TREES ARE TERRIFIC SOME ARE EVEN CHAMPIONS - MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION - Missouri ...
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M IS S O U R I D E PA RT M E N T O F CO N S E RVAT I O N
September/October 2021
Xplor
TREES ARE
TERRIFIC
SOME ARE EVEN CHAMPIONS
Contents
Features
6 Big Tree Hunters
Have you got what it takes to bag big trees?
10 Terrific Trees
Attention, tree huggers! Leaf it to
this field guide to help you get
acquainted with your barky buddies.
Departments
2 Get Out!
3 What Is It?
4 Into the Wild
16 Predator vs. Prey
17 Strange but True
18 How To
20 Xplor More
Male Hercules beetles
use their horns to fight
with rival males. The
best beetle of the battle
wins a girlfriend.
by Noppadol Paothong
GOVERNOR
Michael L. Parson
CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Margaret F. Eckelkamp
Steven D. Harrison
Mark L. McHenry
Wm. L. (Barry) Orscheln
DIRECTOR
Sara Parker Pauley
XPLOR STAFF
Bonnie Chasteen
Les Fortenberry
Alexis (AJ) Joyce
Angie Daly Morfeld
Noppadol Paothong
Marci Porter
Laura Scheuler
Matt Seek
David Stonner
Stephanie Thurber
Cliff White
Xplor (ISSN 2151-8351) is published bimonthly. It is a
publication of the Missouri Department of Conservation,
2901 West Truman Boulevard, Jefferson City, MO (Mailing
address: PO Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102.) Subscription
free to Missouri residents (one per household); out of state
$5 per year; out of country $8 per year. Please allow 6–8
weeks for first issue. Notification of address change must
include both old and new address (send mailing label with
the subscriber number on it) with 60-day notice. Preferred
periodical postage paid at Jefferson City, Missouri, and at
additional entry offices. Postmaster: Send correspondence
to Xplor Circulation, PO Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-
0180. Phone: 573-751-4115, ext. 3856 or 3249.
Copyright © 2021 by the Conservation Commission of the
State of Missouri. Vol. 12, No. 5. September/October 2021
issue printed by LSC Communications in August 2021 in
Liberty, Missouri. Printed in the USA.
Send editorial comments to: Mailing address: Xplor
Magazine, PO Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180; Email:
Xplor@mdc.mo.gov. Please note: Xplor does not accept
unsolicited article queries, manuscripts, photographs, or
artwork. Any unsolicited material sent will not be returned.
Equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from
programs of the Missouri Department of Conservation is
available to all individuals without regard to their race,
color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age, sexual
orientation, veteran status, or disability. Questions should
be directed to the Department of Conservation, PO Box
180, Jefferson City, MO 65102, 573-751-4115 (voice) or 800-
735-2966 (TTY), or to Chief, Public Civil Rights, Office of Civil
Rights, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street, NW,
Washington, D.C. 20240.
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ON THE COVER
Big Tree Hunters
by David Stonner
Get Out!
GET OUT!
FUN THINGS TO DO
AND GREAT PLACES
TO DISCOVER NATURE
Most birds, especially
geese, migrate at night.
Camp out when the
Keep an eye
moon is full to watch
out for swarms
and listen for them.
of green
darner
dragonflies
feeding on flying insects.
Elk begin bugling
at Peck Ranch. Plan a
trip with details from
short.mdc.mo.gov/ZJJ.
Leave fall leaves on
the ground. Eastern red bats,
pollinators, and other little critters
need them for winter cover.
Pucker up!
Persimmons
begin ripening
in September. Fruits
that have fallen to the
ground taste the sweetest.
Looking for more ways to have fun outside? Find out about
2 i xplor Discover Nature programs in your area at mdc.mo.gov/events.
WHAT ?
What is it?
IS
IT
DON’T KNOW?
Jump to Page 20 to find out.
❶ I may look like a jewel on a leaf. ❸ If they won’t go away, I’ll shoot stink in their face.
❷ But my colors tell stalkers to stop. ❹ And then into the grass I will drop.
