Wildlife/animals

Death Squirt

 in Our Quest / Wildlife/animals  tagged archer fish / Colorado / Denver aquarium / mangrove swamp / travel / volunteer work by

A beetle picked his way along a branch above a mangrove swamp. Wham! A geyser of water smacked him right in the kisser, dropping him into the water where he was snatched down a hungry gullet. On the other side of the globe, in Denver’s Downtown Aquarium, an innocent child climbs a ladder to stretch his arm over an exhibit and offer the fish a cricket. Wham! A powerful spurt smacks his palm dead-center, jolting the little guy with backsplash. The exhibit and swamp are each populated by hand-sized archer fish which specialize in precision squirts ranging to six feet.  I’d been captivated by an article about archers sometime back and am thrilled to find that the Denver aquarium not only has archer fish, it […]

Sloth Blockage

 in Snowbirding / Wildlife/animals  tagged Columbia / jungle / sloths / travel by

“Sloths look sweet but they can tear your jugular out with one swipe.” Our volunteer trainer at the Denver aquarium reminded me of a photo shoot I had with a sloth in Columbia.  As you can see below the little guy’s claws did put me on edge. The handler wrapped the sloth’s legs around me slowly as if its limbs required extra time to move, and they did feel stiff, almost creaky. Sloth is not a weakness in the sloth’s case.  It’s about surviving in a predatory jungle.  An animal that moves slowly and sparingly is hard to spot.  Sloths do have […]

Talking Crap

 in Alaska / Wildlife/animals  tagged Alaska / bear scat / bears / hibernation / travel / travel guide by

Bear scat ought to be too icky to draw interest, but it’s so readable. It doesn’t even stink if the bear’s eating vegan. I was lured into the topic by an Alaskan guide who said that bears eat dirt, rocks, and moss to plug their systems for hibernation. It turns out not to be true. Bears do rid themselves of “plugs” after they hibernate, but hidden hibernation cameras reveal that dirt, leaves, and hair get lapped in as sleepy bears groom themselves through the winter. Much as I love guides, I need to remember they may not know squat.

Urban Alaska Adventure

 in Alaska / Wildlife/animals  tagged Alaska / Anchorage / camping / city park / moose / river trail / travel / urban wildlife by

Our Anchorage campground, bordering two noisy highways, was a dreary necessity, but it backed up to an alluring river trail.  The leafy woods had me so enamored that even the debris from a couple of squatter camps didn’t deter me.  Down the way, the trail led me meandering through a wide-open park.  After weeks in the wilds, the sprawling green seemed unrealistically civilized, and then unreality took an Alaskan turn.  Between the soccer fields and playgrounds and spandexed bikers, Daisy and I came across a moose grazing on a willow thicket, maybe six feet off the path.  With her homely head hidden in the willows, she might have passed for a large horse, but I saw enough to give her wide berth.  Messing with moose, I’m […]

Bear Crossing

 in Alaska / Wildlife/animals  tagged Alaska / bear cub / bears / camp trailer / Canada / travel by

Steve spotted the bear a good way down a wide-open Canadian highway.  He let off the gas to give her ample time to get clear.  Then a cub scrambled up behind her.  Steve applied some brake.  Well all know that camp trailers take extra time to give up momentum, but the cub was okay as long as he held to his course across the roadway.  As many bears as we’d seen in our Alaska exploration, it was still a treat to watch the pair–until a second cub took up the rear.  Steve used his best words, pushed the brakes to the limit, and we held our […]

Denali Vandals?

 in Alaska / Wildlife/animals  tagged bears / Denali / park signs / vandals by

Why would someone lace a Denali Park sign with big nails, points out? Denali’s bears, it seems, have a number of destructive uses for signs–including backscratching.  Park maintenance workers edge the signs with nails in hopes of increasing the signs’ lifespan.

Denali Done Right

 in Alaska / Wildlife/animals  tagged Alaska / caribou / Dall sheep / Denali / grizzly bear / moose calf / tour by

Denali’s ban on private vehicles not only eases congestion, it increases sightings through sharing inside the bus and between guides.  Our busload was stoked and quickly chalked up sightings of caribou, moose, and Dall sheep.  Then, far down in the valley, a charging grizzly caught someone’s eye.  As the bus pulled over, someone else noticed that the bear was chasing a moose and calf. The pair had a fair lead, and as they passed through a wooded area, the calf split off, turning east up the valley slope.  Mom kept herself visible and kept the bear on her trail.  When she reached the river our valley ran into, she drank and then rolled in […]

Wanna Meet a Bear?

 in Alaska / Wildlife/animals  tagged bears / British Columbia / Hyder Alaska by

In 56 years a Coloradan, I never saw a bear in the wild.  That changed in a hurry when we set out for Alaska by way of British Columbia.  In two months I went from zero to 18.  A longer stay in Hyder promised more interesting encounters.  According to a local, there was a bear trail through the middle of town, and bears sometimes stopped cars to lick smashed bugs off the license plates.  We walked a boardwalk along a stream where we would have seen bears fishing–almost close enough to touch–if the salmon had been running, but our timing was off there too.  I don’t know why Steve […]