Not long ago we were out for a walk and we smelled a skunk — a very ripe, very dead skunk. When we finally located the source of the odor it proved to be a dried out, thoroughly dismembered carcass that had obviously been lying beside the road for months. Unseasonably warm weather had activated […]
With vision so sharp it equals that of a man with binoculars, a bighorn ram gazed down the mountain. In the open vistas favored by this species, keen eyesight far overshadows the need for acute hearing or sense of smell, so we were certain the animal eyed us long before we spotted him. Even so, […]
Sometimes instincts win out over logic. Many creatures have actions that just come naturally and they can’t help themselves. Ducks swim, frogs hop, birds fly. And beavers chop down trees. In each case they are displaying their adaptation to a habitat, and if a beaver didn’t use its big teeth to imitate a lumberjack it […]
If you can’t beat them, trick them instead. Possums are famous for “playing dead” when threatened, but they aren’t playing. Scientists say that the opossum actually goes into shock when overly stressed. So if you see a ‘possum lying on the ground, limp and unconscious, stand back. It has only fainted. Give it time, and […]
Wild animals are usually hard to see, except for the squirrels and chipmunks that sometimes overrun our campsites. Most mammals either spend the daytime in hiding or are so secretive that an occasional glimpse is all you ever get. Not so with the Pacific Coast’s sea otters. Maybe that’s why they’re one of the favorite […]
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