Creature Feature

Who am I and where do I live? Hello there! I am a friendly Black and Yellow Garden Spider. You can find me near gardens, fields and along trails! I love sunny areas amongst shrubbery, flowers, and other tall plants. I may look dangerous to people but that is just because of my coloration and…

Hello boys and girls! I am an Ilia Underwing. Depending on when you are looking I may still be a caterpillar, or I could be in the midst of my life cycle (metamorphosis), where I can be in my chrysalis, or in my final stage – the moth. After my final transformation I travel very…

Exotic species are organisms that live within an area that is not native to their original habitat and has been either accidentally or deliberately moved by humans. It may not seem like a big problem but over time the introduced species can change the whole structure of the ecosystem it lives in. Exotic species tend…

Spiders – Our eight legged friends?? There tend to be many misconceptions when it comes to spiders; they are considered to be evil, scary, and a nuisance. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of spiders we have in New England, or in North America for that matter, are harmless to humans. The species to watch…

Spring has sprung!! The weather has turned, the snow has melted and the perennials are starting to emerge – which means a lot of organisms are going to be poking their heads from their “winter siestas”. One organism in particular that will be hopping around the leaf litter will be the Springtails! Springtails are tiny…

When you visit the Lloyd Center this December you may have a tough time finding the creature featured. It is not because it is non-existent; it just happens to be that the winter flounder (Pleuronectes americanus) is great at blending in to its natural surroundings; we know this practice as camouflaging. When we think of…

Hello all! A new year has arrived and so has the Creature Feature. I will give you a couple of hints to try and figure out January’s Creature Feature. Your job is to grab a pencil and paper to draw what you think this month’s creature feature looks like. Okay – grab your drawing utensils…

You can learn a lot about an animal by its scientific name; clues on how the animal behaves, relationship to other animals, or where the species is found. The Blue Crab’s scientific name, Callinectes sapidus, tells a lot about the creature. Callinectes means beautiful swimmer and sapidus means tasty; so if we put those two…

Snakes are often depicted as evil and scary, but not all snakes are venomous or dangerous. There are only two poisonous snakes found in New England, the Copperhead and the Timber Rattlesnake, but they are not found in the Cape Cod region. There are about 8 different species of snakes found in New England and…

Summer is in full swing, which means wetlands are teeming with life! July’s Creature Feature is the Eastern Newt, an amphibian that lives within the deciduous and coniferous forests and thrives in the freshwater ponds and marshes as an adult. The Eastern Newt is unique compared to other amphibians where they go through four life…

What has 5 pair of eyes and feeds on the blood of its prey!? This month’s Creature Feature, the freshwater leech! It is not the most popular or favorable organism, but that is because we only know part of their story. The freshwater leech, Macrobdella decora, lives in slow moving freshwater and feeds on the…

Winter is only days away (December 22), animals of all sorts are participating in the next step of the life cycle; the reproduction stage. A majority of animals have their young emerge during the warmer seasons, spring/summer, where food is more plentiful. Insects, arachnids, and gastropods lay eggs in the fall/winter months to allow the…

When studying science, we quickly grow accustomed to putting everything into categories. By the time we are in junior high, we’ve probably heard something relating to this: “King Philip Came Over For Good Soup”; what does this truly mean? Literally, it looks as though Philip was a soup connoisseur, but figuratively it is referring to…

You may have noticed while on your walks on the Lloyd Center property, the presence of butterflies, particularly the Monarch. Monarchs are one of the well known species with their vibrant colors, both as a caterpillar and butterfly. These colors advertise that they are poisonous to their predators, due to their diet as caterpillars, they…

As we are experiencing the harsh winds and temperatures of the winter season, the waterfowl are embracing it day in and day out. One duck in particular, the Bufflehead, migrates to the coastal waters of southeastern Massachusetts each winter. The Bufflehead is one of the first winter waterfowl to arrive in this area. If you…

As I was perusing the Lloyd Center property on a mild autumn morning looking for the next installment of Creature Feature, I noticed a lot of slugs under fallen logs. I thought to myself that I hadn’t really studied or examined these critters before. With that being said, I give you November’s Creature Feature: the…

The weather outside may be frightful but the view from the Osprey Room Observatory at the Lloyd Center for the Environment is delightful! This month, come and visit the top floor of the museum in search of the three types of seals we have in our area – the Gray, Harp and the Harbor seal.…