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Chen Jiahao, Yen, and Stanley Yong, in front of Devil's tower, featured in the Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind movie.
Devils Tower rises 1267 feet above the Belle Fourche River, in the state of Wyoming.
I was excited to see these as they've always been sleeping every other time I've visited. Today they were running round all over the place. Their ears (which are hairless) turn red like that when they're excited or stressed. Playful is what they were.
They are quite small and the "Devil" part of the name comes from the horrible screeching noise they make.
They are marsupial and carnivores. Found only in Tasmania.
The species is now endangered: roadkill and foxes account for some but the main cause, since the 1990's, has been the rapid spread of a horrible, highly contagious cancer-like facial tumour disease. Tumours form in the mouth and the poor animals can't eat and so starve to death. It's estimated that up to 65% of the wild population is affected. Programmes are underway to isolate healthy animals in captivity so that some will survive. There is no known cure yet.
This is an old manor house similar to the many large houses and estates that dot the country, remnants of the aristocracy. The locals tell a peculiar story about this particular place. In the older house which existed on this site there was a game of cards being played on a stormy day. A knock was heard at the door and the stranger dressed as a gentleman was invited in. He joined in the card game but at one point a player dropped a card and bent down to pick it up under the table whereupon he saw the stranger's cloven hooves indicating the devil himself. At this moment of discovery the devil shot up out of his chair and through the roof. Shortly after this episode the daughter of the master of the house went crazy and had to be locked away.
More than likely just a good story to tell the neighbors as a reason for your daughter's mental illness, but what's interesting is the way people tell it with an edge of belief. I will say that Paula's father, a farmer, said he wouldn't plow up the "fairy ring" (a small hill of grass and stone) on his land for fear of bad luck (from stories of incurring the wrath of the resident fairies).
Another from the Heceta Head session. This shot was taken while I was standing in the middle of Cape Creek.
Three separate exposures merged in Photomatix. +3, 0, -3
I've seen these roadside in tall gangly stems reaching for the sun, but I much prefer them smaller like this, and contained in pots for slower growth.