Napier, Arch

English

University of New Mexico

New Mexico Quarterly
Volume 34 | Issue 3 Article 2
1964
A Pika on the Grass, Alas
Arch Napier
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Recommended Citation
Napier, Arch. "A Pika on the Grass, Alas." New Mexico Quarterly 34, 3 (1964). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol34/iss3/2
229
Arch Napier i,
A PIKA ON THE GRASS, ALAS
We chose the yucca as our official New Mexico flower in 1927 and
the roadrunner and pinon as state bird and tree in 1949. After these
momentous decisions, we rested until 1955 when we selected the cut-
throat tront for state fish.
This left one spot vacant in the state pantheon. A few states have
official mammals, and we were prodded into a seMch for a suitable
candidate for this post in the summer of 1962. What followed was
scarcely noted at the time and is probably one of the least important
chapters in New Mexico history. However, the search for a state
mammal may have revealed more about our state psyche than we
intended.
Choosing a totem is a very old custom, of course. When our an-
cestors lived fearfully in caves, they tried to ally themselves with birds
and beasts of great ferocity and cunning. The development of civiliza-
tion did not change this. Tnoes and nations chose fierce symbols:
England flaunted the lion and unicorn on its banners, and the newly-
independent United States of America..:....after a minority vote for the
turkey-selected the eagle.
Circumstances have changed since then, but the symbol remains.
As our nation grows in strength, we seek to project a friendlier image
around the world. Perhaps instead of a bird of prey, we should decorate
oUf embassies with a symbol of wealth and generosity. A roast turkey,
probably. This would radically change our Thanksgiving dinners, of
course. We could not eat our national symbol and might have to
resort to cranberry sauce and roast eagle.
"I
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One might expect that national growth would ease the need for
predatory totems, but this was not the case in 1913 when the New
Mexico Legislature chose a coat of arms. Its design,has two eagles, and
they still appear on the Great Seal (not the mammal variety) of the
State of New Mexico. One is a small Mexican eagle grasping a serpent
in its beak and a cactus plant in its talons. This busy, though ap-
parently uncomfortable bird, is shown shielded by the American eagle
which has outspread wings and a clutch of arrows.
Other states started with fearsome menageries on their escutcheons,
too, and yet have felt in recent years that they must adopt additional
. critters as state symbols. Most have official flowers, birds, and even fish,
but the adoption of animals is less prevalent. When the New Mexico
Department of Game and Fish surveyed other states, only six official
mammals were found in the forty-three states that responded to the
questionnaire.
California has the grizzly bear; Colorado, the bighorn sheep; Kansas,
the American buffalo; Pennsylvania, the white-tailed deer; South
Dakota, the coyote; and Wisconsin, the badger.
Some states admitted unofficial symbols. Michigan wrote: "Have
been called the Wolverine State but not by legislative act. No con-
clusive evidence that we ever had a wolverine in the state." Nevada
wrote: "We have adopted the Bighorn Sheep (Desert) but it has
never been named by the Legislature."
North Dakota reported "no officially designated state mammal,"
but added, "However, this state has the nickname of the Flickertail
state, from the Richardson's Ground Squirrel or Flickertail gopher."
Oregon's ~ag depicts the beaver, but it replied: "This animal has never
been officially designated." .
Some states did not take this question entirely seriously. One wrote:
"Here in dear old Missouri, our favorite mammal is MAN!" However,
Missouri has not adopted this species officially. Florida wrote: "There
have been suggestions regarding the alligator as a state mammal, but
the critter is a reptile; therefore, it cannot be the state mammal"
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our New Mexico Game Department
asked the citizens of the state for suggestions. Anabel Haas, who made
the appeal in the Department's bimonthly New Mexico Wildlife, did
not explain why the project was started or how the official mammal
would be employed. So there was understandable confusion in the
replies.
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A PIKA ON THE GRASS, ALAS 231
No one ever seems to analyze the role of a state totem. Should the
creature be something ferocious to symb~lize power (and perhaps
scare away litterbugs and speeders) or something clever and indus-
trious to represent growth? Should the totem be a rare beast found in
few other states, or should it be a universal favorite beloved by tourists
everywhere?
One citizen felt we should select a mammal on the basis of its ac-
complishments. Richard Vann of Albuquerque nominated the bat-
which is a mammal, despite tourists who think it is a bird':"and wrote:
"Insect-eating bats have done their share in contributing to the de-
velopment of the state. They have provided valuable guano deposits,
and have aided greatly in the retardation of insect pests, and they
helped the discovery of the Carlsbad Caverns."
Another respondent favored individualism. He nominated the
javelina because this "ugly little pig would fit in with the roadrunner
and the yucca." A second vote for distinctiveness and local color came
from a resident who named the coatimundi with the comment: "He's
the only Mexican-speaking animal we've got around here."
The homed toad got a vote, but he was rejected as a reptile.
Nominations came in for such non-natives as the camel and the
aoudad or Barbary sheep. ''This is the only state in which the Barbary
sheep is offered to the sportsman," the reason stated, "and he is as
native to New Mexico as many hunters are."
Squirrels were suggested as "enchanting little animals" and the
