Two Campers in Cloud Country -Sylvia Plath

Two Campers in Cloud Country

(Rock Lake, Canada)

In this country there is neither measure nor balance
To redress the dominance of rocks and woods,
The passage, say, of these man-shaming clouds.

No gesture of yours or mine could catch their attention,
No word make them carry water or fire the kindling
Like local trolls in the spell of a superior being.

Well, one wearies of the Public Gardens: one wants a vacation
Where trees and clouds and animals pay no notice;
Away from the labeled elms, the tame tea-roses.

It took three days driving north to find a cloud
The polite skies over Boston couldn't possibly accommodate.
Here on the last frontier of the big, brash spirit

The horizons are too far off to be chummy as uncles;
The colors assert themselves with a sort of vengeance.
Each day concludes in a huge splurge of vermilions

And night arrives in one gigantic step.
It is comfortable, for a change, to mean so little.
These rocks offer no purchase to herbage or people:

They are conceiving a dynasty of perfect cold.
In a month we'll wonder what plates and forks are for.
I lean to you, numb as a fossil. Tell me I'm here.

The Pilgrims and Indians might never have happened.
Planets pulse in the lake like bright amoebas;
The pines blot our voices up in their lightest sighs.

Around our tent the old simplicities sough
Sleepily as Lethe, trying to get in.
We'll wake blank-brained as water in the dawn.

More snub-nosed monkeys!

This is the Grey snub-nosed monkey. They reside in Southern China and eat fruits, leaves, berries, insects and so on. They were thought to be extinct until 1962 and are still highly endangered. Much like the Hunan monkeys they live in large groups, but at lower altitudes.

These are the Golden snub-nosed monkeys. Endemic to central and southwestern China. They eat much of the same diet as the others and also stay in groups of up to 600 monkeys. They form large sleeping clusters at night. These little mystical monkeys are also highly endangered.

Above is the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey. They are endemic to Vietnam and were also thought to be extinct until the late 1980s. Now they are critically endangered.There are fewer than 200 left.

Also I found a great website about Primates here: http://www.primate-sg.org/ if you desire more detailed information.

Finding out there are so few of something left in the world sets off all different kinds of panic inside of me. I hope that in the near future humans can start to cherish and respect the Earth.

"Oh, Earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you." -Thornton Wilder

Sleepless nights inevitably lead to nature documentaries, and this particular clip of Wild China stayed with me for so long I thought I would write about it, so that you also can know what hides high in the mountains of China.

The Hunan (or Yunnan) Snub-Nosed Monkey.
This is one of three species found only in China. The Hunan are found in the Yunling Mountains in southwestern China, the northwester Yunnan Province, and southeastern Tibet.
There are also Golden and the Grey Snub-Nosed but the Hunan is the most endangered of all three.

First impressions suggest a resemblance to Pete Burns (post surgery), Micheal Jackson (also...post surgery) or a character from Zelda. But once you get past their rather shocking appearance you start to realize how remarkable these creatures are.

Not too much is known about them, which fills me with the desire to go Jane Goodall on this forest and become a monkey following nomad. However, they live at higher altitudes than any other primate except for your occasional homo-sapiens at a staggering 9800-14,000ft above sea level.
They feed mainly on lichen and are usually found in very large groups of up to 300 monkeys.
They are under threat because of the usual human population annihilating forests and killing them for food and fur. They also have a low and infrequent birth rate, however they are protected by attempts at various conservation laws that prohibit hunting and tearing down of old-growth forests.

                                                                Photo by: Carmen Lundqvist


I think the following posts will be about the other species of Snub-Nosed monkeys!

