Bears in the Campground!

One morning at around five o'clock in the morning in Yosemite, we heard a bunch of people yelling and banging pots and pans and stuff.  We were all pretty irritated: were they drunk, teenagers, or just plain obnoxious?  Well, as it turns out, it was none of the above: they were trying to scare a black bear away from a nearby tent cabin across the way!

Black bear in the tent cabin village in Yosemite.  Photo Credit Julie Neher

Black bear in the tent cabin village in Yosemite.  A pretty fuzzy photo, but you can see the black bear trying to eat some of the food out of the food lockers!  Photo Credit Julie Neher

My mom only got a few pictures, but I will remember it forever, it was super, super cool! 

The tent cabin village in Yosemite.  Those giant green bins that you can see next to each cabin are where you had to put everything that had any sort of smell to keep bears from eating it!  Photo Credit Julie Neher

Bears and Bikes in Lake Tahoe

We stopped for a few nights in Lake Tahoe on our California driving trip in 2010 which, by the way was awesome (both the trip and Lake Tahoe!)  I would definitely love to go back there sometime!  The one part that I didn't really enjoy was the bike riding, I'm just not the bikes biggest fan, I don't know why.  However, I am certainly very glad that we went, as if we hadn't, we wouldn't have seen....the bears!

Black bear cub!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

Black bear!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

Black bear!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

Black bear cub!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

Black bear!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

Black bear!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

Black bear!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

Black bear!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

Black bear!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

We saw someone looking through the trees, and when they saw us approaching, they motioned for us to stop.  We stopped, followed their line of sight, and saw an adult female black bear being followed by two cubs!  It was really cool, and they were super cute!

Al Tahoe on Dwellable

Necklace Shells by Dr. Joe Richardson, Guest Blogger

Last summer on my family's vacation to coastal Georgia and South Carolina, we spent a few nights on Tybee Island, off the coast of Savannah, Georgia.  In the post about the whales and dolphins of South Carolina, I mentioned the Tybee Beach Ecology Tour that we went on under the guidance of Dr. Joe Richardson.  Here is a bit about Dr. Joe: 

Dr. Joe Richardson (Ph.D. Marine Sciences) conducts TybeeBeach Ecology Trips (http://www.ceasurf.com/Pages/BeachTrips.aspx) for families and groups year-round at Tybee Island.  He is a retired marine science professor who continues to conduct research throughout coastal Georgia through his consulting business Coastal Environmental Analysis.  He can be reached at joe@ceasurf.com.

The Ecology Tour was definitely a ton of fun, and my family and I learned a ton, I definitely recommend checking it out if you are out that way!  Now, Dr. Joe has agreed to do a guest post for the blog!  He has some very interesting information to share with us, so let's give him a warm welcome!  

Shell beds such as this can be found all along Tybee’s beach.  Photo Credit: Joe Richardson

Tybee Island has a large variety of species and colors of shells that wash up on its beach.  Because of its position on the east coast, Tybee has northern and southern marine plants and animals, both along the shore and offshore, that produce a large diversity or variety of what we are likely to find (see “Tybee Diversity").  Along with the diversity of shell species, we also see a wide variety of shell colors that are often due to the past environment where a particular shell has been buried or spent time.  For example, our most common bivalve (2-shelled) shells, the Ark shells, are often found in colors ranging from dark red, to orange, to gold, to white.  During my Tybee Beach Ecology Trips, people often remark about how they are surprised to see Tybee’s vast array of colors and types of shells.

It’s not hard to find Ark shells with perfectly round, small holes at Tybee.  Photo Credit: Joe Richardson

While alive, bivalve mollusks, such as this Ark and Surf Clam, have two shells and the soft-bodied animal that made the shells lives inside these protective shells.  Photo Credit: Joe Richardson

You don’t have to pick up many of our bivalve shells to find one with a perfectly round, small hole in it – just right for making a necklace.  You will see these holes in our Arks, Surf Clams, Cross-hatched Lucines and others.  It might surprise you to find out, though, that the animal that lived inside and made its shell did not make that hole.  To find out where that hole came from, we need to look at another mollusk, a gastropod or snail, that we also often find at the beach.

