The Search for Hidden Life

摘要

The appalachian mountains emerged 290 million years ago—before almost every landscape feature on earth. Once, the chain's snowcapped majesty rivaled the modern Himalayas. Thanks partly to the primacy of age, the southern Appalachians became one of the richest breeding grounds for diverse life forms of any temperate spot on the planet—first through a series of accidents that took place in primordial ooze and then over the eroding march of eons. As the new millennium nears, the wilderness marked for preservation in 1934 and named Great Smoky Mountains National Park remains wild enough. "Keep an eye out," advised park biologist Keith Langdon, glancing over his shoulder one recent afternoon at the inky woods be-hind him. The reason? A family of black bears fiad raided park offices a few days before, rummaging through cars parked outside.