Creature Feature

Everyday I learn about something new. It is what keeps me motivated and happy, it is what drives me getting out of bed or staying up late studying. Learning should never stop, and it happens by the great passage of information from one person to the next. Down this great linkage of humans we have gained all of our knowledge. The collective base of knowledge is something extraordinary. Anyone with an interest in learning wants to add to the collective base, or in the very least be someone that passes down information or inspires others to keep learning about the universe that has created everything. 
As I pursue my Marine Biology degree I want to share things that I learn, because everyday something blows my mind or leaves my brain reeling. I think it is important to understand the delicate, intricate and exceedingly important ecosystems of Earth. We are in a vital stage right now teetering between irreversible destruction and those that fight hard for conservation. We are also living during a time of mass extinction and there is nothing more depressing than feeling that humans have contributed to these creatures being obliterated from existence on Earth. We share our oblate spheroid with millions of other things, all equally important in the grand line up of life. So in this space I will feature a creature as often as I am inspired or have the time to do so. Big, small, microscopic....living and extinct, aquatic and land-dwelling. Sometimes they might be something very familiar, and other times they might seem so very alien. 
Enjoy! And help spread the love of learning (especially science) to everyone you know! 
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Monotremes: Echidna and the Platypus
I will first start off by telling you why these creatures are so special. Apart from being insanely adorable they are in fact the only two mammals on Earth that lay eggs. If you are anything like me you didn't even know there were mammals that layed eggs, mammals are known specifically for being placental. Even Marsupials who have a pregnancy very unlike placental mammals (known as Eutherians). Monotreme means "one-hole" which refers to the fact that females have...one hole for everything.
 

                                     (Photo: Roderick Mickens ©American Museum of Natural History)

 

 Here we have the Platypus, the one and only survivor of its genus and family. IT IS VENOMOUS! The males have a spur on their hind foot that can draw a painful punch to humans, and deadly to even larger animals such as dogs. They are insect eaters though, so this is mostly used for protection.
Apart from venom another shocking fact is that they use electrolocation to find prey, this means that they detect electric fields generated by muscle contractions, another animal that commonly does this are dolphins.  They were first described in 1798 and were thought to be a hoax where someone sewed a duck bill onto a beaver. What we think of as their giant nose/duck bill is actually a sensory organ. 
They live in Eastern Australia and are no longer hunted and currently are not under any threat. 
For the sake of the limited supply of Monotremes...let's keep it that way. 

  
Above is pictured one of two types of Echidnas (ih-kid-na). This is a Short-Beaked Echidna, and the other not pictured (but you can use your imagination) is a Long-Beaked Echidna. There are two varying types of Long-Beaked and one of them is named after Sir David Attenborough. 
They, like their other Monotreme friends and their reptilian ancestors before them, lay eggs. The eggs are laid in the female's pouch, incubated, and after they hatch the puggles (yes, baby Echidna's are called puggles) stay in there for about two months. The milk comes out of pores in the skin inside the pouch.  I have seen varying degrees of the lifespan ranging from 10 to 16 to 50 years.

Since we are on the reproductive topic, I should probably mention that male Echidna's have extremely odd penis's. Of course you want to see a picture but don't say I didn't warn you.

                                                (http://www.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/June2000/f_echidpenis.htm)
I think this calls for a echid-u-not. I read that the males form lines behind the female and follow her around trying to mate with her.
The female has a two branched reproductive tract, and the four headed penis function only two at a time. 

With a nose like theirs one can deduce that they eat ants and insects. They don't have teeth, in place of those handy utensils they have something handier for their diet. A sticky fast tongue and horny pads on the back of their tongue. 
What are all those spikes for? Do they shoot them at predators? No. They don't do much except make them look more threatening than they actually tend to be, as they are very shy creatures that would rather curl up in a ball wedged between rocks than have a face off with anything trying to eat it. 
They also have a spur like the platypus except it is useless seeing as it does not shoot venom. One helpful thing though to make up for some of those unfortunate adaptations is that much like the platypus they also use electrolocation to find ants and insects.
They live in only Australia and New Guinea.

There you have it! Go tell all your friends about how awesome Monotremes are! If you want more information go ahead and ask any question, I love doing research. Interesting side subjects include: how electrolocation work, how venomous spurs work and what they do to the victims, common ancestors and the animals evolution, fossil records of other types of Monotremes...and anything else you can think up!

There are some great videos on youtube of these creatures, but I leave you with this short one of a puggle drinking milk. 

Also, feel free to share anything cool you learn!
 
 

Point Reyes

We crossed bridges, drove hours, sat on a tour bus and listened to a lonely man repeat himself, fought against 60mph winds and bitter cold to see the Elephant Seals. We saw one move half of his body, and then we left.
But it sure was pretty.
-Point Reyes-

If you are looking for warmth, do not come here.

From October to February my Michigan blood loves the cold, and I am content to freeze my ass off on a beach, in the redwoods, or on a mountain top.
I guess I am just happy to live in a place where I can visit all three easily in a day.

Life is tiring, and sometimes the best thing to do is drive to the coast and watch the waves.