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43.6886, -96.5182
Field Notes
Description:
Small furry baby most likely in the mustelidae family with a white patch under his chin. His eyes were not yet open but he did have two bottom teeth. Most of the animals in that family seem to be out of their dens and roaming around around 6-7 weeks or two months-ish so he had to be younger than that, yet I don't think he could have been that young because of his thick, dark adult fur and the presence of teeth. I suspected long tailed weasel but I'm not sure I don't know my weasels very well! I was particularly infatuated with the animals because I've never heard reports of mustelidae around the Palisades area so I'm very anxious to know what the species is!
Habitat:
We found him outside of a den near the riverbed surrounded by the scatter e remains of a rabbit. We found him because of the loud, high pitched cries he was emitting. A little further down the bank I also spotted some paw prints in the mud that could possibly be the parent animal, but also could be a raccoon or something else that is more commonly seen in the area.
Notes:
The fate of the little guy did not go well; we left him where we found him to continue our hike and to see if a mother would respond to the alarmed calls of its baby. However we returned once and he was still there, but the second time we tried to check up on him we found nothing but a pile of internal organs, presumably the ones that are less favored to eat by predators. Having closely examined this area earlier, me and my brother both knew those remains were not there before. Despite the tragedy, I continue to remind myself of the circle of life and how his life went to sustaining another creatures' that is just as vital to its ecosystem. I figured to take the sadness that I had at the death of a creature that never got a chance at life and channel it into figuring out what its species is and learning about the species.
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