Posted on 06/08/2016 2:55:09 AM PDT by raybbr
GARDINER, Mont. — I met the bison calf that took a ride in an SUV early one evening as I drove west in Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley, past the pullout known as “Picnic.” The late afternoon sun on a stormy landscape provided the light that we photographers dream of for shooting gorgeous mountains in the distance and wild animals on the horizon.
I spotted the calf near the road and all alone. It was crying out and seemed to be looking for its mother, but no other bison was anywhere close by. Instantly, I knew three things: The calf was orphaned or had become separated from its mother. The calf would not be adopted by another cow and could not survive alone, and so it was just a matter of time before it died or was killed. And I wanted a photo of that calf, in order to remember its short life.
Every year in Lamar Valley, we see bison calves by themselves, destined to perish. Their mothers might have died in childbirth, abandoned them or become separated during a river crossing. We watch as the calf runs from cow to cow, looking for its mother. We watch the other cows react with violence, particularly if the calf attempts to nurse. A wild bison cow will not adopt another’s calf. I have seen calves take up with bulls, which sometimes tolerate them. But eventually the calves are too weak to keep up during the daily roaming and are most likely captured by a coyote, wolf or bear.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Yup.
Animals always out breed the food supply.
What changes is which characteristics will enable one animal to successfully compete against another to survive.
Before, the bird who saw the cricket from farthest away and flew the fastest got all the crickets. The slower or less far sighted bird got hungrier and more desperate, eventually making a mistake that a predator sized upon or getting sick or flying into something.
Now a bird who sees and avoids the windmill blade will get the crickets, and the faster bird who doesn’t see the blade goes splat.
At the end of the season the number of birds will still be the same because the limiting factor is still the limited number of crickets.
Our job is to accept nature on nature’s terms. But to do that, we need more educational programs that can teach people just what that means. The National Park Service needs more rangers out in the park and interacting with visitors, teaching them about this place called Yellowstone that I love so much.
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The rest of the story............................ more government.
I met the bison calf
POST #14; ,,,,, does this mean Moochell can now shower with the girls .
That photo of Michelle Obama sure is suspicious, except the hips say “female”. Could it be an airbrushed photo?
“That is a rare thing as usually they are in their UFO’s.”
Well, they’re associated with many UFO incidents. Skinwalker Ranch comes to mind.
This us a representative forum. There are just as many stupid people here per capita as anywhere else. No since bawling everyone out.
You are correct. So often when humans try to intervene, the situation worsens. I believe the bison calf should have been left along.
But I find it the ultimate irony that the National Park Service, who would condemn a tourist for upsetting the cycle of nature plays around with nature all the time, like introducing super predator wolves in Yellowstone and other parks and those wolves in turn decimate the ungulate (hoofed animals) population in those areas. Elk, deer, moose and antelope have all seen a precipitous decline in population in the mountain west states.
The NPS should live by the same rules they would impose on the rest of us.
Really, that’s not my take on Genesis 1:24-26.
Fixed it
Stop looking in the mirror, then!
“Baby” bison die all the time. Some are brutally torn apart by wolves or other predators. In Africa, “baby” zebras and wildebeests are brutally ripped apart by hyenas and lions. Its not a pretty sight. But its the way the world has worked since the dawn of time. Trying to save any young animal is silly.
Mother nature is Mother nature. The National Park Service is the bloated federal government.
The latter can never be the former, except in the minds of liberals.
Sorry, but once a person has said, “That’s the way nature works,” it’s no longer regrettable. Anyone who doesn’t “like” how nature works should probably stay in an apartment in a major city and watch “Bambi.” :)
We can still be saddened over harsh realities. I think it’s built into our fallen nature to have regrets about the realities of life, because it represents our inborn desire for a better world.
One that is absent of death. :)
I thought I was the only one who read (most of) that book...it’s a metaphor for Govt everywhere
That was Janet Rino.
Mother nature is a mean momma!
Priceless!
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