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Re: Durham migrants, frog tapes, elk and bamboo





Joshua Stuart Rose wrote:

> Hi Carolinabirders,
>
> Okay, I'm in a better mood now,
> First of all, I'm glad to hear that you are in a better mood!!

> Clyde also wanted to clarify my warning about Bamboo; don't confuse the
> Asian invasive species with the native Giant Cane, Arundinaria gigantea.

CANE:
Another "plus" for native cane, it provides a habitat for several moths which can
be found only in the cane. The Kentucky Lepidopterist Society visited us for three
days year before last and we found some unidentified and unnamed varieties of moths
in cane patches nearby. The person heading the study is Eric Quinter with the
American Museum of Natural History.

ELKS:
I don't remember who wrote that a Mountain Lion could never take down an elk. Well,
I have news for you. While spending some time in Montana on the Nature Conservancy
preserve at Pine Butt, my husband and I were two of three visitors who were privy
to a phenomenal scene. We were taken by a naturalist out to a remote part of the
preserve to view a small wooded area where a mountain lion and an elk had been in
one terrific battle. We IDed hairs on broken trees and limbs from both the lion and
the elk. We finally reached the conclusion that the mountain lion had jumped on the
back of the elk and the elk had tried to knock it off by bashing it against the
trees. Anyway both animals were dead. At first we thought that the lion eventually
got the jugular vein of the elk and the lion's back had been broken. Anyway there
was plenty of evidence of a hell of a battle. I mean, it looked like a minor
tornado had struck. The third visitor with us was a brain physiologist from
California and he examined the spinal cord of the mountain loin. A couple of days
later we came to a very different conclusion about the demise of the mountain lion.
The head of the lion was subjected to (well, let's be civil) worms which ate away
all the flesh. And, I'll be darn, there were two distinct holes made by another
mountain lion's teeth in the head from the dead lion. Then, we figured that the
second lion had come in and ended the agony of the first lion. Now, if that isn't
enough excitement, we also found droppings and footprints from a grizzly bear. It
seemed to have been the animal which ate on some of the dead animals. Isn't this an
exciting story? True, but exciting.
Cheers, Joan of Art and Nature in Kentucky