> He says that the warriors out on their ponies would look for bee colonies
> in trees.  When one was spotted, the spotter would shoot an arrow into the
> tree by the nest to mark the location and claim it.  In the winter, they'd
> come back to get the honey.
>
> Those ponies were brought by European humans, so that oral history goes
back maybe to the 1500s.  Actually, the ponies were brought *back*, having
evolved here (Great Plains) and disappearing with lots of other  megafauna
about the same time as the arrival of humans over the land bridge.  How
long does a species have to be extirpated before it's considered
non-native? It's not inconceivable that honey bees were transported over
the land bridge too, but it seems like they would have left a signature in
the DNA of the current ferals.   I say we bring back the ponies, camels,
and giant ground sloths.

I also have goldfish in my rainbarrels to eat the mosquitoes.  They're
great non-toxic mosquito control, but have also become problems in some
ponds around here where they've been "set free".  Do they cause more harm
than the current mosquito spray boondoggle?  Bet they taste better.  Not
sure about the ground sloths.
Cheers,
Kristina Williams
Boulder, CO
currently enjoying the rain in Maine

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