Seth Chagi, Founder and Project Director at World of Paleoanthropology, recently interviewed me for an episode of The Story of Us! podcast. Seth and I “met” several years ago, when I was still deep in the throes of writing the Dreamer Books: An Ice Age Saga series, and consequently doing a lot of research to help flesh out and add realism to my books.  It can be really difficult to find reliable, current paleoanthropological information, but World of Paleoanthropology goes to the source – to the scientists who are at the forefront of their field. WOPA shares the latest discoveries and the accompanying hypotheses, providing an invaluable treasure-trove of information for those of us who are seeking such data. So I wrote to Seth to thank him for all his hard work and tell him how much his site has helped me. Seth wrote back. And I wrote back. And he wrote back… after a few years of correspondence I offered to assist with some website chores and later I was invited to contribute articles. It was all on a volunteer basis, but I like to think that in some small way my efforts are gradually repaying a debt of gratitude.

Fast forward to last week, when Seth and I spoke via Zoom.  I am always pleased to have an opportunity to talk about my books, and I was honored and humbled to be part of The Story of Us! Now that the podcast has aired (see YouTube video above), I’ve come to realize that in my nervousness, I may have skipped over some subjects I probably could have delved into a little deeper or articulated a little better. So I’ll be producing a few blogs to highlight different subjects from our discussion.

To begin, I will touch on how I gained insight into the various animals that appear in the Dreamer Books.

Woolly mammoths are a topic of fascination for me because I have loved pachyderms from the time I actually met an elephant. This gentle giant was a beautiful creature with lovely brown eyes and long eyelashes.  I longed to pet him as though he were an enormous dog, but I felt that would be rather too forward on my part – after all – he didn’t know me. How would I feel if some stranger came up to me and behaved in such a way? I could, however, offer him a handful of elephant kibble (which was made available to visitors to feed the elephants) so I held out the nuggets, hoping I could interest him in a snack. He did indeed perk up at the sight of the proffered treats. I expected that the elephant would use his trunk like a hand and that he might daintily grasp the yummy bits, and then place them in his mouth. What he did was step toward me, open his mouth and he took my entire forearm into his mouth – up to my elbow – and sort of sucked the kibble off the palm of my hand. He was so placid and docile that it wasn’t at all alarming, but I do recall being very surprised.  This was in the back of my mind as I read-up on elephants and woolly mammoths. What I learned only added to my admiration and affection for these magnificent beasts.

Cave lions are another well known animal from the last Ice Age. I had a little experience with wild cats (bobcats) and tame big cats (tigers and lions), but I wanted to know more about the felines that populated the last Ice Age. As with the mammoths, I did research to expand upon my limited knowledge (which is detailed below).

As part of being a resident employee at a state park where bobcats were numerous, I saw them almost every day – sometimes several times a day. I used to hike the trails at sunup with my Bernese Mountain Dog, Sam, and we often ran into these long-legged and graceful cats. Mostly (and disappointingly), they promptly ran away from us. But occasionally, they would simply look at us and amble off, allowing me a moment to admire their sleek speckled forms.  One day as Sam and I walked along, a half-grown bobcat ran diagonally across the trail in front of us. A little further on, the bobcat repeated the action. And again, and again, and again – each time, Sam became more excited. Whatever this game was, he seemed to want to be part of it! Had this been a mature female bobcat, I might have thought she was trying to lead us away from her kittens, but this was just a youngster acting like a housecat with a 3 A.M. case of the zoomies. I lost count of how many times the bobcat ran in front of us, but I found it intriguing that it chose to interact with us in this way.

Years prior, a friend who worked at a facility that housed an assortment of tame wild animals used to occasionally invite me to come on a private tour. The tigers were impressive and unexpectedly, quite amiable.  It was amazing to see them up-close and marvel at how huge they were. They loved to play a version of hide and seek with their human keepers, bounding with heavy footfalls all around the buildings within their enclosure, while making what I was told were “happy tiger sounds”, including snorts (almost like a horse would make) and little moans. This was enthralling to witness. Less enthralling, was an introduction to a lioness. I didn’t go into any of the enclosures, but my friend did and while visiting the lioness she chomped-down on his hand and wouldn’t let go. He stayed very calm, but it took sometime to free his hand from her maw. He finally escaped the enclosure, his hand bleeding from several deep puncture wounds. He said she had never done that before. Actually, he was lucky; she could have easily done far worse had she been so inclined, but evidently she just had a hankering to gnaw on him for a bit. That was the end of my tour that day. (My friend was fine after his hand was treated and bandaged.)

