Re: [Texascavers] cave critters
The opening shot in the video is of a reticulated python. As for the anaconda that follows it is indeed a biggie! Doesn't look like cave country though. I will never forget coming face to face with one almost that big in Guyana. It's ugly snoot and mine were about 18 inches apart which is way to close! The video that follows is more entertaining in that it shows idiots who manage to get bitten by big constrictors of various sorts. The final part in which the bimbo gets bitten on the tit is hilarious, unless of course you are the one getting bitten. Boids all have big teeth and getting bitten is no joke. Sleazel In a message dated 9/28/2016 4:00:10 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, texascavers@texascavers.com writes: Here is a news story from a few days ago about a snake that was allegedly found in a cave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEDdCPDGXCw David Locklear dlocklea...@gmail.com ___ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers ___ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
[Texascavers] cave critters
Here is a news story from a few days ago about a snake that was allegedly found in a cave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEDdCPDGXCw David Locklear dlocklea...@gmail.com ___ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
[Texascavers] Cave critters in Heaven
Just for fun: Some websites announced today that someone overheard the leader of the Catholic community subtly indicating there is an after-life for cave-critters. For his ideology to hold water, it would have to include the extinct cave-bear. Right? Also, if this notion could be even remotely believed, humans would be outnumbered by bats in Heaven. Right ? Surely, he means the sinful animals burn in Hell for eternity, too. I hope he is right, I look forward to a discussion with a bonobo, or a pterodactyl, or one of those deep-sea fish, but especially my earliest australopithecus ancestor, and to meet the being credited with teaching ancient humans how to make fire. I have a hunch, he is mistaken. David Locklear ___ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
RE: [Texascavers] cave critters
Sleaze, What a great re-telling of this interesting episode. If you haven't written a book about your various adventures you should do so while the memories are still fresh. I was fortunate with my one time encounter with a live Javelina. The mother had gone ahead into the brush of a small ravine and when I grabbed her piglet it squealed loudly but seeing the multitude of fleas I quickly released it before its mama could come after me. If West Texas had a flag of its own, out of several good candidates, I would vote for the Collared Peccary instead of the Coyote to be emblazoned upon it. I like the Armadillo but it has garnered too much publicity and it ain't mean enough. The Roadrunner is always a favorite and should be the West Texas state bird, barely beating out the Turkey Buzzard. Geezer _ From: bmorgan...@aol.com [mailto:bmorgan...@aol.com] Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 9:23 PM To: texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: [Texascavers] cave critters Fritz: You aren't the only crazy man I've ever known to grab a javelina. On my second trip up the Bladen branch of the Monkey river I had the misfortune to have hired a bunch of worthless bums from Mango creek to serve as porters. Erlin was the worst, a 6'6 leering sneering teenage homeboy. He was the most accomplished thief in the village, and so was looked up to by the others. My standing orders are always to stay at least a mile behind me, so you can well imagine the opportunities for mischief. They followed the trail Arturo and I cut. As they went through the jungle they swilled the rum and ate the food they were supposed to be carrying, some of it they hid under rocks to pick up on the way home. When we finally got to base camp on a tributary pouring off the Maya mountains we were all so exhausted that we fixed a simple meal and crashed. Very early (an unheard of and suspicious circumstance with Belizeans!) I heard Erlin and the men get up to leave, I offered them food for the journey back but they insisted they needed nothing and quickly hurried off. Shortly thereafter Arturo and I discovered that all the food was gone. We were Spamless! The next morning I was snoozing in my tent when I awoke to the sound of distant small arms fire. Suddenly Arturo appeared and urgently whispered, Missa Boose! Missa Boos! Wake up, the pigs are here! I climbed out of my tent to behold an enormous boar Warrie on the river terrace just above and behind me, about twenty feet away. Now you must know that there are two kinds of such piggies, the Javelina, which the Bushwoogians call the Peccari, and the Warrie. The Peccari is a small triangular blackish creature with a whitish collar, a hideous stench, and an even worse disposition. The entire front half of the animal is mouth. They run in small herds and have small territories. The