Sign of the wild: interpreting a silent language, amateur trackers give voice to their wild neighbors

摘要

This is how the deer died: It was the third week of December in the Green Mountains of Vermont. The young buck, worn-out from the courting and jousting of the autumn rut, lay curled beneath the hemlocks, asleep in a bed of snow. As he lay, he was watched by a pair of golden eyes framed by a tawny ruff. A big torn bobcat crept down from its ledge, stalking from tree to tree. Ten feet away, the cat crouched, its mouth shaking with adrenaline jitters. Then it pounced.