CHAPTER VII 



ANIMALS, LAND AND MARINE* 



"Is there much wild life at Point Lobos?" asks the visitor as he con- 

 siders the comparatively small area in the Reserve of 35-4 acres. 



The answer is a definite affirmative. During one year Dr. Joseph Grinnell 

 and Dr. Jean M. Linsdale observed the presence here of 176 kinds of verte- 

 brate animals — 10 amphibians and reptiles, 19 mammals, and 147 birds. 

 Both as regards species and individuals, the count was high in Point Lobos 

 Reserve. They ascribed this partly to the number and diversity of habi- 

 tats represented, including grassland, brushland, forests, ocean shore, and 

 islands. 



Next to the spectacular beauty of the Point, this presence of wildlife is 

 among the most arresting features. Here it is possible to observe in a primi- 

 tive environment many plant and animal species living in interesting rela- 

 tionship to each other. 



Nearly every plant or animal seen at Point Lobos, with but few excep- 

 tions, may be seen in abundance by most Californians at some locality more 

 conveniently accessible than here ; but in few places can they be freely 

 examined and studied under undisturbed natural conditions such as are 

 maintained at this Reserve. For example, most visitors to this area are no 

 doubt only slightly interested in white-crowned sparrows themselves, for 

 these are common backyard birds, but here this species of bird is seen in 

 normal responses to its natural environment. 



Nor has the program followed here been to preserve permanently any 

 specific objects now occurring in the park, but primarily to insure freedom 

 for all the natural processes which have produced those objects and which 

 if permitted to continue will, it is believed, tend to maintain them for a 

 long time in their most valuable form. 



Of those natural habitats which attract the wide variety of animals to 

 the Reserve, grassland makes up a larger portion than any other. Several 

 predatory species normally range here, where their prospects of finding 

 suitable prey are greater because of the virtual absence of obstructing 

 vegetation. This in turn requires that animals which live in this low vege- 

 tation be so colored as to escape easy detection or that they have access to 

 burrows into which they may escape from view. Such a habitat encourages 

 the exercise of acuteness in the senses of sight and hearing, and of alertness 

 in starting to escape when danger threatens. 



Seeds, roots and insects constitute a food supply for a few mammals, 

 such as gophers, mice, and ground squirrels. Dr. Grinnell and Dr. Linsdale 

 estimated that mammal workings are extensive enough in a year's time to 

 disturb every bit of the surface of the soil of all the grassland to a depth 



• Based on a special report by Dr. J. Grinnell and Dr. Jean Linsdale, 1934-35. 



California Sec Lions. 



Habitat group. California 



Academy of Sciences. • 



(51 ) 



