Yellowstone

  

 G R A N D      P R I S M A T I C      S P R I N G

 Yellowstone sits atop an enormous dome of magma

that comes to within three miles of breaking through

to the Earth's surface, which would create lava flows

or even a volcano of historic size.  The heat generated

from this vault of intensely hot rock, fuels all of the

iconic geysers and hot springs you see at Yellowstone.

The temperature of the pond water above, reaches to

over 180 degrees at its center, where it is blue like the

sky.  It is also empty of life.  The pond's color bands

indicate the type of bacteria that thrives best in a specific

temperature range.  The colors are pigments that act

as sunscreen to protect the particular species of bacteria.

As you see above, the waters cool as they radiate away

from the pond's central heating.

 B I S O N      E L K      F A C E O F F

 A newborn calf is standing and able to run within

minutes of being born.  Welcome to the life of a bison,

a herd always on the move in search of prairie grass,

a diet both tough to digest and with little nutritional value.

Yet it is the staple of North America's largest mammal

because it's a hardy plant.  It survives severe drought

and long snow covered winters.  Most important,

prairie grass can handle the trampling it gets from

herds of ten thousand buffalo passing through.

W   O   L   F

 A wolf pack is a highly structured family made up of

breeding parents and their multigenerational offspring.

Wolf stamina enables the pack to pursue its prey

for days, all the while harassing their target with

lunging bites.  

It's a dangerous business for a 

hundred pound dog to take on a large animal

such as an elk, moose or buffalo, even if the dog

has partners.  You occasionally lose a dog going

after big meals, but when you work as a pack

you need more than rabbits to fill up the group.

 O   S   P   R   E   Y

 They mate for life.  For the next twenty years they will

come back to the same nest to raise another family.

If food is tight one year they will favor the larger,

more dominant nestling, to increase the chance 

that one chick survives.  This tough choice has already

been made by instinct.  The animal responds to instinct 

because it feels right.  It's intuitive.

Starve the smaller.

 

 P R A I R I E      R A T T L E S N A K E

 Your eyes aren't too big for your stomach

if you have the remarkable unhinged jaw.

Now you can safely swallow the neighbor's dog

in a single bite.  Of course, you will have to reengineer

your neck and digestive tract to accommodate 

a large dog decomposing.

With luck, you will pass him in a few short weeks.

 G R I Z Z L Y      B E A R

 Grizzly's rely on their salmon summer diet in order to

build the fat reserves they will need to survive winter

and its six months without eating.

A pregnant grizzly will abort its embryo in the autumn

if its body determines there is insufficient fat available

to sustain both mom and cub through hibernation.

The overriding priority of DNA is survival.

Life continues only through reproduction.

Saving the female provides another 

opportunity for future birth of new life

and the continuance of DNA.

 

 

*   *   *   *   *

©  Tom Taylor

OVER   EASY

coldValentine

good morning jessicca

  

C   H   I   C

 

 

love

   dad

coldValentine

Shore

  

 B L A C K      O Y S T E R C A T C H E R

 These shorebirds spend their entire life within

the narrow corridor between low and high tide.

They spend all their days in the same spot with

the same mate, year round.  Their eggs can 

survive brief periods being submerged because

exceptionally high tides sometimes sweep over

their nest.

The real parenting begins once the young nestlings

become juveniles, capable of flying about on their own.

Months of training are required before an oystercatcher

has the precision to unlock the mussel's shell with a

single blow... despite churning surf that shakes 

their target and blurs their vision.  Another skill

the young oystercatcher needs to master

is to strike just as the mussel cracks open its

shell to quickly sweep the water for plankton

with its food filter.

Of course, you could use your bill as a hammer and

eventually bash in the shell like a woodpecker.

But that is last resort, real migraine material.

 

P U R P L E - S T R I P E D      S E A       N E T T L E

 These are colorful jellyfish that rely on the lively 

ocean currents that sweep the California coast

from southern San Diego to Bodega Bay,

a bit north of San Francisco.  They feed on

larva, fish eggs and small animals that are

stunned by the stinging jellyfish tentacles

that stream from its brightly colored bell.

