Greetings from Route 111 in Hoenn!

I am currently conducting some research on Sandshrews out in Old Gulley Gorge. I must say that the folks that I've run into out here in the desert in Hoenn are quite some characters. I was able to take some photos as Elm and I trekked out to the mines. Here they are:

The girls aided us in finding the proper direction.

Afterwards we ran into some car trouble out in an expanse of salt flats. Oddly enough, I found something that I would never have imagined this far out in the desert, a pair of Voltorbs mating in the highly alkaline soils. [Note see Voltorb mating ritual entry for details] Elm headed out and changed a tire. In the process I took some time and sat back to decide the line up for this Fall's Vulpixelation programming.

Hypno
Electabuzz
Porygon
Pidgey
Jynx
Voltorb
Dewgong
Abra
Lapras
Pikachu
Tangela
Ghastly
Bellesprout
Caterpie
Charizard
Clefairy
Koffing
Vulpix

It's going to be a mighty fine season. Goldenrod City Radio has given me all the necessary PSA's and Promotional carts to bring along with me, so the show is sure to be full of flavor. Pardon me if I get carried away!

Anyway on to today's discoveries. To those who wish to know about this elusive mountain species:
A Sandshrew is a ground-dwelling rodent notable for its defensive capabilities. Its body is mostly covered in a dry, tough hide which is colored to blend in with the sands of the desert. It can curl into a tight ball about the same size as a basketball to protect its soft underbelly. Its primary weapon is the small but sharp claws on its paws, which are also useful for burrowing and can sometimes be poisoned.

Under proper training their defensive behaviors can be overridden and a daring pokémon can be established, thus. They are incredibly resilient little creatures that need no water for days upon days. Like many desert inhabitants, Sandshrews take advantage of the cooler temperatures and the collection of dew at night by exploring the expansive desert that is their home near the witching hour.

Today the observed sandshrews exhibited a behavior that seems to be absent from any of the journals that Elm and I read frequently. They were bringing out tubers from their dens and rubbing them against the sparsely dewed over shrubs around the entrances. It seemed as if they were cultivating tubers in their dens! This level of interaction between sandshrews and their environment is astonishing if you ask me. It turns out that we humans aren't the only farmers.

-Best for now, Oak.