Vocabulary > Earth > Nature, Wildlife, Flora and fauna, Animals

The Guardian        Eyewitness > Edinburgh        pp. 20-21

16.2.2006

wild

into the wild
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/22/raft-fen-spiders

wildlife
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/wildlife

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/03/deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-turtle-deaths-soar

Park life: the wildlife of Britain's cities
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/19/wildlife-british-cities-stephen-moss

British wildlife
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2011/feb/01/british-wildlife-photography-awards-2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/27/national-trust-audit-wildlife-weather

freshwater wildlife
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/31/freshwater-wildlife-thriving-clean-rivers

wilderness
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/sep/13/ray-mears-canada-wilderness
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/sep/13/canada-northern-wilderness

Wilderness Act        USA        1964
http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/wildrns.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/sep/14/us-wilderness-act

Timeline: 70 Years of Environmental Change
Environmental milestones over 13 presidential administrations        Published: April 21, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/22/science/earth/20100422_environment_timeline.html

wild mustang        USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/us/20mustangs.html

Britain's mammals > hedgehog, water vole, hazel dormouse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/31/freshwater-wildlife-thriving-clean-rivers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/09/water-voles-make-comeback
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/28/wildlife-animals-conservation

a species,  species

extinct species
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/11/extinct-species-england

The noughties: a decade of lost species
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/oct/21/decade-lost-species

England's lost species by region > Interactive map        Thursday 11 March 2010

The biggest national study of threats to biodiversity
highlights around 500 species of flora and fauna
that have been lost completely from England.
Still more species are becoming extinct by region.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2010/mar/11/england-lost-threatened-species

Number of Earth's species known to scientists rises to 1.9 million         29 September 2009

The world's most comprehensive catalogue of plants and animals
has been boosted by 114,000 new species in the past three years
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/29/number-of-living-species

wildlife species

mammal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/28/hectors-dolphins-near-extinction

evolution > Stephen Jay Gould
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/g/stephen_jay_gould/index.html

evolution > British Naturalist Charles Robert Darwin > The Origin of Species
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jun/22/darwinbicentenary.evolution

National Trust

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/27/national-trust-audit-wildlife-weather

wood

forest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/forests

rainforest
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/01/prince-charles-rainforest-funding

the Amazon
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/03/last-stand-of-the-amazon

tree
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2071120,00.html

giant tree
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/26/giant-trees-dying

elm        USA
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2007-05-07-american-elm_N.htm

oak        USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/nyregion/06tree.html

aspen        USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/science/19aspen.html

cherry tree
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2007-03-30-washington-dc-cherry-blossoms_N.htm

evergreen cypresses and yews
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article5320905.ece

blossom
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2007-03-30-washington-dc-cherry-blossoms_N.htm

bloom
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/07/british-plants-blooming-earlier-study-shows
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2007-03-30-washington-dc-cherry-blossoms_N.htm

wood
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article5360433.ece

autumn leaves, sycamore trees, silver birches and oaks
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article5126125.ece

cedar trees
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article5139912.ece

lichen
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article5309256.ece

snowberry bushes
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article5247635.ece

orchard
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/may/31/cider-tour-somerset

herb

tarragon

marjoram

chives

wild mushrooms
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/24/wild-mushroom-foraging-hurts-forests
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2010/sep/16/wild-mushrooms-brief-guide
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/16/wild-mushroom-picking

deadly mushrooms
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/16/wild-mushroom-picking

countryside
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article5247635.ece

countryside

landscape

field

ploughed field

wood

greenbelt
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,2031755,00.html

moor

heath

mountain

peak

track

path

footpath

upland

national park
http://www.guardian.co.uk/netnotes/article/0,6729,1249899,00.html

www.arkive.org/

The Times > Nature notes
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article5388945.ece

rural

The Guardian > Special report > rural affairs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/country/0,,181093,00.html

plant

planting

seed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1876414,00.html

seedling

oil

garden felt

moisture

root

grow

grow Xcm high

sow

spring sowing

stem

bud

shoot

be in full sun

annual

biennial

perennial

Steve Bell

The Guardian

 4.12.2002
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/archive/stevebell/0,7371,337764,00.html