September/October 2021 i 3
Into the Wild Youat themightpilebeofsurprised
ld
critters
Wi
you’ll find living in a
stack of firewood.
a ke a Closer Look
Take a Closer Look
T Downy and hairy
o d p i l e
fi re w o
woodpeckers often Hairy Woodpecker
visit wood piles, • Robin-sized
Downy Woodpecker looking for insects • Beak nearly as
• Sparrow-sized to eat. Here’s how long as head
• Beak much to tell these head- • White outer
shorter than head banging birds apart. tail feathers
LOO k • Spotted outer
tail feathers
Pill bugs (aka roly-polies)
often gather under stacked
wood. Although they look
like insects, they’re more
closely related to shrimp,
lobsters, and crayfish. Like
their aquatic cousins, pill
bugs breathe with gills,
which is why they hang
out in cool, damp places.
Up !
Heads
Don’t move firewood
from one location to
another. Doing so can
transport tree-killing pests
that live inside the logs.
Burn the wood near
the place where
you cut it.
LOO k
Eastern chipmunks often build their burrows under
unused stacks of wood. If you see a chipmunk with
chubby cheeks, it isn’t overweight. The busy ’munk
has stuffed its mouth with acorns and will store
them in its burrow to eat during winter.
i xplor
Pill bug: Joseph Berger, Bugwood.org
4
at Happened Here?
?
You Kuno h What Happened Here?
o
Did Yw?
w
W A spider doesn’t have
Did
Kno Soil centipedes
have between bones. Instead, armor-like
27 and 191 pairs plates on the outside of
of legs, depending on a spider’s body protect
?
which wiggly species its organs and help hold
you’re watching. But it together. When the
they always — always! spider grows too big, it
— have an odd sheds its exoskeleton and
number of leg pairs. leaves the old armor behind.
LOO k
Sow bug killers have a
scary name and even
scarier fangs, but they’re
mostly harmless to
humans. The spider uses
its impressive jaws to
pierce the tough armor
of sow bugs and pill bugs.
Though they may defend
themselves if handled,
their bite is less painful
than many other spiders.
ke a Closer Look
TaPrairie
Take a Closer Look
lizards often bask atop logs and fences on
cool fall mornings. But you’ll need sharp eyes to
spot them. The wary reptiles dart into crevices
at the first sign of danger, and their drab scales
help them disappear against barky backgrounds.
Spider exoskeleton: © Mario Madrona Barrera | Dreamstime.com;
Sow bug killer: © Maciej Olszewski | Dreamstime.com September/October 2021 i 5
BIG Finding big trees takes
savvy, skills, and a little
TREE
help from a friend.
Some big trees are easy to spot. Missouri’s
champion bur oak near McBaine stands
like a giant in a bottomland crop field. This
old fighter is 74 feet tall, 295 inches around,
and its outermost branches reach 129 feet
Hunters
across. It’s big!
Other champs are barely noticeable.
Missouri’s champion farkleberry (yep,
farkleberry, aka winter huckleberry) is only
14 feet tall and 12 inches around. That’s
by Bonnie Chasteen because it’s naturally a small, shrubby tree.
But every champion eventually falls — or
Have you got what it someone (like you) finds an even bigger
takes to bag big trees? tree that takes its prize.
6 i xplor
CHAMPIONS BY THE NUMBERS
The most points
With a total of
456 points,
a bald cypress on private land
in New Madrid County is
Missouri’s biggest champion tree
(and it has the biggest trunk).
2nd biggest trunk
A water tupelo at Allred Lake
Natural Area in Butler County is
322 inches around.
The tallest
A scarlet oak at Lake
Wappapello in Wayne County is
150 feet tall.
The widest crown
A cherrybark oak in Scott
City Park in Scott County has
a crown spread of 138 feet.
Get to Know Missouri’s Trees
Before you head outside, take a little time to learn about
Missouri’s trees. To be a champion, a tree must be native
to Missouri. You can find all 137 kinds that are qualified
to be champions at mdc.mo.gov/champion-trees.
Look Near and Far
Trees grow big when they have few competitors.
Tree ID Tips
That’s why almost half of Missouri’s champions
Every tree has a few features that will
are found in farms, city parks, campuses, and
help you learn to spot it. Pay attention
cemeteries. In these places, trees can branch out
to leaves, nuts, fruit, and bark.
and soak up the sun and rain. Missouri champions
It also helps to carry a good tree
also tend to be found in conservation areas, state
field guide. Pack along the tree mini
parks, and national forest lands. These places are
guide on Page 10, or get a copy of
carefully managed, but natural forces like storms
Trees of Missouri Field Guide.
can clear away weaker trees, leaving the strong to
get even stronger (and bigger!).
