Proof that things so often are not what they seem.

To start, I'd like to point something out that is rarely mentioned in today’s world.

This would be common sense, which to me doesn't seem so common anymore (or was it ever? hmmm) As a result of this, people who lack knowledge of seemingly very basic facts often turn situations into something they are not and sometimes into things they definitely  should not be!

 (Oh, and if that sounded somewhat rantish well..... It should have because it was.)

This lack of common sense can arise when dealing with animals, even dead ones.

 Death can be a fascinating subject. Although we don’t always want to admit it, death is around us everywhere all the time, not to mention everything that is alive dies at some point - sometimes sooner sometimes much later - but either way, the end result is exactly the same.

What happens then you might ask.

Well the only thing I can tell you with certainty is what happens in the physical sense (all other aspects aside, we don't have time for that here). I am not a death expert by a long shot so although I can't tell you the exact stages of decomposition in their entirety I can tell you that without being frozen or preserved in some other way, soon after death, the previously mentioned word that many may hate but is nonetheless real - decomposition  - does inevitably set in.

As I said before things (animals) die everywhere all the time so it is expected that humans - live ones obviously (because like it or not they die everywhere all the time too) come upon them from time to time.

 Most of the time these are common creatures that are found in the area, and people know what they are and don't give them a second thought.  

But again the very fascinating and dreaded decomposition comes into play and does funny things that people don't often expect or don't consider because common sense is scarce.

And then the speculation begins.

 In recent times I know of a few cases - most notably involving several raccoons and a sloth. (I don't know if it was a two-toed or three-toed) These animals and then somehow ended up in water. After spending some time like this they then washed ashore in places where people stumbled upon them. Now, not only was decomposition well advanced but water on top of all this is known to do funny things, whether it is to dead bodies or whatever else happens to be floating around in it at any given time.

Then what can occur is that when people come upon a corpse of a very well-known and even common animal - but don't stop to consider this fact when deciding what it may be – they blow the situation out of proportion in terms of coming up with wild speculations and theories that have no basis.

 Decomposition can do funny things, the most obvious being changing the color of the skin, hair falling out, and appendages falling off. This obviously can change the appearance of what something looked like in life. But so much that people immediately start with the whole conspiracy stuff? I find that to be silly.

 After all it wouldn't hurt people to think logically, even if common sense is not coming back to stay anytime soon.

 Again any comments are much appreciated and in this case I will leave it to you to figure out what the creature is in the photo. Not until later will I give you an answer and another story to go with it.

Predators in Connecticut

Is it just me or has the population of predators in the state of Connecticut skyrocketed in the last decade or so?

 This is something that I have been wondering about for some time now.

 Although you may have not given it much thought, you probably can recollect times in recent years when you saw ‘something,’ whether at the time you knew what it was or not of you had not seen it in a long time or perhaps never before.

By this use of the word ‘predator’ I mean various medium- to large-sized carnivorous mammals (I would also say owls and hawks are around in greater numbers but that s a different blog entirely) Personally, in the past ten years I have seen numerous foxes (of both types), coyotes, otters, fishers, weasels and bobcats - some quite close to home - some not so - and some in places you would never expect.

In the area where I live, rabbits have never been a common sight but nevertheless are always there and can be found with a little searching. With rabbits being a good source of ready protein for most things that eat meat, I have long suspected and am now more convinced than ever that the reason for their scarcity is because of the numerous predators prowling the area both day and night.

And yet, the fact that there are some still around means that they never entirely disappear and thus are always a source of food. This would make sense as history (not to mention Watership Down) has taught us that the rabbit - at least many of the numerous species throughout the world - are prolific breeders. Not all that are pursued by predators are actually caught, thereby insuring the populations’ continued survival.

This basic information applies to the eastern cottontail, which is the species in question here.

While this post is about predators, rabbits are mentioned to represent a food source that is always there. (Speaking of food, it does seem to me that meadow voles and white-footed mice - two common U.S. rodents that are found throughout New England in large numbers - are more numerous than ever but perhaps that’s only my imagination. Either way these would be an ever-present food source for small and large predators alike.)

Now deep conspiracies aside - which I know nothing about by the way - it seems that what this basically boils down to is that with wildlife seemingly doing so well in the state, all the native predators have followed suit.

There are many possibilities but no absolute answers. I would be most grateful if folks could leave their opinions in the comment section regarding this topic as well as sharing their own experiences.