Clue #5: Edible entomology?

"Long, slim, slimy ones.
Short, fat, juicy ones . . .
I'm gonna eat some worms."

(Click here for video. You gotta love Sol's gift for wrangling boy energy!  Truly inspirational!)

While these crunchy critters are referred to as "worms," they are actually caterpillars--the larval phase of the Emperor moth. Yeah, that makes it better, right?  Brings new meaning to the phrase "travel bug."

The funny thing about travel is that it pushes you to step outside your usual routine and try new things.  With much laughter, my travel companions egging me on, "You should eat a really big one, Shana.  Your students will be disappointed if you don't," and the knowledge that this was a chance to one-up our friend Dave (Associate Curator of Paleontology and self-proclaimed Bug Chef), I bit in.  I wouldn't want to disappoint the children.

When I went to Australia last summer, Dave requested that I bring back some Witchetty Grub Soup.  Our Australian tour guide laughed and said someone was pulling my leg when I explained to him what I was looking for in the way of souvenirs.  I knew that Dave was quite sincere in his request.  So this summer, when our guide Samantha cooked up some of these "worms" and served them on the final night of our trip, I saw a chance to redeem myself as importer of ingestible insects.  I sidled up and quietly inquired, "So . . . did you pick them off the tree yourself or is there a place where one can buy them?"  "No, I bought them.  Why?  Do you want to buy some?  I'll show you where when we visit the market tomorrow."  Success!

An important source of protein, these caterpillars are plucked from the Mopane trees where they feed, squeezed lengthwise like a tube of toothpaste to remove the guts, and then dried for long-term storage in a place where many people do not have access to refrigeration.  Samantha boiled the dried "worms" in water for thirty minutes and then sauteed them with oil.  She also recommends cooking them with chopped onions and tomato and maybe a little peanut butter.  Mmm, yumm!  She told us the rest of the staff were eager to snack on our plentiful leftovers.

 (Fluffy did not partake in this particular delicacy, but then he never eats much.)

So where in the world were we?  Remember, you'll need to guess all four countries.  More clues to come!

Previous Clues:
Clue #1: Brrrr
Clue #2: Tea Time
Clue #3: Let's make tracks!
Clue #4: No Bones About It

Clue #4: No Bones About It

As we hopped out of the vehicle and strolled around to stretch our legs a bit before a picnic lunch, something caught my eye at the base of a tree. 

Vertebra! 

Since my paleontology field work, I've noticed more (and been more curious about) bones.  I picked it up and asked one of our guides, "I know it's a vertebra, but whose is it?"  He had a good guess and then, scanning our surroundings with those amazing "owl eyes," pointed into the branches.

Whoa! 

The remains of the skeleton were wedged way up in the branches of the tree.  (Click on the photo to enlarge it and look in the upper right portion of the image.)

  

  

 

Think about a predator strong enough and agile enough to drag its sizable prey into a tree to eat.  This predator was highly motivated not to share.

We found the skull on the other side of the tree.

 

If you look closely, you'll notice that this animal (the prey) was an herbivore.  Good grinding teeth like a cow. 

Wishing my small (26-pound limit) duffel had room for a skull, I popped that vertebra into my pocket and hauled it home, wrapped in a sock.  It chilled in my freezer for a few weeks to be sure it was free of any parasite pals and then stewed in hydrogen peroxide for another month or so.

More Bone Sightings

Whose skulls are these?

Whose leg?

Read More About It:
The Skull Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
Teeth by Sneed B. Collard III
Kids Discover: Bones

Previous Clues

Clue #1: Brrrr

Clue #2: Tea Time

Clue #3: Let's make tracks!

Clue #3: Let's make tracks!

Boy, were we using our owl eyes like crazy on this trip!

Not only were we scanning the bushes and the trees for animals, but we were also looking down--checking the ground for evidence of animals.

Our guides called it "reading the news."  It was amazing the way they could use scat and tracks to guess how long ago the animal had been there and where it might have gone next.  To sharpen our own skills, the staff at one camp divided us into two teams for a scavenger hunt of sorts. 

One of our tasks was to identify these tracks:

Here are a few footprints to give you clues about some of the amazing animals Fluffy and I saw on our travels.

(two footprints--one front foot and one hind)

(two footprints--one overlapping the other)

(one footprint)

(two footprints)

You've still got a few days to check out some fabulous fossilized footprints at the Houston Museum of Natural Science Archaeopteryx exhibit!

Read More About Tracking:
Tracks, Scats and Signs by Leslie Dendy
Wild Tracks!  A Guide to Nature's Footprints by Jim Arnosky
Dinosaur Tracks by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

Previous Clues

Clue #1: Brrrr

Clue #2: Tea Time