July 2014
Valley Wilds
Volume 23 | Issue 7
A publication of the LARPD Open Space Unit
Real-life Superheroes
By Ranger Danny Haberman
With San Diego’s Comic-Con happening at the end of
July, I decided to take a deeper look at some of our
favorite superheroes, specifically our animal focused
ones, and the super powers they have gained.
The way some of these heroes
and villains earn these abilities
can be quite extraordinary. Some
gain these abilities through
birth and genetic mutation like
our beloved X-men, or perhaps
too much gamma radiation as
in Bruce Banner becoming the
Incredible Hulk. Others fall from
space like Superman or Martian
Man Hunter. Then there is
always your good old fashioned
superhero serum providing
Captain America his incredible
powers, or in the case of the
hated Lex Luther who uses his
mind and wealth to try and stop
some of these heroes. And then
IN THIS
Issue
• Superheroes
• This Month’s Ranger-led
Programs and Activities
• Marsh Hare for Dinner
Livermore Area Recreation
and Park District
4444 East Ave. Livermore, CA 94550
www.larpd.dst.ca.us
Ranger Office: 925.960.2400
there is Spider-man, the focus of
this article.
Most people know the story of
mild mannered Peter Parker, a
young high school student who
was bit by a radioactive spider,
gaining special abilities allowing
him to stop some of New York’s
worst villains (i.e. Dr. Octopus, and
the Green Goblin). Spiderman
is one of the more interesting
heroes because his powers have
a lot in common with those of
actual arachnids!
One of the powers Spidey gained
from this bite was the ability
to climb on walls. The way this
is achievable, not only by our
hero but also by most spiders,
is by clinging to walls and other
surfaces with thousands of tiny
little hairs on the ends of their
appendages. The tiny hairs are
called setules and can bond with
almost any surface using van der
Waals forces. This bond can be so
strong that it could allow a spider
to support 170 times its own
weight! These hairs our arachnids
use (both the eight legged and
two legged) provide much more
for our heroes than just allowing
them to climb into dark corners or
© Marvel Comics
up skyscrapers. Theses hairs are so
in tune with the spider’s anatomy
that they actually do act as a
“spider sense”! The hairs can pick
up a subtle shift in the air due to
sound waves or sense if there is a
new vibration on the ground or in
the web. This ability allows SpiderMan to sense if danger is near. For
spiders in our universe it not only
helps sense danger but also prey.
This is extremely important as
spiders are primarily hunters.
While the spider sense and the
wall climbing are found in almost
any spider you’ll find crawling
around your home or in between
your comic book pages, one
huge difference is in their webs
and how they are used. Spinning
webs is one of the things that
makes spiders notable in the
animal kingdom. Spiders use
their webs to trap their prey. They
will set one up in your doorway
and when prey lands in the web,
the web will vibrate. That “spidey
sense” tingles when the hairs
pick up vibrations and the spider
will move toward the prey and
(Continued on Page 4)
Ranger-led
Programs
Experience nature and history in a special way. Programs are
generally 1 - 2 hours in length. A $3 donation is requested. A $5
parking fee is charged at both park entrances.
July
Programs
Quick Look:
Ice Cream in the Park
Sunday, July 6
7:00 pm
Cool Loop Hike
Saturday, July 12
8:00 am
Turtles
Sunday, July 13
2:00 pm
Dry Creek Walk
Sunday, July 20 2:00 pm
Evening Hike in the Hills
Saturday, July 26
6:30 pm
Homemade Ice Cream in the Park
Sunday, July 6
7:00 pm
We had to cancel last month due to extreme temperatures so this month we’re hoping for a nice,
warm but not too hot evening! Bring out the family to help make ice cream using an old-fashioned
hand-cranked ice cream maker. The kids will work hard to make us a delicious treat and the adults will
relax and enjoy a beautiful evening in the park. Please plan on donating $3 per person to help cover
the cost of supplies.
Rangers Doug and Claire Sycamore Grove Park, Wetmore Road Entrance (1051 Wetmore Road)
Cool Loop Hike
Saturday, July 12
8:00 am
It’s hot and dry out there these days, so let’s get an early start and enjoy the park while it’s still
invitingly cool. We will start from the Arroyo Road entrance and loop around through the Nature Area
to get back just as the real heat is beginning. Along the way we can observe the park and its residents
and talk about how they adapt to cope with this record dry year. This will be about 3 miles on level
ground. Bring water and a camera if you like.
Ranger Darren Segur
Sycamore Grove Park, Arroyo Road Entrance (5049 Arroyo Road)
Turtles
Sunday, July 13
2:00 pm
They come in different shapes and sizes. They live in different environments, from
the ocean to the desert and everywhere in between. Some are small and some are
the size of a small car. Join us today to learn about that charming group of reptiles
– the turtles. There will be live specimens for us to look at.
Ranger Dawn Soles Sycamore Grove Park, Arroyo Road Entrance (5049 Arroyo Road)
Dry Creek Walk
Sunday, July 20
2:00 pm
Let’s walk the dry creek bed and see what we can find. We’ll talk about drought and how it
affects our local flora and fauna. Your feet will probably stay dry but wear sturdy shoes and
clothes that can get dirty and be prepared for some bush-whackin’.
