Mountain Lion
My favorite question to ask folks who like to visit wilderness areas is: have you ever seen a mountain lion? Seeing a mountain lion has been my number one wilderness goal for a long time. A friend who was in charge of a citizen science project where folks submit animal sightings across Texas once told me that mountain lions are one of the most falsely reported critters out there. Folks often claim that they saw one, but most of the time, they didn’t. They just wanted to see one. Maybe what they actually saw was a bobcat or coyote obscured by a dark cloak of vegetation and a wishful eye.
But the mountain lion is no bobcat or coyote. You would think that they’d be unmistakable with their 3 to 5-foot-long bodies with thick limbs, a shadowed tawny coat, smoky eyes, and 2 to 3-foot-long sturdy black-tipped tails. They are known for their strength and stealth, running up to 50 mph and jumping 40 feet ahead and 18 feet up in the air. They could easily run after prey, like deer or javelina, but instead they typically lay low, wait for the right moment to pounce, and then give one powerful bite to the neck, severing the vertebrae.
Mountain lions are the ultimate symbol of wildness in the Americas. They remain elusive throughout their enormous range, which spans from Canada to the tip of Chile. Often we can only trace a mountain lion by the signs it leaves behind—tracks that show the hind foot landing right in front of where the front foot stepped, big segmented scat, or a kill that’s been partially covered up with some grass or has a telltale wound. Just to know that they’re out there somewhere is thrilling. Wandering through a Central Texas suburb once in a blue moon. Stalking mule deer in the wild Chisos Mountains of West Texas. Reminding you that there’s another top predator out there and that the world is alive and it’s not just mini-malls all the way down.
As parts of its range become less and less wild, the mountain lion becomes more and more threatened by habitat fragmentation and loss, depredation hunting, and the presence of rat-poisoned prey. With an ever increasing need for housing and infrastructure for humans, how do we live alongside this wild animal who needs huge swaths of connected land to satisfy each male’s 100-square-mile home range with room for populations to disperse? How do we protect this wild animal that many find threatening to humans and their livestock livelihoods? To make room for and protect the mountain lion, we must recognize its important role as an apex predator and appreciate that by protecting land for them, we are in turn protecting that irreplaceable wild for ourselves.
Once, a mountain lion walked straight into a person’s home in Oregon, took a nap behind her couch for six hours, and then walked out. If you picked the mountain lion card, it’s time to bring the lessons of the mountain lion into your home. Channel the strength and directness of the puma. They aren’t wasting their energy running after every deer they spot. They’re waiting for the right moment to make their move. Conserve your energy. Make sure that your intentions are clear and that your words and actions are direct. Don’t get caught up in drama or worry or being a busy-body. If you don’t have a clear direction, hang back and take time to consider your next move before you make it—then make it with purpose and precision.
CONTRARY
Did you forget that you are a boss? If you chose the mountain lion upside down, it’s sending you a reminder. You are a strong, majestic critter who is the boss of your own life. Make sure that other folks know it. Make sure that you know it. Being a boss means advocating for yourself and for others who need it too. You’re a natural leader and it’s time to step up.
— A S
Orangutan
Back in graduate school, I traveled to Malaysian Borneo to see about some flying lizards. The research didn’t really pan out, but I got to sweat more than I ever had in my whole life, catch some lizards, meet some friends, and see what I never dreamed I’d ever get to see—a wild orangutan.
Semenggoh Wildlife Preserve in Sarawak, Borneo is home to the Bornean orangutan, one of two species of critically endangered orangutans. Orangutans once roamed all of Southeast Asia, but are now only found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Their populations are at great risk of extinction due to illegal hunting and habitat destruction for timber, paper pulp, and palm plantations. With the slowest breeding rate of all mammals, to remain in the wild they’ll need help from the only great ape not currently threatened with extinction—humans.
Semenggoh not only rehabilitates rescued orangutans and gives them a place to live, it also offers them fruit periodically to supplement their wild foraging. Orangutans are known to eat up to 100 kinds of fruit, and a lack of adequate habitat makes it hard for many wild orangutans to find enough food.
One day at Semenggoh, I got to watch snack time for these orangutans. I stood quietly by a fruit-covered platform along with other visitors and waited. Before we could see the orangutan, we could see the trees start to sway in the distance. An orangutan was moving from tree to tree by bending the trunks like they were twigs. It would grab a tree, bend the tree toward it, then step onto it and reach for the next, slowly walking its way through the canopy. Adult orangutans can weigh between 60 and 191 pounds, which seems impossibly heavy for tree branches. Yet they move as gracefully as the wind—effortlessly navigating the forest as the largest arboreal animals in the world.
