My favorite animal is the impala, which is a deer-like antelope in Africa that combines the jumping ability of Michael Jordan, the speed of Usain Bolt, and the tough guy attitude of John Cena. They live in small herds where the young impala are grouped in a single “creche” like in a school, and one female is always on the lookout for predators. Males have beautiful long, curving horns and make a deep roaring call to tell other males to stay away from their herd. When things get tough, like in long periods of hot dry weather, they are extremely adaptable and can eat almost any plant and go a long time without water.
I would probably be a macaw, which is a large and colorful kind of parrot that lives in the Amazon rainforest. Macaws live in large social groups, and spend most of their time hanging out with each other and eating delicious fruits, which doesn’t sound like a bad time to me! Parrots are also some of the smartest animals, live up to 60 years in some cases, and who could resist flying around the rainforest?
An animal?
Eagles and lions appeal to me.
I think I felt weak as a child, and so these strong animals interest me.
Eagles soar on the wind with freedom. From their perspective they can see patterns in the world that we miss from the ground. Likewise I enjoy a window seat on a plane, looking out the window at the patterns I see on the landscape: how rivers have moved back and forth on their flood plains; how the vegetation changes across the landscape as precipitation and temperature change east to west and north to south and between mountains and valleys and plains.
Lions travel long distances, and what the eagle sees from above, the lion sees from the ground. They both see the same thing, but from an entirely different perspective. I enjoy hiking, walking, and cycling across landscapes, and seeing how the grass, wildflowers, shrubs and trees change with with elevation and side of a hill or valley or mountain. These things change with, and because of, changes in the soil. In western Malapais Wilderness in New Mexico you can use the amount and kind of vegetation to identify the amount of weathering and relative age of the lava flows.
The eagle and the lion observe beauty on entirely different scales, and I enjoy observing that beauty at both scales and trying to understand how they are connected and why the changes occur.
Comments
Alex commented on :
I would probably be a macaw, which is a large and colorful kind of parrot that lives in the Amazon rainforest. Macaws live in large social groups, and spend most of their time hanging out with each other and eating delicious fruits, which doesn’t sound like a bad time to me! Parrots are also some of the smartest animals, live up to 60 years in some cases, and who could resist flying around the rainforest?
Clay commented on :
An animal?
Eagles and lions appeal to me.
I think I felt weak as a child, and so these strong animals interest me.
Eagles soar on the wind with freedom. From their perspective they can see patterns in the world that we miss from the ground. Likewise I enjoy a window seat on a plane, looking out the window at the patterns I see on the landscape: how rivers have moved back and forth on their flood plains; how the vegetation changes across the landscape as precipitation and temperature change east to west and north to south and between mountains and valleys and plains.
Lions travel long distances, and what the eagle sees from above, the lion sees from the ground. They both see the same thing, but from an entirely different perspective. I enjoy hiking, walking, and cycling across landscapes, and seeing how the grass, wildflowers, shrubs and trees change with with elevation and side of a hill or valley or mountain. These things change with, and because of, changes in the soil. In western Malapais Wilderness in New Mexico you can use the amount and kind of vegetation to identify the amount of weathering and relative age of the lava flows.
The eagle and the lion observe beauty on entirely different scales, and I enjoy observing that beauty at both scales and trying to understand how they are connected and why the changes occur.