Newsletters

February 2013-Cardinal Flower, Short Tail Shrew

 WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES !

FEBRUARY, 2013

 

“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.”

- André Gide

 

“I’m always astonished by a forest. It makes me realize that the fantasy of nature is much larger than my own fantasy. I still have things to learn.”

-Gunter Grass

 

GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD - Drop your knife and fork and grab your torch and pitchfork,

Frankenfish is coming!!!

 

 

The US Food and Drug Administration recently stated that laboratory created transgenic salmon, in secure aquaculture net pens, likely pose no significant risk to the environment. So, “probably or apparently” is good enough?  We don’t think so.

What happens when a nor’easter or hurricane comes screaming along the coast and destroys those net pens …or a 600 pound gray seal bull or 6 ton killer whale decide they’d like some transgenic salmon sashimi?

What happens when a wild Atlantic salmon male, looking for a little variety in his love life, meets a dumb, but curvaceous transgenic female?

We are told that all transgenic salmon will be sterile females. That this will be done to ensure that any that might escape their “secure” enclosure won’t be able to breed with or perhaps out-compete wild salmon stocks. What transgenic promoters are shy about saying, however, is that the technology to render the female salmon sterile 100% of the time does not yet exist.

We humans haven’t been able to handle this gene and nature tinkering stuff even on a primitive level. What makes us think we are “smarter” now? 

E. Leopold Trouvelot, in 1868, brought voracious European gypsy moths to America to cross with the Asian silk moth. Trouvelot thought he could create a hardier, hybrid silk worm that would be able to withstand New England winters.  At that time, he said his confined gypsy moths posed little risk to the environment. Before E. Leopold ever got around to crossbreeding his moths …and possibly creating an even more destructive creature  …his alien gypsy moths escaped their confinement and have been devastating North American hardwoods ever since. 

Once Frankenfish, or other animal that has genetic material from an unrelated organism artificially introduced into its DNA, escapes or is accidentally or intentionally released out into the natural world, ecological damage is sure to follow. Whether people should be eating genetically engineered animals is a whole other issue. 

For further information on Frankenfish and on sustainable farming and food check out "Food Democracy Now!"http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/stop_gmo_salmon_now/

 

BIORESERVE FAUNA OF THE MONTH – Short Tail Shrew (Blarina brevicauda)

O, you are novices! ‘Tis a world to see.

How tame, when men and women are alone,

A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew.

- William Shakespeare, TheTaming of the Shrew

 

Well, Shakespeare’s Petruchio tamed his shrew, but we bet he couldn’t tame Blarina brevicauda. Our shrew has venomous saliva! 

 

Because they are small in size and mouse-like in appearance many people think shrews are in the rodent family. No, they are not! Shrews are our smallest mammalian carnivores, fierce hunters in the order Eulipotyphla.

Short tail shrews are found from central southern Canada east to the Atlantic coast and in the United States south and east from Canada down to Nebraska across the mid-south to northern Georgia.

Four to five inches in length, with an inch of that being their short tail, they are the largest shrew species found in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve (SMB). They are velvety gray to brown in color and have tiny ears hidden in their fur, beady eyes, and a pointy snout above a large mouth that contains thirty-two mahogany colored teeth. They possess a keen sense of smell. Their saliva is toxic and is used to subdue prey that may be larger than they are and they use echolocation, like their bat relatives, to help locate that prey.

Some people mistake shrews for moles. Although closely related, moles are larger than shrews and have huge, shovel-like feet to dig with. Moles rarely venture above ground, have extendible lips to grab their earthworm prey and white colored teeth to chew with.  

Short tail shrews live in areas of thick brush and forest and can even be found in suburban backyards if there is sufficient vegetation in which to find shelter.

Active day and night the short tail shrew must consume its weight in food three to four times in a 24 hour period. It actively hunts insects, spiders, centipedes, snails, slugs, salamanders, frogs, baby birds and mice. Excess food is cached in their burrows.

One of the shrews favorite prey items is the meadow vole. Although considerably larger than the shrew, multiple shrew bites injecting the toxic shrew saliva soon weakens and subdues the vole. A vole provides more than one meal and a thrifty shrew will cache what remains of the vole carcass for a future meal when hunting might not be so good. On occasion they will also eat berries, seeds and other plant material. They climb trees and can also swim. 

