Although people may have contributed to mastodon extinction, which occurred about 9000 years ago, rapidly changing climate seems to have been a more significant factor.
The American Mastodon finally had enough time by himself today to stop and reflect on the latest happenings in his life. Or rather, unfortunately for the Mastodon, he had enough time. He remembers a song he heard once by the musician Gram Parsons, whose chorus was, "100 years from this day, will people still feel this way, and still say the things they're saying right now". That song has always put the Mastodon in a blue mood. It has also made the Mastodon, on a number of occassions, pause and consider the heft of those words. Knowing all too well the damage that can be wreaked by unwise decisions, and the unceasing passage of time, the Mastodon wishes he could pause time for a few moments and do a few things that need doing. Excluding the obvious mission of salvaging excavation sites where some of the more perfectly preserved Mastodon remains are being unearthed, the American Mastodon would see if he couldn't make sure things were very clean. He doesn't like things that are messy, and would get his house in a perfect order. Then, he would try and make sure that the other foragers he associates with are on the same page. This would invariably involve very long conversations that, with time un-stopped, seem impossible of ever occuring.
Indeed, the American Mastodon is still coming to grips with this idea of "life". Scientists who study the mammal note that unlike other browsing animals adapted to forests, Mastodons tend to ask "why" more often than other animals, even though their life is an easy one, travelling in packs and browsing on plants. The American Mastodon wonders why this is.
One of the most remarkable specimens, the Hillsborough Mastodon, had nearly perfectly preserved patches of its hide covering a small section of its right thigh, and was found in 1936 by workers repairing a dam on the property of Captain Conrad Osman at Hillsborough, New Brunswick.
Sunday, June 27, 2004
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2 comments:
Apologies for the deleted post.
The American Mastodon thanks the good Reverend for his advice. However, he feels he would be a bit remiss if he did not bring to the table a few more choice words from Mr. Parsons, from the song "Return of the Grevious Angel":
Cause I headed West to grow up with the country
Across those prairies with the waves of grain
And I saw my devil, and I saw my deep blue sea
And I thought about a calico bonnet from Cheyenne to Tennesee...
And I remember something you once told me
And I'll be damned if it did not come true
Twenty thousand roads I went down, down, down
And they all lead me straight back home to you
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