Cicadas buzz in the still, stagnant air, and it’s been weeks since drops of moisture blessed your parched backyard.
Drought can be stressful too for wildlife because all animals, including people, contain at least 70 percent water. Animals must maintain this water balance to survive.
Some mammals such as bats, mice and raccoons are nocturnal. Avoiding the heat of day by being active only at night. In the evening, the relative humidity is higher and temperatures are lower.
Reptiles–like skinks and fence lizards–have thick, scaly skin that reduces water loss.
Roundworms and other invertebrates can encase themselves in protective cysts to slow water loss during the oppressive drought. When moisture returns to the land, roundworms lose the cysts and replenish their body water.
Frogs adapt to severe drought by burying themselves in soil and remaining dormant or inactive until the drought ends. This “summer hibernation” is called aestivation.
Summer dog days challenge people and wildlife, but meet their match in both. You and your pets are able to escape to the comfort of air conditioning; wildlife have natural ways of coping with heat and drought.
The Skink Link
- Often called the “blue-tailed” skink, the five-lined skink is Missouri’s most common skink.
- These skinks live in open woods, near wooded bluffs, and on rocky, south-facing hillsides. They require shelters such as rocks, downed logs, stumps, and standing dead trees.
- They occasionally climb trees, especially when searching for insects. They can also live around farm buildings, rock gardens, and patios.
- As with other skinks, the tail breaks off easily, allowing them to escape predators. A new tail grows back later.
The eastern collared lizard lives on dry, rocky glades where it can find easy shelter.
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