Semenggoh offers these snack time viewing opportunities to visitors because it believes that one of the keys to saving orangutans is to get folks interested in them enough to fight for them. Luckily, orangutans are inherently interesting. They share almost 97% of their DNA with us humans. They are incredibly smart. At Camp Leakey in the Tanjung Puting National Park, they’ve taught themselves to do things like brush their teeth and steal and paddle canoes down river to then ditch them once they’ve reached their destination. It takes a long time to get that smart, so orangutan babies stay with their moms for the first four to six years of their lives, learning things like where to find food and how to build a sleeping nest and avoid danger.
Orangutans have a reputation for being the most thoughtful problem solvers of the ape world. If you pulled the orangutan, it is telling you to think before you act. Instead of trying to shove that round peg into that square hole over and over until you finally get it right, sit back and take time to think about the best way to approach the problem. Be patient, not impulsive.
CONTRARY
The name orangutan comes from Malay and means “person of the forest.” If you pulled the orangutan upside down, it is telling you to be like the orangutan and make yourself a person of the forest. Climb a tree. Hug a tree. Lie down under a tree and watch the light filter through the canopy. Take time to connect with whatever forest you have near you in honor of the orangutan. While you’re at it, consider not buying things with palm oil in them and buying recycled paper (and using both sides of that recycled paper).
— A S
Spotted Hyena
Spotted hyenas are the largest of four species of hyenas and arguably the coolest. They are basically the eighth wonder of the world. Before we dive into the most exciting hyena facts, let’s warm up with some hyena basics: hyenas live in lots of different habitats south of the Saharan Desert in Africa where they are mostly nocturnal. They are fast, running up to 37 mph, and tough, eating not only meat but also pulverizing bones. Hyenas have a bad reputation for stealing prey from lions, but in reality they hunt most of their prey.
Maybe the coolest facts about spotted hyenas deal with their complex matriarchal society in which females rule. Females will fight for dominance in clans of six to 130 individuals. It pays to be a dominant female in the spotted hyena world. Higher-ranking females live longer, breed earlier, and produce more live young than lower-ranking females. Higher-ranking females are also known to contribute more androgen, or male sex hormones, to their young at birth—giving them a better chance of ranking high in the next generation. There’s a clear evolutionary benefit to being on top.
If you didn’t know about hyenas and were to watch them in the wild, you might ask yourself, “why am I only seeing males out there?”. Female hyenas are a bit larger and stronger than their male counterparts, but otherwise they look very much the same. Female spotted hyenas are the only female mammals without vaginal openings. Instead, they have a fused, tissue-filled labia that looks a lot like a pair of testicles, and they urinate, mate, and give birth through a 7-inch-long clitoris that looks a lot like a penis. That’s right—they give birth through a 1-inch opening at the end of a pseudopenis. As you might imagine, this is likely painful* and definitely dangerous, resulting in the suffocation of the baby about 60% of the time and sometimes death for first time mothers.
So how did it come to this? There are a few theories out there for how the pseudopenis came to be. When females greet, they line up facing each other and size each other up. The pseudopenis could make for an easy visual cue to assess rank. Furthermore, females live a dangerous life of fighting for the top from the very beginning. As cubs, females experience a higher rate of siblicide and infanticide than males. The pseudopenis may have evolved as a form of sexual mimicry, allowing female infants to look like males, thereby reducing their risk of being killed.
If you chose the hyena, it’s reminding you not to judge people and other animals based on their reputation and first impressions. Humans are known to persecute spotted hyenas because they think they are evil, dumb, creepy, giggly scavengers who do bad things like steal prey from noble lions. Sure they steal from lions, but lions also steal from them. Also, hyenas are incredibly intelligent and have a complex vocal communication system that includes much more than creepy giggles. So next time you make a snap judgment, think about the hyena and make sure you’re giving folks a chance.
CONTRARY
If you picked the hyena card upside down, it’s signaling the benefit of social support. Research has shown that social support is a bigger predictor of success in spotted hyenas than aggression. Take a tip from the hyena and don’t go it alone. Make sure that you’re supporting your crew and that they’re supporting you. As hyenas demonstrate, there is power in numbers.
— A S
Gray Fox
I’ve always had a soft spot for foxes. How many adjectives do we assign to foxes? Wily, clever, sly, crazy. What’s not to like about an animal that can be described in so many different ways?
