Maybe I should have called this show, Infundibula, blah, blah, blah, instead of Desert Mule Deer. I love to poke fun at scientific terms, but the truth is that I love the language of biology or in this case zoology. By the way, the word infundibula means funnel shaped, so the hollow pits as seen on the premolars and molars of our deer and gives them their generic name, are funnel shaped. Maybe if you use your imagination. Anyway, we are so lucky to have these large artiodactyl ungulates in the Cervidae – that was fun – out in the wild borderlands of southeastern Arizona.
A couple notes: the book I mentioned is Deer of the Southwest by Jim Heffelfinger. And the photos are mine. Two photos are of a large group out in the grassland. If you look closely you can spot some antlers. And I love the one of the two mulies in the orchard. I took that photo early in the morning with my cell phone.
The photos are mine of the Mirabilis longiflora flowers and Manduca sexta, the Carolina sphinx moth and tobacco hornworm. Note the seven streamline white...
Solanaceae is the nightshade family and according to my Hortus Third: A Concise Dictionary of Plants Cultivated in the United States and Canada, there...
Seems every few years I revisit this old poem/song of mine. It’s a true story. Oh, and the band I was in back in...
