Kevin Cook: Colorado Creatures

Quaking aspens and ponderosa pines, golden eagles and yellow-bellied marmots come quickly to mind when thinking about Colorado wildlife.  Our wildlife community, however, includes various animals, fungi, and plants that exist in the shadows of our celebrity wildlife; and many of them lead extraordinary lives that make them quite interesting.  Yes, animals eat plants; but amazingly, we also have six plants and some mushrooms that eat animals!  We have wildflowers that trap their pollinators and some animals that hitchhike on other animals.  This class will look at the lives of wildlife species that defy our sense of normal living.

January's topic: Old-timer Trees, Poisonous Mushrooms, and Living Out of Place 

Old age differs among species, but we have trees growing here since before Humanity knew the world was round. We also have a mushroom that produces an interesting toxin plus four species we typically assume should live far, far away.