Long-tailed Weasels and Timber Rattlesnakes Prey on Each Other

Long-tailed weasels (Neogale frenata) and timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) prey on each other. During the summer rattlesnakes will kill and consume weasels which are no bigger than rats–a common item in their diet. However, during winter when rattlesnakes are dormant, weasels enter their dens, drag them into the cold, and eat them. Mark Lotterhand, a naturalist who publishes videos on youtube, has documented the latter behavior. He frequently sets up trail cams next to rattlesnake dens, also known as hibernaculums. Reptiles don’t hibernate like mammals, but they do brumate–a lethargic state. Brumating rattlesnakes are too sluggish to defend themselves from warm-blooded quick weasels. These fierce little mammals often hunt for white-footed mice in rattlesnake dens, and they likely learned to exploit the snakes when they have trouble moving. Mr. Lotterhand doesn’t think this behavior threatens the meta population, but areas with low scattered populations of rattlesnakes could be more impacted.

Video and screenshot of the video showing weasels preying on rattlesnakes. From Mark Lotterhand’s YouTube channel. The range map is bullshit. I’m unaware of any scientific study that did a county-by-county survey of weasels. I’m certain the actual range map would be much patchier.

Long-tailed weasels prefer forest and forest edge habitat and don’t live where industrial scale farming has converted the land into huge grain fields. They depend upon rocky crevices and old growth den trees for habitat, and this may explain why I’ve never seen a weasel in or near Augusta, Georgia where I live. Until about 100 years ago, much of the Augusta area was surrounded by extensive cotton fields. (The boll weevil put an end to that.) In Richmond County there are few rocky areas and no old growth forests. Skunks are rare too. The only weasel I’ve ever seen in Georgia was during 1976 in Athens, Georgia when a young lady brought a baby weasel on the school bus to show to everybody. She’d found it in the woods and adopted the small animal. There are boulder fields in the piedmont region where Athens is located. The rocky crevices and chipmunks that live in them attract weasels. Range maps indicating weasels live with a continuous distribution over most of the U.S. are bullshit. I’m unaware of any county-by-county survey of weasels in the scientific literature, and I’m sure their distribution is much patchier.

Timber rattlesnakes do occur in the Augusta, Georgia area, and my neighbors hate and fear them. On one occasion, a former neighbor killed 2, and he was furious at me because I let the grass in my yard get tall. To me, they are just an interesting part of nature. One early 18th century expedition through the wilds of Kentucky constantly encountered rattlesnakes. (See: https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/excerpts-from-the-journal-of-an-expedition-to-kentucky-in-1750/ )It was ideal habitat for rattlesnakes–lots of rocky woods, mostly uninhabited by people.

Long-tailed weasels have lived in North America for at least 500,000 years. They are well adapted for hunting small mammals. Their small shape and size allow them to enter rodent barrows and travel under snow. Pleistocene weasel remains have been found at 8 sites in Florida. At the Ladds fossil site in Bartow County, Georgia specimens (a cheekbone and a few teeth) that compared favorably to long-tailed weasel were found in 1966. (Google AI was ignorant of this fact. Maybe after I publish this article that information will be found on a google search.) Until 2021 the scientific name for this species was Mustela frenata, but it was changed to Neogale frenata.

Reference:

Mark Lotterhand’s youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@lotterhand

Patterson, B.; et al

“On the Nomenclature of the American clade of Weasels (Carnivora Mustelidae)”

