Flora/fauna: The grizzly bear may return to the Cascades; revelations in 'chicken-speak,' how to repel mosquitoes . . .

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service map via National Geographic shows
current grizzly range in dark brown, historic range in light brown.

Grizzly bears may return to the Pacific Northwest. "Across 6.3 million acres of forest home to the nation’s most imperiled grizzly-bear population, there has not been a confirmed sighting of Ursus arctos horribilis since 1996," reports Craig Welch of National Geographic. "So the Biden administration is working on a last-ditch effort to bring grizzlies back. Much as federal agencies reintroduced wolves to Yellowstone National Park, scientists hope in coming years to pluck grizzlies from healthy populations in Canada or Montana and transplant them to the Pacific Northwest. . . . The government has a plan to bring these animals back to an ecosystem that needs them." The bears are top predators, but 90 percent of their diet is plants.

Image courtesy of Agate Surrey

"Chill Phyllis" was a backyard chicken who moaned and muttered a lot -- in chicken-speak, of course. . . . People said Chill Phyllis was simply exhausted from laying eggs, but they really weren't sure. . . . Now there's a book that might share some clues about such fowl. "Clucking, trilling, grumbling: The language of chickens was just one of the revelations that struck Tove Danovich as she raised three chicks in her Portland yard," Rebekah Denn writes for The Seattle Times. Danovich's book, Under The Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them began as a "quest for eggs," but the project hatched into research and a resource with "with notes on hatchery ethics, therapy chickens, and rescued battery hens."

Why do mosquitoes buzz in people's ears? Because they're obnoxious (unless you're a bird; then they're dinner). Here are some nature-friendly tips on plants such as rosemary and lavender that can keep the buzzing, biting and disease-carrying party crashers at bay.

Wool can be a magical material for warmth, dryness and the general coziness, but in some places it needs a little more recognition. "There isn’t a great market for much of the wool produced in the Upper Midwest. The price per pound of raw (greasy) wool is unlikely to cover the cost of raising and shearing the animal. . . . Some farms just compost or burn their clip," reports Donna Kallner of The Daily Yonder. "The Fibershed movement is working to change that. The non-profit organization’s mission is to transform regional fiber systems through climate-beneficial agriculture, rebuilding regional manufacturing, and reconnecting end-users with the source of their fiber."

"Massive," "font of life" and "wild ox" are all names for the bison. "The American bison stands at the crossroads of the animal, plant, and human worlds. It is part of an integrated ecosystem that includes people as much as it does bobcats, finches, and sunflowers," reports Nathan Beacom for Plough magazine. "In the Great Plains, scientists and small farmers bring back a mythic beast and a lost ecosystem. . . . Finding the right way to relate to this, our national mammal, might show the way to a healthy relationship with the natural world of the American West."

Photo by Matthew Modoono,
Northeastern University

Parrots are fun, social pets but also intelligent and need social interactions. These parrots participated in video chats with fellow feathered friends. For many, it turns out "Polly does want to video chat. . . . a lot," reports Emily Athens of The New York Times. "They mirrored each other's behavior grooming together . . . and singing together. . . . Some of the birds quickly made favorite friends."

Not all cats hate water. This story recalls "The forgotten history of cats in the navy. . . . Sailors embraced their feline colleagues, giving them tiny uniforms and their very own hammocks," reports Scot Christenson of National Geographic. "But cats are natural outlaws—so it couldn’t last forever."