Liberatore was the Director of Education at the Stokes Nature Center from 2010 - 2013. She loves spending time outdoors in just about all ecosystems, terrains, continents, and weather conditions. Learning about the intricacies and wonders of nature, and sharing them with others, is her lifelong passion.
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A Rocky Relationship with the Desert

Chuckwalla Lizard Basking
Copyright 2010 Cameron Rognan

On a recent trip to the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve in St. George, I learned about a creature with an amazing sense of place. The chuckwalla is a large member of the lizard family which resides in the desert southwest, an area well known for its temperature extremes. Like many other desert dwelling creatures, the chuckwalla has evolved a unique set of adaptations that enable it to thrive in its environment.

Chuckwallas live almost exclusively in rocky areas, and these rocks are the key to their survival. As cold-blooded creatures, they cannot regulate their own temperature, and instead rely on the environment to warm and cool their bodies. The chuckwalla’s flat body shape allows it to warm rapidly on a cool morning by pressing itself tightly to a rock in the sun. This behavior also allows it to quite literally keep a ‘low profile’ from predators. Another temperature control adaptation involves the chuckwalla’s color. While individuals exhibit regional variations from black to brown to yellow, they also have the ability to adjust their skin color to best absorb or reflect sunlight and therefore help regulate their body temperature. During the day, temperatures often soar higher than a chuckwalla can handle, and the lizards retire to the cool shade of the rocks.

Chuckwalla Lizard in a Crevice
Copyright 2010 Cameron Rognan

Apart from helping chuckwallas maintain their temperature, rocks also play a key role in the lizard’s defense against predators, including coyotes and birds of prey. When threatened, a chuckwalla will retreat to the nearest crack or crevice and take in large gulps of air. These big breaths inflate the chuckwalla’s chest cavity like a balloon, wedging its body tightly to the rocks around it – a brilliant move which makes the lizard nearly impossible to pull out by force. Most predators will soon give up and move on to find an easier meal. This behavior gives a whole new meaning to the chuckwalla’s ability to ‘fit’ its environment.

Thank you to Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for supporting the research and development of this Wild About Utah topic.

For the Stokes Nature Center and Wild About Utah, this is Andrea Liberatore.

Chuckwalla Lizard
Copyright 2010 Cameron Rognan

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy & Copyright Cameron Rognan
Text: Andrea Liberatore, Stokes Nature Center
Additional Reading:

Stebbins, Robert C. 2003. Peterson Field Guides: Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company., https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395982723

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, “Reptile and Amphibian Accounts: Chuckwalla” (Sauromalus obesus) https://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_chuckwalla.php (Accessed Nov 22, 2010)

Cooper, W.J. et al, 2000. Lizard Antipreditory Behaviors Preventing Extraction from Crevices. Herpetologica, 56(3): 394-401

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The Mysterious Salamander

The Mysterious Salamander: Tiger salamander egg mass, Copyright 2009 Jason Jones, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Tiger salamander egg mass
Copyright 2009 Jason Jones
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Salamanders have long been a source of mystery for humans and their name reflects some of this mystique. The word salamander has its roots in an Arab-Persian word meaning ‘lives in fire’, reflecting an early belief that salamanders could walk through fire unscathed. Mentioned by Aristotle, Aesop, and Shakespeare, this myth likely arose from salamanders that fled the fireplace once their cozy home in the woodpile was disturbedThe Mysterious Salamander

Utah is home to only one of the world’s more than 500 salamander species. Our tiger salamanders can live in a multitude of different habitats, so long as there is access to fresh water. Because of their need to stay moist, salamanders live a life often hidden from view – spending much of their time underneath rocks, leaves, and other debris. But in early spring, these unique creatures become more active and leave their homes in search of a mate.

Long-toed salamander larvae
in an egg
Copyright 2007 Jason JonesUtah Division of Wildlife Resources

The salamander lifecycle is similar to that of a frog. Eggs are laid in a pond or other source of still water, and hatch into larvae called efts, which look quite like their frog counterpart, the tadpole. After spending a few weeks in the larval stage, individuals metamorphose into an adult.

While modern science has debunked a lot of salamander myths one big mystery still remains. Not all salamanders undergo metamorphosis to become what we recognize as an adult salamander. Some remain in the larval form their entire life, and are even able to reproduce as larvae. This phenomenon, called paedomorphism, has been documented in a number of salamander species, and scientists don’t really understand why or how it happens. Some speculate that the ability to morph or not helps salamanders overcome environmental challenges, such as competition for resources, lack of water, or increased predation.

