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Pleistocene Skunks
The skunk’s black and white markings warn predators, even those lacking color vision, to beware of the noxious spray this animal is capable of unleashing. The skunk’s defense mechanism is so effective...
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Marshall Forest and Lavender Mountain
Marshall Forest is located on a southern extension of the Armuchee Ridge within the city limits of Rome, Georgia. At least 100 acres of this Nature Conservancy Reserve have never been logged, making...
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The Coats-Hines Pre-Clovis Site in Williamson County, Tennessee
Workers constructing the 13th hole of the Crockett Springs Golf Course in 1977 unearthed mastodon bones. Paleontologists took note of the discovery and 17 years later when they learned lots adjacent...
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Inland Shorebirds of the Pleistocene
The Scolopacidae family includes birds that are commonly considered denizens of the sea shore, such as sandpipers and curlews, but 3 species are primarily terrestrial inhabitants. The upland sandpiper...
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The Unknown Owl of Pleistocene Georgia
A few scraps of bone found at just 2 fossil sites in Georgia indicate a now extinct species of owl, larger than any present day owl species, used to live in the region. Starrs Olson compared a...
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The Evolutionary History of the Black Bass Genus (Micropterus sp.)
Scientists used a molecular clock to determine all 8 species of black bass share a common ancestor that lived 11 million years ago. The molecular clock is a method scientists have of estimating the...
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The Orianne Indigo Snake Preserve
It’s too late to save most of North America’s megafauna. Man overhunted most of the magnificent animals on this continent into extinction thousands of years ago, and Europeans nearly eradicated the...
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The Natural Communities of Georgia by Leslie Edwards, Jonathan Ambrose, and...
The Natural Communities of Georgia is a beautiful and exhaustive encyclopedia of all the natural environments that exist within the state boundaries. It’s an updated version of the late Charles...
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The Mystery Cat of Pleistocene Georgia
Most small species of cats are adept tree climbers, but the margay (Leopardus wiedii) excells. It hunts, copulates, and raises its young in trees, making it as arboreal as a monkey or squirrel. The...
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When Pleistocene Megafauna Roamed Interdunal Wetlands
My parents used to own a beachfront condo on Harbor Island, South Carolina. One year, I was surprised to find a freshwater marsh in front of the condo, complete with cattails, frogs, and red-winged...
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Piedmont Cliff Ecology
Cliffs represent some of the most pristine natural environments left in the temperate zone . Developers have little use for them, though some are transformed into stone quarries and ruined. Cliffs...
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Relict Ice Age Microfauna of Georgia’s Boulderfield Forests
Spruce trees and northern pine species dominated the higher elevations of Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains during Ice Ages. The highest peaks may have even been above the tree line and likely hosted...
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New York City Used to be a Hunter’s Paradise
I’m taking my blog on an imaginary vacation this week away from Pleistocene Georgia to New York City…but not to the metropolis of today. Instead, I’m going to visit the area in 1626 when it was known...
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Killing Coyotes is Futile
The title of an article published in a recent issue of Georgia Outdoor News was “Save a Fawn, Kill a Coyote.” This is the first line of that article–”Killing coyotes is fun.” I just have to comment...
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Wakulla Springs, Shellpoint Beach, and The St. Marks Wildlife Refuge
The drive from Augusta, Georgia to the Florida panhandle takes over 7 hours. I chose a route of mostly back country highways that bisect farmland, abandoned farmland, and second growth forest. I saw...
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The Ancient Armored Gar
Fish from the gar family (Lepisosteidae) swam in fresh and brackish waters when dinosaurs roamed the earth. During the Cretaceous Era gar had a worldwide distribution, but today they’re restricted to...
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The Leisey Shell Pit
During the late 1970s, Frank Garcia and other amateur fossil collectors often searched the spoil piles of the Leisey Shell Pit located about a mile east of Tampa Bay, Florida. The Leisey family owned...
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The Florida Jujube (Ziziphus celata), a Pleistocene Relic
Dry climate phases during the Pliocene and early Pleistocene fostered a desert scrub/grassland community that stretched from Florida to southern California. Eventually, climate changed and extensive...
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Old Growth Oak Forests in North Georgia
I’ve written a lot lately about Georgia’s grassland communities, but my favorite types of environments in the state are oak forests and oak-pine woodlands. Believe it or not, ecologists do discern the...
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Feral Horses Belong on the Georgia Coast and are a Natural Part of America’s...
Beautiful wild horses grazing under a live oak on Cumberland Island, Georgia. Wild horses grazing on a beach dune on Cumberland Island. Anthony Martin, author of Life Traces of the Georgia Coast,...
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