Further Proof Concerning My Favorite Animal

Hello everyone! I am very sorry for my lack of posts lately. Its been a VERY busy week (finals are quickly approaching. Eek)

First, my shout outs. Good work Brenna, Gillian and Alexis for knowing that the scientific name of the Grey Wolf is Canis lupis. Yay everyone!!!!!!!! You are all my heroes.

But, I can't let another week go by without an Environmental Learning Tale, and this weeks is actually a legitimate tale as it was told for generations by the Inuit people of Alaska. It was also one of my favorite bed time stories as a child (which just goes to show you what kind of a kid I was...)

And so without further delay...

The Educational Story of Wolf and Caribou (as told by Me, the descendant of Irish-Italian immigrants)

A very long time ago there lived in Alaska a Woman and a Man and the Woman's five sons (note the obvious indication of matrilineal descent here...). Now, the world was a very different place in those days, in that over all the earth, the only living beings were Woman, her husband, and her children. They dwelt in houses made of sod and ate only lichen (which is actually a symbiotic relationship between two living organisms, but we'll let it go). They lived very happily for a long time.

But one year a winter came that was much worse than all the ones before it. The wind was very cold (it is Alaska after all) and the whole world seemed frozen solid. Woman had to cut her way out of her house everyday and melt foot after foot of snow to reach the buried lichen. And on the cold winter nights they often wished they had something more substantial to eat.

In fact, with only lichen to eat, Woman's sons fell very ill. One after the other they could no longer get out of bed and Woman feared very much that they would die. She waited anxiously for summer, but when summer came her children still did not get well. She decided to see Great Raven (kind of a super creator God) and ask him what to do.

Well, she traveled for many days to see Great Raven, and when she reached him and told him of her trouble he agreed to help. They went together down to a field of ice and cut a hole through to where the ocean moved underneath. Then Woman dangled a long line in the water while Raven sat upon her shoulder in his bird form. She waited for many days, but at last there came a tugging on the line and Woman pulled up the first animal in the world. This animal was snowshoe hare. She dangled the line in again and pulled out yet another animal, and again and again until many of the animals we see in the world were set free over the Tundra. The last animal she pulled out was Caribou.

"This animal is a great gift," Said Great Raven. "For its fur shall be your house, it's bones your weapons, and its meat your food."

And so it was. Woman went home to her family and the next day woke to the sound of Caribou hooves moving across the tundra. For many years they ate happily of the Caribou and Woman's sons grew stronger then ever they had been before.

But that is not the end of the story.

For after many years of this, Woman noticed that the Caribou herds began to grow ill. Her husband had to travel farther and father each day to get a healthy caribou, and the time finally came when there were none left and Woman and her family were forced to eat the sick. This was very bad, as their skin and bones were weak and their flesh poor too eat. In fact, as soon as they began to eat of it Woman's sons grew very ill once more and Woman feared that they would die.

In great terror she went to see Great Raven again and explained to him what had happened. he nodded to himself and rose to his feet.

"When we went to the ice," he said. "I believe there was an animal we forgot to pull out."

So Woman and Great Raven returned to the ice field and cut another hole and dangled the fishing line in. Right away there came a tugging on the line, as if there was something below the ice that had been waiting a very long time. Woman pulled up the line and out came the last animal. It was the wolf.

"This animal is as great a gift as the caribou." Said Great Raven.

But Woman did not believe him. She went home with a heavy heart. But over the next few months she noticed something very strange. The healthy caribou were beginning to come back. Soon her husband did not have to travel to find caribou to bring home to his family. Woman wondered very much why this way, but did not know until she watched the wolves hunting one day.

She saw that the wolves were not fast enough to catch the healthy caribou, and so hunted only the sick ones. She was very pleased with what she found and returned to tell her children. From then on the people understood that, although it is the caribou that feeds the wolf, it is the wolf that keeps the caribou alive.

Well, that's my learning tale for the week. It has a great deal in common with my last learning tale (as you all probably noticed). But like I said, wolves really are my favorite animal. So that leaves only the Environmental Question of the week.

And here it is...

What is the definition of a "symbiotic relationship"?

Have a wonderful week everyone!!!!!