Moon Snail shells are sometimes called “Shark Eye shells” because they look like an eyeball when viewed from their bottom.  Photo Credit: Joe Richardson

If you know where and how to look, it’s not too difficult to find Moon Snails on the beach at Tybee.  Their round, light-brown shells often wash up along the high tide line; but you can sometimes find a live one burying through the sand in the mid and low tide, wet sandy parts of the beach. 

This is probably a Moon Snail burying its way through the sand.  It is probably an inch or two deep into the wet sand.  Photo Credit: Joe Richardson

Here are a couple of Moon Snails in our beach ecology trip “touch tank” as they are extended and gliding around in our tank of water.  Photo Credit: Joe Richardson

If you find a live one, it will probably quickly withdraw back into its shell.  But if you lay it back onto the wet sand or put it into some seawater, and be patient, it might re-emerge and start gliding across the surface.  You will be amazed at how large its body is, outside of its shell, and wonder how-in-the-world it can pack all that body back into that small shell!

While beach combing at Tybee, you might also come across the sand-colored, collar-shaped egg case of a Moon Snail.  Photo Credit: Joe Richardson

These Moon Snails are predators, and they like to eat many of those bivalves such as the Arks and Surf Clams that live buried down in the sand.  To accomplish this, the Moon Snail glides through the sand, by producing and using lots of slime to help it move through the sand, until it encounters one of its clam-like prey, which quickly closes up for protection inside its two shells.  The Moon Snail is not able to pry the two shells apart, but it wants to eat the soft-bodied animal that is inside.  Inside the snail’s mouth is a tongue-like structure called a radula.  The radula is like a small file or rasp that is hard and covered with tiny sharp teeth-like structures.  A Moon Snail can extend this radula out of its mouth and drill a perfectly round, small hole through the bivalve’s shell.  The hole is too small for the large snail to crawl through, but it can extend its radula down through the hole to the inside of the bivalve, where its soft body is.  The snail will then slash its radula around in there, shredding and chopping the bivalve’s body into “soup.”  The snail can then just suck the contents out, and it leaves behind a couple of empty shells – one of which has the hole in it!  So the hole wasn’t originally a part of the bivalve’s shell; but instead that hole was pretty much the last thing that happened to that animal.

This Moon Snail sort of got what was coming to it!  They can be cannibalistic.  Photo Credit: Joe Richardson

Sometimes it’s difficult to find an empty Moon Snail shell at Tybee because the Hermit Crabs like to use them for their own protection.  Photo Credit: Joe Richardson

So while you’re beachcombing at Tybee, and you find that perfect size, shape and color shell with a hole in it for making your necklace; you can thank the bivalve animal that made the shell.  But you need to also thank some predatory snail, like our Moon Snails, for drilling the hole!

Thanks so much for doing this, Dr. Joe, it was really interesting!  I think we would all like to thank you for doing this post for us, and we all would love to hear from you in the future!  Also, make sure to check out the page for Dr. Joe's Eco Tours HERE, and like his Facebook page too, right HERE!  He always posts really cool pictures!  Thanks again! - Zack Neher

Savannah on Dwellable

Bison: Up Close and Personal!

At one point on our Grand Teton/Yellowstone/Sun Valley driving trip in 2006, we went on a ranger-guided nature walk in Yellowstone.  As we were walking along the trail, the ranger told us a lot about the local wildlife, and mentioned at least a few times the dangers of confronting a bison.  The ranger led us into a small clearing surrounded by tree for a short break, when suddenly, a large bull bison wandered by right behind the ranger along the trail. 

