From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

This fantastic-sounding chimeric creature is a small mammal that most of us probably wouldn’t recognize: the musk deer. And you’d almost have to see it to believe that it really exists.

There are several species of musk deer in the Moschidae family, which used to be widely distributed in prehistoric times but today are found only in parts of Asia. Their name is a bit of a misnomer as they are not actually deer (who belong to the neighboring Cervidae family, and can be distinguished for instance by their horns). While these unusual animals may lack the jackalope’s signature antlers, their weird combination of features may make them the closest living thing to its mythical cousin.

Left: The taller Siberian musk deer.

Musk deer are shy herbivores who inhabit the remote woodlands of Asia’s high terrain. The males are highly valued for the potent scent they produce, a commodity that can bring enormous market value and has led to aggressive hunting and trapping, especially in China.

Interestingly, the musk deer resembles the oldest living species of deer, the Muntjac or “Barking Deer” of Eurasia. Muntjacs have small antlers in addition to tusk-like teeth. It is believed that these two species are remnants from a prehistoric population ancestral to both Moschids and Cervids.

So what of the infamous Jackalope?

Jackalopes – the cunning, antlered hare whose lore has been the bane of many a green tourist – is not just a specialty of the West. Similar “hybrid” creatures exist in the fables of countries around the world, most especially in Alpine regions. Like the winged Wolpertingers, Rasselbocks, and Skvaders of Germany and Scandinavia, they are an elusive but prized catch and a favorite folk spoof.

One peculiarity of jackalope lore is the tale that its milk is aphrodisiac. This is strangely reminiscent of the musk of its real-life counterpart, the musk deer, that has led to its near extinction.

I am not sure if there were any Moschids indigenous to America’s West in prehistoric times – or if the “jackalope” is merely an import of European settlers – but it is interesting to note the overlap of habitats between the musk deer, muntjacs and the jackalope’s Eurasian cousins. Could it possibly hint to a stored cultural memory of a time when strange, small bounding mammals with horns and tusks were not quite so scarce?

Ultimate Ungulate: Moschids (Musk Deer)

Wikipedia: Musk deer, Muntjac and Jackalope

Museum of Hoaxes: Jackalope

Images:
Wikimedia Commons
World Wildlife Foundation/HW Schuldei/Leipzig Zoo
BorealForest.org
BlueSkyBirds.co.uk “Mutjacs”

From the Cornell Ornithology Lab’s photo contest – a beautiful shot of a female Northern Flicker, taken by Gary Mueller.

An Irish swan from a gorgeous photo taken by Stephen Heron on Flickr. Click to see it close up. I used a 6b charcoal blended with a tortillion to make the backdrop; the swan is done primarily in graphite and the water with a combination of both graphite and charcoals. Here’s a shot from the halfway point:

Brown bear cub in snow, from Gary Lackie’s photostream on Flickr. Doesn’t look like the Alaskan cold bothers this little fellow a bit, does it?

I did this fun little guy in graphite over the weekend. Thanks to Larry Johnson on Flickr for the great photograph.

This is really extraordinary aerial footage of a gray wolf pack hunting a herd of bison. It’s intense, and maybe grisly to some – but in my mind it’s good to see that there are still places in the world where these fascinating animals can still carry out these ageless rites.

BBC Frozen Planet: Wolf hunt footage

It’s not just for folks in the UK. The BBC’s Nature & Wildlife department has a big website comparable to National Geographic’s – it’s chock full with oodles of photos, videos, and fact files (and of course news) making it a nature lover’s paradise.

Some of the video content may not be available to visitors outside the UK, but there’s still enough great material to make it worth the visit. I could spend hours merely looking through the gorgeous photography. Professor Iain Stewart, whom I have blogged about before, is one of the main contributors for the science section. Browse by region, species, and topic – it’s superbly well-organized, and a particularly useful research tool for students.

Put this site in your Bookmarks!

More screenshots:

This one comes from a 1987 edition of National Geographic courtesy of Jim Brandenburg.

“The freezer may look bare but an arctic wolf knows a tasty fish might be within reach in the shallows off Canada’s Ellesmere Island. Barren and severe, the region is nearly devoid of human activity, so the animals show little fear of people.”

According to the Audubon Society, nearly 60% of North America’s bird species are migrating demonstrably further north, and that extends equally to Central American species which are now making appearances in the lower 48.

I’ve been having a nagging urge to start sketching them in little vignettes. Time to start sharpening my graphites! Also I’m hoping to build a small collection by photographing them. If I get really ambitious I may even try to catch a few hummingbird shots! So far I’ve posted only a few feathered friends to my photoblog but nothing much yet; it seems whenever I end up in close enough proximity, I find myself without a camera… So in the meantime here is a gallery from NatGeo for a quick “songbird fix.”

National Geographic: Songbird Photo Gallery

By the way, here are a few of my favorite bird sites.

NatGeo Backyard Bird Identifier

All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
WhatBird.com – Bird Search

Audubon Birds – Quick Guide

What I believe is a golden-crowned kinglet in a black willow tree.

Kinglets are extremely small songbirds similar to warblers, with sprightly, inquisitive personalities (like this one!) They prefer the habitat of coniferous forests. The photo is mine (public domain).

Audubon could aptly be called the “Bird Man of the Early American Frontier.” Born in Haiti, raised in France, and devoted to his adopted American homeland, he became a world-famous icon of the wilderness. His natural sketches comprise perhaps the world’s greatest illustrated volume.