I also write about boars. I have not had contact with the kind of Eurasian wild boars that appear in my books, but I have seen plenty of what we in North America call wild hogs. Most of those times, I was fortunate to have the protection of being in a vehicle, but one early morning my dog Sam and I were walking the trails when I saw a black furry animal’s hind-end sticking out of the brush up ahead. I usually made a point to keep up a constant chatter to Sam as we walked, hoping that my voice and the sounds of our footsteps and his clinking dog tags would give most animals a chance to hear our approach and thus leave the vicinity. But this one had not yet sensed our presence. I said to Sam, “Well, that’s either a bear or a hog.” Hearing me, the beast backed out of the brush and picked up his head. It was then that I could see his ears and see that he was a hog. I hoped he would run away. He didn’t. Hogs can be kind of temperamental; you never know if they will just skedaddle or if they will charge. Their constantly honed tusks are formidable weapons and I had seen the damage they can do. I decided we should change direction immediately. No need to tempt Fate.

Deer are another animal I have frequently met. If I had a dog with me, they would bound away before I had time to do more than identify them.  Even when the deer were awakened from their peaceful slumbers at the crack of dawn, there was no early-morning grogginess and staggering upright; they came to their feet in an instant state of alertness. Once I watched as they ran toward the six foot fence that bordered the park, which they leapt while hardly breaking their stride. I was impressed. I’d be hard pressed to jump over anything upon awakening.

Other times, however, if I was alone the deer’s’ curious nature got the better of them and they would stare at me with fascination as though I were the most amazing thing they’d ever seen. And maybe I was! Especially during the time when I kept goats, I am sure I must have worn some of the goats’ aroma. That’s not a bad thing- they were does. While the bucks can be rather rank in season, the does just smelled of sweet hay. The deer must’ve wondered what in tarnation was this strange two-legged critter that looked completely alien but smelled oddly familiar.  I would simply stand still and we would stare at one another until the deer finally tired of the staring match and began to saunter away, sometimes pausing to look over their shoulders at me as though they were still trying to figure out what they had seen.

Perhaps ironically, some of my favorite deer-related memories are from when I viewed them from a window, when the deer were unaware of my proximity and they were just going about their day. I’ve seen a herd going through the woods outside my house, walking in single-file. The herd was so large that it took maybe as long as five minutes to pass by.  Also unforgettable, was the enormous buck I observed as it leisurely grazed in a thick fog.  Another time, I saw a doe romping in a field of flowers. She was having a wonderful time, jumping and cavorting amongst the blossoms. I later took a photo of the meadow. (Below) I regretted not taking a photos while she was still there, but I was so spellbound by the sight that I didn’t want to leave the window long enough to retrieve my camera.

Lastly, I will talk about wolves and foxes. Foxes are fairly common animals and I always enjoy the sight of them. I live in a small town where foxes can be seen even downtown, sometimes sleeping cozily curled-up on the shops’ rooftops. We don’t have actual wolves, but we have a lot of coy-wolves. These animals are a wolf/coyote hybrid, they are about halfway in size between the two species and share many of their traits. They are extremely adaptable and very successful in our area. Although primarily nocturnal, they are often seen during the day as well, even in populated neighborhoods. Their singing can be heard nightly and anytime they hear an emergency vehicle’s siren, they will accompany the blare with their own cries. Sometimes Sam and I would meet up with a coywolf while on one of our treks. Sam was a friendly dog and anytime we crossed paths with another creature, his head would pick up and his tail would wag. But the coywolves did not care to make his acquaintance. Sam was a large dog – he wore a 32-inch collar around his massive neck – so I could appreciate their shyness. One coywolf was sleeping in tall grass by the side of the trail and we didn’t see each other until he suddenly poked his head up. Like the sleeping deer, he quickly roused himself and took off like a shot. Poor Sam. Another potential playmate gone.
And that’s it for this entry. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about some of my experiences with animals. I’ll be adding more blogs to go with the Story of Us! podcast.

Be sure to check out World of Paleoanthropology for interviews, articles, book reviews, and much more! It is a veritable goldmine of paleoanthropological information!

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