Orphaned Baby Rabbits

The more time you spend outdoors, the better the chance that you'll come across orphaned wild baby animals. One of the most common babies found by humans is the Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus). The home range of this species often includes areas where humans have unknowingly created havens for this rabbit to brood a litter of bunnies. A female can have 1-7 litters per season of  1-12 young, called kits. Females reach reproductive maturity at 2-3 months, and 10-30% breed as juveniles. With these types of numbers being born annually, it has proven to be one of the wild animal orphans that most often ends up being discovered by humans. This baby in the photograph was found in a friend's yard after the mother was killed by a dog. Kits are one of the most difficult wild babies to foster successfully. The following article at petplace.com has some excellent pointers on what to do when you find an orphaned bunny.  Go to the following link to read the full article:

http://www.petplace.com/small-mammals/orphaned-wild-rabbits/page1.aspx

Spotted Salamander - Murray County

I found this Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) in a Conasauga River bottomland forest on March 12, 2013. This species is a member of the mole salamander family (Ambystomatidae). They spend much of their life underground. In late winter they congregate at spawning pools to breed. The female lays large egg masses(see below), sometimes 2-3 which can have as many as 200 individual eggs in each mass. There is a unique relationship between these egg masses and a species of algae, Oophila amblystomatis. Learn more about the recent discoveries concerning this endosymbiosis at this site: http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/17995.html

For more info about the Spotted Salamander go HERE.