Tuesday, December 27, 2016

WHEN BACK IN OUR EARLY 20'S, ALL OF US GUYS WHO READ THIS BLOG WOULD HAVE EMPATHIZED WITH THE MALE MOLE SALAMANDER---BOTH THE MOLE SALAMANDER AND EACH OF US, TIRELESS IN THE PURSUIT OF A SATURDAY NIGHT "DATE".................In fact, the male Mole Salamander will travel 6 to 9 miles to find a female companion to mate with.........Like an endurance athlete in splendid condition, these Salamanders are capable of walking up to 2+ hours without taking a break--that is equivalent to us humans "lightly jogging for 75 miles before wearing out"----So, the next time any of you single guys question whether to seek out a companion, use the Male "Mole" as your role model

›
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sciencedaily/plants_animals/ecology/~3/OgRDa30OdnQ/161220220050.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=ema...
Monday, December 26, 2016

In addition to hoofed browsers like Deer, Moose, Elk, Bison and Caribou, Wolves will hunt Beavers...........Where both animals roam the landscape, Beaver can account for as much as 60% of Wolves Summer diets............And unlike in most cases with the hoofed browsers, it is possible for a single Wolf to subdue and kill Beavers---but know that a full out caloric output is needed for the Wolf to dine successfully........Caught on video is the millenia-old drama of Wolf versus Beaver

›
...
Sunday, December 25, 2016

This Christmas morning we hear once again from Ecologist Cristina Eisenberg...........Like many in her field, she is concerned about how the Trump Presidency will treat out natural world.........She sums up her Huffington Post editorial(below) by saying----- "Science provides our best hope for the future of life on Earth".............. "Indeed, since Aristotle’s time, leaders have seen science as the sharpest weapon any civilization can wield to improve their survival"................... "But today, only science based on rigorous, peer-reviewed research designed with full freedom of inquiry will work"............... "Linked to our constitutionally mandated freedom of speech, our freedom to do science is part of what truly makes America great"

›
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ entry/ 5859a5d2e4b04d7df167cb78? timestamp=1482271466920 The Role Of Science In The Trump Era On...
Saturday, December 24, 2016

Fact or fiction?---"There is an old saying, variously directed at wolves, coyotes, and foxes, that they live by their feet".......... "The Revisionists suggest that the fox, at least, does so largely to the exclusion of an intelligent brain"...........But those Revisionists are wrong!........."We humans are a sight-dependent species; the fox is not"..................."Therefore when we see a straight-line Fox trail in the snow that seems to suggest that the Fox ignored obvious signs of prey(to the right or left of the trail), we erroneously conclude that the Fox was dumb in not pursuing a seemingly easy meal"....................."What we fail to take into account is that a Fox listens it way to a meal, not depending on eyesight to dine magnificently"........... "The meander of a Fox trail is an effort by him(her) to triangulate with its ears some sound beneath the surface, perhaps a squeak, or the muffled sound of tiny footfalls, or the sound of chewing as a vole gnaws the bark at the base of a hobblebush".........."Upon hearing it's prey, the Fox then goes into it's higharcing pounce so as to get both its big front feet together in the air coming down at the same time, covering as much as eight square inches, punching through the snow crust in the hope of pinning some part of the prey long enough to get its sharp muzzle into the snow to grasp the creature with its teeth" -----------Magnificent intelligence at play!

›
http://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/what-does-the-fox-see What Does the Fox See? by David Brown Winter 2016 Decembe...