August 27, 2008
Close Encounter With Bighorn
Close Encounter With Bighorn, originally uploaded by perlgurl.org.
What is it with us and wildlife encounters? Here's another lesson in what NOT to do...
So, we're in Jasper National Park, in the Canadian Rockies, along a major highway. This was our third sighting of a herd of bighorn for the evening and by the time we spotted them, there were way too many people clustered around them.
We parked our open-topped miata a ways down the road in order to avoid boxing the herd in and bothering them. No one else seemed to care that the bighorn is very easily bothered by close proximity to people.
Further, we cut the car engine and set up to take a few pictures. We have nice, long lenses, we don't need to get close. Apparantly, we are non-threatening, because about 10 bighorn proceeded to trot right down the road and surround our convertible.
We were way too close.
They were way too close.
In a very short time, we were on display, and cars were surrounding US, too.
We didn't want to startle the bighorn herd by starting the car, so we stayed still and talked quietly.
They didn't leave. In fact, the big ram came right up to my passenger side window and I had to keep the camera in front of me to avoid being nibbled on. Meanwhile, this lesser bighorn went behind the car and started licking it, likely because of the salty roads.
It was an odd encounter. We were not comfortable. We were not planning on such close proximity.
Eventually, the bighorn got bored with us and moved away, but then some foolish people scared them back to us. They had us basically surrounded. Finally, they moved off to the side and we started the car and carefully moved on.
All this time, unobservant people flew by on the 2-lane highway at high speed, just inches from these endangered animals.
Posted by sorsha at 12:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
August 17, 2008
Roadtrip Report: Herd of Endangered Bighorn Sheep
Hello, all!
I'm just back from a roadtrip up the Pacific Coast, through California, Oregon, Washington and across the Trans-Canadian highway!
Along the way, we got to see some amazing wildlife which I plan to tell you about soon. Some of the highlights included:
- A Raft of Sea Otters in Monterey Bay, California
- A Colony of Harbor Seals in Shelter Cove, California
- Lots of roadside Ravens in the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia, Canada
- Three herds of Bighorn Sheep and some elk in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada
- A lonely Bison in Elk Island National Park in Alberta, Canada
- Prairie Dogs and huge amounts of ducks in Saskatchewan, Canada
- Two white-tailed deer fawns in Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba, Canada
- Pair of courting Sandhill Cranes along the Great Lakes in Ontario, Canada
- Canadian Geese in Quebec, Canada
- A Woodchuck & a White-tailed Deer fawn in Northern Vermont
- A Black Bear in Crawford Notch, New Hampshire
I am getting settled in and hope to write about my Canadian roadtrip in the coming weeks.
Posted by sorsha at 2:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
July 17, 2008
The Myth of King Mufasa: Lions & Hyenas
Perhaps you've seen the Disney animated movie, The Lion King.
Lions are often made out to be regal, the kings of the African savannah. Hyenas, on the other hand, are made out to be trixy, thieving and sneaky dogs. (Current-day hyenas have more in common with big cats than dogs, you know.)
The truth is not so simple. The truth is, kill-stealing happens all the time in the wild. For survival.
Stalking, chasing, killing, and protecting a kill all takes vital energy from the hunter. It is also not without risk. The hunter has to leave their den (and little ones behind are left alone) and the hunter risks getting hurt in the hunting process, if the prey strikes back.
The cheetah is an excellent example here: she's the fastest predator on the plains, but after her sprint to catch her dinner, she has to catch her breath for several minutes before she even has the energy to EAT. And in those critical moments, her kill could be taken with little effort by another hungry animal.
A kill site in the wild is a complex place, with a progression of animals showing up for their turn. For example:
A pride of lions brings down a cape buffalo.
They eat the parts they like best. The stomach, etc.
Some hyenas show up. The lions, full or outnumbered, back off.
The hyenas eat what lions cannot. Bones included.
The smaller jackals have been watching and waiting.
Eventually, the hyenas get full, too. Too full to chase the jackals.
The jackals are followed by the vultures.
The vultures are followed by other, smaller, hungry mouths.
Finally, the insects take over.
And lastly, the plants benefit from the nutrients of the remains.
It's true that lions don't particularly like hyenas. And hyenas don't particularly like lions. But this is because they are both the top competitors for food in the ecosystem.
Lion and Hyenas At A Kill. This photograph was taken on my first trip to Africa. Hyenas confronted a single lion over a giraffe kill. The hyenas won out, but they had probably been the ones to take down the giraffe in the first place, since the single lion was sick with TB and likely a rogue scavenger.
Lions routinely steal kills from hyenas. In fact, when we were first in the Kruger in South Africa, several guides told us that hyenas were bringing down more animals, and the lions were the ones stealing the kills.
They joked: "Lions are lazy. They let the hyenas do all the work."
That progression I illustrated above could just as easily have started with:
A pack of hyenas take down a cape buffalo.
They eat the parts they like.
A bunch of lions show up, full or outnumbered, they back off.
The lions eat the parts they like.
The jackals have been watching...
You get the picture.
Posted by sorsha at 2:05 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
