How long can garter snakes get

Both sexes may look similar, but females are typically not as brightly coloured and have shorter tails than males. When perched, this swallow looks almost conical because of its flat, short head, very short neck and its long body.

Although the average lifespan of a Barn Swallow is about four years, a North American individual older than eight years and a European individual older than 16 years have been observed. Sights and sounds: Like all swallows, the Barn Swallow is diurnal —it is active during the day, from dusk to dawn. It is an agile flyer that creates very acrobatic patterns in flight. It can fly from very close to the ground or water to more than 30 m heights. When not in flight, the Barn Swallow can be observed perched on fences, wires, TV antennas or dead branches.

Both male and female Barn Swallows sing both individually and in groups in a wide variety of twitters, warbles, whirrs and chirps. They give a loud call when threatened, to which other swallows will react, leaving their nests to defend the area. Freshwater turtles are reptiles, like snakes, crocodilians and lizards. They also have a scaly skin, enabling them, as opposed to most amphibians, to live outside of water. Also like many reptile species, turtles lay eggs they are oviparous.

But what makes them different to other reptiles is that turtles have a shell. This shell, composed of a carapace in the back and a plastron on the belly, is made of bony plates.

These bones are covered by horny scutes made of keratin like human fingernails or leathery skin, depending on the species. All Canadian freshwater turtles can retreat in their shells and hide their entire body except the Common Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina. This shell is considered perhaps the most efficient form of armour in the animal kingdom, as adult turtles are very likely to survive from one year to the next.

Indeed, turtles have an impressively long life for such small animals. Most other species can live for more than 20 years. There are about species of turtles throughout the world, inhabiting a great variety of terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems on every continent except Antarctica and its waters.

In Canada, eight native species of freshwater turtles and four species of marine turtles can be observed. Another species, the Pacific Pond Turtle Clemmys marmorata , is now Extirpated, having disappeared from its Canadian range. Also, the Eastern Box Turtle Terrapene carolina has either such a small population that it is nearly Extirpated, or the few individuals found in Canada are actually pets released in the wild.

More research is needed to know if these turtles are still native individuals. Finally, the Red-eared Slider Trachemys scripta elegans , has been introduced to Canada as released pets and, thus, is not a native species. Females tend to be slightly larger than males but are otherwise identical. As its name implies, it is pale tan to reddish or dark brown with a slightly paler belly, and ears and wings that are dark brown to black.

Contrary to popular belief, Little Brown Bats, like all other bats, are not blind. Still, since they are nocturnal and must navigate in the darkness, they are one of the few terrestrial mammals that use echolocation to gather information on their surroundings and where prey are situated.

The echolocation calls they make, similar to clicking noises, bounce off objects and this echo is processed by the bat to get the information they need. These noises are at a very high frequency, and so cannot be heard by humans.

Narwhals Monodon monoceros are considered medium-sized odontocetes, or toothed whales the largest being the sperm whale, and the smallest, the harbour porpoise , being of a similar size to the beluga, its close relative. Males can grow up to 6. Females tend to be smaller, with an average size of 4 m and a maximum size of 5. A newborn calf is about 1. Like belugas, they have a small head, a stocky body and short, round flippers. Narwhals lack a dorsal fin on their backs, but they do have a dorsal ridge about 5 cm high that covers about half their backs.

This ridge can be used by researchers to differentiate one narwhal from another. It is thought that the absence of dorsal fin actually helps the narwhal navigate among sea ice. Unlike other cetaceans —the order which comprises all whales—, narwhals have convex tail flukes, or tail fins.

These whales have a mottled black and white, grey or brownish back, but the rest of the body mainly its underside is white. Newborn narwhal calves are pale grey to light brownish, developing the adult darker colouring at about 4 years old. As they grow older, they will progressively become paler again. Some may live up to years, but most probably live to be 60 years of age. Although the second, smaller incisor tooth often remains embedded in the skull, it rarely but on occasion develops into a second tusk.

Tusks typically grow only on males, but a few females have also been observed with short tusks. The function of the tusk remains a mystery, but several hypotheses have been proposed. Many experts believe that it is a secondary sexual character, similar to deer antlers. Thus, the length of the tusk may indicate social rank through dominance hierarchies and assist in competition for access to females.

Indeed, there are indications that the tusks are used by male narwhals for fighting each other or perhaps other species, like the beluga or killer whale. A high quantity of tubules and nerve endings in the pulp —the soft tissue inside teeth — of the tusk have at least one scientist thinking that it could be a highly sensitive sensory organ, able to detect subtle changes in temperature, salinity or pressure. Narwhals have not been observed using their tusk to break sea ice, despite popular belief.

Narwhals do occasionally break the tip of their tusk though which can never be repaired. This is more often seen in old animals and gives more evidence that the tusk might be used for sexual competition. Everyone who has visited the coast is familiar with gulls, those graceful, long-winged birds that throng the beaches and harbours and boldly beg for scraps.

