At the end of June we had an opportunity to visit our son, Matt, and
his family in Illinois over a long weekend. Besides getting a chance to
spend some quality time with Matt, our grand twins, Garrin and Brady,
and daughter-in-law, Angela, we had the pleasure of watching Matt
receive his MBA diploma from Lake Forest School of Management at the
commencement exercise held at Navy Pier. We are very proud of him and
his family.
The day before we also attended the Brewers
game at Miller Park and observed the “Brew Crew” dismantle the
“Twinkies” in the second game of their three-game sweep. The weather was
exceptional and all in all it was a perfect visit.
One
evening during our stay, we watched a couple of DVDs that Matt had
picked up at the public library. One was from a PBS special entitled “A
Murder of Crows.” When crows get together similar to a brood of
pheasants, a gaggle of geese or a flock of ducks, their gatherings are
called “murders,” for whatever reason. I had heard about the program
from several people and I think Mary Sather wrote about it in her weekly
newspaper column awhile back. Even with their drab color, one of my
favorite birds is crows because of their exceptional intellect and
family values. This program is definitely a “must see.”
The
second DVD was a Nova special entitled “Dogs Decoded.” It follows the
domestication of dogs over time and gives a fascinating look at how the
dog became our “best friend.”
Through DNA analysis it has
been shown conclusively that all our dog breeds, from the smallest
Chihuahua to the largest Great Dane, came originally from the gray wolf.
The gray wolf is the wolf species that inhabit Wisconsin today. It was
felt the wolves would follow early man in their hunting forays and the
most curious and friendly of the wolves over many generations became the
dogs we know today.
The intelligence of our present day
dogs has been shown to include visual and vocal stimulation that goes
well beyond a trained response. How dogs perceive humans visually
through facial recognition has been shown to be unique in the animal
world. Certain breeds of dogs will even respond to photos of objects
that they will selectively retrieve from a pile of numerous related
items.
An experiment was performed to see if wild wolf pups
would assume the docile behavior of dogs if raised in a human
environment. A pair of newly born pups, taken from a wild wolf den, was
raised to adulthood in a human family setting. At first the pups behaved
much like dog puppies, but as they became older, their wild, innate
traits emerged and they became completely unmanageable.
In
another experiment, Arctic foxes were followed for more than 50 years of
selective breeding to see what behavioral and physical changes could be
ascertained. Foxes are cousins of wolves and the artic foxes are raised
for their fur in commercial fur farms. These farms would provide a
valid controlled experimental setting to test the hypothesis that
breeding was the reason that the wild wolf could become the family pets
of today.
Most of the foxes would display wild-type
aggression to humans but a select few would show signs of curiosity and
more docile behavior. These human friendly animals were selectively bred
and, over the course of the study, some remarkable attributes were seen
with these pairings. The foxes became more doglike with tail wagging
and typical human friendly behavior. Physical traits also began to
change. The tails of the foxes began to curve and various fur colors started to manifest themselves. Instead of the dark black pelage display
of the wild Arctic fox, various fur hues and textures emerged. Through
selective breeding these animals with a specific phenotype, could be
made to breed true. This was simply amazing.
If you have
the opportunity to view either of these programs on TV, or can get them
from a local library, I would strongly recommend them.
The
recent rains soaking the landscape continue to benefit the hard work of
New Richmond High School students, as they teamed up on May 20 with the
St. Croix Wetland Management District to plant thousands of native
prairie plugs. The event was part of the high school’s Service Learning
Day, an annual event in which students spend their day volunteering
throughout the area.
The prairie plugs were placed in the
ground on a freshly-tilled plot at the Prairie Flats South Waterfowl
Production Area, which is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The
agri-science students began the project in January, planting prairie
seeds and learning about the important role these species play in
forming soil, controlling erosion and providing wildlife food and
habitat. They planted the prairie seeds, carefully tending to them until
they were mature enough to withstand the natural environment.
The
seedlings were then transferred from their sheltered home to the
planting site. The students arrived early Friday morning, spades in hand
and ready for a busy day. Staff members from the SCWMD were also
present to lend a green-thumbed hand.
After almost 4,000
prairie plugs were in the ground, the planters gave their knees a break
and were given a tour of the maintenance facility by Wildlife Biologist
Chris Trosen, where they learned about the machinery used to plant and
harvest prairie seed.
After muddy knees and dirty hands,
all those who partook in the planting looked across the field of
seedlings with accomplished grins. The effort proved to be teamwork
among an assembly line of tray cutters, diggers and planters working
together to tackle the project.
Rachael Sauvola,
agricultural education teacher at New Richmond High School, commented
that the event was “a wonderful partnership between the classes and the
Fish and Wildlife Service. It opened doors for collaboration, and
taught students that they can be a valuable asset to the environment.”
The
day ended with an indoor picnic for all at the high school, including
the 900 students who completed more than 40 volunteer projects that day.
A big thank you to all who participated in the prairie planting.Ancestory of dogs traced back to gray wolves
No comments:
Post a Comment