Cascadians
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Flea tick mosquito etc warning. Also weird animal behavior.
[ Fair Use: For Educational / Research / Discussion Purposes Only ]
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012...inter-playing-havoc-with-hibernating-animals/
February 02, 2012, by Jeremy A Kaplan, FoxNews
The Jumanji effect? Extra warm winter playing havoc with hibernating animals
Suburban bear sightings are up nationwide.
Ravenous black bears scurrying through trash cans for dinner, mosquitoes swarming in the early grass, amorous deer behaving like, well, rabbits.
Creatures great and small are being thrown for a loop this winter as the unusually warm climate stirs all forms of wildlife from their natural hibernation and reproduction cycles.
Call it the “Jumanji effect.”
It will cause bat populations to crater and deer herds to double. ....
But rather than hibernating through freezing snowstorms, nature is being awakened by the weird warmth. Even black bears are likely to rise early from their October to March slumber -- and they’ll be ravenous, said Paul Curtis, a professor of natural resources and wildlife specialist with Cornell University.
“They’ll be hungry when they come out of their dens after hibernating all winter,” Curtis told FoxNews.com. “Their fat reserves will be gone and they’ll be looking for easy food.”
Thanks to a winter that has averaged at least five degrees above normal, according to Art DeGaetano, a climatologist and the director of the NOAA Northeast Regional Climate Center -- above-average temperatures that will continue through April, per the National Weather Service’s long range forecasts -- Black bears could show their faces in the next few weeks.
“By mid- to late February, black bears will be coming out of their dens,” Curtis said. They’ll most likely go after bird feeders and other human-created food sources -- up to 80 percent of the omnivorous species’ diet is plant material, he explained.
But other animals do have a blood lust, and thanks to the warm weather, they may attack like the plague this summer.
“This year, lots and lots of hungry ticks will emerge even on warm winter days,” said Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, a professor of entomology and a specialist with the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program.
The boom in ticks is partly thanks to a soaring deer population, which will have survived the mild winter in record numbers. And where deer numbers are up, so are ticks.
Other blood-thirsty pests will make the summer of 2012 one for the record books as well, again thanks to the odd weather. The extreme cold snaps typical in many U.S. states have yet to surface -- weather that typically kills a good portion of the dormant mosquito population.
“I anticipate the mosquito problems we normally see to be much more intense and begin earlier than usual if the weather continues to be mild,” Gangloff-Kaufmann said. “Even the fleas have had a boost so far this winter and many people are complaining about flea problems right now, in the middle of winter.” ....
[ Fair Use: For Educational / Research / Discussion Purposes Only ]
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012...inter-playing-havoc-with-hibernating-animals/
February 02, 2012, by Jeremy A Kaplan, FoxNews
The Jumanji effect? Extra warm winter playing havoc with hibernating animals
Suburban bear sightings are up nationwide.
Ravenous black bears scurrying through trash cans for dinner, mosquitoes swarming in the early grass, amorous deer behaving like, well, rabbits.
Creatures great and small are being thrown for a loop this winter as the unusually warm climate stirs all forms of wildlife from their natural hibernation and reproduction cycles.
Call it the “Jumanji effect.”
It will cause bat populations to crater and deer herds to double. ....
But rather than hibernating through freezing snowstorms, nature is being awakened by the weird warmth. Even black bears are likely to rise early from their October to March slumber -- and they’ll be ravenous, said Paul Curtis, a professor of natural resources and wildlife specialist with Cornell University.
“They’ll be hungry when they come out of their dens after hibernating all winter,” Curtis told FoxNews.com. “Their fat reserves will be gone and they’ll be looking for easy food.”
Thanks to a winter that has averaged at least five degrees above normal, according to Art DeGaetano, a climatologist and the director of the NOAA Northeast Regional Climate Center -- above-average temperatures that will continue through April, per the National Weather Service’s long range forecasts -- Black bears could show their faces in the next few weeks.
“By mid- to late February, black bears will be coming out of their dens,” Curtis said. They’ll most likely go after bird feeders and other human-created food sources -- up to 80 percent of the omnivorous species’ diet is plant material, he explained.
But other animals do have a blood lust, and thanks to the warm weather, they may attack like the plague this summer.
“This year, lots and lots of hungry ticks will emerge even on warm winter days,” said Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, a professor of entomology and a specialist with the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program.
The boom in ticks is partly thanks to a soaring deer population, which will have survived the mild winter in record numbers. And where deer numbers are up, so are ticks.
Other blood-thirsty pests will make the summer of 2012 one for the record books as well, again thanks to the odd weather. The extreme cold snaps typical in many U.S. states have yet to surface -- weather that typically kills a good portion of the dormant mosquito population.
“I anticipate the mosquito problems we normally see to be much more intense and begin earlier than usual if the weather continues to be mild,” Gangloff-Kaufmann said. “Even the fleas have had a boost so far this winter and many people are complaining about flea problems right now, in the middle of winter.” ....
and officially have issued a warning that even motorized boats cannot go out in the water.
