There’s something about rare stuff that always grabs our attention: The famous postage stamp with the airplane flying upside down.  The most rare of all Pokémon cards.  Or the world’s largest diamond. Or that 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card.

Or, the truly unique things you might be lucky enough to find during your adventures in Tennessee’s South Cumberland.  Some of them, in fact, are in the “found here, and nowhere else on Earth” category!  Let’s look at a few of them:

PAINTED SNAKE COILED FOREST SNAIL

First discovered here in 1906, Anguispira picta — this snail’s scientific name — was first thought to be part of the more common Anguispira cumberlandiana, but it is now regarded as a unique species. This 3/4” wide, disc-shaped snail is native to Tennessee’s South Cumberland, and has been found nowhere else on Earth. Anguispira picta was long thought to exist in one cove on the edge of the Cumberland Plateau, one-third of which is part of the new Head of the Crow State Park (HCSP).

The cove is a hardwood-dominant forest, with many large limestone outcrops, the preferred habitat of this snail. According to Wikipedia, recent surveys demonstrate that its range extends a few miles past the cove. Until 2018, when the State of Tennessee acquired land for what is now HCSP, the snail’s entire range was located on privately owned land.  If you’re hiking at Head of the Crow, and see one of these, please leave it alone — take nothing but pictures of this most rare and beautiful snail!

THE WHITE FRINGELESS ORCHID

One of the most rare wild orchids in the world, Platanthera integrilabia’s range has been steadily shrinking as development and now-abandoned fire suppression forestry practices have eliminated or changed its delicate habitat.  While it’s not as rare as the Painted Snake Coiled Forest Snail, the White Fringeless Orchid is now found only in remote locations, scattered across the Southeastern United States. Wikipedia says there are roughly 60 known populations of the orchid, most of which consist of less than 100 individual plants.

In a few locations, including one amazing spot in Tennessee’s South Cumberland, some populations have reached 1,000 plants.  An annual plant count is conducted each year in remote areas of Savage Gulf State Park. Some years have been better than others.  In 2018, when growing conditions were ideal, 1,125 of the federally-protected plants were counted; at that same site, a year earlier, only 24 plants were observed.

In Tennessee’s South Cumberland, Platanthera integrilabia flowers from late July through early September. The flower bears an odd resemblance to a monkey’s face; hence, some folks call this the “Monkey Face Plant.”  But that’s just one of many wild orchids found in our area, although most of the other species are less rare. One more gentle reminder:  They may be pretty, but if you see one, don’t pick it!  Take a photo, and share it with a State Park Ranger.

RAFINESQUE’S BIG-EARED BAT

These medium-sized bats, technically called Corynorhinus rafinesquii, have noticeably large, rabbit-like ears.  Although the ears seem huge, experts say they do not interfere with the bat’s ability to chase and catch fast-moving insects.

According to the Tennessee Wildlife Management Agency (TWRA), these bats are considered “uncommon”, but not yet rare. They live mainly in caves and hollow trees across Tennessee’s South Cumberland area, although they can occasionally inhabit abandoned buildings, and the underside of bridges.  There have been notably large sightings of these bats in the caves and hollows of Head of the Crow State Park, south of Sewanee.

Bats, generally, have had a tough go of things in recent years.  A deadly fungus, known as White Nose Syndrome, has killed nearly six million bats in North America since 2006.  Some species are more susceptible to it than others. Fortunately, this Big-Eared Bat seems mostly to be spared. But since humans can inadvertently spread the fungus by going in caves with bat populations, it’s important not to enter caves between September and May, because we need all kinds of bats. On a typical summer evening, one bat can eat more than a thousand mosquito-sized insects every hour; 6,000 to 8,000 in a typical night. Just imagine if we didn’t have millions of bats doing us that favor, every night!

…AND SO MANY MORE!

These are just a few examples of the rare and fascinating flora and fauna in our area. If you’d like a deeper dive into all of the rare animal and plant species found in Tennessee’s South Cumberland, you can search the database of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) — just search for species in Grundy, Franklin or Marion Counties.

So, Junior Scientists (or amateur scientists of any age!) — walk slowly, keep your eyes open, and be observant as you traverse the trails of Tennessee’s South Cumberland — you might just see something really rare and amazing during your adventure!