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<!-- TemperateGrassland.xml (c) 1999 Shawn P. Vincent (svincent@svincent.com) -->

<page>

<file>MagicJar/Biomes/TemperateGrassland.xml</file>
<title>Temperate Grassland (Prarie)</title>

<contents>

  <h2>Description</h2>


    <p>It has been said that it is most difficult to describe things
    you know most intimately.  If this is true, I'll have real trouble
    describing the praries, because I grew up in them.  I was born on
    the praries, I grew up there... so I certainly know what they're
    like.  Now to describe.</p>

    <p>Imagine standing in the center of a field: but this is no
    ordinary field.  The waving grasses you are standing amongst
    stretch off to the horizon in every direction.  At the horizon,
    the grass meets the sky: an enormous bowl of sky towering above
    you, the clouds looking as though they're painted on.</p>

    <p>In the wind, the prarie comes alive.  Waves of grass chase one
    another across the landscape, following low swells of earth,
    speeding away to the horizon where they blend into the vast
    expanse of land.</p>

    <p>Grass is not all that's there, however.  Wildflowers of all
    shapes, colors, and types provide sprays of color throughout the
    landscape.  Insects buzz, birds circle overhead, buffalo race
    through the oceans of grass, the ground trembling beneath their
    feet as they pass.</p>

    <p>Below the grass lives an entire world, unseen from above.  Mice
    scurry to their holes, avoiding coyotes and other small predators.
    Ants and beetles swarm buzily, small frogs make their way, doing
    enigmatic frog things.</p>

    <p>Then autumn comes, the grass turns golden brown, and the snow
    falls.  Soon the entire landscape is covered in a thick layer of
    snow, covering the grass, which re-emerges in spring.  Bird and
    deer tracks dot the clean white snow, dazzling in the sun.</p>

    <p>Yep, I lived there.  Now I live in a massively urbanized
    temperate broadleaf forest biome.  But nothing can replace the
    praries for me.</p>
    
    <p>Oh, sorry.  Was that not impartial?  I'll try to do better next
    time.</p>

  <h2>Notes</h2>

  <h2>Climate</h2>

    <h3>General Notes</h3>

      <p>The prairie is the home of hot summers and cold winters.
      Snow falls in the winter and melts in the summer.</p>

    <h3>Year</h3>

      <table>
      <tr><th class="AttributeName">average yearly high:</th>
          <td class="AttributeValue">40C</td></tr>
      <tr><th class="AttributeName">average yearly low:</th>
          <td class="AttributeValue">-40C</td></tr>
      <tr><th class="AttributeName">average yearly precipitation:</th>
          <td class="AttributeValue">50-90 cm</td></tr>
      </table>

    <h3>Summer</h3>

      <table>
      <tr><th class="AttributeName">average daily high:</th>
          <td class="AttributeValue"></td></tr>
      <tr><th class="AttributeName">average nightly low:</th>
          <td class="AttributeValue"></td></tr>
      <tr><th class="AttributeName">average daily precipitation:</th>
          <td class="AttributeValue"> </td></tr>
      </table>

    <h3>Winter</h3>

      <table>
      <tr><th class="AttributeName">average daily high:</th>
          <td class="AttributeValue"></td></tr>
      <tr><th class="AttributeName">average nightly low:</th>
          <td class="AttributeValue"></td></tr>
      <tr><th class="AttributeName">average daily precipitation:</th>
          <td class="AttributeValue"> </td></tr>
      </table>

  <h2>Flora (Plant life)</h2>

    <h3>General Notes</h3>

    <h3>Common Species</h3>

      <ul>

        <li>Grasses: purple needlegrass, blue grama, buffalo grass,
        galleta</li>

        <li>Flowers: asters, blazing stars, coneflowers, goldenrods,
        black-eyed susans, sunflowers, clover, psoraleas, wild
        indigos</li>

      </ul>

    <h3>Uncommon Species</h3>

      <ul>
        <li>Trees: cottonwood, oak, willow, poplar</li>
      </ul>

    <h3>Rare Species</h3>

      <ul>
      </ul>

  <h2>Fauna (Animal life)</h2>

    <h3>General Notes</h3>

    <h3>Common Species</h3>

      <ul>
        <li>antelope, deer</li>

        <li>Insects: grasshoppers, leafhoppers, spiders</li>

        <li>Small mammals: mice, jack rabbits, prairie dogs, weasles</li>

        <li>Birds: hawks, sparrows, quails, owls, blackbirds, grouses,
        meadowlarks</li>

      </ul>

    <h3>Uncommon Species</h3>

      <ul>
        <li>skunks</li>
        <li>badgers</li>
        <li>polecat</li>
      </ul>

    <h3>Rare Species</h3>

      <ul>
        <li>wolves</li>
        <li>coyotes</li>
        <li>foxes</li>
      </ul>

</contents>

</page>
