Saw something I had never seen before.
Hogs
I live on a property that has been in the family since 1957. 6500 ft. elevation in the Tonto National Forest. Tonight when going to pick up the mail I saw 3 Javalina. Have seen deer, elk, bear, mt. lion all within spitting distance of the house. Never before seen.
Terry
First time for everything I guess. We now have armadillos everywhere here in Southern Illinois and that’s a very new thing.
Javalina are cool! Turtlerats suck!
And there's been bear sightings in northern Illinois.
Of course up here, a good way to keep Bears out of your yard would be to put up goalposts!
The turtlerats seem to be moving further north all the time. Lived in Oklahoma from 1981 till 1997, and I don’t think I ever saw one dead one on the road north of Wichita for the longest time, when I would drive back and forth to Iowa. Now, it’s common to see them dead around Kansas City.
Right t-roy! Growing up in KS I was so excited to see my first turtlerat. We took a trip to TX and I saw a dead one on the highway! Now I kill several a yr as they destroy my yard.
From what I have read, javelina are relatively new entrants to AZ and continue to expand their range. Their bones have not been found in archaeological sites, Indian cave paintings do not include them (at least that I have read), and they were apparently only sporadically referenced by early white settlers. I have heard of javies all the way to the south rim of the GC, so that is not all that surprising.
Here in CA, a friend’s family bought a ranch in Mendocino county in 1935, did not see a black bear on it until the 1970’s, didn’t have a resident bear until the mid-1990’s, and we now see 2-4 in some 24 hour periods on trail cameras.
I’ve heard from reliable sources that mule deer have moved into Alaska from the Yukon and that mountain lions have followed.
Despite what the experts may tell us, the distribution of species is not static and continues to change.
"Here in CA, a friend’s family bought a ranch in Mendocino county in 1935, did not see a black bear on it until the 1970’s, didn’t have a resident bear until the mid-1990’s, and we now see 2-4 in some 24 hour periods on trail cameras."
I'm in Sonoma county just south of there and we are starting to see them move into our area.
Wonder if the extra moisture this year has allowed more expansion?
In another first.....today was my first time hearing: "turtlerat".
^^^ yeah, what the heck is a turtlerat?
I guess coyotes, armadillos, wild hogs n Javalina are spreading out more n more. I remember in the 70s I never saw a coyote
"In another first.....today was my first time hearing: "turtlerat"."
I've got plenty of other words and names for them, can't say them on this site though!
There’s also a recent bear sighting in southern illinois near Chester
Woods Walker, that’s very funny! Life long Bears fan, so I’m used to suffering.
BOHUNTER09, we heard about the recent black bear sighting in Chester! We had one come through our neighborhood a couple of years ago and it caused quite a stir. Stayed out by Rend Lake for a couple days before moving on. The video this week of the bear down in Destin was pretty interesting too.
I have never heard of armadillos being called turtle rats either.
“Despite what the experts may tell us, the distribution of species is not static and continues to change.”
I don’t think any actual expert ever said that ANYTHING in nature is static… Matter of fact, nobody who knows JACK would say that.,. Nothing in nature doesn’t change, but it never changes for no reason.
If you think about large predators, all of those are going to be expanding their range (relative to recent human memory) as their numbers increase under state & federal protection; the only reason nobody saw them around fifty or a hundred years ago, was that they had all been killed off by then… Wolves, bears, mountain lions, jaguars… all of those are just moving back into their ancestral ranges. Coyotes are simply expanding into the vacuum left by the extirpation of the larger predators which used to keep them out, and their expansion is happening faster than for the larger predators because they’re more adaptable around humans. Also helps that their numbers never got reduced to the same extent.
And the critters which are now being seen in areas outside of their documented ancestral/historic ranges are simply heading where the climate suits their clothes. Neither Javelina nor Armadillos can probably cope with much snow; but in the absence of it, they can expand to wherever their needs are met.
There are a lot of birds like Cardinals which have been able to stretch their year-round range farther north primarily because of back-yard bird feeders; given a winter food source, they can stick it out. Not migrating saves a huge amount of time and calories which go into reproduction. Look at geese. If it weren’t for house-cats, we’d probably be up to our eyeballs in songbirds….
The “rat” moniker gets attached pretty regularly as a derogatory name to other critters as well. Corn rat (deer), tree rat (squirrel) , long-winded rat (raven coyote), etc.
I’ve always called them possum on the half shell.
They are expanding north. Saw one splattered on the road in northern MO a few years ago.
I live near the Mississippi River (20 min walk to it) on the Ill., Iowa border. We have had Bears, Mt. Lions confirmed in our area the last few years. We've had several Lions in the last few years around the state. I had an Uncle that owned a farm in Wisconsin a half hour from the Illinois border. He had a Bear that had cubs "twice" & saw her frequently.
Tactical assault opossum.
