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How could I not share a bunch of howler monkey photos? These animals are so cool! And yes... the males' calls are loud enough to hear a mile away. If you are near a river or a good-sized expanse of rainforest, this is a sound you will almost definitely hear first thing in the morning and in the evening. Most of the howling happens because these creatures are announcing their presence to other troops of howler monkeys. They are very territorial, and they have no tolerance for interlopers. Fascinating animals, and I love photographing them, especially when the babies are hanging on to their mothers or following the adults around. The FIRST PHOTO is my favorite because the monkeys were lazing around in the heat of the day, and the mother howler appears to be studying her hand as her youngster studies me while lounging around on its mom's back. Anyway, here are a few howler photos. Just because.     Photos by Stan C. Smith
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Coral reefs have an abundance of unusual fish, but one the strangest, and awesomest, is the smooth trunkfish. While snorkeling on our recent trip, we were lucky enough to see several of these beauties. These fish are obviously not built for speed. They are rather box-shaped, and they swim around by fluttering their pectoral fins (on the side, behind the gills). Perhaps to make up for being slow, the trunkfish's scales are all fused into one solid protective shell, like a suit of armor. Also, when they feel threatened, they release a substance (called pahutoxin) into the water, which incapacitates other fish in the vicinity. When hunting for food, such as small invertebrates, this fish uses it puckered lips to blast a jet of water at the sand to expose its prey.   Photos by Stan C. Smith
Green iguanas are so photogenic that I can't help posting a set of photos from our recent Belize trip. Here are a few really cool tidbits about these lizards: Green iguanas have a "third eye." Well, kind of. It's called a parietal eye, and it's on top of their head. It's sensitive to changes in light, which helps them keep track where the sun is and to escape predators from above, such as hawks and eagles. Green iguanas are great swimmers. They often bask in trees over the water, and when threatened, they launch themselves into the water and swim away. On this trip, when we were in a boat drifting on the Belize river, a large green iguana swam right up to our boat. And this was at night, which was odd because green iguanas are usually only active in the daylight. Green iguanas can use their long tail as a whip to defend themselves from predators. And... during the mating season, male green iguanas change from green or brown to a spectacular orange color to attract mates.    Photos by Stan C. Smith Meet the amazing spiny-tailed iguana. These lizards, which sometimes grow over four feet in length, are seen throughout many of the Caribbean countries, including on small islands. Here are a few cool tidbits of information: Spiny-tailed iguanas may not look like they could run all that fast, but they are speed demons. In fact, they are considered the fasted lizards in the world, running at up to 21.5 miles per hour (34 km/hr). The older, larger adults cannot run this fast (I can identify with that), but the smaller, younger ones can, especially when fleeing from predators. Spiny-tailed iguana hatchlings are often bright green, which makes them easy to confuse with young green iguanas. But they soon turn to the more familiar grey and black colors. Spiny-tailed iguanas are predators when they are young, feeding mostly on insects, but they turn into herbivores as they grow larger, eating flowers, leaves, and fruits (but they won't pass up a bird or rodent if they have the opportunity). Quick story: The last photo shows the tail of one of these lizards protruding from a hole in a tree. Trish and I found it this way, and we were almost convinced the lizard was stuck. I tugged on the tail a bit, and the lizard moved, so we knew it was still alive, but it had jammed itself in there really tight. It was still there the next day. I tugged again, and this time the lizard moved farther into the hole, so I realized it wasn't actually stuck. And on the third day, when we walked past the tree, it was gone. I guess it just liked being there and wasn't in any hurry to leave.    Photos by Stan C. Smith I'm not very good at identifying shorebirds, especially in the Caribbean, because there are so many, and a lot of them look so similar. Seriously, there are tons of sandpipers, snipes, godwits, phalaropes, curlews, dowitchers, and more. Sound like a foreign language? I agree. But this one, the RUDDY TURNSTONE, is one I can recognize because it is so striking in appearance. Hmm... Ruddy Turnstone sounds like it should be the name of a character in an old western. But it's actually a shorebird seen on the beaches of coral and mangrove islands (called "cayes") off the shore of Belize. This little bird has an interesting habit of flipping over rocks, shells, and other debris to find crabs and other invertebrates, which it snarfs up with gusto. The SECOND PHOTO is a ruddy turnstone that we found while walking along the beach. At first I thought it was dead, but I noticed its eyes were open. I gently picked it up to put it on its feet, then we saw that its wing was hopelessly broken. It was able to hobble off for a short distance. It would be unrealistic to hope that the bird might survive. Maybe a gust of wind caught it off guard and drove it into the sand dune, or something like that.   Photos by Stan C. Smith
