Strange animals in British Colombia May 1 - 4/2012

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We feel immediately at ease when we arrive in Vancouver, though the time we spend here is too short to explore the city. Next morning already Fraserway (the company where we rent our new motorhome) picked us up at our hostel. The motorhome is 3 meter shorter than the one we had in the USA, but is far better equipped. It is easier to drive and it costs less gas. The only drawback is that it is terrible weather. When we cross the pass near Hope we hardly can see the road anymore due to snow, mist and a hard wind. The Rogerpass at 1327 meter is better. We are surrounded by snowcapped mountains and the results of avalanches. For the first time we see a black bear along the road, but we drive too fast to take pictures. At the campsite near Donald we see an animal we have never seen before. We take some pictures, but they are blurred, because it is too far. We think it is a wolverine. But when we show the picture at the visitors center at Field, they say it is impossible, because wolverines are seldom seen. They make a marmot out of it. When we say it was too big for a marmot, it becomes a wolf. When we show it had about the size of a wheel of a car it becomes a lynx. Finally they make a fox out of it. We ourselves think at last it was a coyote. If anyone has any idea (see picture), let us know.

Field is the spot where we came for. It sits in Yoho National Park. Nature is amazing: massive snowcapped mountains along green valleys with torrents. As if nature never had changed since the earth was born. We see Bighorn sheep and Whitetail deer. Yoho NP is a Unesco Heritage Site, but the holiest of the holiest are the Burgess Shales near Field. It is possible to visit them, but only from the end of June, when the snow has gone. We knew that allready before we left the Netherlands as we had mailcontact with the visitorcenter.

It is anyway magic to be here on such a important spot for evolution. In front of us at the other side of the river we see Mt Stephen, famous for its trilobites. Behind us are Mt Field and Mt Burgess, where the Burgess Shale Quarries are. It is the very spot where Charles Walcott found hundreds of fossils between 1907 and 1925. They are 500 million years old. Only the Ediacaran fossils are older (also in West Canada, near Mt Robson Provincial Park). Famous fossils like Hallucigenia, Opabinia and Anomalocaris were found here.They are products of the so called 'Cambrian Explosian', a sudden outburst of new forms of life. All existing animal life forms can be traced back to them. Palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould wrote about it in his famous book "Wonderful Life". He states that also lifeforms originated which do not exist anymore. They became extinct by coincidence, the same coincidence by which the now existing forms still exist. If life would evolute anew there would be completely different species, says Gould. An animal like Homo sapiens would never have got a second chance. For people who consider ourselves as the "Crown of Creation' it must be a shocking statement. Humankind is even less unique than Darwin would like us to believe. Simon Conway Morris has an opposite view, which he describes in his book 'Crucible of Creation'. Evolution would produce exactly the same forms again, according to him. The debate is still going on. Nowadays the Burgess Shales are explored by the Royal Ontario Museum. Meanwhile we continue our trip via Highway 1 to Alberta, where more famous fossils are waiting for us.

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Comments

[vera]

What animal is this?
I think it's a fat cat. But if you don't like this answer? then you can consider it as a raccoon:) loock hier: http://www.mota.ru/wallpapers/view/id/3679 In my opinion it is not wolverines, it has more elongate snout; not lynx, lynx has a short tail, not a marmot, marmot has no ears; not a coyote, coyote is very thin. This animal is sitting like a cat. I vote for the cat!:))