The gulls are a family of birds that live mainly at sea, either along the shore, or out in the ocean itself. Worldwide, there are more than species of birds that live either partially or exclusively at sea, and these are generally known as "seabirds. The table below lists the 14 families of marine birds and the approximate number of species in each the exact number of species is continually being revised as genetic research reveals that some very similar-looking birds are so different in their genetic makeup that they constitute different species.

All species belonging to the albatross, auk, frigatebird, gannet, penguin, petrel, and storm-petrel families feed exclusively at sea.

In addition, many species of cormorants, grebes, gulls, jaegers, loons, pelicans and terns feed either entirely or mainly at sea. The Phalaropes are the only shorebirds that feed at sea. The number of species that breed in Canada are shown in parentheses. Ducks and grebes that feed at sea are not included. Adult coho salmon have silvery sides and metallic blue backs with irregular black spots.

Spawning males have bright red sides, and bright green backs and heads, with darker colouration on their bellies. The fish have hooked jaws and sharp teeth. Young coho salmon are aggressive, territorial and often vibrantly coloured, with a large orange anal fin edged in black and white.

The scientific name for the Ruffed Grouse is Bonasa umbellus. Both terms are from the Latin: Bonasa means good when roasted and umbellus , a sunshade. This refers to the ruff or dark-coloured neck feathers that are particularly large in the male.

When he is in display before the female, these are erected and surround his head almost like an umbrella. By nodding his head and ruffs, and spreading his tail and strutting, the male identifies himself to the female and encourages her advances.

The male Ruffed Grouse is about the size of a bantam chicken and weighs about g. The females are smaller. Unlike the chicken, the grouse has a broad flat tail that is usually held down but that may be erected and spread into a half circle. Males are polygamous, meaning they will mate with more than one female.

Gartersnakes are also viviparous — they do not lay eggs. Instead, the young develop within the female in a thin sac-like membrane that contains a yolk. Gestation lasts between 90 and days, with young emerging from the female anytime between July and October. The size and number of young depend on the age, size, and condition of the female. A typical litter ranges from 10 to 40 individuals. The young receive no parental care and disperse immediately upon birth.

An advantage of being viviparous is that there is no predation of eggs. Another advantage is that the young develop faster because they are warmer inside the female's body. Pregnant female snakes, through behavior i. This adaptation probably contributes to the gartersnake's existence in colder, northern areas. Interesting Facts: The gartersnake derives its name from the resemblance of their stripes to old-fashioned sock garters.

This snake is extremely cold resistant. It is active earlier in spring and later in fall than other snakes. Activity is closely associated with weather conditions. Snakes are cold blooded and derive heat from outside the body; environmental conditions must be warm enough — between 68 and As winter approaches and temperatures drop to the minimum common gartersnakes can tolerate, they will begin to group together to brumate for the season.

Unlike hibernation when animals are asleep, brumating animals are awake but inactive. The grouping of snakes during winter is referred to as an aggregation. Winter den sites include muskrat and crayfish burrows, mud banks, rock walls, the area under stumps and logs, and burrows in soft earth.

Gartersnakes, particularly young ones, are prey for many animals. These snakes are known to use trickery to confuse their competition. They disguise themselves as female by secreting female pheromones at a distance away from the real females. Once the confused males slither away to find the fake females, the tricky garter snakes dart back to the female to try to mate with her while the others are gone.

The females are also one of the few unique species that bear live young, meaning that they are ovoviviparous. Garter snakes develop and grow to maturity much faster than many other species of snake. Most snakes reach their mature size between 3 and 5 years of age. The smaller garter snake will typically stop maturing around 1.

Garter snakes are carnivores that feed on small prey. They like to eat earthworms, eggs, fish, snails, rodents, and smaller amphibians in the wild.

When kept in captivity, garter snakes should eat thawed rodents that came frozen or feeder fish, frogs, or earthworms. When garter snakes are young, you should give them much smaller food, like small fish, snails, and earthworms, since they are easier for them to digest.

Typically, if you buy a garter snake from a pet store, you will get one that is fully grown. Dozens of males will come to one female, which is why homeowners sometimes think garter snakes are overrunning their neighborhoods. Some males use trickery to confuse their competition, according to Reed College.

They will secrete female pheromones to lure other males toward them rather than to the female. After the other males are away from the mating ball, the males posing as females will dart back to the female to attempt to mate. Garter snakes are ovoviviparous, meaning they bear live young.

After mating, females store sperm in their bodies until they want to fertilize their eggs. Garter snakes give birth to 20 to 40 live young at a time, though Beane pointed out that litter sizes can vary greatly. Parent snakes do not care for their young. There are 30 species of garter snakes and many more subspecies, according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System.

The taxonomy of garter snakes is:. Thamnophis sirtalis common garter snake : The common garter snake has the largest range, occurring in most of the continental United States with several subspecies, according to Beane. They are found everywhere from Alaska to Florida, though they do not live in the Southwest. Common garter snakes usually have three white, yellow, blue, or green stripes running the lengths of their brown or olive bodies. Their heads are darker than their bodies.

Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis Eastern garter snake : This subspecies of common garter snake is typical throughout the eastern United States.