Another Chapter in the Roadkill Chronicles

This past weekend, during a tracking course in California (spoiler: I did not ace the final exam), we students were tasked with identifying the above gorgeous creature, found dead by our instructors on — where else? — the highway. This gorgeous little beast is a long-tailed weasel, Neogale frenata, a lithe, furtive carnivore that I’d never before seen in the wild (though I’ve encountered their short-tailed cousins). Beholding this lovely and doomed mustelid, I was reminded, for the billionth time...