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Steve Hall

Steve and Wendy Hall run the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge and Rehab Center in Wilmington. They've been rehabbing and releasing wild animals for over 45 years, specialize in predators, keep wolves as the cornerstone of their educational program, and have lived in the Adirondacks for the past 20 years. The Adirondack Wildlife Refuge became a non-profit about 10 years ago.

Visit www.AdirondackWildlife.org to learn more.

The Strange Lives of Porcupines

July 15, 2020 by Steve Hall Leave a Comment

Porcupine in Denali by Steve Hall North American porcupines are large rodents whose ancestors apparently crossed from Africa to South America on floating trees and logs some 30 million years ago. Their most prominent feature are the approximately 30,000 quills which grow individually everywhere out of the skin musculature, interspersed with bristles, under fur and hair.

The quills help the porcupine defend themselves from attacks by predators. The only quill free areas are the face and underside. [Read more…] about The Strange Lives of Porcupines

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: nature, porcupine, small mammals, Wildlife

Don’t Make Fun of Possums

June 27, 2020 by Steve Hall Leave a Comment

Possums courtesy US Fish and Wildlife The opposum is the only marsupial living in North America, and they’re one of the oddest-looking, slowest moving mammals around.

They’ve become sort of a folk hero in America, because of their penchant for annually devouring an average of 5,000 of the lyme bacteria carrying black legged ticks, which make the mistake of hitching a ride on the the possum’s low slung body. [Read more…] about Don’t Make Fun of Possums

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: nature, small mammals, Wildlife

Fishers And Their Bad Reputation

April 23, 2020 by Steve Hall 2 Comments

fisher provided by Adirondack Wildlife RefugeWhenever the subject of fishers comes up, you hear they’re mean, nasty and vicious – a smaller wolverine with attitude. Fishers get a pretty bad rap, but when they do, there’s a great deal of projecting and anthropomorphizing going on.

Fishers aren’t mean or evil, and they don’t really eat many house cats at all. [Read more…] about Fishers And Their Bad Reputation

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: fishers, nature, small mammals, Wildlife

Beavers: Nature’s Architects and Engineers

April 18, 2020 by Steve Hall 1 Comment

Beaver in Algonquin Park by Steve Hall Beavers are the great architects of American ponds and streams. The North American beaver competes with the Eurasian beaver to be the 2nd largest rodent in the world, after another semi-aquatic mammal, the South American Capybara.

The average weight of a beaver in New York State is 42 lbs, though 60 pounders are not that unusual. Beavers have an average body length of 2 and ½ feet to 3 feet, and a flat swimming rudder tail of 8 to 14 inches. The tail doubles as a warning device, used to loudly slap the water when predators, dogs or people are sighted. [Read more…] about Beavers: Nature’s Architects and Engineers

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: beavers, nature, small mammals, Wildlife

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