September/October 2021 i 7
How to Measure
a Giant If you know your
HEIGHT
Even before you start hunting friend’s height (let’s
big trees, it’s fun to practice say it’s 5 feet), have
measuring trees in your yard, them stand right
farm, or neighborhood park. next to the tree.
Raise your arm
u Here’s What You Need straight out and
put your thumb
• A friend to help you up. Walk forward
• 30 feet of rope or cord or backward until
• A clothespin your thumb is the
same size as your
• Really long tape measure friend. Eyeball that
• 4 tent stakes and 1 hammer spot, and then raise
(for your friend) your hand up one
• Your thumb thumb-length. Do
this until you reach
the top of the tree.
u Here’s What You Do
Multiply the number
Champion trees are judged
of times you raised
by their height, trunk
your thumb by your
circumference (length around)
friend’s height. If it
at 4.5 feet above ground, and
was 10 times, your
crown spread (average width
tree is 50 feet tall.
from dripline to dripline).
Have your friend hold the end of the tape
Circumference
measure on the ground at the base of the
tree. Pull the measure up along the trunk
until you see the mark at 4 feet 6 inches.
At this height, wrap rope or cord around
the tree’s trunk.
When you get all the way around, clip
a clothespin at the spot where the free
end of the cord meets the place where
you started.
Stretch the cord
out straight and
measure from the
end of the cord 4.5 feet
Circumference
to the clothespin.
This is the tree’s
circumference.
8 i xplorStarting at the trunk, walk to the farthest edge of
CROWN SPREAD
your tree’s dripline. This is where the outermost
branches would shed rainwater onto the ground.
Hammer a stake in the ground or place a rock at
that point. Go to the opposite side of the trunk
and do this again.
Do the same thing for the shortest line passing
through the middle of the crown. Measure both
distances with your tape measure.
Add the two distances together and divide by 2.
This is the crown’s average spread.
28 feet
(shortest)
36 feet
(widest)
Average Crown spread
Dripline Dripline 36 + 28 = 64 ÷ 2 = 32 feet
u Add up Your Score
Here’s the formula the Missouri Department of
Conservation uses to figure out a point value for big trees:
Height
(in feet) + Circumference
(in inches) + 1/4 of the average
crown spread
(in feet)
= Tree
Score
Plant a Future Champion
Your tree’s score might look something like this: Every year, the George
O. White State Forest
8
15
+ 28
+ = 51
Nursery grows millions
1/4 of the average
(feet) (inches) crown spread of tree seedlings for
(32 feet ÷ 4 = 8) conservation projects
and wildlife habitat.
They’re inexpensive
u Send in Your Contender and easy to order. The
If you think your tree could beat the current Missouri seedling you plant
champion, take a pic, and send it to the Missouri Department could become a future
of Conservation’s Champion Tree Program. Before you do, be champion. Order at
sure to visit mdc.mo.gov/champion-trees to check the current mdc.mo.gov/seedlings.
list of champion trees and download the nomination form.
September/October 2021 i 9TER RIFIC
Terrific Trees
TREES
B et you can’t get through today
without using something that comes
from trees. If you’re reading this
magazine, you’ve already lost —
paper, of course, comes from trees. So
does the lumber in your house, the circuit
by Matt Seek
board in your smartphone, and the diapers But First, Make
on your baby brother. Trees provide This Field Guide
homes for animals, produce the oxygen
we breathe, offer shade on a summer day, ❶ Cut out the next two pages
along the dotted lines.
and hold soil in place so it doesn’t wash
away. In short, trees are terrific! ❷ Fold each cutout down the middle.
Over 150 kinds of bark-covered ❸ Stack the cutouts so the pages are
beauties grow in Missouri. Next time you in numerical order.
explore your backyard, a city park, or a ❹ Staple the cutouts together at the
shady forest, look closely at each tree’s fold between pages 8 and 9.
leaves, bark, and seeds. You’ll soon be ❺ Take your mini tree guide along
able to tell one tree from another. on your next walk in the woods.