Prince Charles

hunt

hunt
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hunt/Story/0,2763,1416694,00.html

hunter

stag hunter
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hunt/Story/0,,2097635,00.html

tally-ho
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,8542,1416787,00.html

hunting        USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/us/26huntintro.html

hunting
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hunt/0,,180772,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hunt/0,2759,180772,00.html

hunting with fox

foxhunting

meetings

fox hunts and harriers

poacher

beagle packs

field sports

fox / foxes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/19/wildlife-british-cities-stephen-moss

dog

stray dog

breed
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/16/sports/20110216-westminster-dog-show-parade.html

135th Westminster Kennel Club dog show - in pictures
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2011/feb/16/westminster-kennel-club-dog-show-pictures
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/16/sports/20110216-westminster-dog-show-parade.html

Crufts > the world's biggest dog show        2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/gallery/2008/mar/06/photography?picture=332846209

flush out

shoot

a cruel sport

League against Cruel Sports

ban on hunting wild mammals with dogs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hunt/Story/0,,2097635,00.html

bring in a Bill to outlaw all cruelty to animals

hunting with dogs

go for the kill

fox hunting

anti-hunting campaign

anti anti-hunting campaign

Monkey business

Petition calls for total ban on primate experiments

The Guardian        p. 6

3.8.2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1541196,00.html

Boston Globe > Big Picture > World Animal Day        2009
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/world_animal_day_2009.html

animal rights
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1269760,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1458481,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/0,11917,687263,00.html

animal rights activist / campaigner
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,,1771535,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1473780,00.html

animal rights extremists
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,,2069522,00.html

animal rights letter bomb
http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,12269,1362801,00.html

animal testing
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1827041,00.html

animal experiments
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1491672,00.html

live trade > ban on the transport of live animals for use in experiments
http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1494462,00.html

Elderly Animals - in pictures
Photographer Isa Leshko has set out to document
old age in the animal kingdom with a series of beautiful photographs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2011/apr/24/old-animals-photography
http://isaleshko.com/

zoo
http://www.stlzoo.org/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/science/09kleiman.html

zookeeper
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/world_animal_day_2009.html

zoologist
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/science/09kleiman.html

National Zoo        Washington        USA
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_zoo/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/science/09kleiman.html?hpw

London zoo
http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2558257.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/slideshow/page/0,,2045943,00.html

online zoo > BBC Wildlife Finder
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wildlifefinder/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/28/bbc-wildlife-finder-online-zoo

 Zoological Society of London
http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/

zoology > freaks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/gallery/2009/mar/25/evolution-biodiversity?picture=345028058

zoology
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/zoology
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/nov/19/10-greatest-discoveries-zoology

zoological
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/nov/19/10-greatest-discoveries-zoology

animal behaviour
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/animalbehaviour

biologist
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/science/09kleiman.html

320,000 will die in Canada's biggest seal cull for more than 50 years:

Skin trade fuels government's quota increase

The Guardian        p. 3

31.3.2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,13369,1448939,00.html

marine life
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/marine-life
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1892129,00.html

giant sea turtle

amphibians
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1814673,00.html

Living Seas: Britain's marine life        2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/jan/18/uk-marine-life-living-seas

The Sea: the first wonder of the world – in pictures        September 2011
Images from The Sea, a stunning photography collection published this month by A & C Black
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2011/sep/22/the-sea-photography-in-pictures
 

Marine Act        2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/nov/11/marine-life-wildlife
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/08/protected-zones-for-marine-wildlife
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/03/marine-bill-conservation-endangered-habitats

