Tuesday, October 7, 2008

please forgive me

i've been in the field for 3 days and in need of an easy post.
pictured here, a texas short horned lizard, found in southeastern 
arizona. they are beautiful! three species of horned lizards, 
or "horny toads" as they are sometimes called, 
can be found in maricopa county. a hike 
at one of our nearby mountain park trails
 will reveal a ubiquitous lizard 
bounty. 

as of this morning at 11:00 pacific, black-tailed prairie dogs
have been returned to southeast arizona. 
extirpated (local extinction) in the 1930s, 
we have been without this component of our ecosystem for more
than half a century. after many years of paperwork and preparation, 
a team of biologists worked to prepare the site, 
capture prairie dogs from ted turner's ladder ranch in new mexico,
 and transport 74 to the release site near sonoita 
where they will hopefully thrive. 
good luck little guys!

3 comments:

Tash said...

This is eye-catching, really good shot of an interesting critter.

Thérèse said...

I like this post very much: picture and text.

Unknown said...

What a fantastic lizard! It's beautiful!