Four large arms hang like an umbilical cord

from the bell's center.  They are used to

gather up the paralyzed prey and deliver

them to an orifice for digestion.

Juvenile cancer crabs make their home in this

very bell, where they are protected from ocean

predators.  In turn, the crabs eat an assortment

of parasites that infest the jellyfish tissue.

Their alliance is mutually beneficial.

Sea turtles feast on jellyfish.

It's a beloved staple in their diet.

There is no jellyfish sting that penetrates

the turtle's shell and leathery skin.

That leaves the sea turtle free to savor their

favored jellyfish cut of dangling arms brisket.

 

P U R P L E      S E A      U R C H I N

 It looks like a broach displayed in a Tiffany's window.

The purple spikes are all tube feet, providing not just

locomotion but also responsible for the animal's

ability to breath.  The nerves at the end of each spike

provide basic evidence as to the nature of the

animal's immediate surroundings.  They aren't picky.

A hard surface to cling to and plenty of kelp to eat

is all they require.

Urchins are a hearty breed of invertebrate.

They can live to over one hundred years.

If starved for food they enter a zombie-like state,

enabling them to survive years without eating.

You find them in tidal pools all along the western

coast of North America, from near the Arctic Circle

in Alaska, then continuing south, all the way to 

the subtropics of Baja California.

 G I A N T      S E A      S T A R

 These starfish grow to two feet in diameter

in deep waters.  In a normal tidepool their size

would make them a quick meal when seen by

the first passing gull.

The Purple Sea Urchin described above is the 

principle food for the Sea Star.  Without starfish,

 sea urchins would quickly explode in population

and devastate the rich kelp beds they feed upon.

The unusually warm marine waters of recent years 

has stimulated the spread of a bacteria lethal

to starfish.  The resulting drastic drop in starfish

numbers at various locations has led to the 

predicted devastation of kelp beds.

 

H  E  R  M  I  T       C  R  A  B

 It's a crab without a shell.  That makes it a lobster,

Still, finding a shell is a life or death necessity.

The hermit crab is actually very social.  

Even cooperative.  They do something

scientists call a synchronous vacancy chain.

It starts when an empty snail-like shell rolls 

in on the surf, then left lying on the beach.  

It is soon discovered by the hermit crab

community and a number of curious crabs

gather round.

The crabs assess the shell's size and then

they do something remarkable.  They organize

themselves by size, largest to smallest.

The largest crab that can fit into the empty

shell has found a new home, passing its 

discarded shell to the crab a step smaller

in size.  The process continues to the end

of the line, with each member left guaranteed

a new home. 

In this instance cooperation among individuals proves

to be the behavior that best serves the community.

 C A L I F O R N I A      S E A     L I O N

Seals and sea lions all agree that a public beach

includes them, as well as their pups.  Some folks,

like those in La Jolla, California, make it happen.

Now you can see a thousand pound sea lion

up close and personal.  

There are limits to the benefits of cohabiting

a beach with marine mammals.

You don't play volleyball among sunbathing seals.

Then there is the issue of privacy.

When is it appropriate to take a selfie with

celebrity wildlife?

They can be terribly rude

if you try.

 

 

*   *   *   *   *

©  Tom Taylor

 

OVER   EASY

 

 

coldValentine

good morning jeremy

  

T I K I     L U A U

love 

   dad

 

 

coldValentine

Himalaya

  

 P A R O      T A K T S A N G      M O N A S T E R Y

 The Tigress's Lair in English.

This monastery is perched on the face of a

sheer cliff, overlooking the Paro Valley nearly a

thousand feet below.  Buddhist monks started

this audacious architectural project in 1692.

As you might expect, making a spiritual pilgrimage 

to this sacred site is a bit of a walk.  The total distance

is a short but rugged four miles.  Your botanical tour

includes climbing 700 steep stone steps cut into 

the walls of a sheer canyon gorge.  You use a 

forever wet bridge to cross the face of a 100 meter

waterfall along the way.  You arrive at a pleasant cafe

at the halfway mark.  Here's your chance to turn around

and go back.

Instead of proceeding to the monastery

you settle for buying a T-shirt that says:

I Bailed on My Spiritual Journey.

