Nature's Neighbors ~ Ringtail

A Ringtail is a carnivore resembling a small fox with a long flattened tail that is banded with 14 to 16 alternating black and white rings and a black tip.  They have five toes on each foot that are armed with sharp, curved, non-retractable claws.  They are nocturnal, very timid, and rarely seen, and as adults these mammals lead solitary lives, generally coming together only to mate.

Commonly, but incorrectly called Ring-tailed Cat and Miner’s Cat , they are not felines at all, but are members of the Procyonidae family along with raccoons and coatimundis.  They are distributed statewide, but are uncommon in the upper panhandle, the lower Rio Grande Valley and Coastal Plains of southern Texas.  They weigh from 1-2 pounds and are two feet in length (including the tail) and in the wild they will live around 6-9 years.

Ringtail mate in the spring. The gestation period is 45–50 days, during which the male will provide food for the female. There will be on average, 2-4 cubs in a litter, and by the age of four months they are hunting for themselves and are indistinguishable from adults except for their smaller size.  Being omnivorous, they will eat just about anything if it’s the right size. Depending on season, their food choices are fruit, insects, arachnids, lizards, snakes, small mammals, as well as birds and bird eggs.  Ringtail predators include, but are not limited to, Great horned owls, bobcats, and coyotes.

Ringtail are excellent climbers capable of ascending vertical walls, trees, rocky cliffs and even cacti. They have excellent eyesight as well as hearing, both helpful adaptations for a nocturnal animal.  Ringtail live in a variety of habitats within their range, but they have a decided preference for rocky areas such as stone walls and piles, canyon walls, and talus slopes. They can rotate their hind feet 180 degrees, giving them a good grip for descending those same structures.  They occur less commonly in woodland areas where they live in hollow trees and logs, and they are also known to live in buildings. Being such good  climbers, they have little difficulty in searching out and denning in well-protected crevices, crannies, and hollows.  The Ringtail prefers to live in habitats associated with water.

Proving itself an effective mouser, miners and early settlers once kept Ringtail as pets to keep their cabins free of vermin; hence, the incorrect common names mentioned above.  Often a small box with a hole was provided and placed near a heat source as a dark, warm place for the animal to sleep during the day, not to come out until after dark to rid the cabin of mice.

Nature's Neighbors ~ Spotted Gar

 The Spotted gar or Lepisosteus oculatus, is one of three gar species native to Texas. These are fresh water fish that are long and cylindrical with elongated mouths and can grow to a length of up to 3 feet and weigh up to 8 pounds.  Their long, snout-like mouth is lined with strong, sharp teeth, and their body is covered with thick, diamond-shaped scales. Spotted gar may be distinguished from other Texas gar species by the dark roundish spots on the top of the body, head and fins.   They have an extensive range and can be found from central Texas east into western Florida then north through the Mississippi River drainage into Illinois, the lower Ohio River, and the Lake Erie drainage.

Gar are often seen basking just below the surface of the water in calm, weedy areas.  They move casually but deliberately, and when hunting they are stalkers, slowly following behind prey until they rapidly strike from the side. Fry feed primarily on insect larvae and tiny crustaceans, but fish appear on the diet of young gar very early. Prey is swallowed headfirst. Spotted gar are eaten by larger fish, alligators, herons, cottonmouth snakes and occasionally, humans.

This fish requires clear vegetated water, but unfortunately habitats such as this are rapidly disappearing in its range.  Disturbance of and encroachment on waterways and lakes negatively impact this species.  They do have a specialized swim bladder which allows them to gulp air at the waters surface and live in the poorly oxygenated back waters of Texas' streams, swamps and lakes.  They also sometimes enter brackish (saltier) waters along the Gulf Coast, but do not live there.

The long-lived gar has a life span of up to 18 years. They spawn from April to May in shallow water with low flow and heavy vegetation. The roe (or egg mass) is highly toxic to humans, animals, and birds.  The number of eggs varies greatly, but upwards to 20,000 adhesive eggs are attached to aquatic plants. Fry hatch after 10 to 14 days and have specialized pads on their upper jaws that allow them to adhere to vegetation. They remain attached to plants until they are about ¾ of an inch long. The pad is lost when the last of the yolk sac is absorbed.

A large gar can eat a lot of fish, including catfish, causing them to compete with some anglers. Because of that competition and because many people incorrectly think gar are difficult to clean, they are sometimes called a "trash" fish.  This term is not warranted when you consider that spotted gar were here long before the fishermen, and like all native species, have an important role to play in their ecosystem and the food chain.