Warrie is much larger, has a whitish beard, runs in herds of a hundred or more, and is nomadic. They are even meaner than Peccaries and are greatly feared in folklore. It is said that they gobble up hapless hunters. I blinked at the enormous boar as it looked at me with it's little piggy eyes. From behind him came the sound of gunfire, Pow! Powpow! Pow! The herd was eating Warrie cohune nuts. The Cohune is a gigantic palm tree native to Belize that is the salvation of the country. Anyone with any industry can build a shelter with the leaves, the nuts serve wildlife, and everything about it is good. The name cohune has now come to mean any palm, even the dread spine palm. Astrocaryum mexicanum is an elegant small understory palm about twenty feet tall. The beautiful dark green leaves and every other part of the plant are entirely covered with horrible needle like spines up to three inches long, but far sharper than any needle. They slide into your flesh with the greatest of ease then shatter like glass. Where these palms live no one ever goes barefoot. Where these palms live no one ever grabs a branch to steady himself. I am terrified of them! The nuts of these palms are delicious miniature coconuts covered with the most horrible spines imaginable. It is impossible to even pick one up. Nevertheless, the huge herd of Warrie, perhaps eighty of them, were cracking them like candy! 'Turo said, Hurry to the bend in the river and take a snap! They will cross there! I prefer a leisurely breakfast so my boots weren't even properly tied on, but I grabbed my camera and crossed the dry stream bed to the floodplain beyond. My first thought was to find a tree to climb, but everywhere I looked there was nothing but spine palms. As predicted the herd thundered across the dry stream bed straight at me. I had to decide between the warries or the spine palms. It was an easy choice, I just stood there! They poured around me in a great stream, oblivious to my presence. Arturo ran up with the gun and eagerly begged permission to shoot (I had banned hunting), reminding me of our stolen food
[Texascavers] Cave critters
Porcupines are common in the caves of southeast Asia. I have seen them in Mulu and in Thailand, and have often seen their tracks fairly far back. Let's not forget that Deer cave in Mulu was called that because when Tom Harrison (Mr. Cool, look him up) first discovered the cave it was frequented by real S ambar stags. Certain caves in central America are inhabited by Paca (Cuniculus paca), better know as Tepesquintle in Mexico or Gibnut in Belize. I have often written about how tasty they are. Some caves are obviously often visited since they leave well traveled trails deep underground, but only in certain caves. Damned if I know why? In such circumstances I have searched for stored food material but have found none. Jaguars often den in caves too, plus they hang around such places in search of Gibnuts! Sleaze **Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp0030002489
RE: [Texascavers] Cave critters
When I was still caving with the Rice Speleological Society, a bunch of us, including Jon Everage, went caving on a ranch out of Copperas Cove. While we were getting ready to go, the rancher asked us if we knew of a way to get rid of a porky that was eating up his wood fenceposts. Jon told the rancher that he'd shoot the porky if he could find him, so the rancher pointed at a porky cave (burrow) and said He's in there. Jon took a pistol and crawled down into the porky cave and in a few minutes, we heard a loud pop. A couple of minutes later, Jon scootched out of the burrow towing the porky along with him--an ugly beast! (the porky, not Jon)--and Jon shaking his head. Apparently he hadn't really thought this out--firing a pistol in the close confines of a porky burrow. Took him a few days to get his hearing back completely.Thus add to the legend that is Jon Everage. And, BTW, if they haven't faded out after lo these many years, I still have slides of the whole episode. From: BMorgan994@aol.comDate: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 17:27:31 -0500To: texascavers@texascavers.comSubject: [Texascavers] Cave critters Porcupines are common in the caves of southeast Asia. I have seen them in Mulu and in Thailand, and have often seen their tracks fairly far back. Let's not forget that Deer cave in Mulu was called that because when Tom Harrison (Mr. Cool, look him up) first discovered the cave it was frequented by real Sambar stags. Certain caves in central America are inhabited by Paca (Cuniculus paca), better know as Tepesquintle in Mexico or Gibnut in Belize. I have often written about how tasty they are. Some caves are obviously often visited since they leave well traveled trails deep underground, but only in certain caves. Damned if I know why? In such circumstances I have searched for stored food material but have found none. Jaguars often den in caves too, plus they hang around such places in search of Gibnuts! Sleaze Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.
