Marvelous Metazoans: Watching the Realm

For our Frivolous Friday* fun, let’s have a sneak peek at one of the most remarkable spots in Arizona, and try to identify this adorable critter who seems to be the master of it.

Image shows a small reddish-brown ground squirrel or chipmunk lying on the edge of a limestone cliff, overlooking the rim of Montezuma Well. Its head is turned toward the left. Beyond it is a rugged limestone cliff, and below can be seen portions of the trail that leads down into the Well.
Captain of Montezuma Well. Just chillin’ over my domain.

Alas, I didn’t have my wonderful Sony Cyber-Shot camera back then. Otherwise, you’d get a much clearer view of the critter, and be able to zoom in to drool all over the utterly luscious limestone. But at least it gets the gist of the scene right, and hopefully there’s enough detail to make out what species our darling rodent is.

A zoomed-out view. The mystery metazoan is now looking forward. In front of it, there is a jutting cliff that looks like the prow of a ship. The limestone has tiny caves in it just under the rim. The top is gray, shading to light brown down the cliff. Beyond it, a jumble of broken-off limestone is visible slumping into the Well.
The Captain continues scanning.

We’ll be exploring the Well in detail in a few days. This is a truly awesome spot: located in a high desert, it contains a permanent water source, which is worth far more than diamonds to desert dwellers, lemme tell ya. Even on the dry rim, plants and wildlife flourish. There are species in this Well that are found nowhere else on Earth. And it was been home to humans for quite a long time.

Gotta run for now.

Image shows the little chipmunk or squirrel running across a limestone slab.
I must go! My planet needs me!

Anybody know what species our Captain of Montezuma Well is?

 

*Due to a scheduling mishap, we’re having Frivolous Friday on a Saturday, and the Saturday Song about Mondays was on Friday. Shut up. I was really really tired, okay?

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Marvelous Metazoans: Watching the Realm
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6 thoughts on “Marvelous Metazoans: Watching the Realm

  1. 1

    Rodent? I was going to say feline so I’m way out here.

    As for being tired & sleep deprived and out of synch – I can certainly relate. Know the feeling and its fine.

  2. 2

    If it makes it easier for you, I’m perfectly happy to call today Friday and yesterday Saturday. Would that make tomorrow Thursday? As a wise man once said, I never could get the hang of Thursdays…

  3. 6

    Until I clicked and blew it up I was going to say mountain lion; I mean cougar; I mean puma for that part of the world. Then I saw the rodent head. Clearly a cougyrill.

    Round-tailed ground squirrel? Some sort of ground squirrel, anyhow, I think.

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