EISPIRATEN

I did a ride from Bear Divide to Magic Mountain last night, and saw a very clear multi-level relationship among predators and prey:

1) Bugs of varying sizes are easy to spot on the pavement.
2) Kangaroo rats frequent the edge of the road, hunting the bugs that are easy to see and have no cover on the pavement.
3) Grey foxes patrol the edge of the road, hunting the kangaroo rats.

On my night rides, I had assumed that I was encountering so many grey foxes because they were curious about me. Last night I saw 8 grey foxes in a 4 hr period. I also saw about 30 kangaroo rats hopping about along the edge of the road. I also saw many bugs, including a young tarantula (5-6cm dia) and a young centipede (8cm long). Seeing all this at one time kinda forced my 'epiphany'.

Anyway, sorry for the lack of pics, but I thought this might be interesting.

I've never seen/heard of a Kangaroo rat.

Kangaroo Rat is distinct from Kangaroo Mouse, which, confusingly, looks similar and has the same range in NA. The mouse is smaller and has less glossy fur, and is rare.

Gray Fox Apparently, I misspelled 'gray'.

K-rats are the BEST!

I've never seen a kangaroo rat, or if I saw one, it didn't leap. Didn't know they were local.

I see Kangaroo Rats frequently in the local hills at night. I've had them run right over the tops of my shoes. I presume they are K Rats instead of K Mice based on the geographic range of the mice.

ewwwww!!!!! run over the tops of your shoes?