Gray foxes are one of the oldest species of foxes. They diverged from other members of the Canidae family early on and are not closely related to other species of foxes alive today. Though they are found at the base of the Canidae family tree, they are the only American canid that can climb to the top of trees! They have features and DNA that differ significantly from other canids, including semi-retractable claws, which give them the ability to climb trees. To do so, they rotate their forelegs and use their front claws to grasp the tree while pushing up with their back legs. Once they are up in the canopy, they’re nimble enough to jump and climb around looking for food (such as birds, mammals, berries, and reptiles) and refuge.
If gray foxes are good at one thing, it’s adaptability. They live in a wide range of environments alongside other predators like coyotes and bobcats, which are both larger than the fox. To avoid predation, competition, and confrontation, gray foxes choose times of the day and places with good cover to hunt and carry out their daily routines.
If you pulled the fox card, it may be telling you to diversify! Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Foxes are survivors due to their opportunistic lifestyle and ability to adapt to changes. They make their dens in a variety of locations, including hollow logs, trees, rock crevices, wood or brush piles, and under buildings. They also hunt using a full range of senses, eat a wide variety of foods, and live in many different climates. They can even thrive in human environments, like the perimeters of neighborhoods, cemeteries, and parks. Where in your life can you try new things, change up your routine, and find new experiences?
CONTRARY
If you pulled the gray fox upside down, it may be telling you not to let yourself be boxed in. Don’t limit yourself by what you think you may not be capable of doing. So, you’re a dog. Dogs don’t climb trees, right? Wrong! Get out those claws, you glorious gray fox, and climb those trees! Be the gray fox and break boundaries, defy rules when they need to be defied, and surprise yourself in the process.
— J B J
Mexican Fee-tailed Bat
On summer evenings in Austin, Texas, hundreds of folks gather on the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge to witness the world’s largest urban bat colony emerge from its roost. Visitors will spend a good hour just looking down off the bridge, waiting for the 1.5 million bats to stream out over the lake like ribbons of smoke. It’s moments like these—friends and strangers looking in the same direction, mostly at nothing, waiting patiently to be amazed by other animals—that make me feel really good about us humans.
We weren’t always so ready to be amazed by bats. Back in the 1980s when the Congress Avenue bridge was remodeled, a maternal colony of Mexican free-tailed bats began to roost in the grooves on the underside of the bridge. These pregnant females found the bridge over Lady Bird Lake a great place to give birth to and raise their pups after returning from overwintering in Mexico.
The only problem was that the city they chose as a summer home happened to be, like many places, a hotbed of fear of bats. As the bats moved in, people in Austin signed petitions to eradicate them from the bridge.
Then came a guy named Merlin Tuttle. Tuttle almost single-handedly turned a city’s fear and misunderstanding into acceptance, and then admiration, and then a world-famous, big time money-making attraction in about five years. How’d he do it? With facts! And art! And community! Through beautiful photographs of bats in action and fun facts about how bats are fascinating and helpful friends to humans, Tuttle helped turn the tide in favor of bats.
Mexican free-tailed bats are not only cool because of their value to human industry and healthy ecosystems as pollinators and free organic pest control. They are also cool because, like other bats, their hands are wings and they are the only mammals capable of powered flight. Mexican free-tailed bats also happen to be the fastest mammals on Earth, achieving speeds of up to 100 mph without diving. They can also do cool things like see with their ears using echolocation and find their pup amidst a crowded sea of pups by just its smell and call.
Here in Central Texas, we are now mostly on board with bats, and are more concerned for their well-being. Bats across the world are threatened with disease, habitat loss, clashes with wind turbines, overharvesting for food, and continued bad press that exaggerates disease threats. As bats make up one-fifth of all of our mammal species on Earth, and amazing ones at that, it’s critical that we work to protect them.
If you pulled the bat card, it has a lesson for you about taking a leap. Like many of their fellow bats, Mexican free-tailed bats use echolocation to detect their prey and navigate their surroundings in the dark. They emit loud, high frequency shouts, listening for the echoes to tell where an object is and what that object is like based on what the echoes sound like and how long it takes them to return. The bat is telling you that it may be time to take a chance on the unknown. Take a leap into the dark. Let your intuition be your echolocation to help you navigate on your journey.
CONTRARY
If you chose the bat upside down, it’s signaling that you may be having a hard time letting go of something that doesn’t serve you. It may feel scary to let that thing go, but stay tuned in to your gut. I know it’s hard to see your way around in a transition, but be brave and be present so you can do what you need to do and get where you need to go.
