Wildlife doesn’t always follow the rules, and despite their name, Red Squirrels are sometimes black. PEI has a higher-than-average number of black-furred Red Squirrels (such as this one photographed by Dave Campbell), so let’s take a look at this phenomenon! In mammals, skin and hair colour are determined by how much and what type of melanin is produced. Genetics controls melanin production, and most individuals within a species have similar colours: for example, Skunks are

We’ve looked at needle-leaved and broadleaved trees this winter but standing and fallen dead trees make enormous contributions to PEI’s forests, too! Trees die naturally from a variety of causes: old age, disease, insects, fire, weather damage, or environmental stress, among others. The death of a tree is part of the life of a forest and is necessary for the survival of everything from plants, lichens, and fungi to insects, birds, and mammals. Insects such as Bark Beet

Over the past few weeks, we’ve explored how and why PEI lost its large, native mammals during the 18th and 19th centuries. But in the...

Spring is a time of renewal, including for PEI’s wildlife. Early breeders such as Coyotes, Foxes, and Ravens have their young now, and...

Once you have the basics of PEI wildlife track identification, it can be useful to think about gait. How an animal moves tells you a lot...

In recent editions of Permian to Present, we’ve seen how and why PEI lost its large, native mammals. But in the 1900s, people thought...

PEI salt marshes are so environmentally and culturally important that I’ve divided my info into three posts. Today we have an...