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

hibernation 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