Badger answers your wildlife questions

Send your wildlife questions to Badger using this link Watch@wildlifetrusts.org and see if yours is chosen next month. Remember to include your name, age and where you live in the UK if you want a name check.

 

DECEMBER 2007

About 3 or 4 weeks ago I found some white round eggs, well my dad found them and I have been keeping them all damp and on damp tissue and guess what, 9 have hatched but I don't know whether it is a snail or slug, boy or girl.  It is a very pale colour and I think it's a slug but are snails born with a shell? Please help answer these questions.
Rosanna Frith, aged 10
PS. What do they eat?

Badger replies

The eggs you found will be slug eggs as snails are born complete with their shells.   The slugs will be neither girls nor boys because slugs are hermaphrodites. This means each slug has both male and female sex cells.  They get together in pairs to swap these before laying fertilised eggs in the soil.  

Some slugs like to eat young tender leaves, but others eat mulched up dead vegetation that is in the soil and one type (the Shield Slug) even likes to eat worms. 

 

MAY 2007

How do zebra's get their stripes? Do they just grow?
Victoria Lumsden, aged 10

Badger replies

Zebra foals are born complete with all their stripes- just a little narrower so they all fit on its smaller body! The zebra will keep its same unique stripe pattern all its life.  It is thought that the stripes, which break up the zebra's outline, confuse predators such as lions, who simply see lots of black and white and find it hard to decide what to catch. Different zebra species have different stripe patterns.

These are Chapmans' zebras in Namibia. The foal is about two weeks old.

 

APRIL 2007

My daughter found an unusual spider in the garden today. The body of was an oval-oblong shape and beige, or tan in colour, and the head was small and red and the legs appeared to be coming out in 
between the head and body and they were also red in colour. I thought it a little strange that the legs were not spread out along the body.Looking at the website this is a sow bug killer. How common are they in the UK, I have never seen one before.

Badger replies
The 'sow bug killer' is also known as the woodlouse spider or more scientifically Dysdera crocata. It is found sporadically throughout the British Isles but is mostly found in the south east. You can see a map that plots the distribution of records:
http://www.searchnbn.net/gridMap/gridMap.jsp?allDs=1&srchSpKey=NBNSYS0000008632
They have large jaws for piercing the armour of woodlice and are capable of inflicting a noticable bite on humans, so care should be taken if handling them.

NOVEMBER 2006

I know lizards tails can come off, but how?
Elouise Tait, age 10

Badger replies
Lizards can  deliberately 'lose' their tails as a means of protection. The process is known as 'autotomy'. Here's how it works! The bones in the lizard's tail have a special weak spot . If the lizard  is grabbed or threatened, it can squeeze its tail muscles and  tail bone breaks . The tail comes right off. and continues to wriggle for several minutes - hopefully keeping the predator distracted while the tail-less lizard  scuttles  to safety. Most lizards will eventually grow a new tail but it is usually more stumpy and less flexible. than the first one. Slow worms like the one below can shed their tails tithis way, but are rarely able to grow a new tail afterwards.

This means you should not tryto hold a wild lizard - even if you mean no harm. If it sheds its tail  to try and escape, it won't be able to use the same trick when it really is danger!

AUGUST 2006

Is it true that if you cut a worm in half it will survive, or turn into 2 worms? Also - Do worms reproduce by themselves, or do they have to find a mate?
From Lucy, age 12.

Badger replies
"If you  were to cut an earthworm in half it would die. The bits may wriggle for a while but the worm will not survive. If the worm were injured and loses just the 'tail' tip (away from the head), the larger head end may heal and survive as it contains importants internal organs - but PLEASE do not try this experiment yourself.  Amazingly though, there are some species of flatworms - a different family - that can regerate after being cut into many pieces and even remember things they were 'taught' before being cut up!

To answer your other question, earthworms are hermaphrodites. This means each worm makes both male and female sex cells. Worms get together in pairs to swap these before laying fertilised eggs in the soil. Usually the worms mate at night but sometimes you can find them on lawns i n the early morning, lying side by side, like in this picture from Badger's  photo library

JULY 2006

My Daddy and I found a big brown moth in our garden this morning. Can you please tell me what type of moth this is as I think it was really cool.
From Cameron, age 4

 

 

Badger replies, What a cracker! It is a female oak eggar. The males are smaller and darker and are day flyers, the females larger and fly at night regularly being attracted to light.

 

 

 

 

We have housemartins nesting on our house. How long will they stay?
From Helen in Lincolnshire
Badger replies, "Housemartins usually arrive in the UK in April and leave again at the beginning of October. which means you can enjoy watching yours for another couple of months. Housemartins spend our winter in Africa".

I saw a blackbird catching newts from our garden pond in the spring. Is this really unusual?
From Helen in Lincolnshire
Badger replies,"I have heard of this happening before but am not sure how common it really is. Usually it will be just one bird in an area that has learned about this special food supply and although it will affect the number of newts in your pond, it won't be able to catch them all. Make sure you leave some clear water not too clogged with plants. This means the newts can come to the surface to breathe but still quickly dive down to safety if they spy danger.".