Animals

Emojis Have Meanings to Guide You!

📚--->Supplemental Resource!

📚 Pictured above is a scarlet tanager (Piranga olivacea), one of the nearly 200 species of birds that migrate across Michigan and the Great Lakes annually.

Find out more here!

What does the term mean?

Definition

✅ "Any of a kingdom (Animalia) of living things including many-celled organisms and often many of the single-celled ones (such as protozoans) that typically differ from plants in having cells without cellulose walls, in lacking chlorophyll and the capacity for photosynthesis, in requiring more complex food materials (such as proteins), in being organized to a greater degree of complexity, and in having the capacity for spontaneous movement and rapid motor responses to stimulation." - Merriam-Webster

Image Source: Snappy Jack

In Focus: Lake Huron Watershed and Your Place

Don't Die, Grow Big, Reproduce

Defense Adaptations

From visual characteristics and smell to behavior modification, animals utilize a variety of strategies to ward of predators.

Examples include:

the Eastern hognose snake (Heterodon platirhinos) using a combination of mimicry of a cobra, emitting a foul smell and playing dead (pictured above);
monarch (Danaus plexippus)and viceroy (Limenitis archippus) butterflies taste bitter due to the noxious compounds in their food sources AND look very similar - the dual aversion technique is called Mullerian mimicry;
several fish species utilize counter-shading, or when the upper (dorsal) side is darker, and may change their overall coloring based on where in the habitat they are - think about an individual caught in Lake Huron vs a gravel stream.

📚 Uncover the types of camoflage animals use.

📚 Wade into color changes in trout a bit more.

Reproduction Adaptations

How often, how prolifically, and the age of sexual maturity impacts a species ability to evolve and adapt to changing circumstances. Length of care after young are born and number of mates also factor into reproductive success for some species.

Examples include:

Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) do not reach sexual maturity until 14 to 33 years while black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) reach around 1 year;
Female black bears (Ursus americanus) have 1-4 cubs per litter (one/year) while eastern cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus) have an average of 3-4 litters per year with each litter producing 1-12;
Female northern leopard frogs (Lithobates pipiens) lay up to 6,000 eggs (pictured above) with the primary time investment prior to fertilization while wood ducks (Aix sponsa) lay on average 12 eggs with primary investment during incubation and in first two months.

📚 Soar into more information on the size of bird clutches.

Hibernation and Migration

Migration can be obligate (must be done for survival) or facultative (species choose based on resource availability). This movement to more desirable habitat can happen on a daily or seasonal basis. Changes in location may be measured in feet for aquatic organisms within a water column to thousands of miles for insects and birds.

Common Species

Some animal species may have high population numbers in a given area due to natural processes (competition, co-evolution, predator population, etc.) or human influence (stocking, regulations, development, etc.). In some cases and from some perspectives, one abundant species may be beneficial to the ecosystem or human system; in other cases and perspectives, that same species may be a nuisance or determinant to health (ecosystem or human).

Image Source: Phil Myer, Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

Specialists and Generalists

Rare and Threatened

In Michigan, over 300 animal species are recognized (either at the state level or both federal and state) as Endangered, Threatened, and Probably Extirpated. This count also includes animals listed as of Special Concern. This page provides information about which rare animal species are known to occur in a given county.

📚 Pictured above, Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) is of Special Concern in Michigan which means their population stability is uncertain and they currently have no legal (state or federal) protections.

Roles in Food Web

Let's explore how we classify an living organism's place in a food web (trophic level). Primary producers are autotrophic (ex. plants, algae and some bacteria). Primary consumers are herbivores; secondary consumers may be carnivores or omnivores. Tertiary consumers are those carnivores that eat other carnivores. Decomposers play a pivotal role in food webs as well!

Natural Communities

"A natural community is defined as an assemblage of interacting plants, animals, and other organisms that repeatedly occurs under similar environmental conditions across the landscape and is predominantly structured by natural processes rather than modern anthropogenic disturbances."

- Michigan Natural Features Inventory

In Michigan, 77 natural communities are classified and fully described. This information helps us understand how to conserve, protect or restore certain community elements, like the types of animal species that depend on a certain community makeup.

📚 Under the subheading "Organization", you will find 5 overarching groups of natural communities. Clicking through each (similar to how you might work through a dichotomous key) may help you understand what natural communities are in your area.

📚 Pictured above is the natural community called dry-mesic northern forest.