Oregon's creepiest creatures get a bad rap
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Not who you want to meet on a casual dip in the river. Photo: Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Oregon's wilderness can be a scary place, crawling with critters that can bite, sting or maul, but some of the creepiest creatures serve crucial roles in their ecosystems.
Why it matters: The only thing scarier than these animals is a world without them.
😱 Pacific lamprey
These ancient flesh tubes date to the time of the dinosaurs, have no jaws but many teeth and feed parasitically in the open ocean on salmon and other fish. Have you seen their mouths? Nightmare stuff.
- Yes, but: Young lamprey filter river sediment, while adults transport important nutrients into freshwater rivers when they return to spawn.
🦇 Oregon's bats
The 15 species of bat that live here won't suck your blood, turn you into a vampire or, except in exceedingly rare cases, give you rabies — experts estimate that not even 1/10th of 1% of the animals have the disease.
- Yes, but: They will gobble up insects — including mosquitoes and agricultural pests — at a rate of up to 1,000 bugs an hour, which they convert to fertilizer and conveniently spread across the landscape.
🦃 Turkey vultures
Sporting bald heads, an appetite for rotting flesh and defense mechanisms that include projectile vomiting stomach acid, turkey vultures have long been associated with impending doom.
- Yes, but: You can thank turkey vultures for cleaning that roadkill on the side of the highway and for stopping the spread of diseases — including salmonella, botulism and anthrax — with that same stomach acid they're ready to puke on you.