Nature Notes
Why do rattlesnakes rattle and hummingbirds hum?
How do flowers market themselves to pollinators?
Why do tarantulas cross the road?
Nature Notes investigates questions like these about the natural world of the Chihuahuan Desert region and the Llano Estacado every week. Through interviews with scientists and field recordings, this Marfa Public Radio original series reveals the secrets of desert life.
Join host Dallas Baxter on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:45 am during Morning Edition and 4:45 pm during All Things Considered. New episodes premier on Thursdays and replay on Tuesdays. Episodes are written and produced by Andrew Stuart and edited by Marfa Public Radio and the Sibley Nature Center in Midland, Texas.
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Researchers have studied the iconic ocotillo plant extensively. Yet they didn’t know the answer to a basic question: how long do ocotillos live? Biologist Peter Scott sought the answer in Big Bend National Park. -
Arizona cypress can grow 80 feet high, with blue-green to gray-green foliage. These Southwestern conifers are “obligate seeders” – they require fire to reproduce – and changing fire patterns have put them at risk. -
Carpenter bees are known to “rob” nectar – to take the sweet stuff without moving any pollen. But in Big Bend at least, carpenter bees and ocotillos have a mutualistic relationship, one that benefits both lifeforms. -
Ecologist James Cornett is using “repeat photography” to reveal environmental changes across the Southwest. -
Exposed in rugged outcrops in Big Bend National Park, rocks known as the Black Peaks and Hannold Hill formations preserve the fossils of ancient primates and their primate-like predecessors. -
Ocotillos are iconic Southwestern plants. With spiny, twisting limbs that can rise 20 feet, and vivid red flowers that bloom in even the driest spring, they distill the desert’s thorny allure. -
Maize, aka corn, was first domesticated in southern Mexico some 9,000 years ago. Much of today’s corn descends from varieties grown by Native farmers in the eastern U.S. -
Moths that linger at artificial lights are easy prey for bats and birds, and they aren’t doing “moth stuff,” like pollinating night-blooming plants. But the impacts of artificial light extend far beyond this familiar example, and in fact pose a profound threat to insect populations worldwide. -
The Pecos County dinosaur prints are the most prominent in our region. But there are more than 50 such sites in Texas, from the Hill Country north to Fort Worth, and Dinosaur Valley State Park. -
They’re irresistible to children, but their flashes can enchant an observer of any age. Fireflies seem like magic. They’re mostly associated with sultry summer nights in the eastern U.S. But they are found in the arid West, including in our region.
