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Native Californian, biologist, wildlife conservation consultant, retired Smithsonian scientist, father of two daughters, grandfather of 4 small primates. INTJ. Believes nature is infinitely more interesting than shopping malls. Born 100 years too late.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The problem with sleeping in caves



The problem with sleeping in caves is that large cats, coyotes, wolves, bears and pumas like to sleep there too.

Not all the time, of course, but often enough to cause problems if you happen to be sleeping there already.

When snow is in the air a field biologist camped in the rimrock might want to drag his sleeping bag into a nice leaf-filled den like this one on the Wind River Ranch in New Mexico.

And that's exactly when the larger critters are likely to show.

Thus the evolution of snoring that sounded just like a cranky bear.

[Just discovered this photo on the internal memory of one of my s600s. It was taken at 4:00AM on Nov. 2, 2007]

1 comment:

reverend dick said...

Imagine waking up in your furs, amongst your family group, to a crabby, ravenous giant bear...