— A S
Scorpion
Have you ever seen The Far Side comic where two scorpions are chatting on the rim of some poor soul’s shoe, who is presumably knocked out or dead because you can see the bare feet lying prostrate in the background? In it, one scorpion says to the other, “There I was! Asleep in this little cave here, when suddenly I was attacked by this hideous thing with five heads!”
I’ve always liked that comic, and since moving to Texas, where it’s a good idea to check for scorpions in your shoes, I think of it often. Although only about 25 or the 1,500 some species of scorpions carry toxins that are potentially fatal to humans, all scorpions have a stinger that can afflict pain and a wide range of unpleasant symptoms. Scorpion stingers carry two types of venom: a less energy-expensive pre-venom and a full-on venom. When presented with a mild threat or a small prey item, scorpions can quickly release a pain-inducing pre-venom to scare off a predator or subdue a small meal. If a threat persists or the prey is larger, they can follow up by releasing the more potent and protein-rich main venom.
In addition to their impressive and complex toxicity, scorpions have some surprisingly tender qualities. Unlike other arachnids, scorpions produce live young, a practice known as viviparity. After birth, the baby scorpions, called scorplings, ride on their mother’s back until their first molt. The image of the mother scorpion carrying its young has led many cultures to associate scorpions with motherhood.
The most charming scorpion characteristic of all has to be their mating dance. The steps vary from species to species, but it generally goes like this: a male scorpion approaches a female. She may respond with some aggression at first, raising her tail to club him or even trying to sting him. If things go in the right direction, the male will grasp the female’s pedipalps (claws) and go in for the cheliceral massage, where he’ll massage her mouthparts with his mouthparts. If successful, the female becomes less aggressive and the male starts to walk her around. The dance can last for minutes or hours. During that time the male will then deposit a packet of sperm on the ground called a spermatophore and lead the female to it. She’ll gather the spermatophore into her genital opening to complete the mating ritual. Males of some species will then dash from the dance hall, because if they stick around too long, their mates may decide to eat them.
If you pulled the scorpion card, you are being asked to dance. Sure, you’re the leanest, meanest fighting machine out there with multiple types of toxins for different occasions. But even the baddest of them all need time to open up, get sensitive, and express themselves. Put on your favorite song and take a dance break alone or with someone you love. Take advice from the scorpion (and Otis Redding) and “Try a little tenderness.”
CONTRARY
If you pulled the scorpion upside down, perhaps it’s time to glow! Scorpions possess an amazing trait that is still a mystery to science—their exoskeletons fluoresce in UV light. There are many theories for why this trait exists, ranging from no reason at all (the glowing stuff is just an accidentally cool byproduct of metabolism), to communication with potential mates, to UV light detection so the scorpions can better avoid light (and in turn hide from predators). Specimens preserved in alcohol eventually cause the alcohol itself to fluoresce. Even fossils hundreds of millions of years old have been found to still react under UV light. You’ve spent plenty of time tucked away in somebody’s tennis shoe and camouflaging against the desert floor, but it’s time to light up! Maybe this means putting yourself out there with a presentation at work or a project at school, trying out for a play, or putting on an art show. Don’t hold back—it’s time to shine!
— J B J
Duck-Billed Platypus
I was about to write an essay about weird platypus facts when I found the following message in my inbox.
G’day,
It has come to my attention that you were going to write (yet) another essay about how platypuses are weird. I have been a platypus my entire life and let me tell you: there’s nothing weird about us. Ever since I was a wee platypus I’ve been trying to explain this to other mammals (echidnas excluded—they already get it).
As monotremes, we platypuses split off from other mammals about 160 million years ago. So yeah, things are going to be different between us. Let’s start with reproduction. We lay eggs. Weird for a mammal, you say? Unusual, yes, but if you consider all of the many animals that lay eggs and the fact that egg-laying is the original animal way, I believe you’ll agree that this is probably the least weird reproductive method out there. Next, you’re sure to point out that we lactate, like you, but how we don’t have nipples. Well, we don’t need nipples, okay? We just ooze milk from the pores on our abdominal skin and our babies lap it up. No problems there. Have you ever thought that maybe it’s actually weird to have nipples? I’m not judging, but this is a two-way street is all I’m saying.
We male platypuses bear the brunt of the judgmental comments. Platys are just like birds and reptiles, efficiently using a single opening called a cloaca to urinate, defecate and for females, lay eggs. But people really get hung up on the fact that we males have two-headed penises which emerge from our cloacas. Relax. It’s normal. These baby platypuses don’t make themselves!
