'Waucoba GJVews

Sponsored by The Bishop Museum & Historical Society, Bishop, Ca. 93514 Volume VII No. 4
Founded and Edited by Enid A. Larson, Box 265, Big Pine, Ca. 93513 AUTUMN 1983
Subscription: Four 9t1 long stamped self-addressed envelopes 4 issues per year
or a membership~$5.00) in Bishop Museum

Yellow-bellied
Marmot

(Marmo1a flaviventris) .
, .

Sketch by
Dian R. Mawby

__ Hannah c.arey+-llC-Dilllj s has' ilane~M ~:sttid;';'~l~iefl in the--White Mountains

in Inyo County California.
Her study investigated the influence of predator vigilance on the feeding behavior of
yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) in the White Mountains of Californiao She
discovered that marmots spent 10.2% of their foraging time looking up, a behavior which
is necessary for predator avoidance but reduces their rate of food intake. She found
that more time was spent looking up when alarm calls were emitted by others of their
species than in the absence of calls. Vigilance time was reduced when marmots fed in
groups, and in areas with many safety burrows and open vegetation. These results
suggested that the cost of anti-predator behavior in reduced feeding rates may be mini­
mizen by adjusting the time spent in vigilance relative to the risk of predation.
Juveniles and yearlings spent more time looking up while feeding than did adults. Juve­
niles also appeared to be more sensitive to the factors that influenced vigilance than
were older animals; this may be due to the greater nutritional demands of young, growing
animals coupled with a higher susceptibility to predation. The importance of behavior
that reduced the cost/benefit ratio of vigilance during foraging may lie in the selec­
tive value of attaining adequate fat stores as rapidly as possible during the hiberna­
tor's active season,
Hannah Carey
Univ. Nevada, Reno
An Update on the Junipers of California

Science is a process in which new information is constantly being added. Here is what
John Thomas Howell. California Academy of Science in San Francisco has written:
tlln the Spring1983 issue of the Waucoba News you write that "in California there are
3 species of juniper." Actually there are 4 species by present-day count--you omitted
the Dwarf Juniper that is with us as a subprostrate creeping shrub. I know of it at
scattered stations in the northern Sierra only as far south as Mono Pass east of Tuolumne
Meadows (not the southern Mono Pass at the head of Mono Creek, Fresno Co.). There was a
fine specimen draped over rocks on the Tioga Pass Road just east of the pass in Mono Co.;
I hope it is still there, though it was precariously close to that much-traveled highway.
According to Sudworth (Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope, p. 176) the "Dwarf Juniper
is more widely distributed than any other tree inhabiting the northern half of the globe"
--a noteworthy fact repeated by Little (Checklist of United States Trees, 1979, p. 154)0
In its distribution nlany local races have developed and numerous names, specific and
varietal, have been given to them. The name Little accepts for our Pacific (Oast variant
is Juniperus communis varosaxatilis (the varietal name used by Munz, Calif. Flora p. 63).
In its distribution many local races have developed and numerous names, specific and
varietal, have been given to them. The name Little accepts for our Pacific coast variant
is Juniperus communis var. saxatilis (the varietal name used by Munz, Calif. Flora p.63).
However, with the eye of a botanical horticulturalist, James Roof would recognize 3
named varieties and several unnamed forms as growing in California and adjacent Oregon
(The Four Seasons vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 1-9. 1973):
'~hile we are writing about variants in the Dwarf Juniper, we might mention two other
variant junipers in California that have been given names. The magnificent venerable
Sierra Juniper is distinct enough from the typical Western Juniper to warrant subspeci­
fic recognition, J. occidentalis ssp.australis o It ranges south from the vicinity of
Susanville, whereas the typical ssp. occidentalis ranges northward to Washington and
Idaho.
"In the California Juniper is a distinctive columnar form that Ernest Twisselman and
I named for its discoverer, Robert Luthey of Kernville. Juniperus californica forma
Luthegana is of rare sporadic occurrence in the Sonoran hills bounding the valley of
the South Fork of the Kern River in Kern Co. One of these columnar individuals may be
seen near the road from Bodfish to Havilah just south of the Bodfish Gap.
"The common name, juniper, that we use is taken directly from the classical Latin
name for the plant, Juniperus. The common name in Italian is "ginepro" and in French
is "genevrier." From these common names comes the English word gin (the liquor, not
the cotton-gin!) and the name of the Swiss city, Geneva. The word Juniper appeared in
English writings in the 14th and 15th centuries when it was variously spelled Gynep~e,
Iunipere, or Iunyperis (according to the Oxford English Dictionary). In Al!1~i(!E;tt. !"t
was spelled Juniper in the 1700' s." -- J. T. Howell. "Pc'

KIT FOX

Vulpes macrotis
Sketch by Dian R. Mawby

,
'"

A small desert resident that feeds on
rabbits, rodents, and insects. It has
slender legs and large ears. This mammal
is nocturnal, with dens on hilly slopes.
It produces as many as 8 young in a litter.
The dens have mUltiple entrances. It lives
in Death Valley, Eureka Valley and Deep
Springs.
This animal is fully protected in
California. Department of Fish and Game
placed its distribution in Owens Valley
as far north as the southern end of
Tinemaha Reservoir.
In April, 1983, a pair was sighted
along the Westgard road by Steven Foster,
Big Pine. Derham Giuliani confirmed the
den location and 8 young were seen each
evening. Within one week the pair changed
location of this densite and moved. The
adult male as well as the female forage
and bring food to their young.
Pensteman floridus ssp austinii was
blooming along the Loretta Mine Road just
east of the summit of Inyo mountains.
(below the summit)
It was an apparent second blooming with
2-3 feet long stems with many full bloom
flowers and many buds yet to bloom -­
weather willing.
Is this second blooming usual?
-- Mary Ann Henry
Ridgecrest, CA