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Bog animal book
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The Irish Hare Lepus timidus Giorria Éireannach The Irish hare is found on blanket and raised bogs. The hare is larger than the rabbit with long black tipped ears and longer hind legs. The ears are highly sensitive and the hare will run away as fast as possible if threatened. Hares do not burrow but dig shallow resting hollows or forms out of hummocks of bog moss. The form is made in such a way as to protect the animal from the wind. The hare is a herbivore, it grazes on bog plants mainly at night. Hares usually breed in spring when the males can be seen sparring for the females. The females have several litters each year with an average of 2 to 3 in a litter. The young, called leverets are born in the open unlike rabbits, and kept in several different forms. At sunset the female visits and feeds the young in each form and may even feed another hare's young if they have wandered into one of her forms. Hare droppings are commonly seen on bogs. They are straw coloured balls when dry and if examined closely are seen to be made up of tiny cut fragments of sedges and grasses from the bog. |
| Dragonfly Sympetrum scoticum Snáthaid Mhór Dragonflies are found at most permanent water sites. They have long slender brightly coloured bodies and have two pairs of wings. Each wing moves independently of the other. This allows the dragonfly to fly fast and to make sudden turns as it hunts other flying insects on the bog. They feed on other insects and catch and eat their prey in flight. They have extending jaws to catch the prey and hooked legs held to the front of the head to trap the prey in a kind of basket while in flight. Dragonflies lay their eggs in bog pools. These hatch to form nymphs. They are fierce hunters and have specially adapted mouth parts for catching and eating prey. They are aquatic creatures with a fat brown body. They live in the pools for three years and then they will crawl up a plant stem to emerge as an adult dragonfly. At first they pause to harden their skin and pump blood into their wings. They then fly off in search of food or a mate. Adult dragonflies only live for about a month or two. |
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Raft Spider Dolmedes fimbriatus Damhán Uisce The raft spider is a large spider that lives around bog pools and hunts on the surface of the bog pool. The spider has eight long legs which help to spread its weight as it walks on the water. It oils its legs with water repellent which also helps to keep it buoyant. It will sit on dry land with its four front legs in the water waiting to detect movement caused by insects. The insect is grabbed and injected with poison from the spider's fangs. It will go under the water if it is alarmed but it prefers to leave the scene using web lines spun around the pool. It has a brown or black body with a distinctive bright stripe on each side. The body can be up to 3 cm long but the leg span can be 8 to 10 cm. The female is bigger than the male. The female spins a silken egg ball into which the eggs are laid. The egg ball is carried around until the young hatch. |
| Pond Skater Gerris lacustris Scinnire Locháin Pond skaters are found on bog pools. They have 6 long legs. They use their middle legs to move on the water. Their hind legs act as a rudder steering the pond skater to its target and the smaller front legs are used to catch the prey, usually small insects who fall onto the water surface. They have wings which enable pond skaters to move between ponds. They lay eggs between March and April and attach them in small groups to plants under the water. The young resemble their parents in everything but size. |
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Emperor Moth Saturnia pavonia Impire The emperor moth has purple and grey wings with two large eye spots to frighten predators away. The male flies by day and can detect a female up to two km away. The female flies by night and lays her eggs on ling heather. These eggs hatch into larva. The larva or caterpillars are green with pink spots. This colouring is to camouflage the caterpillars while they feed on the leaves of ling heather. The caterpillar makes a beautiful silk cocoon, which is attached to the base of the heather bush near the bog surface. The empty cases are often found. Inside the cocoon the caterpillars go through a process called metamorphosis which is to change into the adult moth. |