I will say that you always think it’s cool that we male platypuses have poisonous spurs on our hind legs and are one of only a few venomous mammals out there. You are correct. It is definitely cool.
Then come the bill and the webbed feet—and okay, sure, these do make us look like we’re part duck, but we’re not. Our bills are flexible and covered with thousands of electroreceptors that help us find prey underwater and gather up tasty cheekfuls of worms, crustaceans, and insects. Then we come to the surface to enjoy a good mashing with the grinding plates in our mouths before we swallow them down.
I think you’ll now agree that if you must judge us at all, we’re more impressive than we are weird. If you ever find yourself in eastern or southeastern Australia, I hope that you’ll come pay us a visit. Please share this with your friends and family so that they too may see the error in calling those who are different “weird”—unless they’re talking about hagfish. Then it’s probably okay.
Ta,
O. anatinus
This email taught me more than just cool facts about the platypus. If the platypus waggled into your world, it’s telling you to pay attention to other perspectives. Maybe some new important viewpoints have come into your life recently, or you’re shifting and growing your own perspective in critical ways. Maybe you need to reach out to someone for a new perspective about a project, situation, or a life move. Either way, keep exploring and staying open to different ideas that could help you find a surprising breakthrough.
CONTRARY
If you picked the platypus card upside down, it’s reminding you to consider how you may be limiting your perspective. We can get used to seeing the world in one particular way, which makes it challenging to see it any other way. It feels good to grab onto certainty in this uncertain world—but what would happen if we leaned into uncertainty? If we recognized that our perspectives are limited? What if we brought that glorious uncertainty into every opinion, every interaction, and every action on this earth? When considering perspective, remember that the platypus is at an intersection of bird, reptile, and mammal traits, and humans are at intersections of different cultures, identities, and histories. Remember to consider intersectionality. If you are part of a dominant culture, listen to people from other cultures and, whenever possible, offer them a platform to share their perspectives. Keep learning, stay open, and love each other.
— A S
Horseshoe Crab
Delaware, oh Delaware, the second smallest state in the US. Ever since you were slighted in Wayne’s World, I’ve always thought there had to be something spectacular about you. Thanks to some Animal Facts Club research, we’ve found it: Delaware’s got crabs! Horseshoe crabs, to be specific. Which actually aren’t crabs at all, but arthropods that are more closely related to spiders. But regardless! The point is that Delaware Bay hosts (drumroll please) the largest concentration of spawning horseshoe crabs in the world.
Every spring, millions of horseshoe crabs arrive on beaches up and down the Atlantic Coast of the US to mate and lay eggs. The massive gathering of horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay makes that location a key feeding and resting ground for migrating birds. It is estimated that up to 1 million birds from about 30 different species stop here in the spring to refuel on horseshoe crab eggs during their long journeys. Horseshoe crab eggs also sustain numerous species of fish and are a seasonal staple of loggerhead sea turtles.
The horseshoe crabs that are born in Delaware Bay are part of an impressive ancestral lineage. When you consider geologic time and the origins of animals, we modern humans are brand new critters, evolving in Africa a mere 300,000 years ago. To find the origin of horseshoe crabs, we need to go back in time past the first modern humans, past the evolution of flowering plants, past the first dinosaurs, past the first trees, all the way to the Paleozoic era, some 450 million years ago.
Horseshoe crabs have survived virtually unchanged for hundreds of millions of years, a span that included multiple extinction events that wiped out huge percentages of life on Earth. In short, horseshoe crabs are built to last. Their tough armor-like shell, called a prosoma, conceals six pairs of legs, a mouth, nervous system, heart, and excretory glands. They have a total of ten eyes distributed around their body—including on their shell, tail, and near their mouth—that are primarily used for sensing light and finding mates. Their mean-looking tail, or telson, is actually a harmless appendage that helps them steer in the water and flip themselves over if the surf turns them upside down.
Horseshoe crabs are also the royalty of the sea, you might say—they’re literally blue-blooded. Their copper-based blue blood has remarkable antibacterial and anticoagulant properties. Unfortunately for the horseshoe crabs, large numbers of them are harvested for biomedical research because of this. Horseshoe crabs are said to have saved more human lives than any other animal because so many medical tools and gadgets are tested using their blood. Their numbers are thought to be decreasing due to harvesting for research, habitat loss, beach development, and overharvesting as bait for fisheries.