I write novels. I also read novels, as many other people do. But I rarely hear anyone talk about where the concept of a novel came from in the first place. I mean, how did this particular form of expression or storytelling originate? Think about it. A novel is a rather strange thing—tens of thousands of words painstakingly written to tell a long, convoluted, fictional story about events in a person's life. Adventure, romance, terror, and countless other sequences of events. Many novel lovers would argue that novels allow readers to feel emotions beyond any other form of writing. But what crazy writer came up with the idea of putting themselves through such a daunting task? First, there are many definitions of a novel. But they all include: - Considerable length (often 40,000 words or more) - Written in prose (as opposed to poetry) - A narrative (a structured account of connected events) - It must be fiction Let’s dig into this. As it turns out, it’s not so easy to identify the very first novel because there were many pieces of literature that approached the level of a novel. But most historians agree that the first novel was “The Tale of Genji,” written around the year 1010 AD (1,016 years ago) by a Japanese noblewoman named Murasaki Shikibu. Yes, the first novel was written by a woman. Cool. Why is “The Tale of Genji” considered the first novel? Because it was more than just a very long piece of prose fiction. This book extensively explored the characters’ states of mind, which allowed readers to understand their inner personalities and motivations. In 1925, Virginia Woolf (the influential English author of the late 1800s and early 1900s) stated that “The Tale of Genji” captured “the intricacies of behaviour, in what men said and women did not quite say.” Scholars agree that Murasaki Shikibu’s “novel” went far beyond the other shorter and less intricate works of fiction before it. How long was “The Tale of Genji”? Well, it had only fifty-four chapters, but the most common versions translated into English are about 1,200 pages, containing roughly 330,000 words. That’s a long novel even by today’s standards. To compare, my longest novel, “Profusion”, is 115,000 words and most of my others range from 50,000 to 90,000 words. I guess I should point out that there were long fiction books before “The Tale of Genji.” For example, “One Thousand and One Nights” (sometimes called “The Arabian Nights”) dates back to about 570 AD (1,456 years ago). But it isn’t considered a novel because it’s a loose collection of stories. So, “The Tale of Genji” meets all the requirements for a novel. Earlier works, despite being long-form prose, do not. While we’re at it, let’s consider the first science fiction novel. Simply because sci-fi is so awesome. There is a book titled “A True Story” (or “True History”) written in the second century AD by a Syrian author named Lucian of Samosata. It is the earliest known fictional book that includes travel to outer space, alien lifeforms, and interplanetary war. It’s pretty wild. Lucian and his fellow travelers are blown off course, and their ship is sucked up in a giant whirlwind and carried to the Moon, where they become caught up in a war between the king of the Moon and the king of the Sun. Wait! “A True Story” was written long before “The Tale of Genji”, so why isn’t it considered the first novel? Because many scholars don’t think “A True Story” is a novel because it’s a satire or parody and doesn’t have the sustained character development of a novel. Then what is the first science fiction novel? That honor typically goes to Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein”, published in 1818. Why? Because “Frankenstein” bases its plot on scientific principles—reanimation through electricity/chemistry—rather than magic or fantasy, and it includes extensive character development. So, there you go—the first novel and the first sci-fi novel (though it's possible some historians might suggest alternatives). By the way. If you want to read Murasaki Shikibu’s “The Tale of Genji”, it’s available on Project Gutenberg here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66057 And “A True Story” by Lucian of Samosata is here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45858 The original 11th century version of "The Tale of Genji" did not survive. Below is a portion of the oldest known "copy" of the hand-drawn, illustrated scroll, created in the 12th century.  