Sunday Nature Stills – 02/06/2022

We were listening to an ecology audiobook recently that was talking about the “S-Curve” of biological population growth.  It reminded me of a few years ago when many of the tide pools along the California coast were filled with purple sea urchins.  It’s interesting how animal populations can get out of balance (sadly, often from human influence), overpopulate, and then sometimes rebalance.  I wonder what the population of purple sea urchins is like in this same spot now.

Sunday Nature Stills – 12/26/2021

I took this photograph of giraffes feeding on thorny acacia trees near the Tanzania/Kenya border on the west side of Kilimanjaro.  Giraffes are really odd animals.  From a natural selection standpoint, the way that giraffes and acacia trees developed together makes sense, but looking at them as if for the first time, giraffes are quite bizarre.  When visiting Africa, you almost start feeling like you are in a Dr. Seuss book.  The sizes, shapes, colors, textures, and proportions of animals are really odd when you sit back and think about it.  Such a cool world we live in.