A bison, right up close and personal on the path!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

A bison, right up close and personal on the path!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

Everyone froze, staring at the bison as it started blankly right back at us.  Fortunately, it was uninterested in us, and wandered on along the path, without increasing the "Bison Casualty Count" for that year!

Skunk in the Showers!

On our California driving trip in 2010, my family and I stayed a few nights in a cute little campsite on the coast, sort of near Monterey in Santa Cruz.  We had heard that you could see whales there sometimes, but unfortunately we saw none.  However, on one fine morning, my mother and sister did see a skunk!  It was just kind of chilling over in the outdoor showers, and looked deceptively cuddly!  Here are some pictures!

The skunk in the shower!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

The skunk in the shower!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

The skunk in the shower!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

The skunk in the shower!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

On the same trip, our family was camping in Big Sur, and my dad and I were outside of our tent reading, when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye.  I looked, and there was a skunk, so close to me that I could have easily reached out to touch it!  Fortunately I didn't startle it or anything, as it moved off without spraying us.  The next morning (I remember this, but strangely enough, no one else in my family does), we also saw a mother skunk cross our dirt driveway with three or four baby skunks in tow!

The Story of the Kremmling Ammonite Site and a Painting by Wayne Itano, Guest Blogger

Today, we have a very exciting post for you: a guest post from paleo-enthusiast Wayne Itano!  Here is a bit of background on Mr. Itano:  

Wayne Itano is a physicist at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) in Boulder, CO.  He has a hobby interest in paleontology and is also a curator adjoint at the Natural History Museum of the University of Colorado.

Today, Mr. Itano is going to tell us about the Kremmling Ammonite Site.  Join me in giving him a warm welcome!  Let's get started!

The Kremmling Cretaceous Ammonite Locality lies on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land to the north of the little town of Kremmling, in Grand County, Colorado.  It was first noticed for the very high concentration of very large ammonites(ammonites are extinct relatives of the modern chambered nautilus and were probably more closely related to octopi and squids).  It has been protected since the 1980s.  It was written up in the book “Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway” by the paleontologist Kirk Johnson and the artist Ray Troll.

Dr. Kirk Johnson, formerly of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, is now head of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Ray Troll is an artist with a special interest in natural history and ancient life.  Here is his painting “Night of the Ammonites” inspired by a visit to the Kremmling Ammonite Locality.

Artist Ray Troll’s picture of the Kremmling area, about 73 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, when most of Colorado was beneath the sea.  Picture Credit: Ray Troll

The large disk-shelled creatures are ammonites called Placenticeras.  The ones with narrow, straight, tapered shells are another kind of ammonite, called Baculites. The sharp-toothed swimming reptiles are called mosasaurs.  We have evidence from bite marks on ammonite shells that mosasaurs preyed on Placenticeras.  Over on the left are some strangely shaped small ammonites called Anaklinoceras.

The Kremmling site was featured by Earth Magazine, in a kind of online quiz called “Where on Earth.”  The page with the question and answer is HERE.

If you want to visit the Kremmling site, first pay a visit to the BLM office at 2103 E. Park Avenue, Kremmling.  They can advise you on road conditions.  At times it can be inaccessible, even for 4-wheel drive vehicles. Here is a sign at the site:

Warning sign at the Kremmling Ammonite protected area.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

Here is an informational sign.  Collecting is prohibited within the site, but there are nearby areas where collecting is allowed.  Inquire at the BLM office.

Explanatory sign at the Kremmling site.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

The area is littered with boulders containing the impressions of giant Placenticeras ammonites.  The fossils themselves have been collected, many to museums.  Intact boulders containing ammonites lie under the surface and could be studied in the future.

Boulders with impressions of Placentideras ammonites.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

Baculites (straight ammonites) are also rather common. 

A Placenticeras ammonite impression with a Baculites fossil (cylindrical object) on the same boulder.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

Large clams called Inoceramus are rather common.  Here are some examples.

