12/29/08

I'm still out in Sequim.........land of wapiti.

The elk, or wapiti (Cervus canadensis), is one of the largest species of deer in the world and one of the largest mammals in North America and eastern Asia. In the deer family (Cervidae), only the moose, Alces alces (called an "elk" in Europe), is larger, and Cervus unicolor (the "Sambar" deer) can rival the elk in size. Wapiti are almost identical to red deer found in Europe, of which they were long believed to be a subspecies; however, mitochondrial DNA evidence from 2004 strongly suggests they are a distinct species.

Elk range in forest and forest-edge habitat, feeding on grasses, plants, leaves, and bark. Although native to North America and eastern Asia, they have adapted well to countries where they have been introduced, including New Zealand and Argentina. Their high level of adaptability poses a threat to endemic species and ecosystems where they have been introduced.

Male elk have large antlers which are shed each year. Males engage in ritualized mating behaviors during the rut, including posturing, antler wrestling, and bugling, a loud series of screams which establishes dominance over other males and attracts females. The bugle call is one of the most distinctive calls in nature.

Modern subspecies are descended from elk that once inhabited Beringia, a steppe region between Asia and North America that connected the two continents during the Pleistocene. Beringia provided a migratory route for numerous mammal species, including brown bear, caribou, and moose, as well as humans.[20] As the Pleistocene came to an end, ocean levels began to rise; elk migrated southwards into Asia and North America. In North America they adapted to almost all ecosystems except for tundra, true deserts, and the gulf coast of the U.S. The elk of southern Siberia and central Asia were once more widespread but today are restricted to the mountain ranges west of Lake Baikal including the Sayan and Altai Mountains of Mongolia and the Tianshan region that borders Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and China's Xinjiang Province.[21] The habitat of Siberian elk in Asia is similar to that of the Rocky Mountain subspecies in North America.

Throughout their range, they live in forest and in forest edge habitat, similar to other deer species. In mountainous regions, they often dwell at higher elevations in summer, migrating down slope for winter. The highly adaptable elk also inhabit semi-deserts in North America, such as the Great Basin. Manchurian and Alashan wapiti are primarily forest dwellers and their smaller antler sizes is a likely adaptation to a forest environment.

Anyways, these buggers were basically in my parents backyard yesterday.

(click for mondo bonite)





-agentasian

12/27/08

my good friend zakima..............

from Yakima helped build the new park there with Grindline. It looks like grindline is figuring out the well rounded setup thing. zackybaby zackybaby zackybaby. bryce is gnarly.



-agentasian

12/24/08

i was really suprised.....

when i checked sum of my daily internerd stops and found that certain sites, which are usually really lazy about posting stuff as it is were working(?) on xmas eve. Well the fellows at girlfourstarchocolat always put out the clean fun edits and this one is one of my favorites so far. Heres the youtube version but you can c a nice quality one over at crailtap



-agentasian

12/23/08

Some of you may know.........

that i have a thing for corndogs. Not actually eating them but the image of one. Some of you may also now that at 30 years old, I have no tatoos. I just never got one, not really sure why, but sometimes talk about getting a corndog pricked onto my forearm, if/when I decide to. I don't know, maybe something like this??

Photobucket

-agentasian

emil duh



-agentasian

12/20/08

12/15/08

squirreltrap

Photobucket
this is my pal Jaime Larson. I small bird in the snowy forest told me today that he had been blogging and I should take a peek. Good stuff. fun links. what more do you want? Jaime rules. check it out!!
here or in the links column.

-agentasian

12/14/08