Thursday 23 September 2004
STORM COMING DOWN
Friday 10 September 2004
SLOTHS AND BLUE GREEN
Blue green algae is a term used to describe any of a large, heterogeneous group of prokaryotic, principally photosynthetic organisms. These little oxygenic (oxygen-producing) fellows appeared about 2,000,000,000 to 3,000,000,000 years ago and are given credit for greatly increasing the oxygen content of the atmosphere, making possible the development of aerobic (oxygen-using) organisms.
But all this heavy breathing aside, we go back to sloths and the wonder of making do where you are. The sloth's body and shaggy coat, or pelage, provides a comfy habitat to two types of wee blue-green algae along with various other invertebrates. The hairs that make up the sloth's coat have grooves that help foster algal growth.
And, while Kermit the Frog says, "it's not easy being green," it couldn't be further from the truth for this slow-moving tree dweller. The blue-green algae gives the sloth a natural greenish camouflage, an arrangement that is certainly win-win.
Thursday 2 September 2004
Saturday 28 August 2004
Saturday 3 July 2004
Saturday 15 May 2004
Saturday 24 April 2004
Wednesday 21 April 2004
Saturday 13 March 2004
Tuesday 3 February 2004
Sunday 4 January 2004
Monday 20 October 2003
Monday 13 October 2003
Thursday 2 October 2003
Tuesday 23 September 2003
Tuesday 9 September 2003
OH, SHE'S A BEAUTY :: CASTLE PEAK NORTH OF GOLDBRIDGE
Thursday 4 September 2003
Friday 4 July 2003
Thursday 15 May 2003
Friday 9 May 2003
Friday 2 May 2003
Thursday 24 April 2003
Monday 21 April 2003
WHEN THE TIDE IS OUT THE TABLE IS SET
Have you ever watched salmon jump, twist and leap their way past the many hurtles to return to their place of birth to spawn?
We are all familiar with the image of salmon returning to fresh water, to the rivers of their youth, to spawn and complete their lifecycle, in fact, it is one of the staple images of British Columbia. As adults, we bring our children to witness this cycle, rushing to the banks of our local rivers to watch as the adults, keen in their fight for reproduction and survival, struggle to complete their epic journeys against currents and predators. Arriving as they do, year upon year, season upon season, it seems to us that this is how it has been since time immemorial.
But we now have evidence that migration to the sea may be a relatively recent behaviour. Fossil beds at Driftwood Canyon, near Smithers, contain large numbers of fossil salmonid remains from the Eocene age, approximately 45 million years ago. What is interesting is that the fossil beds are filled equally with both juvenile and larger adults.
If these salmon were heading off to sea in their juvenile form and returning to spawn as adults we would expect to find an abundance of larger carcasses in the lake sediments and relatively few juveniles. Given the equal numbers, we can conclude that the salmonids of the Eocene, lived out their lifecycle as a landlocked species, the way Kokanee do today.
Thursday 20 February 2003
Sunday 9 February 2003
GRIZZLY & BLACK BEARS
Monday 3 February 2003
Friday 24 January 2003
Wednesday 18 December 2002
FOSSILS OF THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA
Aturia is an extinct genus of Paleocene to Miocene nautilids within Aturiidae, a monotypic family, established by Campman in 1857 for Aturia Bronn, 1838, and is included in the superfamily Nautilaceae in Kümmel, 1964.
Aturia is characterized by a smooth, highly involute, discoidal shell with a complex suture and subdorsal siphuncle.
Their shells are rounded ventrally and flattened laterally; the dorsum is deeply impressed. The suture is one of the most complex within Nautiloidea. It has a broad flattened ventral saddle, narrow pointed lateral lobes, broad rounded lateral saddles, broad lobes on the dorso-umbilical slopes, and a broad dorsal saddle divided by a deep, narrow median lobe.
The siphuncle is moderate in size and located subdorsally in the adapical dorsal flexure of the septum. Based on the feeding and hunting behaviours of living nautiluses, Aturia most likely preyed upon small fish and crustaceans. It is well worth exploring the exposures at Clallam Bay. The local clay quarry is on private land so you would need to seek permission. I have also seen calcified beauties of this species collected from river sites within the Olympic Peninsula range, though I have not explored these myself.
Friday 15 November 2002
INSPIRATION: MOR-PHAR
That legacy carries on in the like-minded community of those I write, kayak and fossil collect with. Amazing people who fill me with wonder as they take in the beauty, rugged strength and delicate balance of this imperfect yet utterly perfect world.
Sunday 20 October 2002
Saturday 31 August 2002
Wednesday 19 June 2002
Wednesday 5 June 2002
FOSSIL COLLECTING 007-STYLE
Past trips have included grizzlies at close quarters. This trip we saw fresh tracks and scat, but the bears were actively avoiding our camp, just leaving enough evidence to give us the heads up that this is their territory.
Over the course of the week we collected beautiful marine specimens and saw a buck with a sexy set of horns, flocks of Franciscans and a majestic lone wolf.
The area is home to active research by UBC paleontologist, Louise Longridge and boasts abundant marine fauna - ammonites, bivalves, belemnites and have a chance to see the Triassic-Jurassic boundary – a rare treat.
As with all fossil collecting, our search for treasure has a higher goal. All of our finds are lovingly photographed, catalogued and available for study. If fossils are your thing, visit www.bcfossils.ca to find a local society and get on out there.
Originally published at getawaybc.com