RE: [Texascavers] Cave critters
Sleaze, Before this string dies I thought of one other mammal that frequents caves on a somewhat regular basis but probably not much past the daylight zones of caves with fairly large entrances. Some years ago on one of the numerous trips which I made to a particular favorite cave we viewed this animal. We were walking up the slope to Frio Bat Cave and just when the large drive-in entrance came into view, the largest Javelina that I have ever seen (and I have seen a few) came running out of the entrance and headed down hill into the brush. I assume that it was rooting around for insects or the occasional dead bat. Javelinas are my favorite critter and once while bird hunting on a large ranch on the Rio Grande, south of Sanderson, we spooked a small heard and as a young baby ran by I was able to grab it. I had thoughts of how cool it would be to raise a pet Javelina but when I picked it up and looked at its belly, the many dozens of fleas made me quickly put it down to join its mother. While on this same ranch, Clyde Smith, the ranch foreman, took us by horse and mule a couple of miles down a ravine to the Rio Grande's edge. Except for the ravine, the ranch's riverfront is bordered by cliffs maybe 500 feet high and it is desert country. The sandy riverbank had a thick growth of cane and amongst the cane was an adult mountain lion that had recently died with its foot in a trap. Clyde said that during the previous seven years this was the seventh lion that they had caught. Keep in mind that this was around 1970 and since then there has been a greater proliferation of mountain lions and bears in Texas. Shortly after this trip, Clyde mailed me a Sanderson newspaper clipping with a picture of a black bear (probably from Mexico) that had been caught in the same trap. Fritz, the nostalgia king. _ From: bmorgan...@aol.com [mailto:bmorgan...@aol.com] Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 4:28 PM To: texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: [Texascavers] Cave critters Porcupines are common in the caves of southeast Asia. I have seen them in Mulu and in Thailand, and have often seen their tracks fairly far back. Let's not forget that Deer cave in Mulu was called that because when Tom Harrison (Mr. Cool, look him up) first discovered the cave it was frequented by real Sambar stags. Certain caves in central America are inhabited by Paca (Cuniculus paca), better know as Tepesquintle in Mexico or Gibnut in Belize. I have often written about how tasty they are. Some caves are obviously often visited since they leave well traveled trails deep underground, but only in certain caves. Damned if I know why? In such circumstances I have searched for stored food material but have found none. Jaguars often den in caves too, plus they hang around such places in search of Gibnuts! Sleaze _ Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp0030002489 in the new year.
RE: [Texascavers] Cave critters
Louis, Again, the Texas Speleological Survey is ready and able to help you preserve and conserve your slides and memories of your caving events. Tales of the Peacock Caver are especially welcome. Ron _ From: Louise Power [mailto:power_lou...@hotmail.com] Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 6:04 PM To: bmorgan...@aol.com; texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: RE: [Texascavers] Cave critters When I was still caving with the Rice Speleological Society, a bunch of us, including Jon Everage, went caving on a ranch out of Copperas Cove. While we were getting ready to go, the rancher asked us if we knew of a way to get rid of a porky that was eating up his wood fenceposts. Jon told the rancher that he'd shoot the porky if he could find him, so the rancher pointed at a porky cave (burrow) and said He's in there. Jon took a pistol and crawled down into the porky cave and in a few minutes, we heard a loud pop. A couple of minutes later, Jon scootched out of the burrow towing the porky along with him--an ugly beast! (the porky, not Jon)--and Jon shaking his head. Apparently he hadn't really thought this out--firing a pistol in the close confines of a porky burrow. Took him a few days to get his hearing back completely. Thus add to the legend that is Jon Everage. And, BTW, if they haven't faded out after lo these many years, I still have slides of the whole episode. http://gfx1.hotmail.com/mail/w2/emoticons/snail.gif _ From: bmorgan...@aol.com List-Post: texascavers@texascavers.com Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 17:27:31 -0500 To: texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: [Texascavers] Cave critters Porcupines are common in the caves of southeast Asia. I have seen them in Mulu and in Thailand, and have often seen their tracks fairly far back. Let's not forget that Deer cave in Mulu was called that because when Tom Harrison (Mr. Cool, look him up) first discovered the cave it was frequented by real Sambar stags. Certain caves in central America are inhabited by Paca (Cuniculus paca), better know as Tepesquintle in Mexico or Gibnut in Belize. I have often written about how tasty they are. Some caves are obviously often visited since they leave well traveled trails deep underground, but only in certain caves. Damned if I know why? In such circumstances I have searched for stored food material but have found none. Jaguars often den in caves too, plus they hang around such places in search of Gibnuts! Sleaze _ Start the year off right. Easy http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp0030002489 ways to stay in shape in the new year.
