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Sunday
October 10, 2004

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".;..:
,.. ."
strapped green canoe to blue volvo roof
rebecca drove us out to kiawah island
where she often leads nature excursions
key words: pluff mud, fiddler crab, dolphin,
salt marsh, wood stork, cordgrass, terrapin
..";:".'
fiddler crabs are numerous as they are cute
the males have one big claw which accounts
for 50% of their body weight. the main purpose
of this one big claw is to attract females, which
they do through sheer size and how well they
wave and bang it to send out positive vibes. the
further north you go, the slower the gestures.
'":;;.'".'
decayed plant matter enriches the mud the
crabs and other critters eat, then what they
poop out fertilizes the next plant generation
.,.;,';"
we saw two dolphin. rebecca explained that
some exhibit a learned behavior which is passed
from parent to child: strand feeding. they drive
fish ashore and then flop themselves out of the
water where they thrash about gobbling helpless
flapping fish. we didn't see that, but by chance we
followed them down a narrow shallow channel.
they created a large swell which lifted us when
they exited by swimming past under our canoe.
that was cool.
".;..:
,.. ."