Creature features

Spittlebugs are baby froghoppers that create frothy bubbles on plants to hide from predators. They feed on plant nutrients and produce spit-like foam as a byproduct. Inside the bubbles, you can find green or yellow nymphs with red eyes. As they grow, they shed their skin and become adult froghoppers that can leap impressively high for their size. These insects are harmless to plants and easy to spot in gardens and prairies.

The Tully monster, a bizarre sea creature from 300 million years ago, once swam in Illinois’ swampy estuaries. It had a tube-shaped body, stalked eyes, and a trunk-like snout with a toothy claw at the end. Scientists still debate if this monster is a vertebrate or an invertebrate. Discovered in the 1950s by Francis Tully near Braidwood, this mysterious fossil puzzled experts and earned the nickname "Tully monster." It’s now Illinois’ official state fossil.

A striped skunk’s family name, Mephitidae, literally means stink. It takes a lot of energy to produce their spray, taking up to 10 days to load back up. This is why skunks deploy multiple warning signs before deciding to spray. Warning signs include making their stripes that lead to their spray gland visible, raising and wagging its tail, stomping its front feet on the ground while lifting its hind legs, and lastly, making a “U” shape with its body to take aim.

The spring peeper frog, Pseudacris crucifer, is named after its high-pitched call that marks the start of their mating season early in the spring after spending the winter months frozen under piles of leaves, healthily waiting for warmer weather. A male’s high-pitched sound is made possible by their inflatable, stretchy vocal sac. Despite finding them near or along bodies of water, spring peepers are tiny woodland frogs that are active during the night.

Muskrats are rodents that can be found in every county in Illinois. They have brown fur that darkens in the colder months and are about the size of a cottontail rabbit. They spend most of their time in and around marshes, swamps, wetlands and rivers. Muskrats are active all day and eat mostly plants but also hunt for fish. They are closely related to rats and produce a musky odor. Muskrats are great swimmers thanks to their long tails and webbed back feet.

The northern cardinal is Illinois’ state bird, known for the male’s bright red color and both sexes’ crests. Found only east of the Rockies, cardinals sing year-round, with females often singing on nests. They mate for life, build layered nests, and eat seeds, fruit, and insects. Cardinals defend territory even against their reflection and can live up to three years, sometimes much longer. Several states share the cardinal as their state bird.

Queen snakes are nonvenomous, water-loving snakes found in Will County. They’re gray, brown or green with yellow belly stripes and mainly eat recently molted crayfish. These snakes are rarely aggressive but may release a smelly fluid if caught. Named from their Latin name Regina, queen snakes give birth to live young and can often be seen basking near rivers, streams, or ponds.

During the fall, chipmunks are busy prepping for winter by gathering food, bulking up and building burrows. These diurnal omnivores use cheek pouches to store food and live in an underground system of tunnels. Rather than hibernating, they fall into deep sleep and wake to eat stored food. They’re born tiny and helpless, grow fast, and live just 2 to 3 years. A group is called a scurry, babies are kits, and adults are bucks (males) or does (females).