A large Inoceramus clam fossil.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

A boulder with impressions of Inoceramus clams.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

Emmett Evanoff, a professor at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, has been studying the paleontology of this area.  One odd thing is that the great majority of the Placenticeras fossils are of females.  (The males are distinguished by being much smaller and having coarse ribs on their shells.) He thinks this might have been a nesting site.  The males would have fertilized the eggs and then left, leaving the females to guard the eggs.  Katie DeBell was a student of Emmett’s who mapped out the ammonites on the surface and seems to know them all by number.  She lives in Kremmling and often gives tours, especially to school groups.  Here she is, pointing out some features of one of the ammonites.

Katie DeBell explaining some features of an ammonite in 2011.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

I have a vacation house in the mountains not far from Kremmling.  I happen to know a painter who is also a fossil enthusiast, named Terry McKee.  I commissioned him to do a painting of the Kremmling site when it was an ammonite nesting ground.  I also asked Dr. Evanoff for advice, and the three of us met to plan the painting.  Here it is, and the original is now hanging in my mountain house.

Painting of the Kremmling Ammonite nesting site.  The large ammonites are guarding their eggs.  Baculites and various smaller ammonites, swim above.  The small round ammonite on the left, facing left, between two of the straight baculites, is a male Placenticeras.  A mosasaur lurks in the background.  Picture Credit: Terry McKee

- Wayne Itano

Thank you very much, Mr. Itano, for the post!  The post was really interesting, and I know I learned a lot!  I found the part about the nesting site particularly interesting!  I have no doubt that my readers, as well as myself, would love to hear from you in the future!  Thanks again! - Zack Neher

Bronze Tree on Dwellable

Animal of the Day: Coelophysis

Today's Animal of the Day is Coelophysis!  The picture of the cast you see off to the left (taken by me at the Denver Gem and Mineral Show a few months back) is from the AMNH (American Museum of Natural History) in New York.  I actually know a little bit more about this particular specimen of Coelophysis than I believe was labeled there, as I remembered seeing this specimen in my Dinosaur Atlas book from DK Publishers.  One of around 500 or so individual Coelophysis specimens discovered at a place called Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, this particular specimen was once thought to reveal something interesting about the species: Coelophysis was once thought to probably be a cannibal, as the remains of a baby Coelophysis were found in the area of the stomach!

Dinosaur cannibalism is not unheard of, and almost certainly occurred in the Late Cretaceous Abelisaur Majungasaurus from Madagascar.  However, this was disproven in 2002 by Rob Gay, when he showed that the baby Coelophysis were either crushed by the smaller ones, or that they weren't even baby Coelophysis!  Instead, many of them were found to be other, small reptiles, such as the archosaur Hesperosuchus, a member of the same group as the crocodilians, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs, amongst others.  So for now, it looks like Coelophysis was probably not a cannibal, but future discoveries may force us to change our minds once again!

Another picture of Coelophysis that I took, at the DMNS

Coelophysis is one of the oldest known dinosaurs, inhabiting North America around 220 million years ago (MYA), during the Late Triassic Period.  The site at Ghost Ranch is interesting, because there are just so many different specimens all clumped together.  Some paleontologists have suggested that a flash flood drowned a huge herd of these animals, or perhaps that they died while trying to cross a river.  We might never know what, exactly, killed these dinosaurs, or why so many of them died in such close proximity.  

Harry Potter Names: Remus Lupin

Remus Lupin is one of my favorite protagonists from the Harry Potter series.  Despite the fact that he is a werewolf, he nevertheless is an exemplary wizard and a fantastic teacher.  The origins of his name are also quite interesting!

The surname, Remus, originates from the myth of Rome's foundation.  One of two main characters in the story, Remus's brother Romulus is the other central character.  There are many different forms of the myth, but here is how most of them seem to go.  The mother of Remus and Romulus has the two young boys float down in the river to protect them from the Gods, in the hopes that someone else will raise them.  They end up being raised by a female wolf.  Later on, they are adopted by humans, and eventually build a large city.  Both brothers want to be king, however, so the pair quarrel, and Remus is killed.

