Hey, you may have forgotten this, but it's elephant seal mating season now! Check out this battle for supremacy between two males, courtesy of the folks at Los Farallones National Wildlife Refuge in northern California. You can read more about elephant seals here and here. i've seen them at Año Nuevo during the birthing season, when the males are all sleeping and the moms are pushing out their young. Amazing animals. Around February, the guys wake up and what's on their minds? SEX! i remember actually that in January, we caught one of them having a wet dream... these are quite large animals... it was hardly subtle. So yes, they wake up, horny as hell, and start staking their position in the 'who gets laid' status bar. It's a bloody battle, but that's evolution for ya.
Es: sello de elefante Fr: èlèphante de mer Hu: fóka elefánt? عربي. فيل البحر??
In other animal kingdom news, for those who grew up in North America and/or on Loony Tunes, remember the Tasmanian devil fad, back in the early 70s or so? A cartoon of a little hyena-like creature spinning around and leaving a trail of fire in his wake? (that's my memory, anyway) Well, it turns out that these animals have been suffering in recent years from condition actually known as devil facial tumor, (is there anything wikipedia doesn't have info about?) An article in Le Monde today says this is because of high exposure to flame retardant chemicals. My god, what kind of kharma's at work there?? Of course, the story immediately focuses on whether humans should be worried about exposure to these same compounds - persistent organic pollutants, or POPs - which i guess means no more sniffing my fire extinguisher when the herbe stash is gone. But these animals are the last living member of their genus and are close to being listed as endangered. i guess it goes to show that what man can't hunt, he's still able to kill off by other means.
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