NATURE A Walk Through the Urban Jungle

YOU MAY THINK THOSE MONTHLY VISITS BY the exterminator and your scrupulous lawn care will keep poisonous pests and icky creatures out of your life, but think again: Some of the critters that call your home their home have been around since the dawn of time, and they’re not going away any time soon. They may be under your porch right now, just waiting for you to step outside barefoot one of these hot summer nights.

COYOTES (Cants latum): When was the last time anyone heard a coyote baying at the moon in Dallas? Probably last night. Coyotes are making a comeback in the city by adapting to urban ways; they’re learning to scavenge human stuff the way raccoons do. One estimate puts the population in the hundreds inside the city limits. Some 200 live north of Northwest Highway west of the Tollway, while nearly as many dwell in creek beds near the Trinity River, where they can be heard echoing the wail of late-night ambulance sirens. Danger? Minimal, unless you happen to be a very young kitten or very old cow.

BOBCATS (Lynx rufus): In early April, a run-in with a bobcat near the Trinity River in east Oak Cliff ( two goats, a sheep, and some pigs were killed ) had animal control officials setting traps in the belief that several more ’cats live in that area. Although they are beautiful, bobcats can pose a danger, especially in populated areas where their food supply may be limited to pets and livestock.



HORNED TOADS (Phrynosoma coronatum): Once so plentiful they were sold from Texas by mail order by the hundreds of thousands, the horned toad (or more correctly, horned lizard) is now a protected species; commercial trade was outlawed in 1965. They’ve been all but wiped out of our area because we did such a good job of killing the red harvester ants that were the toads’ dietary mainstay. In any case, we’ll miss their spiky little heads, not to mention their penchant for spraying blood up to three feet out of their bulbous eyes.



SCORPIONS (Arachnida scorpiones): These long-tailed, lobster-clawed relatives of the spider are the best reason for having those phony gas-log fireplaces-scorpions like to live under stacks of natural firewood. The sole species living here-the striped bark scorpion-only stings people who grab at them (are you crazy?) or step on them. The good news: If you get the scorpion really excited, it may just sting itself to death as it’s trying to sting you. More good news: The pain goes away in about 10 minutes and you won’t die. The bad news: They’re found under garden rocks and leaf piles all over the city.



FERAL HOGS (Sus scrofa): These cantankerous critters used to be regular old pigs in a poke until they lied their pens and began living on their own; they’re kind of like teenagers, with messy habits and bad temperaments. Their population is exploding along 1-45 in the Wilmer-Hutchins area. Long, sharp tusks and a penchant for knocking humans down make these hairy pork chops on the hoof bad for your health, and not just because of cholesterol.



ARMADILLOS (Dasypus novemcinctus): There are plenty of these armor-plated “possums on a half-shell” in the city; you usually don’t see them because they’re shy, they only come out at night, and they can bury themselves faster than you can chase them. Contrary to myth, the nearly blind ’dillos do not magnetically attract speeding rubber tires; automobiles scare them and in fright, they jump straight up into the moving chassis.

RATTLESNAKES (Crotalus atrox): We get a break on this one. While Western diamond backs were plentiful in Dallas County at one time, the closest these pit vipers get these days is Cedar Hill near Joe Pool Lake (which still is a little too close for some of us). Parkland did treat a raider bite last summer, but the patient was flown in from Lake Texoma; other than that one, it’s been a long time. Your best bet for finding rattlers is to venture onto rock outcroppings with an eastern exposure (they like the morning sun, and who doesn’t?) and listen for that chilling sound of vibrating bony tait rings. The good news: Herpetologists think they’re deaf. The bad news: They can sense your body heat through pits under their eyes.

TARANTULAS (Lycvsa tarentula): Great, We live in a city chock full of nocturnal hairy spiders as big as your outstretched hand. With fangs. And poison. Before you go poking into those mysterious holes in your garden, you might want to know tarantulas are a) carnivorous and b) can lay up to 1,000 eggs at a time. The good news: They’re big enough to eat small rodents, they can’t jump as high as your chest, and they don’t bite unless you make them mad. The newsTlrniarcn^aiow just what makes them mad.

FIRE ANTS (Solenopsis invicta): Invicta is from the Latin for “invincible,” No kidding. These tiny, tenacious terrors migrated here in the 1930s from Paraguay and Brazil–through the shipping port at Mobile, Ala.-and made it to Dallas in the 1970s. They swarm fast and bite en masse, so instead of just one welt-raising bite, you’ll likely get dozens at the same time. Why are they called fire ants? Because their bite stings like fire, that’s why. There’s debate as to whether fire ants helped chase out the horned toads, but for sure they create havoc with electrical wires and nesting heron and quail.



JACKALOPES AND DILLOBULLS (Touristum ersatza): These chimeras are the result of bizarre crossbreeding {respectively, jack rabbits crossed with antelopes, armadillos crossed with longhorns), and should be considered the most dangerous creatures in North Texas, If you see one, the tequila you’re drinking is bad. Throw it out.