 G L A C I A L      P A T H      N E A R      E V E R E S T

 Our planet is molten.  The landscape we inhabit is one of a

number of continental sized tectonic plates that make up

the Earth's crust.  Over the hundreds of millions of years

these land masses move about and sometimes collide.

Roughly fifty million years ago the plate of India crashed

into the Asian plate at speeds of up to 15 centimeters

yearly.  That's around a 6 inch movement by the continent

over the space of a year.  You wouldn't notice were you

to be standing there.  

The collision continues to this day at about 2 inches a year.

The result is slow-motion violence over geological time.

Any galactic body shop mechanic would take one look

at the Himalayan Mountains and say you've got a badly

crumpled fender.  India had its flat plains elevated tens

of thousands of feet over the past 50 million years.

The rise of these mountains interfered with the globe's

jet-stream, shifting it south in order to go around this

obstruction.  This enabled the expansion of cool, polar

air and changes in weather patterns.  Some meteorologists

claim this shift was a major contribution to the formation

of the Ice Age.

 B  H  A  R  A  L

 Agility is more important than speed for survival.

These mountain goats feed in Alpine meadows

where steep, rocky terrain is nearby as defense

against sudden ambushes from the snow leopard,

its most lethal enemy.  

The Bharal has rubbery, split-hooves that act like

suction cups on near vertical surfaces, giving it

near flawless traction.  The male's horns are

impressive but not showy.  Larger horns 

increases the animal's instability while 

navigating a precarious situation.

  H I M A L A Y A N      T A H R 

 They segregate on the basis of sex into herds of

either all-male or all-female year round,

except when its mating season.  In the autumn

the mature bucks pay a visit to the female camp.

They have a good time, then leave.

Little do they know that all this rutting frolic

has been their contribution to a worthy cause.

There will be no male presence to guard

the Spring batch of newborns from hungry

predators.  At half the size of the adult male

these Tahr mothers could use some help.

But the biggest male, even with all its

220 pounds of resolve, remains little more

than a hero sandwich for the prowling

predator nearby.

Only when the Tahr herd reaches the sanctuary 

of nearby sheer stone cliffs, are they safely 

out of reach of the ever patrolling Snow Leopard.

 H I M A L A Y A N      M O N A L

 His Gaudy Highness.

This is the standard from which a female monal

decides who is most desirable.  Today's

female pheasant wraps her man in something

off-the-rack Broadway.  Something psychedelic.

He becomes everyone's dashing Rocket Man...

Elton John, in topknot and orange tails.

The female sits on her nest, camouflaged in

muted colors.  Not far away is her husband,

a shimmering knight in the sunlight,

standing guard.

 S N O W      L E O P A R D

 They've been known to cover twenty-five miles in

a single night to track the scent of their mate.

It's sex.  Nothing more.  The big cats are loners

and afterwards, go their separate ways.  

Providing for genetic diversity is the primary biological

role of the male species, while the female creates new

individuals to renew the species.  On and on it goes

a couple hundred million generations and more.  

Cats.

Everywhere across the globe some version of this 

animal's basic engineering sits atop the region's 

food chain as the apex predator.  Each species

of cat, modified through eons of trial and error,

remains the most successful carnivore approach

to its environment, wherever it appears.

Genetic diversity gives this organism the mechanism

to adapt, as a species, to the changes that occur 

to its environment over time.

*   *   *   *   * 

©  Tom Taylor

 OVER   EASY

 

coldValentine

good morning Justin

  

 

   M   A   N   I   C

 

 

love

   dad

coldValentine

Amazon

  

 J   A   G   U   A   R

 Pound for pound the strongest cat bite anywhere;

strong enough to crush a skull, crack open a turtle's

shell and ripe through an alligator's hide.  The jaguar

is the true apex predator of the Amazon and all of 

South America.

The jaguar is solitary and fiercely possessive of its home

range.  Unlike most cats the jaguar is an exceptional

swimmer.  Much of its diet comes from the water - 

fish, turtle and the Black Caiman - a Florida-like alligator,

only larger and more powerful.

Jaguar vs. Black Caiman.

A cage match to see who's for dinner.

S   L   O   T   H

 Slow motion living is more than a lifestyle.