Fish and Wildlife Service
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/fish_and_wildlife_service/index.html

oceans
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/oceans

ocean floor
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/science/18robot.html

oceanographer
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/science/22cool.html

sea

seabed
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/science/22cool.html

deep sea marine creatures
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/nov/23/deep-sea-creatures-revealed

seafood

seahorse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/02/seahorses-mating-males-pregnant
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/09/endangeredspecies.wildlife
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/07/water.wildlife
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2575190,00.html

sea lion

sea turtle
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/30/pass-notes-sea-turtles-oil-spill
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/science/earth/19turtle.html

marine life species        2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2008/jun/26/conservation.wildlife?picture=335288933
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/26/wildlife.conservation

fish

fish

fisherman

angler

Stanley Edward Bogdan        1918-2011
maker of fly fishing reels so coveted that anglers
were willing to spend years on a waiting list to buy them
and then to pay far more than they would have for reels of only ordinary excellence
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/sports/03bogdan.html

freshwater fish
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/31/freshwater-wildlife-thriving-clean-rivers

monster fish > Dunkleosteus
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1959461,00.html

salmon
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/26/salmon-numbers-leap

salmon-killing virus        2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/science/18salmon.html

shellfish

jellyfish
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5522262/Jellyfish-head-for-UK-in-bumper-numbers.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/07/wildlife.conservation
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/the-spineless-menace-jellyfish-overwhelm-the-sea-783036.html

goldfish
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/14/teenage-angler-5lb-goldfish-dorset

eel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/27/the-decline-of-the-eel

angler
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/14/teenage-angler-5lb-goldfish-dorset

fish stocks

fishing
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2006-11-02-overfishing-threat_x.htm

cod
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2697587.ece
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1938417,00.html

stickleback
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jun/16/stickleback-intelligence-fish

oysters
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1938417,00.html

dolphin
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/28/hectors-dolphins-near-extinction
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/science/20dolphin.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/23/us-dolphins-gulf-idUSTRE71L7T620110223
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4097612.ece

whale
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jan/30/whales-philip-hoare-hal-whitehead
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/us/12whales.html

sperm whale
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5521920/Sperm-whales-use-babysitters-for-young.html

humpback whale
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/14/dead-humpback-whale-in-thames

stranded whale
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/02/wildlife.conservation

calf
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5521920/Sperm-whales-use-babysitters-for-young.html

anti-whaling protesters
http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story/0,,2009607,00.html

narwhal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/13/endangeredspecies.endangeredhabitats

seal

sealer

predatory fish
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/04/wildlife

predator > Humboldt squid
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/16/wildlife-climatechange

squid
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/science/topics/squid/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/science/21squid.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/science/17brfs-INVASIONOFTH_BRF.html

shark
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/04/wildlife

 oceanic sharks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jun/25/sharks-extinction-iucn-red-list

scalloped hammerhead shark
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jun/25/sharks-extinction-iucn-red-list

walrus
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/13/walrus-haul-out-alaska

otter
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/31/freshwater-wildlife-thriving-clean-rivers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/18/otters-return-british-rivers

habitat
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/13/endangeredspecies.endangeredhabitats

coral reefs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2009/sep/02/coral-world-interactive

algae
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/audio/2010/sep/10/dawkins-attenborough-science-podcast

coral
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/science/earth/21coral.html

Loch Ness monster
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/gallery/2008/nov/12/scotland?picture=339598468

biodiversity
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/biodiversity
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/21/un-biodiversity-economic-report

UN biodiversity report        2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/21/un-biodiversity-economic-report

species
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1824727,00.html

threatened species

endangered species

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/endangeredspecies

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/travel/endangered-species-travel-guide.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jun/25/sharks-extinction-iucn-red-list
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/28/wildlife-animals-conservation

endangered and extinct species
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/endangered_and_extinct_species/index.html

conservation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/conservation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jun/25/sharks-extinction-iucn-red-list

conservationist
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/26/salmon-numbers-leap

conservationist > Lawrence Anthony
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/22/lawrence-anthony-conservationist

environmentalist > Roger Deakin
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/25/roger-deakin-environmentalist-nature-diary

naturalist > David Attenborough
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/david-attenborough

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/may/05/david-attenborough-bbc-series
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/oct/31/david-attenborough-feature-readers-questions

endangered species / animals
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/endangeredspecies
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2007-11-24-gray-wolf-endangered_N.htm
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/flash/page/0,,2209746,00.html
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1936966,00.html

