Wildlife

Antennae settle it: butterflies end in a club, moths never do. Every other rule has exceptions. Posture, cocoons, colour, and why butterflies are technically moths.

Crickets chirp with their wings, not their legs, and only males can. The four cricket songs, why they call at night, and how chirp rate tells you the temperature.

Owl pellets come up through the beak as dry fur and bone. Owl poop goes out the vent as white whitewash. How to tell them apart and read an active roost.

A baby garter snake is 5 to 9 inches, harmless, and born live in litters of 10 to 40. Full identification, plus the one mark that separates it from a copperhead.

A baby turtle is a hatchling and gets no parental care at all. Size, nest temperature deciding sex, the federal 4-inch sale ban, and what to do if you find one.

Bat poop crumbles into glittering insect fragments, which no rodent dropping does. Identification, the real histoplasmosis risk, and the safe wet-cleanup method.

A fox crossing your path signals cleverness, adaptability and a second look at something misjudged. Traditions across cultures, plus why you are seeing more foxes.

Wolf sounds decoded: the unbroken howl that carries 10 km, rare muffled barks, growls, whimpers and puffs, plus the one test that separates wolves from coyotes.

Hawks, owls, foxes, badgers, kingsnakes and guinea fowl all eat snakes. Which predators take venomous species, how they survive the venom, and what eats snake eggs.

Squirrel poop is 3/8 to 1/2 inch with blunt ends, mouse poop 1/8 to 1/4 inch with sharp points. Size, location, scatter pattern, and safe cleanup for both.