It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Rackaboar trails. They always were endangered, and because they usually hung out with dairy cattle, perhaps they quietly went extinct as small farms died and dairy cows were confined to milking parlors.
I first saw them when in the hilly areas southeast of Rochester – or, rather, I saw evidence of them. Maybe some of you remember the ridges they left on pasture hillsides too. You see, Rackaboars have two short legs either on their left side or on their right, and whether they are right or left “handed” determines the course their lives will take. The photo below shows Rackaboar ridges I photographed in Costa Rica.
Once while riding in a large Mercedes bus with others from the school I attended in Bregenz, Austria, I spotted them. We were travelling the foothills of the Austrian Alps with their steep pastures. “Rackaboars!” I exclaimed. To my amazement, no one had any idea what I was talking about! I pointed out the ridges and began explaining/describing Rackaboar behavior, and then a fellow from Colorado piped up that out there they are called Side-Hill-Dodgers. They’re born in the pastures, and depending on whether they are short-legged on the left or on the right, they begin circling the hillsides either clockwise or counterclockwise.
The extinction of any species is tragic, and because so many years have passed since that day in Austria, my heart is heavy as I write. The Rackaboar brought joy to all who studied their behavior, and it seems to me that they did not receive the scientific interest they should have been due.
Wizened Wizard 