Re: NANFA-- Re: snapping turtles

james graham (busterg_at_voyager.net)
Wed, 6 Sep 2000 20:33:27 -0600

$6.25 at barnes and noble

----- Original Message -----
From: Jay DeLong <thirdwind_at_att.net>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2000 6:09 PM
Subject: RE: NANFA-- Re: snapping turtles

> > BG are you sure you just don't want to admit your favorite dinner
> > might eat carrion?
>
> I don't know that someone who has a recipe for possum pie would have that
> problem.
>
> (Just kidding-- I'd eat a opossum if BG and Bessie cooked it.)
>
> Michael, BG, all-- to change the subject a bit, if you don't have it you
> should find a copy of the book Flattened Fauna by Roger M. Knutson. This
is
> a hilarious small (88 pages) book with descriptions of animal behaviors
> around roads, and sillhouette-type drawings of various squished animals
and
> how to identify them. I remembered a passage in the introduction where he
> wrote about how road kill is a 20th century occurrence and speculated on
> pre-20th century road-kills:
>
> The Road as Habitat
> Compared to most places where we expect to see animals, the road is
unusual
> habitat. Most animal habitats (forests, marshes, prairies, and sand dunes)
> have been part of the natural world for millions of years; the creatures
> that live in those places have developed precise adaptations to their
> particular niches. But road fauna when alive, exists ("live" is too strong
a
> word) in a habitat that is almost unique to the twentieth century. An
> occasional prairie dog (Gynomys ludivicianus) may have worked its way into
> the soil of the Oregon Trail under the wheels of the Conestoga wagons of
the
> nineteenth century. A reliable 1897 report** from North Dakota gives
> evidence of at least one large snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina)
> flattened under the steel-rimmed wheels of several loaded wagons.
>
> **The snapping turtle report is a personal communication from John
Tjostem,
> a colleague, who was citing his grandmother's diary.
>
> --
> Jay DeLong
> Olympia, WA
>
>
>
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/----------------------------------------------------------------------------- /"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily / reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes / Association" / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association / nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word / subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to / nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to / nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead. / For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org