Author: Gracie Latrelle

One of the most amazing and shocking things that you may not know about raccoons is that they wash their hands and their food before eating it and this is why!

Raccoons have a tendency when water is available to dunk and dip their food into the water and roll it around in their hands as if they were washing it before they eat.

Raccoons do this type of behavior because unlike humans, raccoons do not depend on their eyesight to help discover and uncover new things. Instead raccoons depend on using touch to help find out certain information about a specific subject.

When a raccoon touches an object, it is able to uncover close to two-thirds of that object’s sensory information. As a result raccoons are able to manipulate, hold and interpret objects the same as humans.

Raccoons have 4 to 5 times more mechanoreceptors than most mammals and are able to use the nerve endings in their paws to help find information about a certian object.

Not only is the behavior unique within itself, it also helps the environment too!

Raccoons help to spread seeds and fertilize plants when they wash their food around a certain area. Some scientists believe that raccoons were an important part in helping plants and their seeds disperse throughout the entire United States.

I hope that you all enjoyed this unique and fun little fact about Raccoons! These masked little bandits are always into something but I think they have also won alot of hearts too!

I photographed this little darling in the mountains of North Georgia.

Black Snakeroot also known as “Black Cohosh” is an Appalachian native wildflower that grows here in the mountains from the state of Georgia all the way to Ontario Canada. It can even be found as far west as Missouri to Arkansas.

This plant is also classified as endangered in the state of Maine and in Illinois.

Native Americans used this flower’s root as a medicinal cure for rheumatism, sore throats, malaria and for complications of childbirth.

The flower’s medicinal values eventually reached the Europeans and became a medicine for menopause symptoms such as hot flashes for over 40 years.

In the recent years, the recent clinical studies have proved the cohosh to be safe to take and with this the U.S. Drug and Food Administration has placed a need for the black cohosh.

However, never take something without talking to your doctor first as those who have breast cancer or are pregnant might have severe side effects. Some people may even experience liver damage so it’s always best to consult your doctor first!

In a one-year period ending in 1998, retail sales increased more than 500%. In 2001 when retails sales in other segments of herbal products were declined, Black Cohosh “Black Snakeroot” increased about 2% to an estimated value of $6.2 million.

Most of all Black Cohosh is harvested from the wild so it is very important that this plant stay in a secure and stable population.

The species is listed as “at risk” by conservation groups in the United States but is considered “apparently secure” by ecological ranking on the global and national scales.

The Red Wolf once roamed these Appalachian Blue Ridge Hills and the Southeastern United States in abundant numbers. Now there are only 15 to 17 wild Red Wolves in the Eastern United States and only 241 Red Wolves in captivity. Their numbers are truly at an unstable and scary number, but each litter of pups produced is helping this species come back from its critically endangered population.

Red Wolves once roamed almost the entire Eastern side of the United States including as far North as Pennsylvania and as far South as the Mexico and Texas border. The Red Wolf is known as “America’s Wolf” because it’s the only species that lived entirely within the boundaries of the United States without extending into Canada and Mexico.

In November 1991, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park released the first Red Wolf family into the park. In 1992 two more families were released in Cades Cove and Tremont. Around 40 Red Wolf pups were born inside The Great Smoky Mountains National Park but sadly parvo became a big issue with the pups surviving to adulthood.

Struggling with disease and starvation due to the Coyotes competing with the Wolves for food, the park decided that it would be best to end the Red Wolf experiment in The Great Smoky Mountains and to go ahead and recapture the radio collared Wolves. All but one known Red Wolf was recaptured so there’s always going to be that hope that maybe one more unknown Red Wolf remained in the park and the population still might have hopes of returning.

This all being said keep your eyes peeled in the Appalachians because you never know what you’re going to see!

Have you ever wondered if there is a way to find out when the frost is over for the year? There is and I am fixing to explain how but first let’s dig into what frost is!

Frost is water vapor or water in a gas form that becomes solid. Frost forms when an outside surface cools down past the dew point. The dew point is the point where the air gets so cold that the water vapor in the atmosphere turns into liquid. The liquid then freezes and if it gets cold enough will produce little pieces of ice. Which then creates frost.

Frost normally occurs during the night on plants especially flowering plants! Areas with a lot of fog often have heavier frosts making the mountains a prime spot for frost!

Frost can occur when the temperature falls below 36 degrees Fahrenheit. It is common throughout the rural areas like the Appalachian Mountains as our temperatures most of the year are fluctuating.

Oldtimers here in the Appalachian Mountains say that the frost is over for the year if the mountain foliage is green to the top. From personal experience, this is true and when the mountain reaches green to the top the frost is over. Our mountains here in North Georgia are getting closer but they just haven’t got there yet as the Dogwood trees are just now beginning to bloom on top of the mountain, but it certainly will not be too long before frost is officially over!

Did you know that Georgia is home to an extremely rare firefly species!

Blue Ghost Fireflies can only be found in three places Asheville, North Carolina, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and in the Cohutta Mountains of North Georgia.

These fireflies only emerge about two to four weeks each year in late May to early June.

Unlike other fireflies who only flash for about a second, Blue Ghost Fireflies can be seen glowing and hovering in the sky for about a minute each time.

So why are they called Blue Ghost Fireflies? Legend has it that the fireflies are the ghosts of Confederate soldiers as a lot of soldiers lost their lives in the areas where you see these fireflies. If you look closely enough to the fireflies it looks like they have lanterns and are carrying them as they are floating through the sky.

The males are the only ones who can fly and are the ones that you see floating through the air and glowing their blueish-white light. The females do not fly as they never change from their wingless larval stage even after reaching adulthood. Instead, the females crawl up on leaves and other foliage and sit and glow to help the males find them.

If you get a chance in the coming days and weeks to see these beautiful creatures before they end their beautiful show for the year, I would highly recommend it to anyone!

My favorite place to view them is the Cohutta Overlook in the Fort Mountain State Park parking lot. They appear right at dusk and stay around for a while.

A lot of us were told as kids when we caught these fun amphibians with our hands that we would get warts so is that truly the case or just a myth? Let’s find out!

According to the University of Georgia there is no scientific evidence of any toad causing warts.

Toads have warty skin and some of the bumps on their skin produce poisonous substances and many frogs have glands on their skin that produce toxins.

Warts are actually caused by viruses and not the secretions of which the frog produces from its “warts”. However, some secretions from the frogs and toads bodies can irritate your skin and even give you a rash!

There are over fifty different types of warts and according to Ripley’s Believe It or Not none of them are caused by frogs nor toads. They instead are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) which can cause multiplication of the cells outside your skin which then causes a bump or “wart” to appear.

Warts are not dangerous though and treating them isn’t usually a problem.

It’s always still a good idea to sanitize your hands after handling these creatures according to the University of Georgia because even though they cannot give you warts they still can secrete toxins. The Common Gray Tree Frog produces a toxin from their skin and it causes extreme discomfort if it gets into the eyes and nose!

So, I am just curious after all this research do you guys believe it’s a fact or a myth?