10 i xplorYou Discover
TREES
mdc.mo.gov
Bur oak
A Mini Field Guide
16
to 14 Terrific Trees 1
Flowering Dogwood
Black Oak
Maximum
Maximum height:
height: 70 feet
40 feet
Habitat Prefers Habitat Found on
well-drained soils rocky ridges, glades, and
on wooded slopes, along the edges of woods.
ridges, and field edges. ID Clues The inner bark is
ID Clues Flowering dogwood mustard-yellow to orange.
is more of a shrub than a Like all oaks in the “red oak
tree. In the spring, it unfurls group,” this tree has leaves
beautiful, white, flower-like with pointy tips.
bracts. In the fall, it produces Fall Color Fall Color
That’s Nuts! Native
red, football-shaped berries. Red to purple Americans used black oak Yellowish-
brown or dull
That’s Nuts! Flowering bark to make tea that they red
dogwood is Missouri’s drank to cure everything
official state tree. from asthma to diarrhea.
14 3White Oak
Eastern Red Cedar
Maximum
height:
120 feet
Maximum
height:
50 feet
Habitat Prefers dry Habitat Found nearly
slopes but can be found in everywhere: open, rocky
nearly any forest, woodland, woods, glades and bluffs,
or savanna statewide. pastures, roadsides, and fencerows.
ID Clues The blocky bark ID Clues Cedars have aromatic,
becomes scaly on large evergreen, needlelike leaves.
limbs. In open areas, white They produce small, bluish-
oaks may grow wider than purple berries.
they are tall. Fall Color That’s Nuts! Many trees Fall Color
That’s Nuts! White Dark red to
are both male and female. Evergreen
oaks are one of the wine-purple Cedar trees usually have
longest living shade trees separate sexes. Male
in Missouri. Some have cedars produce tiny cones.
lived over 450 years! Females produce berries.
2 15
Eas tern Redbud
Shagbark Hi cko r y
Maximum
height: Maximum
100 feet height:
40 feet
Habitat Found in Habitat Found in
bottomland forests along open woodlands, the
streams and upland forests edges of woods, and along
on slopes and ridges. rocky streams and bluffs.
ID Clues The long, shaggy ID Clues The heart-shaped
strips of bark on this tree’s leaves are a good clue you’ve
trunk are a dead giveaway. found a redbud. In the spring,
Also look for tasty nuts that redbuds produce colorful
begin dropping from the tree Fall Color pink flowers. In the fall, they Fall Color
in September. produce beanlike brown pods.
Golden Yellow
That’s Nuts! During summer, yellow
That’s Nuts! Redbud flowers
endangered bats raise their are edible. They have a sweet,
babies and sleep under this nutty taste.
hickory’s shaggy bark.
4 13Eastern Cot tonwood
Black Waln ut
Maximum Maximum
height: height:
100 feet 90 feet
Habitat Occurs in Habitat Grows in damp
damp lowlands near woods at the foot of hills
streams and rivers. and bluffs, in valleys along
ID Clues In June, cottonwoods streams, and in open woods.
release tiny brown seeds ID Clues When crushed, the
that are attached to fluffy, leaves release a distinct odor.
cottonlike fibers. A large tree Tennis-ball-sized nuts covered
can produce 25 million seeds! in thick green husks drop
That’s Nuts! Cottonwood Fall Color from the tree in September. Fall Color
is Missouri’s fastest growing Yellow
That’s Nuts! Walnuts Yellow
native tree. Under ideal produce a poisonous chemical
conditions, it can reach a height that prevents other plants
of 50 feet in just six years. from growing nearby.
12 5
American Sycamore
American Elm
Maximum Maximum
height: height:
70 feet 120 feet
Habitat Grows best Habitat Found on
in low, damp ground in floodplains (where
valleys and along streams. they grow massive in
ID Clues Elms usually have a rich soils), bottomland
spreading, fan-shaped crown. forests, and along rivers.
The upper surfaces of their ID Clues The upper trunk and
leaves are shinier than the branches usually have smooth
undersides. white bark. In the fall, sycamores
That’s Nuts! American elms Fall Color produce brown seed-balls that Fall Color
were once widely used as remain on the tree over winter.
Yellow Dull tan
shade trees along city streets. That’s Nuts! About 98 percent
Unfortunately, a disease of all great blue heron nests
wiped out thousands of the in Missouri are found in
elms that were planted. sycamore trees.