Tiger salamander eft
Copyright 2007 Jason Jones
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Unfortunately, this amazing adaptation has not helped salamanders overcome recent decreases in population that baffled scientists for many years. At one time mysterious, scientists now understand that salamanders are some of the first species to show the effects of pollution in their environment. Now that this particular salamander mystery has been solved, these animals are playing an increasingly important role in determining ecosystem health which may help save many other species.

For more information and photographs of tiger salamanders, please visit our website at www.wildaboututah.org. Thank you to the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for supporting the research and development of this Wild About Utah topic.

Adult tiger salamander
Copyright 2002 Richard Fridell
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

For the Stokes Nature Center and Wild About Utah, this is Andrea Liberatore.

Credits:

Photos:

Courtesy & Copyright Jason Jones, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Courtesy & Copyright Richard Fridell, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Courtesy & Copyright Krissy Wilson, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Text: Andrea Liberatore, Stokes Nature Center

Adult tiger salamander,
Copyright 2002 Krissy Wilson
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Additional Reading:

Donel, M., Joly, P., Whiteman, H.H. 2005. Evolutionary Ecology of Facultative Paedomorphosis in Newts and Salamanders. Biological Review 80 663-671,

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1017
/S1464793105006858/abstract

Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, Second Edition. 2003. Volume 6: Amphibians. Farmington Hills, MI: Thompson Gale, https://www.amazon.com/Grzimeks-Animal-Life-Encyclopedia-Amphibians/dp/0787657824

Stebbins, Robert C. 2003. Peterson Field Guides: Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company., https://www.amazon.com/Field-Western-Reptiles-Amphibians-Peterson/dp/0395982723

Whiteman, Howard H. 1994. Evolution of Facultative Paedomorphosis in Salamanders. The Quarterly Review of Biology 69(2) 205-220, https://www.jstor.org/pss/3037717

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Snowflakes

A free-falling snow crystal
photographed as it fell
Alta Ski Area on March 6, 2011
Photo Courtesy & Copyright 2011
Tim Garrett, University of Utah
Alta Snowflake Showcase https://www.alta.com/conditions/snowflake-showcase [Mar 10, 2011] Archive
As winter draws to a close, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the amazing weather phenomenon that is a snowflake. When winter weather dumps inches of snow on us, it’s easy to overlook the tiny works of art, those intricate and delicate snowflakes, which make up the storm. Snowflakes

Snowflakes – or to use a more scientific term, snow crystals – come in a variety of different shapes including long, thin needles, flat hexagonal plates, columns, and irregularly-shaped pellets called graupel. The International Snow Classification System recognizes ten different shapes in all, only one of which is the traditional snowflake image. The classic six-armed snowflake shape is called a ‘stellar dendrite’ by scientists.

When teaching programs about snow, someone inevitably asks me, “Is it really true that no two snowflakes are alike?” As far as I can tell, the answer is, well, ‘maybe’, and here’s why.

A free-falling snow crystal
photographed as it fell
Alta Ski Area
March 6, 2011
Photo Courtesy & Copyright 2011
Tim Garrett, University of Utah
Alta Snowflake Showcase https://www.alta.com/conditions/snowflake-showcase [Mar 10, 2011]

Three things are needed to form these intricate crystals, and the first two are fairly obvious: water, and temperatures below freezing. The third item is a little more inconspicuous. Water cannot condense and freeze all on its own. Every snowflake needs a piece of atmospheric dust or salt at its core. This particle is referred to as a ‘nucleating agent,’ and it attracts water molecules which then condense and begin to freeze. From there, a snowflake’s overall shape is determined by a number of other variables including the atmospheric temperature, the amount of available moisture, wind speed, and mid-air collisions with other snowflakes.

To add more complexity, consider that each individual snowflake contains somewhere on the order of 10 quintillion water molecules. That’s ten with eighteen zeros behind it. While the way these molecules bind to each other is dictated by the laws of physics, the sheer number of ways in which 10 quintillion water molecules can arrange themselves as they freeze into place is mind boggling. But then again, how many snowflakes do you think fall in the typical March snowstorm in Utah? A lot. One scientist has estimated that the number of individual snowflakes that have fallen on Earth in the planet’s history is ten with 34 zeros behind it. In all of those snowflakes is it possible that two are exactly alike? Yeah, maybe… but good luck finding them!

