Text 23426, 77 rader
Skriven 2007-11-26 07:09:02 av Carol Shenkenberger (1:261/1466.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Glen Jamieson
Ärende: Dulles Thought 71123
============================
 -=> Quoting Glen Jamieson to Carol Shenkenberger <=-

 CS> Ohh, that would be cool.  Dingotes anyone?
 GJ> Or "coyogoes" has a nice ring to it.  :)
 
 CS> I wonder which type of howl they would have?

 GJ> The dingo has a rather high and penetrating howl.  Probably much the
 GJ> same.  In fact, as dingoes were brought into Australia by migrants via
 GJ> SE Asia about 8000 years ago they may be related to coyotes, which
 GJ> were also probably introduced to America by the first settlers from
 GJ> Africa via East Asia at about that time.

Really?  I thought they'd always been here (Coyotes).
 
 GJ> I have read of those enormous herds of bison and caribou across North
 GJ> America, now gone forever.
 
 CS> Not sure Caribou were ever that big in herd size but bigger probably
 CS> than they CS> are now.

 GJ> Jim has written of large herds...

They still are pretty big.  Some types are not doing as well, but others seem
stable I gather.

For buffalo, they have to keep the herds in check now.  Wild herds of them
sadly
do not fit the places here anymore.  They'd take over too fast and be
dangerous.
 
 GJ> South America and Australia and Antarctica were once joined, as the
 GJ> continent of Gondwanaland, and marsupials proliferated throughout.
 GJ> Then they separated and S America joined up through Panama with the
 GJ> North, whereupon the rapacious (and cleverer) Northerners ate out a
 GJ> lot of the Southern beasts.  Only the tree-dwelling possums managed to
 GJ> survive that onslaught.
 
 CS> Gondwanaland, after Pangea broke up right?

 GJ> Yes, I think that was how it went.  A bit before my time.

But not by much eh?  (snicker, never leave me an opening THAT obvious Dear!)
 
 GJ> According to Grolier, there are about 70 varieties of possum, mostly
 GJ> in S America.  They are the only marsupials remaining there.
 
 CS> I gotta look that up.  I seem to recall there are 2 others, but not
 CS> populous. Possums (Opossums) are quite common in the USA.

 GJ> They would be the most successful of the marsupials.  My eldest
 GJ> daughter used to have a pet one, which used to sit on her head,
 GJ> holding on to her curly hair.  It caused a certain interest when she
 GJ> used to ride her bike to the local shops, wearing the possum.

Possums are actally kinda cute when young but once they get bigger, they look
and act like furry tree climbing armadillos.

When I lived in San Diego, a possum family latched on to the fact that we had
an outdoor kitty feeder dish.  Momma and baby would come up every night at (as
I recall) 3am for their feed.  Man they are LOUD crunchers!  First time they 
did it, we went to the door to see what the heck it was crunching out there and

scared the be-jesus out of both of us <g>.  We put more food in the bowl though
and quietly closed the door and for years after, we'd hear them at night, 
munching away whatever was left in the bowl we'd fill again just before going
to bed.  Usually just one baby but sometimes the older one still trailing 
'momma possum with baby on her back'.
                     xxcarol



... Always butter up the SYSOP, they taste better that way.
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