Tag: Yavapai County

This greater earless lizard was formerly a greater tailless lizard, but a stubby replacement tail is already in place. 

For a scholarly look at the genetics behind the phenomenon of tail regeneration after

caudal autotomy

see Transcriptomic Analysis of Tail Regeneration in the Lizard Anolis carolinensis Reveals Activation of Conserved Vertebrate Developmental and Repair Mechanisms at PLOS-one. Fascinating stuff. 

Greater earless lizard (Cophosaurus texanus), at Tuzigoot National Monument, Yavapai County, Arizona.

This greater earless lizard was formerly a greater tailless lizard, but a stubby replacement tail is already in place. 

For a scholarly look at the genetics behind the phenomenon of tail regeneration after

caudal autotomy

see Transcriptomic Analysis of Tail Regeneration in the Lizard Anolis carolinensis Reveals Activation of Conserved Vertebrate Developmental and Repair Mechanisms at PLOS-one. Fascinating stuff. 

Greater earless lizard (Cophosaurus texanus), at Tuzigoot National Monument, Yavapai County, Arizona.

National Park People: Ruth has been a volunteer at the Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well National Monuments in Yavapai County, Arizona for eighteen years. She is 86 years old, and still contributes two days a week throughout the year, regardless of how hot or cold the conditions are. To qualify for the master Ranger Corps she devotes at least 500 hours of volunteer service each year. 

“I used to volunteer at Montezuma Well, but they send most of the college interns there these days, so I’m here at the Castle instead. There aren’t too many questions I can’t answer. Sometimes the people are from other countries, without any English, but we gesture and point and communicate somehow.”

National Park People: Ruth has been a volunteer at the Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well National Monuments in Yavapai County, Arizona for eighteen years. She is 86 years old, and still contributes two days a week throughout the year, regardless of how hot or cold the conditions are. To qualify for the master Ranger Corps she devotes at least 500 hours of volunteer service each year. 

“I used to volunteer at Montezuma Well, but they send most of the college interns there these days, so I’m here at the Castle instead. There aren’t too many questions I can’t answer. Sometimes the people are from other countries, without any English, but we gesture and point and communicate somehow.”

River otter tracks.

I was thrilled to see river otter tracks on the banks of the Verde River in Yavapai County this weekend. Native southwestern otters (Lontra canadensis sonora) were thoroughly extirpated here by the 1930s. In 1983 otters from northern subgroups were successfully reintroduced and are now thriving in the Verde River system. 

River otter tracks.

I was thrilled to see river otter tracks on the banks of the Verde River in Yavapai County this weekend. Native southwestern otters (Lontra canadensis sonora) were thoroughly extirpated here by the 1930s. In 1983 otters from northern subgroups were successfully reintroduced and are now thriving in the Verde River system.