Ranger Amy Wolitzer
Sycamore Grove Park, Wetmore Road Entrance (1051 Wetmore Road)
More Programs on Page 4
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Mammals in the Creek
Marsh Hare for Dinner
So, you’ve never had marsh hare stew? How about
marsh hare kabobs? Well, to be completely honest,
neither have I. Most of us probably don’t think of a
muskrat as a menu item. However, some folks do
eat this aquatic rodent. In these cases they tend to
refer to it by its other common name, marsh hare. A
bit more palatable, eh? The name “muskrat” comes
from the conspicuous scent glands near the anus
(musk) and the animal’s resemblance to its cousin
(rat).
The muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) is fairly common
along the various arroyos around Livermore.
Originally found along the Colorado River and
Modoc Plateau (along the eastern slope of the
Sierra Nevada in California), this largest of the
state’s voles can now be seen throughout much of
northern/central California.
Their distribution spread when people brought
them into other areas of the state to harvest their
fur. In fact, some entrepreneurial types began
farming muskrats just for their fur. However, they
eventually realized the return on their investment,
or rather the lack of it, made muskrat farming
financially impractical. So, they released their furry
farmed rodents in the Central Valley and let them
fend for themselves.
The newly-freed muskrats found the desirable
aquatic habitat along the many irrigation ditches
and canals that run through the valley. From there
they moved into other regions, such as our own,
finding the Livermore arroyos just as welcoming.
To identify a muskrat, look for a dark brown, flatheaded animal swimming in the stream. It will
Muskrat Nest
Photo by Mongo (WIkipedia)
By Ranger Patti Cole
Muskrat
Photo by D. Gordon E. Robertson (WIkipedia)
gently swish its body and long, scaly tail back and
forth, creating a quiet V-shaped wake in its path.
Muskrats are much smaller than beavers, being
closer in size to a cottontail rabbit: 16-25 inches
long, 1.5-4 pounds, with small ears and small eyes.
They are most active around dusk and dawn,
as they search for food. Their menu includes
mostly plant material, especially their favorite
cattail entrée. They will, however, also eat snails,
freshwater clams, crayfish, fish and frogs.
Being an aquatic mammal it is not surprising that
they are great swimmers, spending the majority
of their lives in or around water. Only occasionally
are they found traveling long distances from water
over land. They are so well adapted for the aquatic
life that, under extreme situations, like predators
threatening them, they can remain submerged for
more than 15 minutes. Typically, however, they will
surface after a couple of minutes.
Signs you may notice around area arroyos which
indicate muskrat activity include scat (elongated,
measuring about 5/8”), tracks (usually registering
4 toes on all feet, although they actually have 5)
which include the dragging furless tail, scent posts
(platforms of cut vegetation sometimes mixed with
mud along the water’s edge), and burrows along
the banks (homes that may be quite complex with
several passageways and rooms).
If you’re not able to find tracks or other signs along
your neighborhood arroyo, keep your eyes open
for something that looks like a small log floating
in the water. Then watch to see if it fits the above
description – you may have a marsh hare neighbor.
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Superheroes (continued)
begin its meal. Spiders create these webs by
having movable spinnerets which have many
spigots attached to a silk gland. However our
Webslinger uses his webs a bit differently. Like his
natural cousins, he will use his webs to catch his
prey: evil doers. But he also uses them as a form
of transportation, swinging from skyscraper to
skyscraper, patrolling the city from above. While
spiders can lower themselves by a strand of silk
they generally do not swing from building to
building or even tree to tree. Also, unlike what the
films of the early 2000’s have taught some of us,
Peter Parker cannot just create these webs from
spinnerets in his forearm. True comic fans know
that being the boy genius he is Peter created a
web blaster that uses a special silk-like strand.
An important thing to recognize is, although some
may find some of our spiders scary, they do take
after their kin between the comic book pages by
defeating some of the evil-doers (pesty insects)
you don’t want around your home. So next time
you see a spider crawling up your wall, instead of
squashing it, you may want to place it gently on
your porch so it can keep those evil-doers out of
your home.
Ranger Danny has been obsessed with superheroes
as long as he can remember. He loves to see nature’s
superheroes in action.
Photo by Mary Holland
Check out Mary’s fantastic blog here.
More July Programs
Evening Hike in the Hills
Saturday, July 26
6:30 pm
As the day begins to cool we’ll explore a blue oak
canyon, then continue up and over the hills of
Holdener Park. We’ll be looking and listening for
whatever critters are around and just enjoying
being out in nature. This will be a moderately
strenuous hike. It is recommended that you
bring drinking water, binoculars (if you’ve got
them) and wear sturdy shoes with good tread.
Park in the parking lot near the water tanks at
the east end of Hansen Road.
Ranger Patti Cole
Holdener Park
East End of Hansen Road
Trivia Tidbit
Which of the following is true about rattlesnakes?
A) A bite from a young rattlesnake is more
dangerous than one from an adult.
B) Rattlesnakes lay eggs.
C) They can hunt using infrared radiation.
D) You can tell how old they are by how many
“buttons” are on the rattle.
Answer: C) Rattlesnakes have “pit organs” between
their eyes and nostrils that can detect the heat
of their prey (thermal or infrared radiation). This
allows them to track down prey in low light.
Why the other answers are false:
• I t is an extremely pervasive myth that baby
rattlers are more dangerous than adults. A
good discussion of it can be found here.
• Rattlesnakes are ovoviviparous and give birth
to live young. They do not lay eggs.
• Rattlesnakes get a new “button” on their
rattle each time they shed, which happens
much more often than
once a year. Older
buttons often break off
so you can’t count them
to know how many
times it has shed either.
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