Can’t resist sharing this cute picture of a muskrat in a Yellowstone kettle pond with you. What’s a kettle pond, you may ask? Here’s what the Yellowstone Treasures glossary has to say: “A pond formed in a depression caused by the ground collapsing when a buried block of glacial ice melted. Also called kettle hole.” The melting snow of the caption to this National Park Service photo is just this past winter’s. The hole is much older.
Kettle ponds created by melting snow are popular destinations for a variety of animals, including sleepy muskrats. pic.twitter.com/STpNtkCbFJ
— YellowstoneNPS (@YellowstoneNPS) May 23, 2014
You can find out more about how glaciers reshape the landscape on the illustrated pages 311-312 of the “Geological History” chapter in the guidebook.
—Editor Beth
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