It's a science.  If you have a lower metabolic rate

than this animal, you're hibernating.  The sloth

lives on an exceptionally nutrient poor diet of leaves

that are tough, difficult to breakdown.  Their food

requires a complex, multichambered stomach.  

Even then, it takes up to a month to fully digest

a single meal.  The animal's energy is budgeted

only for necessities, like breathing.  Ruthless

economizing is the only way the sloth makes

a living where no other mammal can.

The silver lining in having such sluggish digestion

is that your bathroom break is only once a week.

This requires you to climb down from the safety

of the tree to the forest floor, where predators lurk.

The ground is the worst place for a sloth to be.

There is no scamper in its design.  Even a snake

would beat it in a race back to the tree.

If attacked, the sloth becomes as feisty as a

butterball, baked and ready to serve.

 A   N   A   C   O   N   D   A

 The python is slightly longer but the anaconda 

weighs twice as much.  Imagine trying to fight off

a 550 pound snake.  The good news is you are

crushed quickly, sparring you the ordeal of slow

suffocation.  The anaconda's coiled grip prevents

 any blood from reaching the heart or brain.

It's lights out in mere seconds.

Size is no obstacle.  The anaconda's mouth

somehow manages to encompass even the

carcass of a dead deer.  The trick is in how

long it takes for you to swallow it.  You are

indisposed, vulnerable, during this early digestive

process.  Woe be the anaconda discovered by a

jaguar in this manner.  How delectable.

Fresh deer in a snake meat wrap.

 The risk is worth taking.  A meal the size of deer

could last the snake seven months, which happens 

to be the anaconda's length of pregnancy.

The female's last meal in this instance, may well

have been the male, once insemination was complete.

He would have been a convenient meal packed with

good things.  His proteins would produce healthy,

vibrant young ones of his genetics, all born live

and squiggly.  Anacondas don't do eggs in a nest.

That birthing strategy requires reliably dry land

and guaranteed protection from thieving predators.

 B  L  U  E       P  O  I  S  O  N       D  A  R  T       F  R  O  G

 This amphibian is not much bigger than a canapé

lifted from a cocktail tray.  It's finger food served

up in one gulp.  And here this animal is, shouting

its presence in technicolor blue, red or yellow. 

Most animals this size are cloaked in camouflage.

The Blue Dart stands in your face, daring 

to be eaten.

This is no bluff.  These brilliant colors promise

quick paralysis and death to anyone eating

these amphibians.  It's caused by neurotoxins

contained in the frog's skin glands.  The Blue Dart

doesn't make its own poison.  Instead, it accumulates

toxic levels of alkaloid compounds that are contained 

in its diet of fire ants, termites and the like.

This dietary anecdote is like a vaccine giving 

the frog immunity to predation.  Now it

freely hops about doing its socializing 

in broad daylight with complete peace of mind.

Any predator ignoring the color warning is dead.

Somehow they didn't get the message 

or they were color blind.

 

 

 C   A   P   Y   B   A   R   A

 World's largest rodent.  A giant guinea pig.

Very pleasant disposition.  Birds and assorted

other animals have been known to roost on their

backs and head, undisturbed.

They live in groups of up to twenty individuals 

most of the year.  They practice communal parenting.

Lactating moms will nurse pups not their own.

Their eyes, ears and nostrils all sit on top of their head.

They spend a good deal of time submerged, 

out of the view of predators.

Kicking back.

 

H   A   R   P   Y       E   A   G  L   E

     World's most powerful bird of prey.

It maneuvers through the rainforest canopy

at speeds of up to fifty miles an hour, targeting

sloths, monkeys and parrots for prey.

A Harpy can easily carry off an animal equal

to its own weight.  That can be seventeen pounds

or more.  Its powerful claws come armed with

talons the size of a grizzly bear's - four to five

inches long.  Its viselike grip is powerful enough

to splinter any bone.

The Harpy mates for life.

They breed every two or three years.

The Eagle couple has two eggs.

Two are born.  One survives.

Parents largely determine which

of the two is more worthy.

*   *   *   *   *

©  Tom Taylor

 

OVER   EASY

 

coldValentine