| Black Slug Arion ater Drúchtín Black slugs are found on blanket and raised bogs. As the name suggests it is black in colour, similar to a snail in shape but without a shell. This enables it to get into smaller spaces than the snail and in dry weather it burrows down into the damp bog undergrowth. Slugs feed on bog plants. They can measure from 12 to 15 cm. They breathe through a respiratory pore or opening towards the front right side of their body. Slugs are hermaphrodites which means that they have male and female sex organs. The eggs are laid in the spring and autumn but sometimes in the winter. They are laid in loose soil or under decaying vegetation. When they hatch the young slugs resemble their parents in everything but size. |
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Lizard
Lacerta vivipara Earc Luachra The lizard can be seen on hot days basking on rocks or hummocks of bog moss in bogs. The lizard feeds on spiders, flies, beetles, ants and moths. The male can measure five inches in length but a female can measure eight inches. The lizard is viviparous which means the young are born live and are tiny replicas of the adult. They can fend for themselves within a few minutes of birth. A lizard caught by the tail by a predator can detach itself from its tail and escape. |
| Otter Lutra lutra Madra Uisce The otter has a body designed for swimming. It is long and slender with a flat head, tapering tail and webbed feet and a very dense grey-brown fur coat that helps to insulate against the cold water. All these help the otter catch its food of fish, eels, frogs and small mammals. The otter lives close to water in a holt, built in a bank. Otters usually have 2-3 cubs that are born in the holt. Both parents feed the cubs who will stay in the holt for 6-8 weeks. Otters are shy and largely nocturnal, so Ireland's remaining bog lands are ideally suited to the otter's lifestyle. You sometimes see their droppings or spraints in a prominent place. Slides in the wet peat down which otters slip into bog pools are another sign to look for. |
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Fox Vulpes vulpes Sionnach The fox has an overall dog like appearance with a brownish red coat, white underside and bushy white tipped tail. The fox visits blanket and raised bogs. When breeding the fox uses an earth but adult foxes usually rest above ground in cover. Mating occurs in February, and the cubs are born in March. A litter of 4 to 5 is most common. Foxes feed on beetles, birds, frogs and hares. In the wild foxes usually only live for 4 years. Foxes will visit the bog as part of their hunting grounds, they are very territorial and regularly patrol their area and scent different sites with an unmistakable musk smell. The fox is nocturnal but can sometimes be seen during the day. Fox droppings are very similar to a dogs but can have feathers, fur and bones of their prey present. |
| Frog Rana temporaria Loscann The frog is an amphibian, a creature that can live equally well in water and on land. Frogs are found anywhere it is damp especially bogs. A frog's skin is smooth and moist. Its eyes are set at the top of its head and stick up so that they are above the water when the rest of the body is below. The nostrils are also on the top so that the frog can breathe while swimming at the surface The frog breathes through its skin when fully under the water. Behind the eyes are circular eardrums for hearing. The frog moves on land by jumping and in the water by swimming. Its strong hind legs and webbed feet help both types of movement. Frogs change the colour of their skin to mimic their surroundings. The frog feeds on beetles, spiders and other insects found on the bog. During the winter frogs hibernate and in the spring the female will lay eggs or frog spawn that will hatch as tadpoles. Tadpoles take about 10 weeks to grow into tiny frogs. Some frogs can then live up to 12 years. |
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Great Diving Beetle Dytiscus marginalis Tumadóir Mór The great diving beetle is one of the largest insect predators in bog pools. The adult has a black streamlined body with orange underside and edges. It is an insect with six legs, large compound eyes and three parts to its body. Its back legs are fringed with hairs for swimming. The beetle breathes through an air store on the top of its abdomen, which it renews by swimming to the surface of the pool and sticking its rear end out of the water. The larva of the beetle has a long thin body with large jaws. In spring, the female beetle lays her legs inside the stems of water plants. The eggs hatch into hungry larvae which are fearsome hunters. When the larva is a year old, it crawls out of the pond and burrows into damp soil, where it changes into a pupa. After about three weeks, an adult beetle comes out of the pupa and heads back to the pond. Both the adult beetle and the larva will attack other bog pool creature. They usually manage to kill insects, newts and small fish for food. This fierceness has given the beetle another name "the water tiger". The beetle can also fly and if the pond dries up it will simply fly to another pond. |
