Animals, Plants and Endangered Species

Hoosier National Forest is the home of 50 mammal species, 142 bird species, 36 reptile species, 28 amphibian species, 125 different types of fish and more animals are being discovered every year. The most common animals to see are the white-tailed deer, fox, woodchucks, opossum, rabbits, turkey, waterfowl and many birds. This is also the home for bald eagles, grey bats, Indiana brown bats, rough pigtoes and fan shell mussels which are all endangered species. Most of the trees in this forest are wallnut, oak, pine, ash and maple. Some are very ancient over 200-400 years old. Some of these trees are in danger due to the speard of Ash Borer disease. Ash borer is a beetle that bore holes in trees and hollows them out.

More History of Hoosier National Forest

There is a lot more history in this forest such as, the Rickenbaugh House/post office, it was built in 1874 from sandstone, wallnut and oak. It was in a 'T' shape design. The Rickenbaugh Post Office was open form 1880-1951. The forest service bought the land in 1968 and have already restored the old house for touring. Besides these historical structures the forest consist of several caves and sinkholes to lost underground rivers that can be explored. In some places limestone is a 170 feet in depth, but the land is not just limestone it is plentiful in sandstone and shale as well.

History-Lick Creek Settlement

Lick Creek Settlement is place in Orange County, Indiana where the first African Americans settled. Jonathan Lindley led 11 African American families in 1820 that was fleeing North Carolina do to slavery, they stopped in southern Indiana where they could live free. Benjamin Rorberts, Elias Roberts, and Peter Lindley were the very first people to buy land in the area in 1832. The small community donated funds to build a church(Africian Episcopal Church). It was open during 1843-1869.

HistoryCharles C. Deam Wilderness

The Deam Wilderness was first to be settled by an Native American family in 1826. The Todd Family bought this property for $1 from the government. The land was sold very cheaply because it was on steep hills and the soil was very poor for farming. The forest department have now returned the land back to nature allowing it to grow natural. The only thing left from the pioneers that lived here almost 2 hundred years ago are 6 small cemeteries.

History-Cox Woods

There is a lot of history behind Hoosier (Indiana) National Forest with some historical sites that can be visited. The Cox Woods now known as Indiana Pioneer Mother Memorial is an area of 88 acers with old growth-wallnut trees over 40 inches in diameter/180 years old and Ancient oak trees about 400 years old. This area has never been built upon and is the last old growth forest of its size in Indiana.

Indiana(Hoosier) National Forest

This is part of the Knobstone Trail that runs through Clark County.

This forest is in southern Indiana. It borders the Ohio River through Brown, Bedford, Orange, Clark, Washington, and Scott County and Tell City. It is over 430,000 acres but only about 200,000 acres lay in the bounders because the rest are state parks or privately owned. When I went here last summer we were coming back form Holiday World Amusement Park, I didn't have much time to explore a lot of the land, but I did get to walk the Knobstone Trail for about 2 hours and then we had to leave. We seen a lot of birds, squirrels and a couple of rabbits, that was it. I really wish I had more time but since I didn't I planned the trip for this summer .We are leaving August 6 and we will spend two days camping at Blackwell Horsecamp and then off to Holiday World for two days. When I left last summer I picked up a bunch of brochures about this forest and I could not believe how much stuff you can do here. You can; camp, swim, canoe, hike, go boating, fishing, horseback riding, hunting and even go through some of the caves. I can't wait!

Temperate Forests

Temperate forest have four distinct seasons, cold winters, cool rainy springs, hot moist summers, and cool falls. In some places the winters are very mild. The flora(trees & plants life) in these forest varies a little; they are made up of mostly hardwood like oak, hickory, beech, hemlock, maple, cottenwood, elm, willow, evergreens and basswood. During the winter all trees and plants lay dormant. They also contain many shrubs, moss, ferns and flowering herbs. Their fauna(animal life) deer, fox, black bears, bats, birds, reptiles, fish and insects, small rodents, etc... These are the forests we see most in the United States, they are also found in eastern Canada, Europe, China, Japan, small parts of South America and parts of Russia. There are many subdivisions under the temperate forests, they are moist and dry conifer/evergreen forest, temperate broad leave forest and the mediterranean temperate rain forest-they only differ in the climate. I will focus my attention on a particular temperate forest in southern Indiana known as the Indiana National Forest. It is the only forest I've ever went to and there is a lot of neat things to do there.

Answers to some Questions

I might of confused a few people when I say flora and fauna. Flora is the plant and tree life within the forest and fauna is the animal life that habitats the forest. I do get a little carried away when I get researching the Amazon Forest, I'm always founding new information. No, I have never been here but it is a goal of mine, it would be a dream come true. I do study biology part time but it is a long term goal-to get my Bachelor's degree. Everything I write about on the Amazon Forest is purely research. I love the vivid colors of this forest. I can only imagine how awesome it would be to see the bright colors among the plants and trees a long with the colorful animals.

Animals of the Amazon

Moving on to animals, the Amazon Rain forest has the largest diversity of animal species in the world and 90% of their animal species are insects. Most of the other animals that live in this rain forest are arboreal which means they live and spend most of their time in the trees. Some well known animals living in the Amazon Rain forest are; Harpy eagles, Vampire bats, Toco toucans, Blue Dart frogs, Woolly monkeys, Squirrel monkeys, Orange tree boas, Jaguars and Anteaters. These are just a few because there are way to many to list them all (impossible).

Harpy Eagle

The Harpy eagles are the world’s
largest and most powerful of all eagle species. They weigh around 14 to 18 pounds. Females are normally larger than males. Their wings are black on top and grey and white underneath. Their bodies are black and their heads are light grey. Their talons are about 5 inches long and they have a wing span of 7 feet. They live in the emergent layer of the forest. And they mate for life.

Common Woolly Monkey

The common Woolly monkeys are found all throughout the Amazon. They like the humid conditions. Their fur can vary in color from dark brown, red- brown, grey, and olive. Their backside is normally a little lighter in color. Their faces are black and palms are pink. Their tails are very long and thick and can even support their body weight. They live in groups of 10 to 45, normally 2 to 6 in one tree. They eat mainly fruit, leaves, and seeds. The females will leave the group at maturity to avoid inbreeding. These monkeys are hunted by many predators such as cats, eagles and humans.

Blue Dart Frog

The Blue Dart frogs are very colorful, tiny, and poisonous. They do not live in water. They are found in trees. They lay their eggs mostly in the ground so predators cannot find them. They also secrete poison from their glands and back to keep predators away. This helps aid their survival.

Toco Toucan

Toco toucans are the largest of the toucan species. They are 24 to 26 inches in length and have a very wide tail. Their bills are around 8 inches long and are bright yellow, orange, and black. They are very hard on the outside but are hollow on the inside. Their bodies are mostly black with touches of white, red, and yellow. They have a blue patch around their eyes. They live in the open lowlands of the forest. They only mate once in a year and will lay 2-4 eggs.

Vampire bat

The Vampire bats are about 3 inches long and has an 8 inch wing span. They are very dark grey/brown with two extremely sharp pointy teeth. They have special salvia that they secrete into their prey to stop the preys blood from clotting. These bats mate year around and can live up to 9 years in the wild. This type of bat has made the adaptation to have the ability to walk, run, and hop on the ground and stalk its prey. This allows for their great survival.