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.

May's topic: As Big as Life Gets, and What You Can’t See Can Hurt 

Thinking of big animals brings Blue Whales to mind, and thinking of big plants brings Giant Redwoods to mind. But Life offers a surprise with which we are visually familiar but intellectually detached. And brainworms are more than cultural euphemisms!