HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-08-02, Page 7Nature's Miracles
Monte Hummel
President of World Wildlife Fund Canada
"Playing Possum" is a risky game
The "dead" Opossum stares up
with blank eyes, tongue lolling
from the hideous "grin" on its
face. The hungry Coyote doesn't
hesitate. He snaps up the limp
body and carries it off to the
bushes for some private dining.
Settling down to his meal, the
Coyote relaxes his grip, allowing
the sly Possum to suddenly leap
up and run away to the safety of a
tree. "Playing 'Possum" —
pretending to be dead in order to
gain an opportunity to escape —
has paid off for the animal most
famous for using this tactic. This
time.
Success hinges upon the fact
that the Opossum's brain and
senses remain fully engaged while
it maintains a trancelike state in
which it doesn't flinch, even when
badly bitten. The Opossum's
coolness under pressure and well-
calculated timing are impressive,
but all it takes is a quick snap of
the neck to ensure a predator's
meal.
This risky tactic is not confined
to the Opossum. The Eastern
Hognose Snake, found in southern
Ontario, adds its own twist to the
technique. When molested, it
puffs up its body, hissing and
lunging threateningly. If that
belligerent behaviour doesn't scare
away an interloper, the Hognose
simply flops over on its back and
plays dead. Its open-mouthed
death expression is quite
convincing unless a curious
predator flips the snake over for a
better look. The Hognose's
instinctive desire to play as dead
as possible will cause it to wriggle
once again on to its back, spoiling
the effect.
The prize for best use of props
and make-up in the playing-dead
field surely must go to the West
Indian Wood Snake. When
threatened, this small Boa mimics
the stiffness of death by coiling
tightly. Fluids on its scales give
off a powerful stench of
decomposing flesh and, as a final
touch, special blood vessels
release blood to flush the eyes of
the "corpse" a dull red and to
trickle from the snake's mouth.
Unless a predator is particularly
desperate or — and here is the
risky part again — has a taste for
rotting meat, this performance
should be enough to save the
snake from becoming dinner.
Death is part of the balance of
life in natural systems,
but pretending to be
dead sometimes
actually saves lives! wwF
Nature's Miracles is brought to
you by this publication and World
Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF). To
find out how you can help save
wildlife and wild places, call
WWF at 1-800-26-PANDA.
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Francois Racine
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1995, PAGE 7.
Auburn Lions host
exchange student
Head injury survivors hurt
forever. No matter how severe the
injury, head injury survivors have
gone through a major trauma,
leaving some survivors with
permanent disabilities.
Many of these disabilities are
invisible to the unknowing, but the
survivor must live with these
disabilities. Survivors can be
helped to overcome many of these
problems by other survivors who
Pupils pass piano exams
Greeters at Londesboro United
Church on Sunday, July 30 were
Jim and Ramona Jamieson.
Andrea Postma and Krista Black
sang a duet. The sermon topic was
"Discovering a new God - Part 7,
with the Prodigal Son."
The Royal Conservatory of
Compiled by June Fothergill
Head injury survivors
to meet in Wingham
The news from
ondesboro
have gone through similar
situations.
The head injury support group
for North Huron, South Bruce and
surrounding areas will provide
support and information to
survivors and their families. The
first meeting will be held at the
Wingham and District Hospital
Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. For more
information please contact Joanne
Bregman at 519-392-6272.
Music piano exams are over for
another year, and congratulations
go to the following students: Julie
Verburg, Shannon Scott, April Van
Amersfoort, Amanda Howson,
Jenny Konarski, Kim Richmond,
Rhonda Howatt and Amy Jenkins.
All are students of Marsha Szusz.
Phone 523-4360
For a young man from Trois Riv-
ieres, Quebec, a four-week stay in
Ontario has been amazing, fantastic
and sometimes challenging.
Francois Racine, 16, who speaks
limited English, has been staying
with the Tony Marten and Pat
Bruxer families in Auburn, as part
of the Lions Youth Exchange Pro-
gram.
As with most of the youth from
Canada and around the world, two
of the best features of the exchange
were meeting many new friends at
the camp in Chesley and riding the
roller coaster Top Gun at Canada's
Wonderland.
Francois says Ontario is very
much like Quebec except there are
more Canadian flags here. Trois
Rivieres has a sizeable sovereign-
tist population, he says.
A first time experience for Fran-
cois during his visit was golf.
Though he says he played horribly,
he appeared to have had a lot of
fun.
By Janice Becker
There is now a new source of
information for farmers concerned
about the affects and effectiveness
of crop herbicides.
Cropco, just north of Blyth on
Hwy 4, has developed a demonstra-
tion plot which features five crops,
corn, oats, soyabeans, alfalfa and
white beans, and sprays them with
a variety of herbicides to determine
the resulting weed growth and any
harm to the crop.
Jackson Lui, research and devel-
opment co-ordinator, and is study-
ing the plot and charting the
outcomes as well as looking after
areas of beans, barley and corn
Francois returned home last week
to his 14-year-old sister, father,
who is a chemical engineer and his
librarian mother.
Francois plans to become an
aerospace engineer.
which were sprayed with different
concentrations of chemicals at
varying periods in the plant growth.
"We would like to work with
area farmers to determine what it is
they want to see and offer informa-
tion on the crops and chemicals as
to how they work in the Blyth
area," says Wayne Wheeler of
Cropco.
"This year, we have only approx-
imately two acres in demonstration
plot, but would like to expand it
next year, possibly to 14 acres."
Aside from determining effec-
tiveness and damage to crops, the
study will also consider the amount
Continued on page 15
Cheerios
hold contest
The July meeting of the Cheerio
Club was held on Wednesday, July
26. Members had lunch at the
Hillcrest Restaurant then proceeded
to the home of Margaret Good for
the meeting.
Margaret welcomed everyone.
She read a poem on love. Roll call
was answered by nine members. A
minute's silence was observed in
memory of one of the members, the
late Clara Riley.
The minutes of the May meeting
were read. Edythe Beacom gave the
treasurer's report. Collection and
draw money was taken up. The
draw, donated by Geraldine Dale,
was won by Estella Adams.
June read a poem, "The Man in
the Glass."
June had a contest on song titles.
This was won by Geraldine Dale.
Margaret read "Thank Heaven
for Small Towns".
Cards were played.
The next meeting is Group III.
Workshop, Aug. 8
There will be no August meeting
of Londesboro WI. In its place is
the Curator's Workshop at Holmes-
ville Community Centre on
Tuesday, Aug. 8. Bring a brown
bag lunch, a mug and a piece of
treasured china.
Herbicide demo plot opens