Roadtrip 2008: Day 2: Antelope Island
There is one thing anyone should know about Utah. It’s flipping hot.
We left Brigham City and headed toward Salt Lake City. On the way we stopped at Antelope Island, which is in the Great Salt Lake and which was really the only thing I wanted to see in SLC.
Barn swallows nested in the roof of the visitor’s center on the island. I had never seen barn swallows before!
Here’s something that may interest you. We pulled into a parking lot so we could walk around and look at nature, but there was this minivan full of people I don’t like playing LOUD Spanish language versions of American pop songs on the stereo. I don’t know if you can actually hear the music in this video, but that’s the minivan in the background:
But something happened that made up for that. I can now die a happy man. In fact, I might. For the first time in my life, I saw BRINE SHRIMP IN THE WILD!!
Why is that one guy so orange! I don’t know! But here’s a video of them!
The other animal that lives in the lake is the brine fly. The beach was covered with the discarded skins of brine fly larvae. That’s the brown trail you see here!
Stumble it!
July 6th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Why is that one guy so orange! I don’t know! But here’s a video of them!
Diet.
They get a more varied diet in the wild.
July 7th, 2008 at 7:03 am
But what specifically? The visitor’s center said they eat algae in the lake. What algae makes a BS orange?
July 7th, 2008 at 7:14 am
brine fly larvae lines down the beach = A tourist atraction for everyone to go see … :)
July 7th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
If you wade into the water deep enough the brine shrimp get stuck to you and when you get out they dry up and you can scrape them off into a packet and then REVIVE THEM AT A LATER DATE. Sea Monkeys are AMAZING.
*JENNIFER IS SO FREAKING CUTE*
July 8th, 2008 at 5:51 am
I agree with both of you!
July 8th, 2008 at 9:32 am
What algae makes a BS orange?
Well carotene is a photosynthetic pigment and I’m not positive on this, but my educated guess is that because carotene is part of most photosynthesis systems (there are different pigments to absorb different parts onf the light spectrum) that they get carotene that way. I’d also hazard to guess that in nature, with natural sunlight, the carotene is produced in higher quantities, and again with a more varied diet (in the lab, they’re usually fed 1-3 sp. of algae) in the wild, they get a different mix of pigments in their diet.
just a guess
July 11th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I can’t believe your beard is getting in the way of pictures now.