Flora & Fauna

Some fly while others slither, but all of these creepy critters are certain to raise the hair on the back of your neck. Most are no threat to humans, however just the sight is enough to keep you awake at night! If you’re looking for a scare this Halloween, then take a look at what we think are this Halloween’s Top 10 Creepy Critters. 1. Star-nosed mole

Go batty over the Brazilian free-tailed bat!

Celebrate the delightful spookiness of Halloween this month with a visit to a national park that is full of dark caves and crawling with bats—Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Established to preserve Carlsbad Cavern and numerous other caves within a Permian-age fossil reef, the park contains more than 100 known caves, including Lechuguilla Cave, the nation's deepest (1,567 feet) and third-longest limestone cave.

The fence between Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park has dutifully separated neighboring bison herds for decades.But the fence, made of nondescript woven wire, has taken on new importance with a recent scientific discovery involving the pedigree of the Wind Cave herd.Blood tests indicate that the buffalo roaming Wind Cave National Park are rare — so rare that they are among only two public herds in the nation credited with a crucial genetic distinction.They lack evidence of cattle genes.

At about 9,000 feet, the persistently steep trail up Brokeoff Mountain levels off at the edge of an abyss. To the northeast, framed between jagged cliffs, sits hulking Lassen Peak, a dozing volcano more than 1,000 feet higher, still mostly bare of trees and cloaked in gray dust from its last big eruption, 94 years ago.The sight could inspire an overcaffeinated Type-A tourist from the East Coast to renounce his BlackBerry and become a California mountain bum. Cellphones rarely work around here, anyway. When you’re in these mountains the office back home can’t tug your leash.

The mouth of Model Cave slopes downward into the fractured limestone face of Nevada's second tallest mountain range.To get inside, Gretchen Baker and Ben Roberts must slither headfirst through an angled chute that forces their left shoulders down into powdery dust. Their coveralls scrape across the rock as their headlamps light the way into the blackness.It's the first day of fall at Great Basin National Park, and the changing aspens have painted the flanks of Wheeler Peak with veins of yellow and orange and red.

Officials at Valley Forge National Historical Park said yesterday that they would begin shooting massive numbers of deer, possibly as soon as next month, rejecting a Villanova activist's proposal to shrink the herd through contraception. Park managers also said that the growing number of deer would require them to shoot more animals than originally expected - 500 the first year, 500 the second, and between 250 and 300 in years three and four. That would reduce the herd 86 percent.