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Endangered: Bavarian Pine Vole Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Sapience Trek: As there's been no cache to find for months, I'm archiving it to keep it from continually showing up in search lists, and to prevent it from blocking other cache placements. If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future, just contact us (by email), and assuming it meets the guidelines, we'll be happy to unarchive it.

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Hidden : 11/29/2009
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

This is a decon container hidden near the Nanticoke Valley Cemetery. There is no reason to unfasten the cache as you can easily open the lid and remove the log without doing so. Please be sure to close all four corners of the lid to keep the contents waterproof.

Please respect the grounds of those who rest here. Also, please only visit this site during the daytime hours.

This is part of my new "Endangered Species" series of caches designed to bring awareness of a few of the hundreds/thousands of endangered animal species on our planet, most of them in trouble due to humans.

The Bavarian pine vole (Microtus bavaricus) is a vole from the Austrian, Italian, and Bavarian Alps of Europe. It lived in moist meadows at elevations of 600-1,000 metres. There are 23 museum specimens of this species.

This rodent was previously known from only one location in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany, which has since been altered by the construction of a hospital in the 1980s. No specimens of this rodent were recorded after 1962 and it was thought to be extinct. However, a population apparently belonging to this species was discovered in 2000 in Northern Tyrol, just across the German-Austrian border. An Austrian scientist, Friederike Spitzenberger, stumbled upon the species in one of her "live traps". Its species status has been confirmed by genetic studies, and it is very closely related to Liechtenstein's vole (Microtus liechtensteini) from the Eastern Alps (Martinkova et al., 2007). Further research is required to determine the size and range of the population and the species has been re-assessed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Tb va sebz gur yrsg - vg'f rnfvre!

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)