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SCV Outdoor Report

Santa Clarita Valley Outdoor Report: Working Skunks

  This week’s Santa Clarita Valley Outdoor Report by Wendy Langhans explains how solitary animals, like skunks, and social animals, like meerkats, protect themselves.     I was talking with a friend a few days ago.  We engaged in the usual small talk, until I noticed the small skunk logo on his shirt.  I broke into a huge grin and ...

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Santa Clarita Outdoor Report: One Way Street

Breathing. It’s something we normally do 12-18 times every minute. But just for a moment – pay attention to the flow of air. Take a deep breath. Hold it for five seconds. Then slowly breathe out. You have what is called a bi-directional flow of air to and from your lungs. According to Dr. C.G. Farmer, associate professor of biology ...

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Santa Clarita Outdoor Report: Juniper “Cones”

Most well-equipped kitchens have a place where the dried spices are kept.  It could be a drawer, or a cabinet shelf or even a spice rack on the counter.  And when we think of spices that we use, we think of bark – like cinnamon.  We think of roots – like ginger.  And we think of dried fruit – like ...

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Santa Clarita Valley Outdoor Report: Skunky Beer

Q1.   Did you every wonder why some beer bottles are brown?  A1.    To protect the beer from the unwanted effects of ultraviolet light. Q2.   And what are the unwanted effects of ultraviolet light?  A2.    Skunky beer! Beer contains hops, a plant material, that normally produces a pleasing flavor in beer.  But hops also contain light-sensitive chemicals known as isohumulones.  ...

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Santa Clarita Outdoor Report: 21-Second Rule

Growing up in Wisconsin, I had the good fortune to spend part of my summers on my Aunt and Uncle’s dairy farm.  There, I discovered a fundamental principle of four-legged mammals – they all pee.  Dogs, cats and especially cows all need to get rid of the waste products produced by their bodies. So imagine my surprise when I learned ...

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Santa Clarita Valley Outdoor Report: What’s In A Name

This is a “Best of Wendy Langhans” Report What’s in a Name? Chevy Volt. Ford Mustang. Mazda Miata. When we speak about automobiles, we often include both the manufacture’s name and the model name. It’s the automotive equivalent of “binomial nomenclature”, the formal naming system (genus and species) that biologists have used since the mid 16th century to name plants and ...

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Santa Clarita Valley Outdoor Report: Contrails

Six seconds into this YouTube clip of John Ford’s classic western, “Cheyenne Autumn”, you can hear the narrator identify the date as September 7, 1878.  Meanwhile, as the opening scene fades from darkness into view, you can see a vertical contrail hanging in the sky.  This creates a slight problem – because contrails are made by airplanes and airplanes didn’t ...

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Santa Clarita Outdoor Report: Melting Snow

I’m not sure I can ask this question without smirking just a bit:  Cold enough for you?  That’s because I went to college in Minnesota; in St. Paul, the average temperature in December ranges from 27 (high) to 12 (low).  But last week, I discovered something that dimmed that smirk just a bit.  Something I thought I knew about snow ...

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Santa Clarita Outdoor Report: Acoustic Stealth

In my night-hike tool kit, I carry two short pieces of rope:  one is smooth with a well-defined edge, while the other is frayed with a tattered edge.  I use them to demonstrate the stealth acoustics of owl wings.    Photo courtesy of: Lilian Holt I begin by asking the hikers a question:  When I swing each of these ropes in ...

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SCV Outdoor Report Best Of: Juniper Berries

Earlier this year, my husband and I took a drive out to the eastern edge of the Santa Clarita valley.  It was a sunny morning, so we bundled up in our jackets and took the top down.  As we drove along Agua Dulce Canyon road, the junipers caught my eye – they were chock full of plump, greyish-blue berries.  But, ...

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