Today I am sharing a couple of views from along the shore of the Rivers of America. We'll start with this tableau, featuring a fearsome mountain lion perched atop a rock outcropping. Just look at him, he'd eat us if he could!
I used to wonder about why this fellow was placed in this manner, and finally found a very early photo (before those trees at the base of the rock were there) in which he was about to pounce on two unsuspecting deer (you'll have to wait for that one, I haven't scanned it yet). I can only assume that the deer were removed, since they couldn't be seen anyway.
The deer may be gone, but there is still a nice, juicy elk! Or maybe it's a deer, who can tell. They have antlers, right? It's some kind of ungulate, OK?? While I have seen lots of photos of different fauna along the river, I don't recall ever seen this particular one before.
I wonder if the second image is of the Stagecoach road that runs along the northeastern edge of the Rivers of America. Anyone know?
ReplyDeleteNice set of the Frontierland "wildlife". Thanks, Major.
I found the mountain lion and the deer that were below him on the 1958 Disneyland wall map. I'm assuming those are the train tracks that we can see on the left side of the photo, with the berm being just beyond them. The wall map happens to show the lion being north of the tracks and the deer being south of the tracks, but we all know those maps weren't 100% accurate.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots! Love the unusual angles.
ReplyDeleteA day without the word "ungulate" is like a day without sunshine...
ReplyDeleteIs this the same cougar we saw some time back with a green spotlight aimed at him?
ReplyDeleteI loved that pic.
Thanks Major!
JG
K. Martinez, I do believe that the road is the one used by the Stagecoaches and Conestoga Wagons, not too far from where Cascade Peak eventually hatched.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, the deer on the wall map look different from the ones I referred to (the ones that you can't see in most photos - a pair of female deer). By the time the first wall map was produced (1958), I think those were already either hidden by brush, or removed altogether. I am pretty sure that the elk (or deer?) in photo #2 is closer to where Cascade Peak was. But I could be wrong!
Tom, I do too!
Steve DeGaetano, it is a good word, for sure!
JG, I don't recall ever seeing a mountain lion lit with a green spotlight (on my few recent night journeys aboard the Mark Twain), but I would love to know if they did that with this guy.
After my "It's Philadelphia!" debacle I'm a little gun shy, but I'll go out on a limb and say that's a mule deer.
ReplyDeleteInteresting fact about mule deer, they're very stubborn about moving from a given position.
Patrick, no worries about the Philly thing! You at least had a guess, which is more than I had. That could be a mule deer, they're everywhere around here!
ReplyDelete