Wildlife

Blue, yellow, red, green, or black: poison dart frog colors are warning labels. Here is which shade belongs to which species, and how much toxin sits behind it.

Sweat bees drink your perspiration for the salt. What they look like, how much the sting hurts, which lookalikes actually bite, and how to move one off your skin.

A praying mantis landing on you is read as a call for stillness and precise timing, and as one of the luckiest insect encounters in folk belief.

A grasshopper landing on you is read as a push to leap forward, and in several traditions as luck or money arriving. Here is what each situation means.

The ribbit in every movie night scene comes from one thumb sized West Coast frog. How to identify it, why it changes color, and whether it is safe to touch.

Badger tracks show five toes and long claw marks set well ahead of the pads, with a wide, pigeon-toed trail. Sizes, gait and the dog, cat and raccoon lookalikes.

A javelina track runs about 1.3 in long with blunt hooves, and the hind foot has only three toes. Measurements, stride, and how to rule out deer and hog.

Huffs, jaw pops, woofs, moans and the cub nursing hum. What every bear noise means, when it happens, and which animals you confuse it with.

A coyote print runs 2.5 inches long with bold nails. A red fox print is shorter, furrier, and carries a bar across the heel pad. How to measure both.

A black spider with white spots on its back is usually a harmless bold jumping spider. The one exception is a juvenile black widow, and telling them apart takes five seconds.