So we have the wolf connection: Remus and Romulus were cared for by a wolf, and Remus Lupin is a werewolf.  Another connection is that, in the seventh book, Remus Lupin is a guest on Potterwatch, and goes by the code name "Romulus."  Some sources even cite that J. K. Rowling's intentions were to represent the conflict within Remus Lupin (between his human side and his werewolf side) by having the names of the two brothers both apply to Remus Lupin.

Next, we have the last name, "Lupin."  In Latin, the word "lupus" means "wolf:"  This is where the scientific name for the gray wolf comes from, Canis lupus, shared by the many sub-species of the gray wolf, including the arctic wolf, the Mexican red wolf, and the domestic dog.  So that apparently means that "lupin" translates to "wolf-like."

We have one more connection, courtesy of Aniruddh Prakash: the letters in the name "Remus Lupin" can be rearranged to the words "Primus lune," which means full moon.  Coincidence?  I think not!  Clearly, Rowling put a great deal of thought into this name!

23-Fact Tuesday: All About Allosaurus!

Today we are going to do yet another 23-Fact Tuesday, and this time it is all about a particularly interesting dinosaur known as Allosaurus.  But this 23-Fact Tuesday is particularly special, as it is also the birthday post of one of my personal heroes and one of the people who inspired me to take this dinosaur- and animal-oriented path, Mr. "Dino" George Blasing!  Happy birthday, Mr. Blasing!  Here we go!

Allosaurus Vs. Stegosaurus at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

1.  On Halloween in 1879, Arthur Lakes discovered a tooth from a dinosaur that was later identified as Allosaurus in Wyoming.

2.  In the United States, Allosaurus is found in the Morrison Formation, and lived alongside other animals such as Stegosaurus, Apatosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Camptosaurus, Gargoyleosaurus, and many others. 

A skeleton of Gargoyleosaurus from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Allosaurus Vs. Camptosaurus that I saw at a traveling exhibit at the San Antonio River Walk in Texas

Ceratosaurus at the Smithsonian

Stegosaurus at the Utah Field House

3. The claws on the hand of Allosaurus could reportedly grow up to 10 inches long.

The arm and the claws of Allosaurus, mounted at the Morrison Natural History Museum

4.  Some scientists believe that Allosaurus had a very weak bite, around the strength of a leopard.  Regardless of exactly how weak of a bite it had, Allosaurus was definitely not a heavy-biter champion, and many paleontologists hypothesize that it instead used its skull sort of like a hatchet to kill its prey, using its razor-sharp teeth to critically injure its prey.

5.  The first fossils of Allosaurus that were ever discovered were originally thought to be petrified horse hooves.

6.  Allosaurus is the state dinosaur of Utah.

A reconstructed skeleton of Allosaurus at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Utah

7.  Allosaurus certainly didn't sit on its rump and enjoy hamburgers and tea, as their skeletons show that they suffered many injuries throughout their lives.  As a matter of fact, the Allosaurus specimen that is on display at the Smithsonian Institution has a number of broken ribs, a smashed shoulder blade, and a damaged lower jaw.

A crushed femur belonging to Allosaurus from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry

8.  The lower jaw of the specimen at the Smithsonian was so damaged, in fact, that it took scientists more than 100 years to figure out that it was, in fact, an Allosaurus jaw!

9.  A predator-prey relationship between Allosaurus and Stegosaurus was all but confirmed with the discovery of a specimen of Allosaurus with a hole in one of its tail vertebrae that perfectly matched the shape and size of the thagomizer on the tail of Stegosaurus.

Allosaurus Vs. Stegosaurus at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

The "thagomizer" of Stegosaurus, mounted at the DMNS.  Check out THIS post to learn about how this particular part of the Stegosaurus got its name!