England's threatened species by region        March 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2010/mar/11/england-lost-threatened-species

extinct
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/14/birdlovers-split-reintroduction-sea-eagle

save ... from extinction
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/27/the-decline-of-the-eel

be threaten with extinction
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/nov/12/conservation.wildlife

on the brink of extinction
http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1825711,00.html

driven to extinction

kill off

die out

wipe out
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/06/tide-oil-wipes-out-pelican
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2042243,00.html

endangered habitats
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/endangered-habitats

monkey

the old man of the woods / of the forest

great apes > orang-utan, gorilla, chimpanzee, pygmy chimpanzee
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/dec/01/david-attenborough-hope-apes-conservation

 orang utan
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2042243,00.html

Gorilla Kingdom > London Zoo
http://www.guardian.co.uk/slideshow/page/0,,2045943,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2046432,00.html

tree-dwelling mammal

tiger / the big cat
http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1825711,00.html

lion

a pride of lions

dog
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/dec/06/animalbehaviour

coyote        USA / CAN
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/29/folk-singer-coyote-attack-canada
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/opinion/02block.html

ferret        USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/science/15ferrets.html

bison        USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/us/22bison.html

 bighorn sheep        USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/us/19bighorn.html

Terry Mosher (Aislin) 

The Montreal Gazette

Montreal, Canada

Cagle

16 May 2008

bear
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/nov/12/conservation.wildlife

endangered bears
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/flash/page/0,,2209746,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2007/nov/12/wildlife?picture=331234357

black bear
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/27/bearwalker-of-the-northwoods

polar bear
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/mar/08/paul-nicklen-polar-obsession
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/sep/07/polar-bears-norway
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/us/15polar.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/15/climatechange.scienceofclimatechange

nature

nature watchers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/22/spring-uk-early

The Guardian: Nature spotting
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/naturespotting

Britain's flora and fauna
http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1741049,00.html

wildlife        2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2008/jun/26/conservation.endangeredhabitats?picture=335290112
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2008/may/23/wildlife.photography?picture=334315910
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/15/climatechange.scienceofclimatechange

Wildlife in the Florida Everglades        2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2008/jun/26/conservation.endangeredhabitats?picture=335290112
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/24/conservation.usa

wildlife in danger        2007
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2337247.ece

the wild

Britain's changing wildlife
http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1741154,00.html

England's reindeer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/11/blue-reindeer-born-england-cornwall

reindeer        USA
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/24/opinion/reindeer-are-fading-into-holiday-myth.html

stag
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/28/exmoor-emperor-shooting-mystery

deer        USA
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/d/deer/index.html

red deer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/10/red-deer-failed-rut
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article5275003.ece

wild boar
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/wild-thing-boar-menace-gloucestershire-1208497.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/country/article/0,,1983929,00.html

mountain hares
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/oct/06/
british-wildlife-photography-awards-2010#/?picture=367388583&index=2
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article5275003.ece

badger
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/badgers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/24/badgers-books-culling-study
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/03/badger-baiting-on-increase
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/14/badger-culling-2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/13/badger-cull-bovine-tb
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article5262883.ece

Badger culling        2012
culls > attempt to reduce number of cattle contracting bovine TB
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/24/badgers-books-culling-study
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/14/badger-culling-2012

male sand lizard
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/oct/06/
british-wildlife-photography-awards-2010#/?picture=367388552&index=1

conservation

conservationist
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2337247.ece

Conservation and endangered species
http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/0,,969535,00.html

Environment Agency
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1836763,00.html