Journal of Animal Diversity 3 (2) 2021

The Jurassic Age Dinosaur Extinctions in Western North America

The extinction of all dinosaurs (except birds) at the end of the Cretaceous Age was made famous 45 years ago when a crater was found in the Gulf of Mexico–confirming a comet impact as the cause of the extinctions 66 million years ago. A lesser-known local extinction of dinosaurs occurred 145 million years ago at the end of the Jurassic Age. From geological and paleontological evidence scientists determined dinosaurs were diverse and abundant in western North America from 152 million years ago to 145 million years BP, but these species became extinct after a sudden cataclysmic event. Scientists suspect a mega volcano eruption rubbed out all the dinosaurs in this region then. During the late Jurassic sauropods such as diplodocus (the largest known land animal in earth’s history), allosaurs, stegosaurs, and small ornithomimids (bird-like dinosaurs but not ancestral to birds) dominated the faunal composition. After the extinctions Cretaceous Age species gradually colonized the region and ecologically replaced the Jurassic Age species, although sauropods continued to live in other regions of the earth. Iguanodons, ankylosaurs, and smaller species of ornithomimids were the new inhabitants of the region. The early Cretaceous dinosaur composition was less diverse in this region than the late Jurassic.

The Morrison formation consists of sedimentary rocks that have the best evidence of Jurassic Age dinosaurs in North America.

Scientists found an interesting faunal turnover between the late Jurassic and the early Cretaceous in the Morrison Formation located mostly in Utah. Poster from James Kirk’s twitter feed.

Plant fossils from the Morris Formation include conifers, cycads, and ancestors of ginko.

The northern part of the Morris Formation yielded fossil remains of a different species of allosaur than the southern part. Scientists don’t know why 2 different species evolved. They don’t know of any physical barrier between the 2 areas.

Sauropods like this diplodocus and stegosaurs were the main species of large plant-eaters in western North America before the Jurassic Morrison extinctions.

Stegosaurs didn’t make it to the Cretaceous.

Evidence of this faunal turnover comes from the Morrison Formation–mountains of sedimentary rock found in western North America, mostly Utah. During the late Jurassic this area was a floodplain bordered by a newly forming mountain range. Cycads and conifers grew on the plain, and rivers flowed from the mountains into a vast marshy lake. Some of these trees have been preserved in petrified forests located in Dinosaur National Monument. The northern and southern part of this region hosted 2 different species allosaurs and 2 different species of carnosaurs. Scientists haven’t figured out why the northern and southern parts of this region had different species of carnivorous dinosaurs. They know of no physical barrier that would have contributed to this speciation. The region shifted frequently between wet and dry climate cycles, but scientists don’t think this was a factor in the sudden extinctions of Jurassic Age dinosaurs here. Dinosaurs were thriving and diverse up until their sudden end here.

Reference:

Kirkland, J.; E. Sampson, M. Wizecurch, and D. Deblieux

“Paleosols in the Lower Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation in Eastern Utah Indicate the Earliest Cretaceous (Borrasian) in the Colorado Plateau was Exceptionally Wet”

75th Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Geological Survey 2025

Maidmont, S.

“Diversity Through Time and Space in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, western USA”

Journal of Vertebrate Zoology 43 (5) 2023

Did Passenger Pigeons Expand Wild Ginger Populations During the Holocene?

It’s a mystery how many species of woodland herbs recolonized New England and Southern Canada following the end of the last Ice Age. Glaciers scoured away the topsoil, leaving no ungerminated seeds, and statistical models suggest that many species of woodland herbs could not have re-expanded their range as rapidly as they did. Canada wild ginger (Asarum canadensis) is an example of a woodland herb that recolonized deglaciated territory faster than models suggest is possible. Wild ginger relies on ants for dispersal. Ants carry the fleshy seeds to their nests where the fatty covering is consumed. This is known as myrmecochory. The seeds are then discarded and will eventually germinate. Wild ginger also spreads via roots. Scientists calculated how far this species could expand its range considering its dependence on ants and root growth. Ants can transport the seeds up to 35 meters in 1 season. They determined this species could only have expanded by 30 miles over 16,000 years. Instead, this species expanded its range by over 960 miles. Scientists are stumped, but I think I’ve figured out an obvious solution.

A colony of Canada wild ginger.

Range map of Canada wild ginger. It expanded its range into New England and southern Canada within the past 16,000 years from refugia south of the Ice Sheet.

Passenger pigeon range (before extinction). Note how closely the breeding range of this species corresponds with the range of Canada wild ginger. I hypothesize passenger pigeons spread wild ginger seeds in their dung, and that explains how wild ginger expanded its range so rapidly following the end of the last Ice Age.

