Part one of my capture and immobilization class is over...3.5 hours of lecture. Luckily it kept my interest. Tomorrow will be more lecture in the morning followed by a lab about physical capture devices (snares, traps, and whatnot). Sunday will be more lecture, a lab in which we'll actually practice shooting dart guns, and the test administered via blackboard.

Aw man, Shtiya is resting his big fluffy head on my belly. He's on the couch with me. There's really nothing like a big charismatic blue-eyed husky. Although I'm pretty sure I still want a german shepherd. Shtiya is atypical for a husky, and I like shepherds for their loyalty and protective tendencies.

I feel pretty ready for the systematics exam on Monday. I went to the review session for about a half hour and now feel more confident with differentiating rodent families. I had neglected to number of molariform teeth and now I now that old world and new world mice, rats, and voles have three on each side. Really so far it's an easy class for me. Well, maybe that's premature since we haven't had the test yet, but seriously there are people in there that have like never seen a bear skull. Typing of which, today there was a nice big grizzly skull with really worn and cracked teeth. So freaking cool! If I could be a professor, I think I'd like to teach biology and systematics of mammals...I've always had a natural fascination with skulls, antlers, and tracks. And my recreational interest is proving to be a big aid for this class.

Beef cattle are really pissing me off. Well, they have been for a while. While some cultures accept predators as a natural risk to raising livestock and actually anticipate some losses, American ranching culture (on the whole) is vehemently opposed to predators. Justin, you've already heard this, but for everyone else...there's a great article about the mexican wolf reintroduction project in high country news, and it discusses how politics and pressure from the ranching community have really turned the whole reintroduction effort into a botched nightmare. We're reintroducing wolves and then turning around and killing any individual that has "three strikes" against it - any wolf that is responsible for the death of three domestic animals. So this rancher with an alpha male and female on his property has suffered two losses from the female, and so he literally offers a sacrifice - he deliberately puts a cow about to calve on a pasture right by their den. Guess what? A fat cow about to give birth is very enticing. Especially when it's in a position to be an easy target for a pair of wolves. So alpha female kills cow and calf, and alpha female is shot. GREAT. We're talking about a highly endangered subspecies of wolf here - all these wild wolves are descended from a few individuals bred in captivity to save them from extinction - and we're shooting the same wolves we've reintroduced. It's just so fucking wrong! For cattle! Probably about the stupidest most abundant large mammal on the planet! Easily replaced...usurping endangered species. Seriously though, another reason not to eat beef. And of the rainforest that is being cleared, 60% is being cut so that land can be put into agricultural production. Including beef ranches. Did I mention methane??