WWF
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1892129,00.html

squirrel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/19/red-squirrels-protection
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-10-denver-squirrel-plague_N.htm

grey squirrel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/24/grey-squirrels-red-killing-conservation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/05/prince-charles-squirrel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/10/grey-squirrels-cull-wildlife-conservation

red squirrel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/01/doctor-for-endangered-red-squirrels

red and grey squirrels in Scotland
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2009/feb/10/squirrel-cull-in-scotland

pox
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/01/doctor-for-endangered-red-squirrels

be pushed to the verge of extinction
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/01/doctor-for-endangered-red-squirrels

cull
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2009/feb/10/squirrel-cull-in-scotland

eradicate
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2009/feb/10/squirrel-cull-in-scotland

hedgehog
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/09/baby-hedgehogs-tiggywinkles-wildlife-sanctuaries

water voles
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/oct/06/
british-wildlife-photography-awards-2010#/?picture=367388587&index=6
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3438651.ece

mouse

wood mouse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/oct/06/
british-wildlife-photography-awards-2010#/?picture=367388592&index=8

beaver
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/06/beavers-scotland-controversy-tim-adams
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/may/29/beavers-britain
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/26/endangeredspecies.conservation

rodent
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/10/flooding.climatechange

rat
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/10/flooding.climatechange

lair
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/10/flooding.climatechange

plague
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/10/flooding.climatechange

insect

insecticide
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/
insecticide-an-ecological-disaster-that-will-affect-us-all-1019520.html

fly

ant
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/science/15wils.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/us/16ants.html

gnat

moth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/01/healthandwellbeing.genetics

bat
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/28/bats-fungus-epidemic-white-nose

primates
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2007/oct/25/endangeredspecies?picture=331073900

wolf
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/08/keeping-wolf-from-door

gray wolf        USA
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2007-11-24-gray-wolf-endangered_N.htm

moose
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/nyregion/28moose.html

snake
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/09/scientists-alarm-snakes

python        USA
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-20-burmese-pythons_N.htm

scientist

lepidopterist

palaeontologist

comparative anatomist

creation

Creator

evolutionary biologist

Darwin's masterwork On the Origin of Species

Darwin's entire works go online        2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1925715,00.html

natural selection operating on random mutation

fossil

skeleton

stuffed mammal

A Coast-to-Coast Guide to Endangered Species

May 13, 2011
The New York Times
By BRYN NELSON

THE whoosh of a surfacing orca and the glower of a mother grizzly still have the power to raise goose bumps; a soaring California condor can yet astonish. But chances to admire many of our wildlife neighbors are becoming increasingly uncommon. Invasive buffelgrass is crowding out saguaros and other native cactuses throughout the Southwest, while melting sea ice is threatening the Pacific walrus and polar bear in Alaska. Mosquito-borne diseases are threatening Hawaii’s songbirds, and white-nose syndrome is wiping out bats in the East.

Even so, the nation brims with natural wonders and a treasure trove of diverse plants and animals. Conserved parklands, including our national parks and wildlife preserves and their state and local counterparts, provide bulwarks against further habitat loss and offer some of the best viewing opportunities for these rarities.

Some federally protected species, like the northern spotted owl and gray wolf, have become symbols of bitter political divides. Others, like the bald eagle and American bison, have regained their status as emblems of national pride. Nearly all can inspire travelers to go well out of their way to see, to hear or to experience something truly marvelous.

Here is a sampling of the wildlife that can be found. Animals and plants identified in boldface are either among the nearly 1,400 endangered or threatened species or populations, or among the 260 candidates waiting to be listed under the Endangered Species Act.

 

Northeast

Sandy soils and the coastal influence of the North Atlantic have fashioned a range of unique habitats here, from Maine’s blueberry barrens to New Jersey’s “pygmy forest” of dwarf pitch pine and scrub oak. Some natural wonders have already vanished, like the sea mink hunted to extinction in the 19th century. But visitors may still glimpse the increasingly rare New England cottontail rabbit in tangled thickets or the wetland-dwelling bog turtle and ringed boghaunter, an orange-striped dragonfly among the rarest in North America.

Two destinations better known for their beaches host a particularly impressive roster of coastal-dwelling curiosities. Wildlife is recolonizing Cape Cod National Seashore (nps.gov/caco), meaning increased sightings of weasel-like fishers, American oystercatchers and a booming population of seals. The seals, in turn, have attracted great white sharks to what amounts to a sandbar smorgasbord.

