The wild animals that live among us

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leopard seal won’t eat my face!

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(Gift link)

…after being declared extinct?

Canada geese flying in their signature v-formation weren’t always such a common fall sight in Minnesota.

Hunting and habitat loss decimated the birds’ population a century ago. Numbers had dwindled so low that scientists believed the biggest type of Canada goose, the giant Branta canadensis maxima, was actually extinct.

It wasn’t. The city of Rochester unwittingly harbored a flock of giants for decades and had a key role in the birds’ comeback story. Now giant Canada geese are everywhere in the Midwest.

A reader who grew up in Rochester wanted to know more about how the giants survived. She asked Curious Minnesota, the Strib’s reader-powered reporting project: How was the giant Canada goose rediscovered after being declared extinct?

It’s a unique Minnesota tale that involves one of the Mayo Clinic’s founding brothers, a persistent biologist named Dr. Harold Hanson, and a visit to the grocery store.

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Rupornis magnirostris, GaviĂŁo CarijĂł, Roadside hawk.

ETA

I think I was wrong. Now I think It is a young Quiriquiri or American Kestrel, AKA Falco sparverius

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I was at the school my daughter went to last night, and the upper elementary class had found a bun which they brought into the class… it had managed to get out of where they had corralled it, and it was hopping around the class rooms… the principal managed to grab him and put him back in the corral…

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:wink:

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What a beautiful Dutch bunny!

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:heart_eyes:

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Our (really) old cat seemed like she was getting cold, so the vet loaned us a jacket to try out. It just made her move even less, so we took it back.

The vet called it a “jackie.” Guess what we call jackets nowadays.

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Nibble nibble

They are cute but absolutely destroyed our pepper plants last spring

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Cue the bun alert.

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Bun Alert, Pepper Raiders Edition!
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stealin’ peppers… that’s a paddlin’.

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image

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The Epic of Beewolf

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That would be the perfect children’s book…

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I’ll post this here also:


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