Ants spread wild ginger seeds, but ant propagation does not explain how wild ginger expanded its range so rapidly into recently deglaciated regions.

A few explanations for the rapid recolonization of New England and southern Canada by wild ginger have been proposed. Perhaps, the seeds adhered to the hooves or fur of migrating mammals, such as caribou or bison; or a storm blew the seeds a great distance. Wild ginger refugia may have existed in nunataks–unglaciated territory, usually on elevated hills, that occurred within glaciers. However, I hypothesize an obvious solution to this mystery. It seems likely passenger pigeons (Ectopistes migratorius) fed upon wild ginger seeds and defecated the viable seeds at a much greater distance than ants carry them away. It may not be coincidence the area recolonized by wild ginger happened to closely correlate with the breeding range of this species. Armies of passenger pigeons used to forage on the forest floor in eastern North America devouring all the acorns, nuts, and seeds. I think wild ginger and other woodland herbs recolonized deglaciated North America thanks to passenger pigeons. I can’t figure out how to test this hypothesis. An experiment could be conducted to see if extant species of doves or pigeons actually will eat wild ginger seeds. The isotopic signature of wild ginger can’t be distinguished from other species passenger pigeon ate so we can’t get the answer by analyzing passenger pigeon specimens in museums. We could also see, if wild ginger seeds remain viable when they pass through a pigeon gut.

Wild ginger is not related to true ginger (Zingiber oficianale) but reportedly has a similar spicy aroma. Indians used the root as a seasoning and medicine, but it is a carcinogen, like tobacco–another cancer-causing plant Indians introduced to Western culture. Snakeroot oil is made by grinding up wild ginger roots and distilling the liquid. Modern medical scientists do not recommend its use.

Reference:

Cain, M.; H. Dumany, and A. Muir

“Seed Dispersal and the Holocene Migration of Woodland Herbs”

Ecological Monographs August 1998

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/0012-9615(1998)068%5B0325:SDATHM%5D2.0.CO%3B2

Cougars Kill California Condors

The California condor (Gymnogyps californiana) was the first species listed as endangered after the Endangered Species Preservation Act passed, and 40 years ago, there were so few, biologists captured the entire population, so they could be bred in captivity. Since then, wildlife officials have been releasing some back into the wild, and their numbers are slowly increasing. They still face a number of serious threats. When they scavenge animals killed by hunters using lead shot, they get lead poisoning. They also are poisoned when they consume rodents that died after eating poisoned baits. Windmills slaughter birds of all kinds. One year (2010), scientists found 3 condors killed by cougars (Puma concolor). Apparently, the condors were roosting in trees near a carcass they’d been feeding upon, and the cougars climbed into the trees and killed them in their sleep.

Scientists found 3 California condors killed by cougars in New Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge. Map from the below referenced journal article.

Evidence a cougar killed a condor. From the below reference.

The entire population of California condors was captured 40 years ago. Captive breeding brought them back from the edge of extinction but they still face some serious threats.

California condors released back into the wild may be naive to the threat of natural predators. Andean condors (Vultur gryphis) co-exist with cougars in South America, but there are few or no known cases of cougars preying upon them. Cougars benefit Andean condors because the birds scavenge upon llamas and deer killed by cougars. Flocks of condors may even drive cougars from their kills. (They are very large birds.)

During the Pleistocene California condors occurred all across North America, and fossil specimens have been found in New York and Florida. Following the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna, the range of the California condor shrunk to the Pacific coast where they survived by feeding upon whale carcasses. At first they benefitted from the arrival of Europeans because they scavenged all the dead livestock on the range. But lead poisoning from hunters’ shotgun shells soon began to take their toll.

Reference:

Branney, A.; J. Brandt, J. Felch, J. Lombardi

“Observations of a Puma Predation on Endangered California Condors: Implications for Species Recovery”

Ecosphere 16 (6) June 2025

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.70255