Album Wildlife

Artemus said:
I applaud your sentiment, mister!

This animal looks pre-Cambrian. I don't know whether you know about the branch not taken on the Tree of Life and the wild and wonderful animals that were exposed in the discovery of the Burgesss Shale strata and resultant quarry in B.C.. I would strongly urge you and @Jackson and all, really, to read about it in "Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History " by Stephen Jay Gould or research the Burgess shale elsewhere. Animals, very much like this, strange and seemingly impossible, roamed the earth for aeons and then extincted on a dead-end path of the evolution of life here on earth. Greatly Recommended.
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Added to my list! I needed something other than Western US exploration nonfiction to diversify my readings.
 
Hopefully bugs are allowed. These things are absolutely everywhere. I was batting them away from my face while running today and our yard is overrun:

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Artemus said:
"Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History " by Stephen Jay Gould or research the Burgess shale elsewhere. Animals, very much like this, strange and seemingly impossible, roamed the earth for aeons and then extincted on a dead-end path of the evolution of life here on earth. Greatly Recommended.
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One of the coolest places I've ever been is the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta. They have a fantastic exhibit of Burgess Shale creatures.
 
Haha I find this porcupine bandwagon awesome. They are fascinating creatures. They have awful eyesight and will walk right up to you if you stand still. Then they catch a whiff of you or finally see something different and they freak out. Like all rodents they have a knack for being kinda annoying. They'll chew on trail signs until there is nothing left I swear. They did under buildings and make all sorts of noises under there. Have you ever heard a porcupine make noises? Some of them are adorable, others terrifying. If I remember right, males also "splash" females with urine to gauge how amorous they're feeling.

From June 2016. Did I mention the things can be fast?! They seem so waddly that agility wouldn't be possible but they can book it!
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Scott Chandler said:
Haha I find this porcupine bandwagon awesome. They are fascinating creatures. They have awful eyesight and will walk right up to you if you stand still. Then they catch a whiff of you or finally see something different and they freak out. Like all rodents they have a knack for being kinda annoying. They'll chew on trail signs until there is nothing left I swear. They did under buildings and make all sorts of noises under there. Have you ever heard a porcupine make noises? Some of them are adorable, others terrifying. If I remember right, males also "splash" females with urine to gauge how amorous they're feeling.

From June 2016. Did I mention the things can be fast?! They seem so waddly that agility wouldn't be possible but they can book it!
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Not to mention that many way backcountry trailheads require you do protect your car when you aren't there because of their propensity to choose on rubber brake hoses and electrical lines. In fact some parks/forest services provide chicken wire for you to lean against your car and anchor with rocks/boards/tree limbs. Some of these places profess that your are protecting yourself from marmots but I believe they falsely malign that innocent rodent and it is really the porcupine that causes the trouble. Dang porcupine ! (not really, I love porcupines)

Places I remember that do this - your experience?
1) Bugaboo Peaks trailhead
2) dang... half to energize this memory...I've seen these precautions at least two or three times other than the Bugs.
 
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Luna vs. Porky and Porky Wins!
Not really Wildlife but Wildlife Parts rather. Right in line with the Porky theme. All of my 8-odd past and current dogs have tested Porky to no avail. All but one only once. This brilliant Luna only had to test Porky once and now runs at that dark shape in the backyard until it is identified as Porky and she turns sharply, tucks her tail, and runs away. Good dog. This pictured event looks far worse than it was and she suffered no real damage other than embarrassment. I learned after the first time when I pulled the quills myself that you have to go to supervet and have your dogs anesthetized to have the quills pulled due to the microscopic barbs. Evolution created a great defense weapon there.
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Cool movie of a raven asking for help after meeting Porky here:

 
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I spent several weeks camped out in the West Elks working on a survey. We had an outfitter horsepack all our food in, so we had several weeks' worth with us.We tied it way up in trees because of the bears, but something kept getting to it anyway. We finally realized it was porcupines when we went out with a flashlight one night. They would climb up on the branches and actually pull the ropes up to them and chew them until the food bags would fall to the ground, then get into them. They're smart little critters.
 
This fellow made me nervous. As I approached, his harem split in different directions and he kept focus on the uphill group. Seemingly ignoring me. I have included two pictures because they were taken at least a minute a part and I moved closer for the 2nd one. He did not budge in that time. He eventually bounced off so I could move pass.
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Scott Chandler said:
Sometimes it's the smallest things that can be the most inspirational.

Tadpole Shrimp
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On the idea of the smallest things being sometimes the best.... Sorry these are not my images. As a former photomicrographer I have always admired the Nikon Small World competition which is held annually. Many or most of these photos are wildlife creatures or parts thereof. Check it out (and all the other year's competitions) at:
http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/photo/2017-photomicrography-competition

Example, the 2017 first place winner:
http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/entry/2017-photomicrography-competition/1
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Our friend canis latrans walking along the Green River in Desolation Canyon in August. I don't have a super long lens so I couldn't see that it was dining on sushi until I started going through my photos back at home. These are cropped down quite a bit so the quality isn't great. After it finished it's snack, it continued on downstream for at least a few miles at just a slightly faster pace than us. I thoroughly enjoyed watching as we drifted by.

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Mmmm... catfish.
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Nick said:
Our friend canis latrans walking along the Green River in Desolation Canyon in August. I don't have a super long lens so I couldn't see that it was dining on sushi until I started going through my photos back at home. These are cropped down quite a bit so the quality isn't great. After it finished it's snack, it continued on downstream for at least a few miles at just a slightly faster pace than us. I thoroughly enjoyed watching as we drifted by.

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Mmmm... catfish.
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The Barking Dog. I love it!
 
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