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.
Just a couple things about this episode; the genus Linaria has been assigned to the European or Eurasian species of toadflax and Nuttallanthus is...
I was wondering if I talk about dock (Rumex hymenosepalus) every spring, so I looked though my notes. Well, not every spring, but almost....
Tumbleweed and careless weed are here to stay and though careless weed is an Arizona native (Amaranthus palmeri) it certainly appears, at least to...
