Bryce
Canyon is known for its incredible geology and sweeping
vistas, but equally impressive are the plants and
animals that make the uplifted plateaus of Utah
such a unique environment. Surrounded by deserts,
these highlands get much more rain than the lowlands
below and stay cooler during hot summers. The relatively
lush ecosystems that result are like fertile islands
towering above a vast arid landscape.
Mammals
What
is a mammal? Webster's Dictionary defines a mammal
as..."any of a class of higher vertebrates
comprising man and all other animals that nourish
their young with milk secreted by the mammary glands
and have the skin usually more or less covered with
hair."
What
mammals can be seen in Bryce Canyon National Park?
We have chipmunks, squirrels, prairie dogs, mountain
lions, pronghorn sheep, coyotes, gray foxes, bats,
mice, and many more animals classified as mammals.
Birds
The
three most common birds found in the park are the
Peregrine Falcon, California Condor and the Clark's
Nutcracker.
Insects
Ants
are some of the most fascinating creatures on the
planet. Something like ten thousand trillion ants
control vast stretches of territory on planet earth.
Their success lies in cooperation. They are a social
insect, living in often enormous colonies, coordinating
their activities to an exceptional degree to achieve
domination.
These
are aggressive and capable critters, ones whose
existence is characterized by continuous work and
conflict. In many places they are the dominate insect,
and usually displace solitary insects (those that
live and forage alone and not in social groups)
to less favorable habitat or eat them.
Trees
- Conifers
What
are conifers?...The name "conifer" is
derived from the Latin word which means "to
bear cones." Cones, the fruiting body which
produces the seeds of the tree, are common features
of most conifers, with the exception of junipers
and yews which produce berry-like fruit.
How
do I identify a conifer?...The best way is to look
at the leaves. Does the tree have linear, needle-like
or scale-like leaves? Conifers are usually evergreens
although they still shed their older foliage on
various annual cycles. The larch and cypress are
deciduous, shedding their leaves annually in the
fall..
Are
there many conifer species (types)?...More than
500 conifer species have been identified worldwide.
Do
all conifers look about the same? Are they the same
size and color?...Among the conifers can be found
some of the largest, smallest and oldest living
woody plants known to mankind. There is an astounding
amount of diversity in the conifer world. Some conifers
grow into huge forests which are harvested for their
timber and others are admired for their adaptability
and color variations for the household garden. Overall,
they vary in textures from soft and fluffy to rigid
or majestic. The wide range of greens, blues and
golden yellows paint a colorful landscape wherever
conifers grow.
What
are the names of the different conifers found in
Bryce Canyon National Park?...In the Park you can
find pines, junipers, firs, spruces, cedars and
Douglas fir.
Ecology
Biological
soil crusts, or more commonly called Cryptobiotic
soil or Cryptogamic soil, occur on every continent
and in nearly every environment. However, they are
most commonly found in arid or desert environments.
In the high deserts of the Colorado plateau (i.e.
the Four Corners region), biological soil crusts
can cover up to 70-80% of the ground cover.
Health
& Safety
Every
time you go to a National Park, you probably hear
the same thing: "Don't feed the animals."
Why do we say that? What harm could a pretzel or
apple slice do to a deer or a chipmunk? Too often,
it is not an apple slice, but salted peanuts or
chips whose high sodium content is poisonous to
an animal's system. Those kinds of food are not
healthy for people, how much less for an animal
whose diet is supposed to consist of berries, flowers,
and insects? Also, the animals become dependent
on people as a food source and lose their ability
to successfully forage when they have been raised
begging for human food.
Although
human food can and does harm the animals for a variety
of reasons, the reason we ask you not to feed them
is for the safety of humans as much as of the animals.
In Bryce Canyon, there are two major hazards to
humans associated with feeding the animals, specifically
ground squirrels, chipmunks, and prairie dogs. First,
the animals frequently bite people when they are
hand feeding them, or especially when they try to
touch the animal without food in their hand. Hantavirus
is a disease which has received considerable publicity
in southern Utah because several people have died
from it recently. One of the ways it is transmitted
is through the infected animal's saliva--by being
bitten. It is also transmitted by inhaling or touching
dust in which infected animals have urinated or
defecated, as the virus is viable in that matter
for about three days. Since that dust could be on
the animal's fur, touching the animal is another
potential way to obtain the disease. Currently there
is no cure for Hantavirus, but if extreme flu like
symptoms develop after association with these animals,
contact a physician for the available treatment.
Rabies
is another disease which is transmitted through
an animal bite, which many more animals than just
small rodents could carry. Beware of any ringtail
cat, rodents, foxes, or other animals who appear
extremely sluggish or have strange secretions from
their mouth or eyes. Report any abnormal behavior
to a ranger.
Secondly,
there is a threat of disease to people who are obeying
the rules and not feeding the animals when other
people have fed them. Bubonic Plague, or as some
know it, the Black Plague, has been known to infect
our prairie dog population from time to time. A
type of flea that lives on small rodents (i.e. prairie
dogs, ground squirrels, chipmunks) transmits this
disease. When people have fed the animals and taught
them that people are their food source, that it
is all right to crawl on a person's leg because
they will be rewarded with food, those people might
actually be responsible for killing another person
down the road. It is common for people to be mobbed
by ground squirrels hoping to be fed when they go
to a view point, even if the person has no intention
of feeding them. If those animals have the fleas
infected with Bubonic Plague, the fleas could potentially
jump on the person and give them the disease. Fortunately,
Bubonic Plague can be cured if caught soon enough,
but it is a painful experience.
Even
with the potential for all these diseases, you can
still come to Bryce Canyon and enjoy a safe visit.
The old saying, "An ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure" should be remembered.
You can prevent coming in contact with diseases
if you do not feed or touch the animals, and make
sure that your children stay away from them also.
If the animals approach you begging for food, simply
ignore them, or chase them off if they get too close.
Remember, the animals would never beg for people
food if people did not teach them to. So please
do your part to ensure the health of the animals,
yourself, and other visitors down the road by not
feeding the animals.
