What was Junggarsuchus?

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We got a cat

And I found a nice track:

I’ve put out some catnip to see if we can get some better photos of Lynx rufus.

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The truth about dog people and the internet

This is why I don’t blog as much about dogs as I once did.

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Alien black cat and Pepe Le Pew

On the trail camera this week, I got two interesting animals:

An alien black cat:

And a striped skunk:

This is the first skunk I’ve been able to get on the trail camera, which adds one more carnivoran family to the list.

No. Skunks aren’t Mustelids anymore. Their family is Mephitidae, This family includes two Southeast Asian “stink badgers” and all the skunks of North and South America.

The most common species of skunk in West Virginia is the striped skunk, but in the very high Alleghenies there is a relict population of Eastern spotted skunks.  Eastern spotted skunks are thought of as a “Southern” species, but in West Virginia, they are found only in the colder High Alleghenies.

I just hope that black cat stays away from white paint.

There are plenty of Pepe Le Pew cartoons that tell you what happens when a black cat gets a white stripe painted on it!

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Ravens playing in the sky

Just a pair of ravens playing in the sky on an August morning.

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Bedded down in a thicket

A little buck bedded down in a thicket, thinking he is hidden:

But I was able to get some close-ups:

Including of his vibrissae:

White-tailed deer bed down in thickets to chew their cuds, which is how ruminants digest their food.

It’s the same concept as a cow, but unlike a cow, deer make sure they are pretty well-hidden before they do set about this task.

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Bound and leap

Little spikehorn on the run.

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These photos were possible solely by luck.

I just happened to have the camera on the setting that allows me to take multiple shots per second, and I just came across a dopey little spikehorn that thought the best way to run away from me was to run at me.

So I was able to get the full sequence of him bounding about.

Unlike mule deer, white-tailed deer don’t stot. Stotting is a behavior that communicates to predators that a deer is healthy, but because white-tails evolved in the forest, they really can’t communicate anything to predators as they run off.

So they have these bounding gazelle leaps that do help them clear a lot of country in a very short time.

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Flock of turkeys out after grasshoppers

There were a lot of them, but it looked like two mature hens and their creche of at least 15 nearly grown poults.

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First duck egg!

I don’t know which girl laid this little, thin-shelled egg, but her equipment is working!

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Snapping turtle caught in the duck pond

The big snapping turtle that has been menacing the duck pond all summer was caught. The neighbors saw it near the bank and caught it with a net.

And the turtle is no more! Snapping turtles are legal in West Virginia now, and they aren’t even remotely endangered.

The ducks won’t be afraid to go into the water anymore.

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