Audubon was born Jean Rabin, the illegitimate son of a naval officer and plantation owner in the French Caribbean. He was reared in France from his early years after his father took him to live with his stepmother in Nantes. When she formally adopted the elder Audubon’s children in 1794, young Jean received the name Jean Jaques Fougere Audubon (which he later anglicized upon coming to the US).

As a young man he was charming, inquisitive, athletic, with strong interests both in the arts and the natural world. His father encouraged these pursuits but also intended him to become a sailor. Young Audubon was prone to seasickness and had little aptitude for math or navigation; and when faced with the military draft upon the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, his father helped him immigrate to the US covertly, where he had arranged a joint venture in the hopes of launching his son’s business career.

John James Audubon, as he was now known, aged 18, settled in Pennsylvania and promptly fell in love with the American wilderness. The place held many attractions for him: the vigorous frontier life appealed to his sense of adventure; he formed many important relationships, including that with his future wife; and above all he was overwhelmed by the lush natural beauty of his new home, prompting his childhood fascination with birds and other animals to grow into a naturalist’s passion.

He made painstaking observations of the region’s bird life and carried out detailed studies to learn about their behaviors. Among these experiments were some of the earliest documented uses of bird-banding. He became an expert in taxidermy and amassed a huge collection of specimens.

On a trip to Philadelphia, he visited Charles Willson Peale’s museum of natural history and determined to make a visual record of his own natural studies.

After a series of business enterprises and partnerships came to naught, he finally moved to the Kentucky frontier with his new wife, more determined than ever to procure a living through his wildlife art. He thrived on the rugged life of a woodsman and the new-found kinship he shared with the frontier settlers, and particularly the region’s Native Americans. Immersed in the same world that produced the larger-than-life personas of Daniel Boone and Johnny Appleseed, with a rigorous regime of traveling, hunting, and painting, his character and his work began to assume an identity that was uniquely reflective of his environment.

In 1812 he traveled to Philadelphia and finally acquired American citizenship, only to return home to find years’ worth of drawings destroyed by scavenging rodents. His work was further hampered by the financial depression that rocked the early American republic in the Panic of 1819, which left him and his young family virtually bankrupt and landed him in debtor’s jail. Barely able to eke out a living, he set off as an itinerant artist on a tour through the Deep South; during these difficult times his wife became the main breadwinner by teaching on plantations.

By the early 1820s Audubon had been able to reconstruct his lost collection of bird paintings to an even higher standard, and his natural studies in the South had offered a wealth of inspiration for his new volume. Another trip to Philadelphia in 1824 led to promising contacts – lessons from artist Thomas Sully and recommendations from Charles Bonaparte. Within two years he traveled to England, where he exhibited over 300 of his original works. He became an overnight sensation with his European audience, and immediately set out to start publishing his collection.

With production costs around the modern equivalent of $2 million, the first release of Birds of America was to feature copper plate engravings and hand-colored, life-sized prints produced by a specially employed team of artists and craftsmen. Among its subscribers were many members of the royalty and nobility of England and France.

Audubon’s celebrity status as buckskin-clad hunter and frontiersman did not overshadow his considerable artistic skills, or his scientific prowess – neither of which was lost on his European peers. He was made an honorary member of the Royal Society of London (only the second American so named after Ben Franklin); the Royal Society of Edinburgh; and the Linnaean Society (named for Linnaeus, the famous taxonomist). He was widely invited to lecture on natural science and gave demonstrations on his taxidermy methods which employed wire frames to recreate more life-like poses. One of these events was attended by a fascinated Charles Darwin, then a young student in Edinburgh.

After an extended stay, Audubon finally returned to his family in the US in 1829. Over the following years he continued to make business trips abroad, as well as natural expeditions through vast stretches of North America.

Right: An 1826 oil portrait of Audubon by artist John Syme; it now hangs in the White House

In 1842 he published a new & expanded edition of Birds of America (after having issues with the previous publication & the quality of the copyists’ workmanship). He also embarked on a new project, a work on mammals entitled The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, which was left unfinished and later completed by his sons and a close associate. He died in 1851 on the estate he bought for his family near New York’s Hudson River, today the location of the Audubon Park.

Although he had hoped to leave his family materially secure, all but 80 of the copper plates used for the printing of Birds of America were later sold by Audubon’s struggling widow and melted down for scrap. The 435 original watercolor studies she sold to the New York Historical Society.

Wikipedia: John James Audubon

Wikipedia: Audubon’s Birds of America

Audubon Society “John James Audubon – The American Woodsman: Our Namesake and Inspiration;” plus Audubon’s Birds of America online

University of Pittsburgh: Audubon’s Birds of America – complete digitized collection

PBS American Masters: John James Audubon – essay, gallery & timeline

BrainyQuote.com – Audubon quotations

Perhaps the American Indian was much more knowledgeable and perceptive in their understanding, acceptance, and treatment of wildlife – especially of the wolf – than we allow ourselves to be. They were not threatened by wolves; rather, they respected, admired, and learned from them.

Read the rest of the article on Wildlife Extra

Photo Credit: US Fish & Wildlife Service (public domain)

Light-mantled albatrosses are a threatened species of the circumpolar Southern hemisphere. Albatross pair bonds last for decades and individuals are known to live as much as forty years.