Private Life of Eels & Others

Just a quick update to say that, I know I’m way slow on the uptake on this, but did you know that no one has ever seen eels having sex? I somehow stumbled across this New Yorker article from last March on the life cycle of eels — which, of course the New Yorker has an article on the life cycle of eels — and I just can’t get it out of my head.

Darwin, Pasteur, and Freud all tried, and couldn’t figure it out! Apparently the eel appears as completely different animals during different parts of its life cycle, but it’s actually all eel, all the time. Only at one stage of the process does it have reproductive organs, and during that time, it goes to a spawning ground where, still, no one has witnessed eels having sex.

Just … what an amazing and private and glorious life story. I adore scientists and banding and DNA research and all the rest, but isn’t it nice, just a little, that one animal is able to draw the curtain across its private life, and glimmer away into the ocean depth, pulling the seaweed shade shut behind them, closing out our curiosity?

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Speaking of animals carrying on their own private lives, some of you may be pleased to hear that the roseate spoonbill has recruited as many as four friends to join her. (The exact count is unclear, as sometimes one or another appears, or has flown away, etc. The largest tally I’ve heard all at once, though, is five.) No one is sure how she’s gotten other misfits to come hang with her as far north as Huntley Meadows, but an ornithologist friend expects that they’ll all migrate south this fall and they’re unlikely to return.

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I’m deep (as in, piles of clothes on my bed) into packing for the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, and I can’t wait! Looking forward to sending updates — keep your eyes out for bears (!!!), pronghorns, pika, bald eagles… heck, I’ll be excited about & updating for just about any animal whenever I can & have wifi. Hope you all have wonderful weeks in the meantime.