Wildlife at UTRGV

From squirrels and skunks to armadillos and rabbits, campus community members are not the only creatures who roam the university grounds as many different animals make UTRGV their home.

For more than a month, The Rider observed the different types of animals on the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses.

In Edinburg, squirrels, cats, opossums and different types of birds were found. On the Brownsville campus, birds, skunks, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, armadillos, nutria, turtles and ducks were spotted.

The Rider spoke with Karl Berg, a biology assistant professor whose expertise include animal behavior, ornithology and behavioral ecology, to learn more about why the UTRGV campuses attract wildlife.

Berg told The Rider it is not uncommon to see urban animals, such as opossums, raccoons and skunks, on the UTRGV campuses. However, the resacas on the Brownsville campus are what really attract wildlife.

“This is one difference with the Edinburg campus even though it’s not that far away,” he said. “It’s, of course, much further inland and further away from the river and, you know, those two things make for differences in types of animals that show up here.”

UTRGV biology Lecturer Sara Black told The Rider she has seen different types of lizards, snakes and ground squirrels on the Brownsville campus.

Opossums, which can be found in Brownsville and Edinburg, have a life span of two years, Black said.

“People don’t realize that ’possums are really good for the environment because they eat all kinds of bugs,” she said. “Because they’re weird looking, I think people freak out about them because they are weird looking, you know, and they are strange looking.”

Aside from opossums, the Edinburg campus is mostly known for its squirrels and cats.

Black said the cats seen throughout the campuses are different than domestic ones.

“We have a big feral cat population here,” she said. “Cats exponentially breed. So, if the female cat is not spayed, she will stay pregnant her entire life. Their mechanism of reproduction is a little different than other animals in that once a female cat starts to go through ovulation or starts to get into a reproductive cycle, they don’t ovulate unless they copulate, so they will stay in this ovulatory kind of situation until they get pregnant, and then when they have those babies, same things keep happening and happening.”

Black said one of the issues with feral cats is that they eat migratory birds that are tired and travel through the Rio Grande Valley.

Berg, who has worked with birds in South America for 25 years, said he likes to take his ornithology classes on nature walks to observe and identify birds on campus. He said he and his students, typically, are able to identify more than 100 types of species.

In an effort to help migratory birds, such as the red-crowned parrot, Berg and several graduate students built and installed artificial nest tubes throughout the Brownsville campus.

The nests were built from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes with some having an old, fallen palm tree facades to give them a more natural look.

Asked what the campus community can do to help conserve all animals and their habitats, Berg replied it is important to keep the resacas in good ecological condition.

“Leaving the animals alone in general,” he said. “Sort of letting them go about their business. Usually, they don’t need our help. We think they do because they’re on a sidewalk or something, but, you know, they’re doing just fine.”

Black said campus community members should never feed animals and should always leave them alone.

“They don’t want to be around you, either, you know,” she said. “Honestly, they don’t. All of those guys are nocturnal animals. They come out at night and so if you’re around about the campus at night, you’re going to see different things than you would see during the day. Generally speaking, if you see those animals during the daytime, that’s unusual. The animal may be sick. You just don’t want to mess with animals. Period.”

Kasey Rogers, a talent sourcing specialist for Texas Parks and Wildlife, told The Rider UTRGV is in a unique position to have as much wildlife as it does.

“It’s really rare to have as much wildlife as UTRGV has and it’s extremely beneficial not only to the ecology of the land, but also the natural conservation that’s involved,” Rogers said. “So, the more that we cannot harm the homes of those animals and to really cultivate having them here is extremely beneficial.”

Rogers, who attended college at the University of Texas at Austin, said she has visited numerous schools throughout the state and from her experience, she has not seen nearly the wildlife that UTRGV has.

She said she recommends students to get involved in any wildlife or conservation programs they can.

“If you see wildlife, respect it,” Rogers said. “Don’t touch it. Keep your distance. Be quiet around them; you’re in their home. Technically, we’re invading their space instead of them invading our space.”

Campus community members, such as teaching and learning Associate Professor Rene Corbeil and Brownsville Early College High School junior Eliel Escobedo, have had their share of encounters with wildlife at UTRGV.

Corbeil said he loves taking walks across the bridge and seeing different types of animals.

“I hope that we can preserve them for a long time,” he said. “I hope that they’ll still want to find the Brownsville campus as their home, and I just hope that as we continue to grow, that we’ll be mindful of that gift that we have and not squander it.”

Berg said it is important to not only conserve what UTRGV already has, but also restore some of its natural areas.

“I think we need activities and students to appreciate this and professors to appreciate it to convince the administrators that it’s worth saving and even restoring in some cases,” he said. “It’s not just holding on to what we have, but also fostering regeneration, ecological restoration of some of the areas we do have.”

The biology assistant professor told The Rider he is worried many students across the nation will not be able to learn as much about ecology as they should.

“It’s kind of overwhelming, everything we know about ecology and evolution, and it’s ironic that we’re getting worse and worse at teaching our students about those things and one of the reasons is we’re becoming more and more separate,” he said. “We’re getting better and better at teaching the hardcore sciences, and our equipment and buildings and professors and everything. The bar just keeps rising, right? But when it comes to getting students into actual ecosystems, and that’s where we really learn, you can only learn so much from a book or from a professor, right? But, to actually get out to the ecosystem and touch the plants and animals and capture them and measure them and observe them, you know, those are things that could only be done in the actual ecosystems.”

Berg said it is important to realize what the university has to offer as not many campuses across the nation have the same natural features as UTRGV.

Escobedo echoed Berg’s statement and said he is happy to see the different types of wildlife that can be found on campus.

“The wildlife just gives this extra layer of beauty to the university,” he said. “The university is already beautiful as it is, but when you see that animal just walking around or eating something or just sitting on top of a tree, it’s really cool that they’re there and just being peaceful, even with all this human activity.”