[Texascavers] cave critters
Fritz: You aren’t the only crazy man I’ve ever known to grab a javelina. On my second trip up the Bladen branch of the Monkey river I had the misfortune to have hired a bunch of worthless bums from Mango creek to serve as porters. Erlin was the worst, a 6'6 leering sneering teenage homeboy. He was the most accomplished thief in the village, and so was looked up to by the others. My standing orders are always to stay at least a mile behind me, so you can well imagine the opportunities for mischief. They followed the trail Arturo and I cut. As they went through the jungle they swilled the rum and ate the food they were supposed to be carrying, some of it they hid under rocks to pick up on the way home. When we finally got to base camp on a tributary pouring off the Maya mountains we were all so exhausted that we fixed a simple meal and crashed. Very early (an unheard of and suspicious circumstance with Belizeans!) I heard Erlin and the men get up to leave, I offered them food for the journey back but they insisted they needed nothing and quickly hurried off. Shortly thereafter Arturo and I discovered that all the food was gone. We were Spamless! The next morning I was snoozing in my tent when I awoke to the sound of distant small arms fire. Suddenly Arturo appeared and urgently whispered, Missa Boose! Missa Boos! Wake up, the pigs are here!” I climbed out of my tent to behold an enormous boar Warrie on the river terrace just above and behind me, about twenty feet away. Now you must know that there are two kinds of such piggies, the Javelina, which the Bushwoogians call the Peccari, and the Warrie. The Peccari is a small triangular blackish creature with a whitish collar, a hideous stench, and an even worse disposition. The entire front half of the animal is mouth. They run in small herds and have small territories. The Warrie is much larger, has a whitish beard, runs in herds of a hundred or more, and is nomadic. They are even meaner than Peccaries and are greatly feared in folklore. It is said that they gobble up hapless hunters. I blinked at the enormous boar as it looked at me with it’s little piggy eyes. From behind him came the sound of gunfire, Pow! Powpow! Pow! The herd was eating “Warrie cohune” nuts. The Cohune is a gigantic palm tree native to Belize that is the salvation of the country. Anyone with any industry can build a shelter with the leaves, the nuts serve wildlife, and everything about it is good. The name cohune has now come to mean any palm, even the dread spine palm. Astrocaryum mexicanum is an elegant small understory palm about twenty feet tall. The beautiful dark green leaves and every other part of the plant are entirely covered with horrible needle like spines up to three inches long, but far sharper than any needle. They slide into your flesh with the greatest of ease then shatter like glass. Where these palms live no one ever goes barefoot. Where these palms live no one ever grabs a branch to steady himself. I am terrified of them! The nuts of these palms are delicious miniature coconuts covered with the most horrible spines imaginable. It is impossible to even pick one up. Nevertheless, the huge herd of Warrie, perhaps eighty of them, were cracking them like candy! ‘Turo said, “Hurry to the bend in the river and take a snap! They will cross there!” I prefer a leisurely breakfast so my boots weren’t even properly tied on, but I grabbed my camera and crossed the dry stream bed to the floodplain beyond. My first thought was to find a tree to climb, but everywhere I looked there was nothing but spine palms. As predicted the herd thundered across the dry stream bed straight at me. I had to decide between the warries or the spine palms. It was an easy choice, I just stood there! They poured around me in a great stream, oblivious to my presence. Arturo ran up with the gun and eagerly begged permission to shoot (I had banned hunting), reminding me of our stolen food. That was an easy decision too! With the boom the pigs went crazy, running in all directions and leaving their little piggies behind. Where was the badass boar? Turo yelled “ grab one! but that didn’t seem prudent. He grabbed one anyway and Mom attacked. As she went for his ankles he booted her in the snoot so she turned and ran. I petitioned for the little piggy’s life and made Arturo let him go, for his big brother was laying in a pool of blood. We spent a whole day eating pig and swapping lies. Every day thereafter as we pushed further back into the wilderness we left the carcass over a smokey fire to keep the flies off. That pig was good for a three week trip! Sleazeweazel **Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp0030002489
