northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's a Pickerel Frog that I met at Negri-Nepote Native Grassland Preserve. Unfortunately I couldn't get an unobstructed view of the little fella. They're fairly similar to our Atlantic Coast Leopard Frog (and other leopard frogs), but the Pickerel Frogs tend to have squarish spots that line up compared to the rounder spots in a more scattered pattern for the leopards. It sounds like they tend to spend the summers near but not in water, which is why their front feet aren't webbed - their non-webbed front feet are more helpful traversing around on land. May 2, 2021 at Negri-Nepote Native Grassland Preserve

Yesterday you heard about the "tigers" of New Jersey; today I'll talk about its "leopards". Here's a Leopard Slug , a clearly spotted and relatively large slug. Apparently they can get up to 8" in length. Slugs and snails are both types of mollusk , and so are distantly related to animals like clams or octopuses. They eat lots of stuff, plants/fungi/invertebrates both alive and dead, and is sometimes considered an agricultural pest. August 26, 2017 at Duke Farms Here's a Wood Leopard Moth , a primarily European moth considered invasive here in the US. I'm sure those spots inspired them acquiring "leopard" as part of their name. Like many successful invaders, they (as caterpillars) aren't picky eaters, willing to eat a variety of tree and bush vegetation. June 18, 2018 at Murray Hill Although I don't have a picture of one, we also have Giant Leopard Moths in New Jersey. That moth isn't very closely related to the Wood Leopa...