I suspect that, if we ever get to Mars, a wolf will be there to greet us.
Canis lupus is everywhere, including the Himalayan range and Tibet:
- Himalayan Wolves Project
- Dr. Wikipedia
- Wolves, snow leopards, and red foxes (there will probably be a Martian red fox on the Welcome Wagon, too!)
Of note, the snow leopard and fox can’t do this (caveat: brutal predation scenes, but no kills, at least on camera):
The YouTube comment sums it up: “The common goal of both animals is ‘survival.'” We H.-sapiens types complain a lot but we seldom realize just how well off we are in terms of Nature’s big picture.
Lagniappe:
The real Martian Wolf is a nerd, with many subscribers.
But also, apparently, some of us do dream of that Red Planet rendezvous.
They’re pointing to what they suspect are wolf statues, and they suggest in the description that perhaps wolves were once venerated on Mars as they were on Earth.
Yes, the road to proof has a very steep grade here, but I like the optimistic approach.
While most of us, including me, rarely take a good look at the in-depth views of another planet’s surface that are available now, despite all the work that went into them — for example:
All evidence of this amazing technology will soon erode away — future explorers might not ever know it happened. Rocks, on the other hand, are very durable.
— not to mention the daily weather reports from Jezero Crater; while we’re rather blasé about all this information, others inspect it carefully for wolf artifacts — and foxes, too, I hope 🦊!
May they continue doing so, for they might see something unexpected that scientists and/or AI have missed.
Featured image: Madhu Chetri via Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Flight To Wonder 