10 7Hackberry
Silver Maple
Maximum Maximum
height: height:
100 feet 90 feet
Habitat Found in Habitat Grows in damp
bottomland forests, at woodlands throughout Missouri.
the edges of streams, and ID Clues If you see a tree
planted around homes. with a “warty” trunk, you’ve
ID Clues Silver maples probably found a hackberry.
release “helicopter” seeds Hackberries produce reddish-
in late spring. The underside orange berries that turn
of each leaf is whitish-silver. purple and stay on the tree
When the leaves flutter in the Fall Color through winter. Fall Color
wind, the tree looks silver. That’s Nuts! Hackberry fruits
Yellow Yellow
That’s Nuts! Silver maples are sweet and edible, perfect
grow quickly but tend to have for munching on a fall hike.
weak branches that may break But be careful! Other plants
in wind, snow, or ice storms. have poisonous berries.
6 11
R iver Birch
Green Ash
Maximum
Maximum height:
height: 80 feet
Silver maple bark: Paul Langlois, Live Botanical Collections, USDA APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org;
80 feet
Habitat Usually found in Habitat Occurs in Green ash bark: Richard Webb, Bugwood.org
damp ground along streams. bottomland forests
ID Clues Peeling, papery along streams, sloughs,
bark is a good clue you’ve swamps, and ponds.
found a river birch. The ID Clues Deep grooves
leaves are smooth and green in this tree’s bark form
on top and fuzzy and lighter diamond patterns.
(almost white) underneath. Fall Color That’s Nuts! Ash trees Fall Color
That’s Nuts! River birches Yellow
have historically been Yellow-orange to
sprout quickly on bare the preferred wood for purple-maroon
stream banks. Their roots making baseball bats.
help hold the soil in place
so it doesn’t wash away.
8 9TREE -RIFFIC It’s time to branch out! How
many of these tree-related
Treasure Hunt treasures can you find?
Red leaf
Orange leaf
Yellow leaf
Green leaf
An evergreen
Purple leaf
tree
(like cedar or pine)
Moss growing
on a tree
Acorn
Squirrel
Hickory nut Gnawing on
an acorn Leaf gall Bird nest
Caterpillar Spiderweb
Holes left by
a woodpecker munching on
a tree’s leaf in a tree’s
branches Bird perched
on a branch
Leaf gall: Steven Katovich, Bugwood.org
Vine growing
Mushroom
up a tree
Football- growing on Heart-shaped (Don’t touch! It
shaped leaf a tree leaf could be poison ivy.)
September/October 2021 i 15The struggle to survive isn't always a fair fight
P I D E R W A S P
R U STY S
This Rusty spider wasp vs wolf spider
issue :
illustrated by
David Besenger
VS WO L F S P I D E R
Frightful
Fangs
Eight-Legged Needle-sharp fangs
easily pierce insect
Agi lity armor and inject venom.
Wolf spiders don’t
spin webs. They use
speed and agility to
run down prey.
Iron Jaws
Strong jaws help
the wasp drag
victims home to its
underground nest.
Stun Gun Bun
A female wasp’s business end is
And the winner is…
tipped with a zappy, stabby stinger.
egg on the still-alive spider. When the baby wasp hatches, the spider will become its first meal.
16 i xplor One stab from the wasp’s stinger, and the spider is paralyzed. After dragging it to her nest, the wasp lays anStrange but
all the
True
ide to
Your g
s
u
ua l, un iqu e ,
und u believable
an Un ure
es on in nat
o
stuff that g
Jack-o’-lantern
mushrooms are well-
Despite named. Not only are
having eight they pumpkin-orange,
eyes, striped bark but they also glow in
the dark! The spooky,
scorpions have terrible vision.
To make up for poor peeper power, greenish-blue glow comes
sensitive hairs on their pinchers help from the mushroom’s gills
them feel the movements of and can be seen only in
prey, and organs on pitch-black conditions.
their undersides help
detect odors.
Cave salamanders
can “feel” the Earth’s
Gray squirrels bury acorns to snack magnetic field. This built-
on later. But the nutty mammals often in compass helps the
forget about most of the acorns they flame-orange amphibians
hide — in one study, 74 percent find their way around the
weren’t dug back up. Left underground darkest corners of caves
long enough, the where there’s no light to
seeds sprout into help them see.
baby oak trees.