10.  "Allosaurus" spelled backwards is "Suruasolla," which means absolutely nothing.

11.  The small horns above the eyes of Allosaurus are mostly thought to have been for display, as most scientists believe them to be too weak to withstand much stress resulting from conflict with prey or other Allosaurus.

12.  Allosaurus gives its name to the group Allosauroidea, which includes the Chinese theropods Yangchuanosaurus and Sinraptor, and the carcharodontosaurids, which includes one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs of all time, Carcharodontosaurus, amongst other dinosaurs.

13.  Some of the other scientific names that Allosaurus fragilis has had over the years are Allosaurus lucaris, Allosaurus ferox, Labrosaurus ferox, Labrosaurus lucaris, Antrodemus, Poicilopleuron valens, Laelaps trihedrodon, Epanterias amplexus, Hypsirhophus discurus, Hypsirhophus partim, and Creosaurus atrox, with a few other names under debate right now.  Specifically, some scientists think that the dinosaur known as Saurophaganax is the same animal as Allosaurus.  However, I have talked with a few people, including Matthew Mossbrucker, curator of the Morrison Natural History Museum, and he says that he has seen the remains of Saurophaganax and believes them to be distinct from Allosaurus. 

A reconstructed skeleton of Saurophaganax that I saw at a traveling exhibit at the San Antonio River Walk in Texas

14.  Besides Saurophaganax, Allosaurus was much larger than the other known theropods from Late Jurassic Morrison, such as Ceratosaurus and Torvosaurus.

A reconstructed skull of Saurophaganax that I saw at a traveling exhibit at the San Antonio River Walk in Texas

15.  We humans actually live closer in time to the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and other dinosaurs from that time period than they do to Allosaurus!

A Triceratops skull at the Morrison Natural History Museum

16.  Allosaurus fragilis was first named by famous paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877.

17.  The scientific name of Allosaurus fragilis translates to "fragile different lizard," named such due to the fact that Marsh believed that the vertebrae of Allosaurus would have been quite weak, and were different  from those of other, previously discovered dinosaurs.  Now we know that vertebrae of this kind were quite common.

18.  One of the most famous specimens of Allosaurus is the approximately 95% complete specimen nicknamed "Big Al."  Estimated to be only a teenager at his TOD, he is about 26 feet long, which probably helps to explain why so many of my dinosaur books list the estimated length of Allosaurus at around 26 feet.

19.  Allosaurus lived during the Late Jurassic Period, around 155.7-150.8 MYA in the United States (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Oklahoma, and South Dakota), Portugal, and possibly the Tendaguru Beds of Tanzania, although many people believe that this is African animal is an entirely different animal from Allosaurus.

20.  Work began at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in 1960, and over 40 individual specimens of Allosaurus have been uncovered there since then.

Unarticulated bones of Allosaurus from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry

21.  Due to the vast number of Allosaurus specimens discovered in all different stages of its growth development (especially from Cleveland-Lloyd), paleontologists have been able to estimate that Allosaurus reached full-size at around 15 years of age, and lived to around 22-28 years old.

A whole bunch of Allosaurus leg bones all put next to each other to show the growth of the animal, largely based upon bones found at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, which is where this picture was taken

22.  Fossils of Allosaurus are still being discovered to this day, a fact which I can personally attest to.  Blocks of stone are still being excavated at the Morrison Natural History Museum, and bones of Allosaurus, as well as its teeth, are currently being cleaned. 

23.  Allosaurus is the favorite dinosaur of the famous dinosaur educator, "Dino" George Blasing.

And remember, if you have a birthday coming up, just email me the date at cuyvaldar123946@gmail.com with the date and your favorite animal, and I will do my best to get a post in!  And remember, if you like what you're reading, make sure you LIKE US ON FACEBOOK, follow us (if you have a google or gmail account), or hit the subscribe button off to the right if you don't!