Animal Encounters

It's time to take a break from all the plant science for an exciting animal encounter. Rather, many animal encounters! As my dear friend and I drove across the southern United States on Interstate 10, we had to stop at a few roadside attractions. The first non-scheduled stop was in western Louisiana, where a billboard advertised "Pet baby alligators!"

It turned out to be a park alongside the highway. This is Bubba:

They had another alligator, Hampton, who was found by the dumpster at the Hampton Inn in town. They also had a snapping turtle and 2 adult (!) alligators, who were supposedly hibernating but had their eyes open. I learned that adult alligators only eat from June through August, and the babies are born in September.

Our next animal encounters were more commercial, but not any less exciting. In fact, there was a lot of excitement because we visited an ostrich ranch... ostriches are scary! They peck and follow people along the fence, making it difficult to get close enough to feed them.

The ranch also white-tailed deer, goats, mini donkeys, and rainbow lorikeets. All of these animals were exciting to feed. The deer were the most gentle and the lorikeets landed on my head and ALMOST made off with my sunglasses! Photos to come...

Benefits of working in Florida

Being surrounded by my study organisms, and growing the plants in a climate they can tolerate, is the main appeal of working in Florida. However, this has some not-so-obvious perks:

1. Beach biology. The other day I woke up and saw turtle tracks on the beach from my window. I checked it out and can confirm that a turtle nested there. Will I be patrolling the beach at night with a red-colored light in 55-60 days, watching for little turtle hatchlings? You betcha.

2. Cost of living. I am renting a 2 bedroom beachfront condo for less than I rented a viewless studio in Oakland. And the water is swimmable!

3. Florida food. Local delicacies include fried alligator and fried pickle chips. When in Rome, right? Fried alligator is pretty good, like a less slimy calamari. And fried pickle chips should be on the menu everywhere. Take sliced pickles (like you would find on your hamburger), fry them up like potato chips or french fries, and voila! A delicious, vinegary, vegetable-based appetizer!

4. Endless summer. You may think 90+ degrees is a little too much, but for all you California residents who had nothing in the way of summer this year, a couple months of heat doesn't sound so bad, does it?