To celebrate, we went up to northern Minnesota and spent a quiet weekend with Rebecca’s mother and her boyfriend.  It was all loons, silent waters, and sparkling, starry nights.  We also met a very cool spider, which we’ve always called a ‘Dock Spider’, and were able to pet it.  It was very friendly.

On our way back, we had the pleasure of visiting the International Wolf Center.

For Rebecca and I, wolves have always played a powerful part in our lives.  They’ve featured in haunting childhood dreams, have roused us from early-morning sleep while camping in the Chequamegon National Forest, and have been the impetus that encouraged us to do volunteer tracking for the DNR.  We’ve yet to see one in the wild, but when that moment comes, one of our greatest wishes will be fulfilled.  Many times, we have placed our hands gently on a wolf-track and been amazed to realize that only a few hours earlier, a wolf’s paw touched the same ground that our fingertips now rested upon.

For Kenton, there is also the chilling excitement of knowing that the first person to have been documented as killed by wolves in North America was also named Kenton.  It’s quite possible a bear actually killed the unfortunate college student, but the current official result says that he was killed by healthy wolves (though they were likely de-sensitized to human contact).

Over the years, we’ve been watching the wolves slowly expand in their range, and have been cheering them on all the while.  They’ve even ventured down to an area near Sweetwater Vale, and we have a feeling that our first encounter with one of these incredible predators will be sooner than we think.

If you are ever in the area of Ely, Minnesota, pay the International Wolf Center a visit.  They’re doing a great job of educating people about the important role these apex predators play in our ecosystem, and it’s thrilling to see the wolves in person.  You can also see what the wolves are up to right now by checking out their wolf cams.

Of course, fox kits are awfully high on the cuteness scale, but the real treat is watching them play.  They ran along cliff-edges, balanced across logs, and attacked leaves and grass.  Best of all was when they wrestled with each other, practicing their leaps, pounces, bites, and kicks.  We were reminded of how important play is — and how naturally it flows out of us when we can just ‘let go’.

In addition to the foxes, we saw a whole array of other animals that day.  Visit our Adventure Journal to see them all!

But we do have to ask a pertinent question. Is something wrong with their brains?

The problem arises when we’re driving out in the country. Invariably, we see squirrels in the road. The grey squirrels are always wary — as soon as they see or hear our car, they shoot off the road and scamper up a tree. But the fox squirrels are different. Often they’ll ignore us completely, so that we have to honk our horn or lean out the window and bark like a dog to get them to move far enough off the road so that we can get by. Others are only slightly more wary, and will move onto the gravel to watch us go by. Maybe they like the feel of the car’s draft — sort of a ‘wind through the hair’ thing.

In the rare event that one panics, it almost never runs straight off the road. It will start in one direction, then change course, then change course again, and often as not finally stop mid-road and stare. It’s gotten to the point that when we’re driving along and see one on the side of the road, we slow almost to a stop, because we’ve had too many instances when they just dart right out in front of the car.

We’ve managed to avoid hitting one, but only by always paying strict attention when we’re driving in the country — especially along routes where we know they’re abundant. But other drivers don’t take as much care, and we see an awful lot of fox squirrels that have met their end between car tire and road.

Has anyone observed this behavior elsewhere? Or is this just a phenomenon of Wisconsin fox squirrels? Maybe there’s something in our acorns?

The Life of a Shrew

The world of the Northern Short-Tailed Shrew is very mysterious — they are a creature that seems to combine the traits of many different types of animals.  They are famous for their ravenous appetite, of course.  Can you imagine eating twice your weight in food each day?  The shrew eats this and more.  Talk about an active metabolism!

Like Asian Lady Beetles, these shrews also have a chemical defense to protect them against coyotes, foxes, and house cats who might be looking for a meal.  The shrews exude a musk that makes them quite unpalatable.

Their vision is pretty poor, but the shrew makes up for it by using the power of the bat — echolocation.  They make sounds that are ultrasonic (too high for us to hear) and then listen for the sound’s echo in order to better perceive their environment.

Perhaps most amazing of all, the Northern Short-Tailed Shrew is venomous.  Its venom can kill creatures larger than itself, and if it bites a human, it will hurt rather badly — sometimes for a couple of days.  We didn’t know it was venomous when we saw it last year, and Kenton almost tried to catch it.  Lucky for him he didn’t!

When we met this creature, we thought it was just a rather cute grey velvety-soft looking creature.  We had no idea we were looking at a ravenous echolocating musk-producing venomous beast!  Ah, the surprises of nature!