• What creates these mud hills?

    Question

    What makes these giant mud hills? They are as tall as my hand. They look like they should have an opening at the top but they don’t. They were dry and very hard. (Yes, I have green paint on my hand.)

    Naturalist's Response

    These are crayfish chimneys, not mole hills as I surmised sight unseen earlier this morning.

    Terrestrial crayfish that burrow down to the water line. As they dig, they bring up the mud and dump it outside of the burrow entrance resulting in a “chimney.”

    I will try to stir up more details from our Natural Resource Management time.

    -Naturalist Dan Best