A springtime bonanza of plankton can lure endangered North Atlantic right whales to within spotting distance, while summer rains bring the reclusive eastern spadefoot toads from their burrows for an evening of frenzied mating in the Province Lands’ vernal pools. Protective mesh fences mark the well-camouflaged nesting sites of one of the region’s biggest natural attractions, the threatened piping plover.

Likewise positioned along the Atlantic migratory flyway, Fire Island National Seashore is prime birding territory in the spring and fall along the 32-mile-long barrier island. The piping plover and the endangered roseate tern breed here every year; plovers can sometimes be seen darting along the beach. Visitors to Sailors Haven can stroll the boardwalk through the dune-protected sunken forest, marked by American holly trees up to 300 years old and tangles of wild grape, greenbrier and other vines. The threatened seabeach amaranth, a low-growing, waxy-leaved plant with reddish stems, sprouts intermittently above the high tide line. Edible beach plums blanket the dunes’ backsides, and insectivorous plants like sundews grow farther inland in the low, moist soils.

 

Southeast

As more temperate climes give way to a tropical Caribbean influence, the seasons here compress into wet and dry; the continent ends in a confluence of wetlands and warm coastal waters. Habitats critical to the survival of many species are becoming worn around the edges, however, from the Mississippi River delta to Florida’s mangroves and the barrier islands of the Carolinas. For some regional icons, like the ivory-billed woodpecker, it may already be too late. But conservation efforts are helping other species hang on, such as the Tennessee purple coneflower, the Mississippi gopher frog and the Louisiana black bear.

One of the nation’s best-known wetlands and a historical trail provide prime access to the region’s untamed southern living.

Everglades National Park (nps.gov/ever), the largest remaining subtropical wilderness in the United States, is actually a patchwork of habitats extending from the outskirts of suburban Miami to Florida’s Gulf Coast. With a half-million acres underwater, the park claims the biggest protected mangrove forest in the Western Hemisphere as well as the continent’s most extensive stand of sawgrass prairie.

Shark River Slough, a “slow-moving river of grass” that ambles southward at 100 feet a day, is a dominant feature. Here, river otters snack on baby alligators while marsh rabbits venture out for a swim. The Cape Sable seaside sparrow — the “Goldilocks bird” — forages in the slough’s just-right marsh prairie, while the equally rare wood stork nests near the Shark Valley Visitor Center off Highway 41. Binocular-equipped hikers sometimes spot greater flamingoes during high tide from the end of Snake Bight Trail, north of the Flamingo Visitor Center, while right outside the center American crocodiles frequent Florida Bay’s brackish waters. The nearby Flamingo Marina is a good place to see the Florida manatee in winter, especially from a canoe or kayak; bottlenose dolphins frolic farther out in the sun-splashed bay. With an estimated population of less than 100 in all of South Florida, the Florida panther is far more elusive; most of the tawny wildcat’s prime habitat lies north of Interstate 75 in Big Cypress National Preserve (nps.gov/bicy).

Combining history with wildlife, the Natchez Trace National Parkway (nps.gov/natr) wends its way across 444 miles and three state lines: an 800-foot-wide ribbon of green with a roadway running through it from the foothills of the Appalachians in Tennessee to the bluffs of Natchez, Miss. Duck River, which flows along the parkway near milepost 404, supports a rich diversity of fish and mussels. Ruby-throated hummingbirds feast on orange jewelweed nectar near Rock Spring.

In 2003, biologists cheered the first confirmed sighting of small brown Mitchell’s satyr butterflies in the park, in wetlands dominated by sedges between mileposts 290 and 302. Black Belt prairie near Tupelo, with its loamy soil and chalky substrate, nourishes more than 400 plant species and abundant birds. Along the Pearl River watershed near milepost 125, patient observers may spot a petite ringed map turtle basking on fallen trees in the river, identifiable by the yellow rings decorating its bony carapace. And between mileposts 85 and 87, cautious drivers can catch sight of rare Webster’s salamanders crossing the road en masse after winter rains as they head from foraging grounds on limestone outcroppings to ephemeral breeding pools.