Biologists believe that
Standing nearly 3 feet tall and tipping the scales at birds, especially those
up to 90 pounds, the American beaver is that fly nonstop for days
Missouri’s largest rodent. Our during migration, take
smallest rodent, the plains short naps in midair. But
harvest mouse, the soaring snorers aren’t
is only 5 inches long likely on autopilot. A bird
(including its tail) and can leave half its brain
weighs less than wide awake while the
10 raisins. other half rests.
Contrary to what cartoons might lead you to believe
— beep, beep! — a coyote would have little trouble
outrunning a roadrunner. The fleet-footed birds
reach speeds of about 20 mph. Coyotes, on
the other paw, can hit a howling 43 mph.
September/October 2021 i 17How to
Grow
Mi lkweed
Monarch butterflies
are in trouble.
For every one you
see today, 20 years
ago there were four
additional monarchs
fluttering around.
Biologists believe
habitat loss, pesticide
use, and climate
change are causing the
iconic insects to die off.
You can help save the
monarch by planting
a patch of milkweeds.
Here’s how.
18 i xplorWatch for Monarchs
Monarchs return to Missouri
by May and begin laying eggs.
Watch for females fluttering
above your milkweed patch, and
check each plant closely for tiny
eggs and caterpillars.
Find Some Milkweed Sow the Seeds
Baby monarchs — aka caterpillars — are Fill some flower pots with potting
picky eaters. Milkweed is the only thing soil. Plastic food containers (like
they’ll munch. Luckily, Missouri has more yogurt cups) work well if you
than a dozen kinds of milkweed. Look for it poke drain holes in the bottom.
along roadsides and fencerows, in pastures Place a few seeds on top of the
and prairies, and at the edges of fields, soil (about one seed per inch).
woods, and wet areas. For identification Sprinkle a little soil over the
help, search for “milkweed” at mdc.mo.gov. seeds and press down firmly.
Pick Some Pods Chill Out
In the fall, milkweeds produce pods filled with Set the pots outside
dozens of fluffy seeds. You can tell seeds are in an exposed, sunny
ready when the pod turns grayish-tan, splits location. Cold weather
open with a gentle squeeze, and the seeds are won’t kill the seeds. In
chocolate-brown. When you find a ripe pod, fact, ice, snow, and rain
scoop out the seeds and silk, and place them in will help “wake” them
a paper bag. Harvest only a few pods from each up so they’ll sprout in
location. Leave most for nature! the spring.
Lose the Fluff Plant the Sprouts
To separate the seeds from the When the sprouts have grown
fluffy silk, drop a few pennies in the at least three pairs of leaves,
paper bag, fold down the top, and you can gently transplant them
shake it. Then, snip a small hole in to a sunny, weed-free location
the bottom of the bag so you can in your yard. Milkweed is a
pour out the seeds and keep the perennial, which means it will
silks trapped inside. grow back every spring.
September/October 2021 i 19x p l o r m o r Xplor More
x p l o r m o r
Silver eels
Slippery Sea Challenge
Slippery Sea Challenge
Imagine traveling to a place you haven’t What a shock!
You head In September,
seen since you were no bigger than a Near Cairo, the A hungry heron A scientist put a
downstream you get a sudden
willow leaf. To get there, you must swim Ohio River flows tries to catch you. tracking device
toward the craving for the
in, doubling the Lose a turn. inside your belly
thousands of miles. Along the way, you’ll Gulf of Mexico. taste of saltwater.
and then let you go.
face predators, pollution, diversions, Mississippi’s width.
Roll again.
and dangerous weather. Sound scary? It
is. In this game, you’ll help an American
eel achieve her final mission: return to You’re in the
the Sargasso Sea to start Lower Mississippi You slide into a
the next generation. River now, and A paddleboat churns What’s all this trash At night, you
side channel. Lose
you’re doing overhead. You must in the water? accidentally swim
a turn while you
swimmingly. be swimming past People should be into an old bottle.
swim back to the
Memphis, Tennessee. more careful! Lose a turn.
Missouri main channel.
