Wild About Utah

As far back as the Middle Ages, monks in the Saint Bernard monastery in the Swiss Alps discovered how helpful their dogs could be searching for travelers who had become lost in the mountains.

Throughout history, insects have markedly shaped human culture—from serving as valuable sources of food, pigment, and fiber, to inspiring our greatest feats of engineering, art, and design.

The seasonal changes in backyard birds is as exciting as the rare bird sightings because it is these changes and outliers which keep us alert, in tune, and connected to the world around us.

Camping in the High Uintah’s is never easy. Due to the rugged landscape and high elevations, every trip offers its own unique adventure. On this occasion, my long-time hunting buddy and two labs, after a 4-mile hike with 2000 feet of vertical climb, were setting up tents in the dark with pelting graupel, lightning, and rain, at nearly 11,000 feet elevation.

The queen becomes the mother of most of the bees in the hive. All the worker bees are female. Any drone lucky enough to mate with a virgin queen drops dead afterwards. It's a matriarchal society all the way.

I stood perplexed. I was looking at an insect I had never seen before. The bug was the size of my thumb and shifted awkwardly in what little dirt could be found just below the bare ridge of the Wellsvilles.

The aquatic invasive species threat is real and I hope this segment will make you a believer in inspection and decontamination stations.

It turns out that Utah is home to numerous species of live snails, but the shells we see beside Bear Lake have been there for nearly 10,000 years! They’ve lasted this long because they’re preserved by the calcium chemistry of a lake.

It turns out that Utah is home to numerous species of live snails, but the shells we see beside Bear Lake have been there for nearly 10,000 years! They’ve lasted this long because they’re preserved by the calcium chemistry of a lake.

Winged Bullets of Beauty: Their agility is beyond imagination, capturing their prey with a gaping maw while flying at maximum speed, winged bullets ripping through the air.