A stellar dendrite snow crystal Photo Courtesy & Copyright
Kenneth Libbrecht, Caltech University
SnowCrystals.com

For more information and some beautiful snowflake photographs, please visit our website at www.wildaboututah.org. Thank you to the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for supporting the research and development of this Wild About Utah topic.

For the Stokes Nature Center and Wild About Utah, this is Andrea Liberatore.

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy Tim Garrett, University of Utah,
Kenneth Libbrecht, Caltech University
Text: Andrea Liberatore, Stokes Nature Center

Additional Reading:

Halfpenny, J.C and Ozanne, R.D. 1989. Winter: An Ecological Handbook. Boulder, CO: Johnson Books, https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Ecological-Handbook-James-Halfpenny/dp/1555660363

A stellar dendrite snow crystal Photo Courtesy & Copyright
Kenneth Libbrecht, Caltech University
SnowCrystals.com

Gosnell, Mariana. 2007. Ice: the Nature, the History, and the Uses of an Astonishing Substance. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, https://www.amazon.com/Ice-Nature-History-Astonishing-Substance/dp/0679426086

Libbrecht, Kenneth .1999. A Snowflake Primer: the basic facts about snowflakes and snow crystals. https://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/primer
/primer.htm

A hexagonal plate snow crystal cite>Photo Courtesy & Copyright
Kenneth Libbrecht, Caltech University
SnowCrystals.com
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Snowshoes

Maliseet Snowshoe
Photo Courtesy & Copyright Hudson Museum, University of Maine

Imagine yourself living in Utah hundreds of years ago – before cars, before horses, before European influences. Summers provide you with abundant game and a multitude of plants for food and other materials, but the winters are harsh and full of snow. How did Native Americans manage to survive winter without modern amenities like snow plows and grocery stores? These hearty individuals owe their ability to hunt and travel in our snowy climate to one important tool – the snowshoe.

Snowshoes have been a part of life for humans in cold-weather climates for at least 6,000 years. From what historians can tell, people living in central Asia learned to strap thin planks of wood to their feet in order to help them travel through deep snow. Snowshoes work by increasing the surface area of the wearer’s foot, which distributes his or her weight across more snow – allowing them to basically float on top of the snow.

Western Subartic Antique
Indian Snowshoes. circa 1890 – 1920.
Photo Courtesy & Copyright VintageWinter.com

From this common ancestor in central Asia, both snowshoes and skis arose. Over the years, people began to spread out and move to new locations. Those who went west, into Europe, eventually developed the ski and those who went east across Siberia and into the Americas developed the snowshoe. The early snowshoes used by Native Americans were constructed of a wooden frame which was laced with babiche, un-tanned animal hide.

While we will likely never know why that first person decided to strap a plank of wood to their foot, perhaps they took their cue from Mother Nature. You see, humans are not the only ones who have figured out how to keep ourselves afloat on snow – some members of the animal world have too, and Utah holds two standout examples: the aptly named snowshoe hare and the Canada lynx. Both of these animals have extraordinarily large feet, which act much the same as our snowshoes, distributing the animal’s weight across a larger surface area.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that both snowshoe hares and Canada lynx share this amazing adaptation. These two species are closely connected to each other in a special relationship: that of predator and prey. Leaving us to ponder the question: whose snowshoes came first, the lynx or the hare?

Eastern Subartic Indian Snowshoes. circa 1855 – 1900
Photo Courtesy & Copyright VintageWinter.com

For more information and photos of traditional snowshoes, please visit our website at www.wildaboututah.org. Thank you to the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for supporting the research and development of this Wild About Utah topic.

For the Stokes Nature Center and Wild About Utah, this is Andrea Liberatore.

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy Hudson Museum,
University of Maine
www.umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum/
Nick Thomas, SkiEO, VintageWinter www.vintagewinter.com
Text: Andrea Liberatore, Stokes Nature Center

Vintage Snowshoe Slideshow
Visit the Vintage Winter Sports Museum
Courtesy & Copyright VintageWinter.com

Additional Reading:

Prater, Gene. 1998. Snowshoeing, 3rd Edition. Seattle: The Mountaineers

Zeveloff, Samuel I. 1988. Mammals of the Intermountain West. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press