The horseshoe crab has been slow to change over their time here on Earth. If you pulled the horseshoe crab, perhaps it’s reminding you to slow down. Sometimes we humans rush around all day long. We rush through our breakfast and eat lunch at our desks while we work. We try to complete every task on our list and read every email and scroll through every social media feed. Think about the ways in which you rush and how you might be able to slow down. Maybe tackle the most important tasks first and be okay with not getting through everything. Or try saying no to some things you don’t need to do and taking that time for something restful or regenerative. I once heard something to the effect of, “You need to be there for your breakfast, because your breakfast is there for you.” Show your breakfast that you appreciate it by giving it your full attention. Then see where that slow, intentional approach takes you throughout the rest of your day.
CONTRARY
If you pulled the horseshoe crab upside down, it may be reminding you to beware of judging others by their appearances. A horseshoe crab’s large telson looks like a weapon, reminding beach goers of stingrays and scorpions, when in fact it’s harmless. Are you making any assumptions about others, or are others making assumptions about you? Show those who look that your sword is nothing other than a walking stick, and consider that the same may be true for others.
— J B J
Poison Dart Frog
When I visited poison dart frogs at the zoo as a kid, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from somehow sticking my hand in their terrarium, touching one, and poisoning myself. As it turns out, poison dart frogs in the zoo aren’t actually poisonous. Wild poison dart frogs are thought to get their toxicity from the insects they eat, which likely get their toxicity from the plants that they eat. So no toxic food, no toxic frogs.
Poison dart frogs are a great example of aposematic coloration in the animal kingdom. Their flashy colors serve as warning signs to would-be predators, advertising their toxicity. There are more than 100 species of poison dart frogs living in the tropical forests of Central and South America—and thanks to their toxicity, they look amazing.
In addition to being beautiful and deadly, poison dart frogs have cool behaviors. Parent frogs do a lot to help their babies grow up safely—including something called “backpacking.” Both the male and female frog parents sit among a pile of tadpoles, who then wiggle up their parents’ legs and onto their backs. The parents then carry one or more tadpoles from the wet forest floor to a little water-filled bromeliad or other watery home where they complete their development.
Sadly, many species of poison dart frogs are declining in the wild, with some at risk of completely disappearing due to the destruction of their rainforest habitat. Protecting rainforest habitats will go a long way toward helping these little friends out, who are not only amazing in their own right, but harbor in their venom the potential for the development of painkillers and other medicines for humans.
If the poison dart frog hopped into your cards, it may be telling you that you need to clearly communicate what you want and need to those around you. Be like the poison dart frog, who shows its predators who it is and what danger awaits them. Imagine yourself as a tiny but powerful frog, and speak up! Even the smallest creatures deserve to have a voice and get what they need—whether it’s a raise at work, a hug from a friend, or a piggyback ride to your rainforest bromeliad.
CONTRARY
If the poison dart frog appeared upside down, it’s asking you to examine your life and identify any toxic elements. Are you experiencing any negative relationships, activities, or addictions? Like the poison dart frog, we are what we consume. If we’re taking in negativity and toxins, we can become negative and toxic ourselves. Spend time with the people who lift you up, are fun to be with, and encourage you to be your best self. Go on a walk, look at some trees, play with a pet, make a smoothie, learn something new—do things that nourish your mind, body, and spirit. Toxicity works well for the poison dart frog, but not so much for us human beings.
— A S
Virginia Opossum
As human beings we like to categorize, compare, and form opinions about things. Pandas are cute. (Easy.) Dolphins are smart. (Definitely.) Raccoons are crafty. (Can’t argue with that.) But what do we even do with the Virginia opossum—an animal that both attracts and repulses on so many levels? I’ll tell you what we do. We open up our hearts and minds, that’s what, and accept and appreciate the opossum for what it is. Which is amazing.
The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial north of Mexico. North America’s marsupials actually went extinct about 20 million years ago. Then, thanks to the Isthmus of Panama popping up and connecting North and South America about three million years ago, two species of marsupials managed to make their way back north to Mexico and beyond.
We’re happy to have Virginia opossums, not only because it’s exciting to have a wild marsupial in the mix, but also because they are cool and do a lot of good for our ecosystems. Opossums have a prehensile tail and opposable big toes that allow them to navigate life in the trees and on the ground. They also have cool predator defenses like involuntary fainting, spewing putrid green stuff from their rears, and making gnarly, hissing, scary faces. Opossums are resistant to rabies and pit viper snake venom, and can turn a tick infestation into lunch. They also help to clean up roadkill, recycle nutrients, and control disease-carrying tick populations.
