odditudes-and-weirdities

Happy Moose Day! You'll find some references to this holiday on the web, but not much information about it. My hunch is that there's no strong reason to celebrate Moose on this particular day. The largest living species of deer is the Moose, and they are big dudes. Males are 5-7' tall at the shoulder and weight between 8-16 hundred pounds. Adults are too big for most predators, though the largest predators in an ecosystem will occasionally tangle with them. While most deer project classic good looks and gracefulness, the Moose could probably best be described as homely and ungainly. They're actually the most likely wild animal to injure someone in North America, though I suspect that's partly because they're more widespread than Grizzly Bears and Bison. The name "moose" is based on a Native American word for the animals. Confusingly the British call this animal an "elk", which here in North America refers to the Wapiti . I suppose if you'

Happy Newt Years Day! You may have a bunch of people wishing you a Happy Newt Year today, though many of them fail to pronounce the last "t" of "newt" [1]. Still, you have to give them credit for their enthusiasm about newts. Newts are a set of semiaquatic salamanders , and thus are amphibians . Despite a superficial resemblance to lizards, they are much more closely related to frogs and toads. Check here to find out if your salamander buddy is also a newt. Though I haven't taken a picture of a newt myself, I do have a picture of one of their salamander cousins . This Eastern Newt from iNaturalist shows just how photogenic they can be though. July 19, 2011 Photo 249874612, (c) litt10, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] Perhaps this is similar to Stephen Colbert, where the family doesn't pronounce the last "t" either.