Wuerch's Wildlife

Spider Or Scorpion?

Windscorpion
Eremobates sps

Windscorpions are large, bizarre looking arachnids that are related to spiders and scorpions. They don't have stingers or fangs, but have huge jaws for biting and holding prey. They use the front set of their 4 pairs of legs as feelers while they scurry about swiftly in the darkness after sunset. They run "like the wind" which is where their name comes from. Almost anything their size (up to 2 inches long) or smaller is prey for these aggressive eating machines known to overpower and eat other bugs and even lizards. Found in the western portion of the United States.

America's Biggest Reptile

American Alligator
Alligator mississippiensis

Growing to over 16 feet, the American Alligator is by far the largest reptile in the United States. They live in the warm waters of the rivers, lakes and swamps of the South. The hatchlings have a crossbar pattern of yellow and black that darkens to a uniform dark gray or black as they age. Using their large, flattened tails they gracefully swim in a prehistoric manner. They eat a wide variety of animals including fish, amphibians, turtles and mammals...almost anything that moves.

He's So Nosey

Big Bend Patchnose Snake
Salvadora deserticola

The special scale on the nose of these nonvenomous snakes help them to root out the buried lizards and reptile eggs they eat. Their striped pattern helps keep them hidden from predators as move about during the day on the ground near shrubs and grasses. This species of Patchnose is found in the lower elevations of the Chihuahuan Desert in the far western portion of Texas and southern New Mexico.

Use 'Em or Lose 'Em

Texas Blind Salamander
Typhlomolge rathbuni

Looking like some kind of alien from another galaxy with it pale pink to white skin and spindly limbs, the delicate Texas Blind Salamander spends its entire life in the darkness of the cave waters located at San Marcos, Texas. Skin covers the useless eyes of these ghost-like amphibians. Prowling underwater on the cave floor, they rely on other senses like detecting vibration and smell to locate the snails and small arthropods they eat.