If you chose the opossum, it is reminding you that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Opossum ancestors were around 70 million years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth. As the only marsupial representatives in the Americas, they are holding their own with other placental mammals. Even though they have one of the smallest brain-to-body ratios of any mammal, they are highly successful at living alongside humans. Take a tip from the opossum and don’t get too wrapped up in self-improvement or wishing you were more this or that. Instead, appreciate the unique and special being that you already are.
CONTRARY
If you chose the opossum upside down, it has a message for you about being thorough. The opossum’s impressive battery of defenses covers all the bases from intimidation to faking their own death. It may be time for you to go above and beyond with a project or investigation. Don’t rush through it—take your time and make sure that you’re dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s. This kind of meticulous work may feel excruciating, but it will pay off.
— A S
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Who doesn’t love a tiny but mighty critter? Hummingbirds may be the tiniest, mightiest, and most lovable of them all. More than 300 species of hummingbirds span the Americas from southern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, with most species living in the tropics. They have adapted to a wide variety of habitats, from lowland deserts and tropical rainforests to the cold, thin-aired Andes tundra.
Hummingbirds have some of the most impressive tiny facts. Hummingbirds are in the order Apodiformes, which comes from the Greek word for “without feet.” Their tiny legs are so small that they aren’t much good for anything except perching. The tiniest bird of all birds is the bee hummingbird from Cuba, which weighs less than 2 grams (= two $1 bills). Even the relatively reasonably-sized ruby-throated hummingbird, which nests in the eastern US and up into Canada, lays eggs merely the size of a black bean.
Hummingbirds have a special, high energy way of flying that involves beating their wings incredibly fast (up to 80 times per second in the case of the amethyst woodstar) in a figure eight motion. Hummingbirds accomplish some amazing aerial feats, including flying upside down and backwards, hovering, and performing acrobatic mating displays and impressive migrations. The ruby-throated hummingbird completes a yearly roundtrip migration of around 1,000 miles, which likely includes non-stop flights over the Gulf of Mexico.
Their energy-demanding way of life means that they need to get and save energy wherever they can. Eating is a really big deal for hummingbirds, as you can imagine. They spend their time going from flower to flower, sipping nectar and snacking on tiny insects. Some travel up and down mountains to follow flower blooms or aggressively defend flower patches to get enough sugar to survive. If they haven’t eaten enough or it’s cold outside, hummingbirds can go into torpor at night, a kind of mini-hibernation. This slows down their metabolism and allows them to conserve energy until they are awake to feed again.
In 2011, a couple of scientists blew everybody’s minds by discovering how hummingbirds drink nectar. Before then, we had mathematical models that guessed at how the tongue brought the liquid into the mouth, but nobody had shown how it worked in real life. These scientists hand built transparent flowers with nectar inside, set up a high-speed camera, and pressed play while the hummingbird drank. In the slow motion video, you can see both prongs of the hummingbird’s snake-like forked tongue unroll as they hit the nectar and then, packed with liquid, roll back up toward the bird’s mouth. A hummingbird can repeat this about 18 times per second. It is amazing and inspiring to think that we are still making simple and profound discoveries about these creatures.
If the hummingbird buzzed into your cards, joy must be close by. These fast little jeweled creatures inspire joy and wonder, but you have to be paying enough attention to notice them. If you’re too wrapped up in worry or negative thoughts, you’ll miss their telltale wing buzz that signals you to stop and try to spot and enjoy these speedy wonders. The hummingbird teaches us to open our eyes to the joy near or around us.
CONTRARY
If the hummingbird appeared to you upside down, it is letting you know that you must get to work to get in touch with joy. In the same way that the hummingbird’s iridescent colors are instantly revealed when it steps into the light, so you may only need to make a small shift to uncover your joy. It may be a shift in perspective to see what’s been there all along. Or it may be a bigger shift to change your life in a more substantial way. If joy is not a priority for you, work to make it so.
— A S
Star-nosed Mole
Star-nosed moles are the only one of 39 species of moles that live in marshes and swamps. They range from southeastern Canada, northeastern US, and down through the Appalachian Mountains into Georgia. This small rodent has a nice round body, barely-there eyes, short, thick fur, and big paws and claws for a life of digging through tunnels underground. They eat worms, aquatic insects, fish, and mollusks. As for their mating habits, we don’t know much about them, but we do know that they form pairs for about a year. Also, they can smell underwater by blowing bubbles and inhaling them back again, which is pretty cool and unique.
