Sounds a lot like a tree clam. A *what*? About ten years ago my wife and I were walking on one of the Forbes family's private islands (not as interesting a story as it sounds) and we saw a clam sitting in the fork of a small tree at about eye level. Again, it obviously didn't get there by itself, but the notion of a tree clam is so much more appealing than any mundane theory about a bored Forbes. They've become part of our own personal menagerie, along with the bonsai moose and the mountain platypus.

We used to call squirrels "roof rabbits" down south. I think that it is an allusion to the fact that you could eat them, if you were properly motivated.

Go Turtle!

okay, i'll ask ... what is a bonsai moose and what is a mountain platypus? are they tastey?

The bonsai moose was invented one time when we (my wife and I) were out hiking with a friend, who heard something rustle off to our right and asked if it was a moose. Considering the sound itself, and the fact that it was coming from somewhere above ground level, it was probably a squirrel, but we made up the bonsai tree-climbing moose (BTM for short) as an alternative explanation.

The mountain platypus is mere wishful thinking. As you can probably tell from my URL I'm a bit of a platypus fanatic. My wife and I have often bemoaned the fact that we were unlikely to spot a platypus in the places where we usually hike (the White Mountains in NH) so we made up the mountain platypus.

The bonsai tree-climbing moose tastes about the same as regular moose, though the meat's a bit harder to get at due to the smaller size. Similarly, the mountain platypus tastes similar to its aquatic cousin, which is to say terrible. Rumor has it that early Australia people would sometimes hunt platypus but even hungry dogs and colonists wouldn't actually eat them. I've never heard an explanation of why that should be the case, but some animals really do taste bad and maybe the platypus is one of them. Just one more interesting adaptation on a long list, I guess.

Here's a true story about a moose found hanging alive 50 feet above the ground, its antlers tangled in power lines. Before you click on the link, you might try to figure out how it got there.