Wildlife

A monarch butterfly means transformation, hope, and the return of departed loved ones. Where the Dia de los Muertos link comes from and what a monarch visit signifies.

A baby DeKay’s brown snake is a 3-inch harmless snake with a pale collar. How to tell it from ring-necked and venomous species, what it eats, and why gardeners want it.

A bee landing on you means good luck and effort rewarded, and many read it as a sign from a loved one. Why bees really land on people, and whether you should worry about a sting.

A baby earwig is a pale wingless nymph with pincers from hatching. What finding them indoors means, why earwigs guard their young, and why the ear myth is false.

A baby alligator snapping turtle has three rows of spiked ridges from hatching. How to tell it from a common snapper, what to do if you find one, and why keeping one is usually illegal.

Not to people or pets under normal circumstances. What real risk they do pose, when a burrow becomes a structural problem, and how to deal with one safely.

A female fox is called a vixen. Where the odd spelling came from, how to tell a vixen from a dog fox, and what the vixen’s scream on winter nights actually is.

Wolf poop is a thick rope-like dropping packed with hair and bone. How to tell it from coyote and dog scat, why old scat turns white, and where wolves actually live.

Iguana poop is a large dark dropping with a white cap, often mistaken for dog or raccoon waste. The Salmonella and pool risks, how to remove the stains, and how to deter iguanas.

A female deer is called a doe, or a hind in large species and a cow in elk and moose. The full vocabulary by species, how to sex a deer without antlers, and what a mother deer does.