Essays and Book Chapters

Madagascar Diary – geckos

As usual for Madagascar, the geckos here are diverse and unique.  Over 80 species are endemic to the island.  All 12 genera in Madagascar belong to the subfamily Gekkoninae.  Most geckos have adhesive pads under the digits which enable them to climb on vertical smooth surfaces, even on glass.  The pads are usually structured into […]

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THE STARLINGS INCIDENT

There was something, however, in the appearance of this machine which caused me to regard it more attentively.  While I gazed directly upward at it (for its position was immediately over my own) I fancied that I saw it in motion.  In an instant afterward the fancy was confirmed.  Its sweep was brief, and of

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Everyone Loves the Solenodon

It seemed like a grand adventure to me. “You want to go where for vacation to do what?” asked my wife, Connie. Just stick to the basics, I thought.  “Travel to the Dominican Republic and then west to the border of Haiti; get up into the forest highlands; and try to catch a rare, primitive,

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Cloudveil

Eighty feet above me, fingers and toes adhering to thin edges on the vertical rock face, Dick approached the summit of the 9,415 ft. tall Mt. Stuart.    The reputation of the north ridge as a stellar climbing objective was clear as we ascended the sharp ridge pinched between two massive glaciers.  The foot of the

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