mountain lion as "a fascinating creature towatch."
In the final tally, the antelope ranked second; the mule deer and
Barbary sheep close behind; then, the prairie dog, the mountain lion,
and a long line of animals that included the chipmunk, elk, and wild
mustang.
In first place, with fifty percent of the vote, was the black bear. Miss
Haas attributed the bear's popularity to the favorable image created by
Smokey'the Bear and his mate Goldie. Both are natives of the state.
The survey received most attention among hunters and the results
were slanted in favor of game animals as one might expect. Yet I be-
lieve that extensive sampling of New Mexico residents might have
chosen the black bear, too.
Bears have enjoyed a good press. Even in our nursery bPoks, we are
told how loveable they are. When the Game Department held this
survey, a letter arrived from Sussex, England, with two votes for "the
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232 ARCH NAPIER
little bear." No doubt the writer was influenced by Winnie the Pooh
or the bears who were victimized by that young trespasser Iand van-
dal, Goldilocks. .
Smokey has become a legend in his time. Rescued from a forest fire
near Capitan, he was treated for burned feet in Santa Fe and sent on to
Washington where he poses for fire-prevention posters, comic strips,
and animated cartoons. He is dressed in a Forest Service hat and gen-
erally carries a shovel and dispenses advice in English, French, Spanish
and several other non-Bear languages. Little wonder that the people
of Capitan have built a museum in his honor, equipped at times with
fire tools and a live bear hostess named Smokeena.
Despite this. popularity, I did not feel at the time-nor do I feel
now-that the bear is the proper symbol for New Mexico. The diffi-
culty lies in the fact that when most people in the nation think about
bears in the West they recall those in Yellowstone Park who sit by the
side of the roads begging for handouts. Now, most of New Mexico's
bears are not beggars. They are, as far as we can tell, self-reliant 'and
noble creatures in the finest tradition of free enterprise. Yet the nation
does not know this: to most people, the bear is a lazy creature looking
for public handouts.
In the voting, I favored the pika or coney, a rarely seen little rock
rabbit that lives on our highest mountains. It is notable for the fact
that in summer it harvests grass and spreads it out on rocks to cure
before it stores it away for the winter. This is the thrifty little animal
that should symbolize our state.
However, the pika never receive4 any support, not even from the
New Mexico Grain and Feed Dealers Association. Perhaps any creature
whose name sounds like the way a Texan pronounces upiker" has no
chance.
When Representative Bill Shrecengost introduced a bill in the
1963 Legislature to name the black bear as state mammal, there was
little opposition. The lawmakers avoided discussion, recalling that
lesser animal topics had created greater embarrassments in the past. A
decade ago, when they passed a bill to prohibit goats from wandering
loose in villages-and accomplished little else that pleased the public-
the session went into history as the uGoat Bill Legislature" and the
members were presented with little goat-head lapel pins.
The election campaign of 1962 had been enlivened by a controversy
about the angle of the state bird's tail. Governor Edwin L. Mechem
had accepted a painting of a roadrunner with a tail pointed upwards.
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A PIKA ON THE GRASS, ALAS 233
The opposition party said that the state bird should be depicted in a
running stance-with tail pointed straight back-to symbolize New
Mexico's fast progress. It was one of the few interesting issues of the
campaign7 and Governor Mechem was defeated by Jack Campbell.
When the Legislature met, the politicians decided to treat the
"black bear bill'7 carefully. Senators voted alternately yes and no on
the matter so that Lieutenant Governor Mack E~Iey would have to
break the tie. But before he could make it officfuI7 Senator Fabian
Chavez moved to make the black bear our state mammal by unani-.
mousvote.
Possibly the same result would have taken place if there had been
more analysis of state symbols and more public discussion. f In our
modem SOciety7 I feel that we call on totems less and less to scare
our enemies7but we need them to express our yearnings in an all-too-
mechanical world. Playboy magazine chooses a rabbit as its totem7and
cars are named after falcons7 jaguars and mustangs. The advertising
industry is now in a tiger phas~ sensing that in our effete society con-
sumers long for tiger qualities when buying slacks7 cars; and tires. A
gasoline company urges you to "Put a Tiger in Your Tank77 and actu-
ally sells thousands of synthetic tiger tails that can hang out of the gas
tank. One rival station had a sign that said: "We711 strain tiger hairs
out of your gasoline.77
What then does the black bear really symbolize? Dependent as New
Mexico is on federal appropriations and out-of~state tourists, are we
like the Yellowstone Park bears secretly yearning for more handouts
from the rest of the nation? Or are we envious of SmokeY7 who is7
after all7the classic example of a poor boy who got burned in his home
state and found a soft job working for the government in Washington?
Has anyone ever seen him really using that shovel?
AnywaY7 I favor the industrious pika. I voted fOl.him7 and rm a
poor loser.
W ARCH NAPIER, currently New Mexico news correspondent for Sports
Illustrated and National Observer7 has previously serv~ as correspondent
for Time7 Life7 Fortune and the Wall Street Journal over a period of ten
years. At one time he was a staffer for the Albuquerque Journal and now
lives in Albuquerque. His articles have appeared in Readers Digest7 Maga-
zine Digest and Best Articles & Stories.
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Napier: A Pika on the Grass, Alas
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