Wildlife

An outdoor pen of 4 by 8 ft beats any tank. Substrate depth, humidity, safe plants and predator proofing for a box turtle habitat.

Seeing a scorpion is read as a warning to defend your boundaries. Here is what the animal means in Native American, Egyptian, biblical, Chinese and dream traditions, situation by situation.

Alpaca droppings are dark oval pellets about 1 cm long, dropped in communal piles. Here is how to identify them and tell them from deer, goat and llama pellets.

River otters chirp, snort, growl, scream and hum, and each call means something different. Here is every otter sound, when you hear it and what gets mistaken for it.

Coatis, ringtails, kinkajous, opossums, badgers, and raccoon dogs all get called raccoons. Tails and daily rhythm separate them faster than masks.

Lynx scream, yowl, hiss, growl, purr, meow, and chirp. What each call means, the season and hour it belongs to, and how to rule out a bobcat, fox, or owl.

Harvestmen, camel spiders, ticks, and spider like stink bug nymphs all get mistaken for spiders. Count body segments instead of legs and each one sorts out in seconds.

Purple dragonflies are real, but the color comes from a waxy bloom rather than pigment. Here are the seven US species that look violet in the field, plus the African one behind most viral photos.

Why a white butterfly is read as an angel, a departed loved one or a soul at peace in Christian, Irish, Japanese and Native American tradition, with a table for the garden, the window, a dead butterfly and dreams.

What a yellow butterfly means in Christian, Native American, Irish and East Asian tradition, as a spirit animal and omen, with a table for the garden, the window, repeated sightings, a dead butterfly and dreams.