The Animeme

This has been going the rounds for a couple of weeks; Bora, at Blog around the Clock, started it off.

We are supposed to blog about interesting animals in our lives, under 5 headings. I already filled in one of them in the comments on Creek Running North; I'll cut and paste that here, under the appropriate heading.

1. An interesting animal I had:
   
2. An interesting animal I ate:
3. An interesting animal in the Museum:
4. An interesting thing I did with or to an animal:
5. An interesting animal in its natural habitat:

1. An interesting animal I had. Jellybean, the cat who chased bears. She is always the first animal to come to mind. It's a long story, which I wrote about on my website: you can find it here.

2. An interesting animal I ate. That would probably be the pan-fried grasshoppers (recipe) I bought in an open-air stand in a Mexican market. (Toluca) Spread in a fresh, warm corn tortilla, sprinkled with lime juice and garnished with a sprig or two of cilantro: Yummy! I wouldn't say the same for the Philipine delicacy I downed; at the time, I still had a cast-iron stomach. Half-developed chicken, still in the shell, hard-boiled. With feathers. Passable, if you don't look at it.

3. An interesting animal in the museum. The feathered serpent of the Aztecs.

Photo from Crystallinks.

4. An interesting thing I did with or to an animal. This was my comment on Creek Running North:

The year I lived in Oklahoma, I kept noticing box turtles on the roads. I would carefully steer around them, but not everybody did. I found a fair number damaged or killed by traffic, and started rescuing those that could survive, releasing them when they seemed healthy again.

At one time, we had around a dozen wandering around the rec. room.

One turtle had been hit on the head and had a large wound over one eye. After a few days, checking him over, I noticed a maggot crawling out of it. I sat down with him and tweezers and pulled out, one by one, a wiggling mass of maggots. The hole left behind must have been a half-inch deep into the flesh, and beyond the broken bone into the brain.

The turtle survived. In mid-summer, I was able to release him.

5. An interesting animal in its natural habitat. Grizzly bear. And that is another post all on its own. Sometime this week.

And a bonus: an animal I loved: Sancho Panza, the horse. Bear Bait: another story from my website. Warning: this is not a tale for the squeamish!