That's a very interesting creature. It looks like a young, unopened pine
cone, or rather that from a "cedar pine" (in which pine nuts are found).
Thanks for sharing it with us, Brian!
There are some very interesting animals in your "neck of the woods".
We still have very fond memories from the visit to your continent, and
especially from the tours that you and Rob gave to us and the interaction
with all of you (and your wife).
One of the most vividly remembered encounters was in the stones near
the ocean with yet another lizard (was that a monitor?) that was just
about a meter away from me when I was trying to photograph it. I believe
it was Rob who photographed me photographing that lizard.
Unfortunately, the photographs I took then are on the older computer. I've
shown some of them in my class, but I've never posted them on the web.
We also have armored creatures in our area, what I call "armored rats":
armadillos. Most of the time I see them as a road kill, but I've seen them
a few times crossing the road or running through the front yard.
So, they don't sunbath (or even moonshine) on the road.
I feel for you and your efforts of removing these creatures from the
road.
We have turtles that frequently cross the road in our subdivision. We have
two ponds on two sides of the road, and a lot of time water turtles that
live in these ponds cross the road. One of the problems is that often they
have hard time climbing onto the curbstone once they cross the road. And
then they get stuck. Over the years, I've removed plenty of them from the
pavement.
But on two occasions, I've helped to small land-dwelling,
what I'd call "prairie"- (or desert-?) type turtles on
the road as well (just within some 100-200 meters from that ponds area).
They are either "Emydidae": desert or ornate box turtles (most likely)
http://www.texasturtles.org/Emydidae.html
or Texas tortoise:
http://www.texasturtles.org/Gopherus_berlandieri.html
I've also seen a few places with a massive turtle crossing on a
relatively major, high-speed highway. That's where it also becomes a
potential road hazard.
Cheers,
Igor
Brian Walters Wed, 12 Sep 2018 04:51:02 -0700 wrote:
I haven't PESOed for quite a while...
Shinglebacks - I love these guys. They are the most endearing creatures
but they have the unfortunate habit of deciding that the warm bitumen of
country roads is a great place to soak up heat - with predictable
consequences. I often stop and move them off to a safer location but they
don't always appreciate my efforts. One or two have even peed on me :-)
Not a great photo but maybe a creature many of you wouldn't have seen
before. I
hope this link works...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0zw37k6rf1cshdc/shingleback.jpg
Cheers
Brian
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