Photo Credits: - Portion of 12th century scroll of The Tale of Genji - Imperial Palace Kyoto, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Did you know this is how cashews grow? I didn't, until we learned this in Belize a few weeks ago. Cashew trees are large tropical trees that stay green all year around. The nut itself forms at the bottom of what becomes a much larger "cashew apple" (FIRST AND SECOND PHOTOS). I know... it looks like a pear, but they call it a cashew apple. Anyway, when these cashew apples are ripe, like the one in the first photo, they are amazingly delicious! Unique and very sweet. Unfortunately, they do not store well, and therefore they do not travel well. So, they cannot be shipped for wide distribution. Basically, if you want to eat a cashew apple, you have to get it straight from the tree in the tropics and eat it on the spot. Which I did. Yum! The cashew nut many of us are familiar with is inside the small, curved shell protruding from the bottom of the cashew apple. But that green covering over the nut contain an acid that can really irritate your skin (not if you just touch it, but if you dig into it to try to get to the nut). To remove the toxin, workers pull the nut from the cashew apple, roast or steam them, then crack open the hard shell and remove the edible nut. It's an intensive process, which explains why cashews are kind of expensive. The THIRD AND FOURTH PHOTOS show different stages of development. You can see that the nut forms first (ants seem to like this stage), then the stem above the nut expands to become the delectable cashew apple.     Photos by Stan C. Smith
Amazingly, considering all the times we have searched for herps (reptiles and amphibians) in various Caribbean countries, I have never seen a live boa constrictor in the wild... until a few weeks ago on our recent Belize trip. On our daily walks near one of our favorite resorts (Blackbird Caye on Turneffe Atoll), there is a tree with a hole in it that has a nice cavity that would make a great hiding spot. So, every time we walk by that tree, I go over and look into the hole, hoping to see a boa constrictor (our snorkeling guide, Carlos, told me once, on a previous trip, that he had seen a boa in there). But the hole was empty every time I checked. This time it wasn't. After almost dancing with joy, I finally calmed down enough to take some photos. Trish might tell you that I got too close and the snake struck out at my face. And, well, she's right, it did. But it actually was striking at the camera, and no humans or reptiles were harmed in the making of these photos. :) So, here it is... my first ever boa constrictor in the wild. Up close and personal.   Photos by Stan C. Smith During another hike in our forest, I came upon these unusual fungus fruiting bodies growing from a dead log. They look like sheets of translucent jelly. Remember Fruit Rollups, the gooey, fruit-based, candy-like stuff that came in rolled sheets? That's what this fungus reminds me of. Well, it turns out this fungus is actually included in a group of weird fungi called "jelly fungi" (those that look and feel like jelly or rubber). This species is called wood ear, tree ear or jelly ear. It is actually edible, though I haven't tried this species. But many people, including Trish and me, and maybe you, have eaten a closely related species that is cultivated in Asia and is usually included in Chinese hot and sour soup. Wood ear has medicinal value. This fungus improves blood coagulation and decreases blood cholesterol levels. It is a really popular edible mushroom in China, which might be part of the reason heart disease is relatively rare in China. Hmm... maybe I should start collecting and eating the stuff. The first photo doesn't really show how translucent these fruiting bodies are. So, on the same dead log, I found another wood ear that happened to be situated where a beam of sunlight fell directly on it. I crouched low to get a photo showing how the sunlight filters through the fungus.   Photos by Stan C. Smith Several weeks ago, Trish and I drove to southern Missouri to spend a night at the Wildwood Springs Lodge, a one-of-a-kind resort built in 1922 and lovingly restored for the purpose of having live concerts in the lobby. We've seen numerous concerts there, like Amazing Rhythm Aces, Leon Russell, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Foghat, Head East, Poco, and many more. This time it was North Mississippi Allstars. Great fun in a grand resort that's over a hundred years old (FIRST AND SECOND PHOTOS). Anyway, as we were leaving the next morning, we stopped at Maramec Spring Park. The park is built around an astounding natural freshwater spring, where 100 million gallons (363 million liters) of water flow straight up out of the ground each day, creating the Maramec River (THIRD PHOTO). To get a better feel for what this gushing water looks like, check out this 30-second video I recorded (Trish shows up at the end of this video): https://youtu.be/tvAToTwsqSc?si=-WTGep9TbrJAQhI9 Missouri has about 4,500 recorded springs. The top ten largest of these combined spit out over a billion gallons of water each day. This fresh, clean water coming from below ground is typically at about 57 degrees F (14ºC), even during the scorching days of summer. Because of this perpetually cool water, some of these larger spring sites have been chosen for trout hatcheries. Trout are not native to Missouri, and they could not survive in the warm water of most of our rivers, but they do well in the cold water near these large springs, and trout fishing is popular in these areas. Maramec Park has one of the trout hatcheries, and it produces a lot of trout, about 500,000 rainbow trout per year. The FOURTH PHOTO is from one of the trout-rearing pools near the spring's source:     |
Stan's Cogitations
Everyone needs a creative outlet. That's why I write. |
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