Short tail shrews make their den in the middle of an elaborate maze of tunnels. The den is constructed of shredded grass and leaves and often lined with the fur of their victims. In winter these shrews make extensive tunnels under the snow. These snow tunnels can be easily seen when the snow melts and exposes the shrew’s serpentine wanderings. 

When content, the shrew makes a squeaky twittering sound. Navigating through its tunnels using echolocation it gives off rapid clicks similar to the sound bats make while flying. Angry shrews make a shrill, high pitched chatter.

The short tail shrew has two peak breeding periods, in the spring and fall. Because shrews don’t mind killing and eating other shrews they approach mating very carefully. 

Female shrews in heat seek out resting males and slowly approach them. Pheromones given off by a receptive female induce the male to mate with her rather than kill and eat her.

After mating, the female shrew leaves and returns to her den and after a 22 day gestation period gives birth to a litter of 3 to 9 hairless, pink, one inch long babies. Young shrews spend about a month with their mother before setting out to find a territory of their own.

Despite their size, short tail shrews do not become prey without a fight. Although larger predators may win the battle, few then want to eat them because of the oily musk shrews give off from glands along their flanks when stressed or attacked. Many mammalian predators are repulsed by the musk smell and walk away after killing the shrew. Although dead, the shrew goes out the winner.

 

BIORESERVE FLORA OF THE MONTH – Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) 

Cardinal flower is a perennial herbaceous plant and one of New England’s most attractive wildflowers. Bright scarlet red in color they seem to illuminate the dark, wooded, wetland edges where they prefer to grow. They have a long flowering season from July through September.

Cardinal flower bloom spikes may reach four feet in height and the blossoms open gradually from the bottom of the flower spike to the top. These blossoms are tubular in shape and have five stamens with the pollen bearing anthers above.

Hummingbirds seek out the cardinal flower and along with forest bees and butterflies ensure that pollination will occur. Soon after flowering, seed pods form. Each pod has two compartments containing numerous tiny brown seeds.

The leaves of the cardinal flower are dark green and lance shaped with toothed edges. 

Cardinal flowers have a wide range. They can be found from eastern Canada south to northern South America. They are absent from the northwest states of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

Although sometimes called Indian tobacco, that name more appropriately belongs to the cardinal flower’s close relative, Lobelia inflata. Both species contain lobeline, a powerful alkaloid that was used by Indians to treat various respiratory problems. Today it is used as a tobacco smoking deterrent and as a respiratory system stimulant.

 

 

HESS LNG – Like a bad cold, it lingers.

Although the ill-conceived Hess LNG project is gone, it is not forgotten. Hess still owns the old Shell Oil site on the Taunton River. We must make sure the historic Brightman Street Bridge stays up until Hess leaves town for good.

 We have created a plan for that riverfront parcel that respects the environment, provides jobs, and will turn that now vacant property into an asset for the city and the residents living in that neighborhood, but our plan isn’t going anywhere as long as city officials keep having illusory casino dreams.

Here’s a recent news column on LNG: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130125/NEWS/301250341

 

DONATIONS – Tax Deductible

As most know, Green Futures is all volunteer organization. Our monthly newsletter and regular ACTION ALERTS go out to members and non-members alike. 

Our expenses are minimal, mostly postage and some office supplies. We do like to have something a little more substantial on hand should we need legal advice or action in battling environmentally damaging proposals.

Our yearly dues have been $10.00 since our inception twenty years ago. A sincere “thank you” to members who have already sent in their dues for 2013. 

Non-member donations, of any amount, are appreciated and important in furthering our initiatives. If you wish to donate please send your donation to:

Treasurer
Green Futures, Inc.
P.O. Box 144
Fall River, Massachusetts 02724

We are a 501 (c) 3 organization. Donations are deductible for income tax purposes.

 

WINTER – Six More Weeks?

The Groundhog is still tucked in and napping, but we can see his eyes are opening. We expect he will be out and about very soon. 

Don’t be like the groundhog staying in your burrow all winter. Get out and enjoy the season. Spring is only six weeks away! For upcoming activities and events click on our Calendar. 

 

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