Creature Feature: Long Live the King!
Written by: Zachary Mork, Naturalist at JNC
Welcome to the July edition of this year’s Creature Feature! Throughout this year, each issue has been investigating the name origins of all of the months in the calendar year, and connecting them to some examples of creatures found in the wild. To recap, so far the names of the months from January to June were all if not most associated with Roman deities. It is from here where we shift to other name origins.
There are a few months in the calendar that are named after historical figures, July being the first of the two. This specific figure is none other than Julius Caesar (100 BCE - 44 BCE). In the same year of his death, the Roman senate decided to dedicate a month in his name, which we now call July. As one of the most famous generals and dictators of ancient Rome, this month’s feature will highlight animals that have some kind of royalty in their name. Read on to find out more!
Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
The largest of the Pacific salmon species, Chinook, also known as king salmon, is a fish species that was introduced to the Great Lakes in the late 1960s to combat an invasive species known as the alewife. Outside of the Great Lakes, their native range stretches from California, to Alaska, traversing between fresh and saltwater systems. Chinook salmon are able to adapt to different levels of salt or salinity, so they will spend some of their lives in salt water, and later on migrate to the freshwater systems they were hatched in in order to spawn, rounding out their life cycle. These fish need healthy water systems to thrive, including cool water, plenty of dissolved oxygen, and gravel-like sediment to lay their eggs.
Queen Snake (Regina septemvittata)
Similar to the more common garter snake, the queen snake has a darker top side, and an underside that displays seven stripes alternating between dark and light, stretching from end to end. Nonvenomous, these snakes may be found in semi-aquatic environments throughout the southern half of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Being near water, their preferred food is going to be crayfish, and other amphibians. Like garter snakes, queens snakes are ovoviviparous, which means that instead of laying eggs, the snake will hold onto the eggs internally, once they are fully developed, the new snakes will first hatch and then proceed to be birthed by the mother, thus resulting in live birth.
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)
Our last example is the belted kingfisher! These birds are dimorphic, which means that the male and female look differently. Typically, it is the male that displays more colors and brighter coloration compared to the female, for mating purposes. However, in the case of the belted kingfisher, they decided to play a reverse Uno and as a result, the females have more colorful features compared to the males (females have more brown on their chest). Depending on the time of year, this kingfisher can be found throughout the vast majority of North America, perching near water sources in order to hunt for various aquatic prey.
Chinook salmon
Queen snake
Belted kingfisher