Sargasso
Sea
How To Play
Gather three pennies and an assortment of small objects to
use as game pieces. Place a game piece for each player on
Gulf of the square marked “start.” Take turns tossing the pennies,
Mexico counting how many land heads-up, and moving the game
American eels migrate into rivers throughout pieces forward that many spaces. Don’t forget to read
the eastern United States and Canada. what’s printed on the squares. The first player to finish wins.
WhAT ? IS The dogbane leaf beetle sure is pretty, but its
ever-changing rainbow of colors is a warning:
What
Is It?
IT Don’t get too close. It can shoot streams of
stinky goo into the faces of would-be bug-
— FROM PAGE 3 — munchers, giving it time to drop safely to the
ground. Where does the beetle get its chemical superpower? From the plant
it’s named after. Dogbane sap is toxic to most critters, but the beetle eats it
without harm. Learn more at mdc.mo.gov/field-guide.
20 i xplorre Start
Your journey begins
in the Mississippi Eggs
Finish
You win! The
prize? The next
generation of
But you’re not
done yet. Swim a
victory lap and take
another turn.
With countless
other American
eels, you gather for
Congratulations!
You’ve completed
one of the greatest
unseen migrations
on Earth!
You’re
drifting off
course, but the
River near Cape Canary Current
mighty migrating a fin-al spin around pushes you in the
Eel Girardeau. American eels. the sargassum.
larvae right direction.
Billions of tiny, Look out! A white
For the last 20 years, willow-leaf-shaped You release your shark lunges for
You hide in Now, you’re about you’ve prowled the
3 feet long, and larvae drift toward eggs — about 10 you, but you hide Yellow
underwater root river’s murky
you weigh around the Gulf of million of them. inside a mass of eel
wads during the main channel.
4 pounds. Mexico. sargassum.
day, and at night
you hunt for crayfish.
The murky Atlantic
You’ve recently gives way to clear,
changed color, You crawl out of Wheeee! A strong blue water.
turning from You the ditch and back river current sweeps Oh, no! An Roll again.
yellow to silver. swim into an to the river. Move you ahead. angler caught
What’s irrigation ditch, ahead one space. Roll again. you in a net.
happening? and the gate closes Lose a turn.
Oh, no! An oil slick
behind you. Lose
from a passing
a turn.
Being able to ship! Lose a turn
This angler is a swimming to
crawl across damp Stormwater washes
friend of migrating cleaner water.
ground toward water pollution into the
A big rainstorm eels, so he puts
is one of your You pass a tugboat river and makes
washes crayfish into you back.
superpowers. and feel a funny ping you sick. Skip a
the river, but you're Roll again.
in your belly. turn to recover.
not hungry now. Swim Near Bermuda, you start
ahead one space. to see more American
eels swimming
The Big Rivers your way.
Science Unit gets The first
Glass eels
a signal that patch of yellow
you’ve traveled sargassum, a free-floating
688 miles. seaweed, drifts
overhead.
But your journey The North Atlantic
You swim by a is far from over. Current carries Look out! Extreme
Hurricane long stretch of Elver you toward your For the
Roll again. weather is making
Rostrata washes rough rocks near destination. next few
the Gulf Stream
you into Lake New Orleans. hundred miles,
wobble. It pushes
Pontchartrain. the weather is
you back a square.
Lose a turn. fine. Roll again.
Eel illustrations: Shannon Beaumont
A big
catfish tries Near Key West, you
to eat you, but you The water is In the Rigolets wave your fin at
starting to taste You’ve made it from But you’ve got
slip into a tangle of Strait, you high-fin At last! You’re back some tiny little
salty, and you see Cape Girardeau all 2,000 miles to go.
cypress tree roots. some young brown in Gulf Stream eels that are
familiar fish like the way to the Roll again.
Roll again. eels heading waters. clear as glass.
striped mullet. Gulf of Mexico!
upstream.
September/October 2021 i 21Subscribe online
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Free to Missouri households
CRIT TER CORNER Three-Toed Box Turtle
Did you ever see such a cute little turtle?! Baby three-toed box turtles hatch in late summer and early fall.
They eat mostly earthworms and insects until they become adults. Then they start eating plants, berries, and
mushrooms. As the days get shorter and the nights turn cooler, this little guy (or gal) will start looking for a place
to spend the winter — like under a nice heap of leaves in your yard. Learn more at mdc.mo.gov/field-guide.You can also read
