When we were identifying trees today, one of the things we had to look for was if the tree had any damage or injuries. This ironwood tree had something called buckrub. Can you guess what this is? Well, let me tell you... It's when a deer (did you know that the male is called a 'buck'?) rubs its antlers on a tree. This tree had all of its bark for about 14 inches rubbed completely off. Dr. Kahn thought the tree might actually die from this injury!
Here's a little more to the story about deer: SERC (the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, remember?) has so many deer in its woods that it allows hunters to come on the property for two weeks and hunt the deer. This sounds terrible for the deer but there are so many of them that they are having trouble finding enough food to stay alive and healthy. Too much of their land has been taken over by humans. Also, their predators--such as large cats and bear--are becoming scarce, so the balance of nature is shifting. Things aren't really very balanced anymore! That's a big part of what I'm learning this week. I'll tell you more later....