Well, that’s about all I’ve got for star-nosed moles. See you next time! Oh, what’s that? You’re wondering about that starburst-like thing in the middle of its face? I guess we can talk about that.
That star is the sensory appendage that a mole uses to get a picture of its world. This appendage is made up of 11 pairs of symmetrical little tentacles that are each covered in 25,000 touch receptors called Eimer’s organs. Eimer’s organs contain three types of receptors, including one that is unique to the star-nosed mole and may allow it to detect microscopic texture. Together this tiny ~1-centimeter appendage contains five times more touch receptors than the human hand and is the densest concentration of touch receptors known for mammals.
This amazing appendage and the brain space that is dedicated to it have allowed this basically blind little mole to earn the title of the fastest eater among mammals. The mole presses its star against the tunnel floor over and over so fast that it can touch 12 places each second. As it touches, it makes what researchers describe as an almost visual map of its surroundings. When it touches a prey item, it only takes the mole 120 milliseconds to figure out what it is and eat it. That’s less than half the time it takes us to blink.
If you bumped into the star-nosed mole in your cards, it’s telling you to sense your world in the darkness—your dream world. Research has shown that dreams help us process negative emotions. Parts of the brain that are activated during vivid dreaming states include the amygdala, which plays a role in remembering and processing emotions, and the hippocampus, which deals with the connection between short-term and long-term memory. Our most vivid dreams happen during REM sleep, so try to give yourself enough time in bed to achieve deep sleep. Easier said than done sometimes, but if you can, it’s basically free therapy.
Once we wake from our dreams, we may have already forgotten them or will forget them soon after waking. Keep a journal and pen by your bed to write down whatever you remember. You can also set an alarm with some light classical music for before dawn to try to wake yourself soon after REM sleep. Journal away and see what you learn.
CONTRARY
If the mole appeared upside down, it’s telling you to slow down and pay attention to your senses. The star-nosed mole forages at about its sensory speed limit, meaning that it’s moving so fast that it sometimes moves past a prey item before having time to identify it. What are you passing by when you’re in your head or absorbed in a screen? Take time to focus on and explore your senses. Next time you’re waiting for the bus or a person, instead of scrolling on your phone, try listening to the sounds around you, feeling the air on your skin, and smelling the smells. You might be amazed by what you notice.
— A S
American Bison
Waaaay back when—before the 19th century—you could be hanging out on the wide open plains of North America and see herds of big, stocky, hunchbacked, wooly bison. Imagine such enormous herds of the largest land mammal in North America that you couldn’t see the start or end of ‘em. They’d be chewing on grasses and such, wallerin’ in dirt to keep the pests off, and performing their mating rituals during the rut. Even though bison can weigh as much as a small car and reach up to 11.5 feet long and 6.5 feet tall, they can also jump fences and run up to 35 mph (faster than the fastest human).
Back then, bison were a big deal on the plains. They shaped the landscape by spreading the seeds of plants that got stuck in their thick fur and planting them as they stepped. They created sources of water for other critters through the depressions in the ground they made when they wallowed. They supplied food and fertilizer through their droppings. Indigenous people of the Great Plains relied on the bison for food, clothing, shelter, glue—almost everything—and revered it as a sacred animal.
In a crummy turn of events in the 19th century, settlers decimated the bison population. They shot them for food and for hides and sometimes just for fun. They shot them to make room for their farms and horses. They even shot them to destroy the economies of the Indigenous people of the Great Plains and force them to concede to life on reservations. They took what was an estimated pre-Columbian population of more than 30 million bison and by the late 1800s, knocked it down to fewer than 1,000.
Ever since the decimation of bison, folks have been trying to bring them back. Yellowstone National Park is the only place in the US where bison have lived wild since prehistoric times. Most of the bison around today are raised for commercial purposes. Only about 19,000 of the 500,000 bison in North American today live in conservation herds as “wild” bison. Of those, half have likely been hybridized with cattle.
If you chose the bison card, it is signaling abundance. Welcome abundance into your life by practicing gratitude and generosity and being ready to receive it. But be mindful—the story of the bison demonstrates how abundance can quickly turn to lack when greed, hatred, and ignorance rule.
CONTRARY
If you picked the bison card upside down, it has a message for you about shaping your environment. Bison sculpted the North American plains ecosystems and human civilizations. What role do you play—both positive and negative—in sculpting your own environment? Consider what you can do to make it a better place for plants and humans and other animals now and in 100 years.
— A S