 

Midwest

Great Lakes, big rivers and meandering streams cover the nation’s midsection, including nearly 12,000 lakes in Minnesota alone. Together, these bodies of water harbor the highest diversity of freshwater mollusks in the world, an impressive collection imperiled by habitat degradation and the invasive zebra mussel. Dozens of species, including the acorn ramshorn, are presumed extinct. Others have made a comeback, with thousands of bald eagles spending their winters on the Mississippi. But survival is tenuous for natives like the Indiana bat, Kirtland’s warbler and nearly two-foot-long Ozark hellbender salamander.

Two parks hugging the Lake Michigan shoreline provide a rich sampling of the Midwest’s other varied inhabitants.

Near the tip of the “little finger” on the Michigan mitt, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (nps.gov/slbe) offers sweeping views of Lake Michigan, the famous Dune Climb and nesting sites for the endangered Great Lakes population of piping plovers. Spiky-leafed Pitcher’s thistle occupies the open dunes, and the delicate yellow-bloomed Michigan monkey-flower rises up from flowing springs of inland lakes. Elusive bobcats, snowshoe hares and northern flying squirrels populate the night. South Manitou Island reveals one of the region’s best natural bouquets of springtime wildflowers, an old-growth grove of giant northern white cedars and a dozen species of orchid.

At the southern tip of Lake Michigan, prickly pear cactuses grow beside Arctic bearberry along the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (nps.gov/indu). In midsummer, visitors hiking along the Inland Marsh Trail might glimpse the inchlong Karner blue butterfly feeding on nectar in an exceedingly rare black oak savanna, the largest such ecosystem in the nation. A true sphagnum moss bog adds unexpected diversity to a park featuring more than 1,100 plant species. Pitcher’s thistle grows here too, and piping plovers ply the sandy beaches. Migratory birds, including merlins and short-eared owls, use the shoreline of Lake Michigan as a navigational aid to reach their winter roosts.

 

Great Plains

The prairie has lent its name to a long list of flora and fauna: the western prairie fringed orchid and the prairie mole cricket make their homes here, as do both the greater and lesser prairie-chicken. Wild grasslands, though, are far from monolithic, with wet and dry, hill and savanna, tall and short varieties, each sheltering its own assemblage of life. Natural wildfires have been a part of the prairie’s lifecycle for millenniums, but the landscape is now one of North America’s most human-altered, challenging the resilience of species like the statuesque whooping crane and little Topeka shiner.

Some bastions of grasslands remain, including one set atop a remarkable labyrinth of limestone.

Below Wind Cave National Park (nps.gov/wica) in South Dakota, the world’s fourth-longest cave system extends in a maze of passageways filled with boxwork, frostwork and popcorn formations that occupy more than 135 miles. Above ground, a sea of grass gives way to vanilla-scented ponderosa pines. The resident bison herd, repopulated from 14 animals housed at the Bronx Zoo in 1913, numbers about 400 now and shares the grasslands with reintroduced elk and pronghorn antelope.

Black-tailed prairie dog towns, including one at Bison Flats, less than a half-mile from the visitors’ center, are magnets for the black-footed ferret, a major predator. Observant tourists on evening walks may spot one of the roughly four dozen ferrets reintroduced to the park in 2007 and 2010 peering back at them from a conquered prairie dog den. The prairie dog towns also attract thirteen-lined ground squirrels, prairie rattlesnakes and prairie falcons. The star lily’s snow-white petals and the jewel-toned American rubyspot damselfly appear like fragile grace notes, while hikers may see spirited dance competitions among groups of male sharp-tailed grouse in April or May as they vie to impress a mate.

 

Rocky Mountains

A rugged spine running up the continent from northern New Mexico through northern Montana into Canada, the Rocky Mountains form a natural dividing line for wildlife: white-tailed deer predominate to the east, while mule deer rule the west. Deer and other game have supported stealthy predators like the North American wolverine and Canada lynx, though the mountains have drawn their share of more destructive predation as well. Blister rust, an introduced fungal disease, is laying waste to increasingly rare whitebark pines; the invasive banded elm bark beetle is felling elms already weakened by drought or Dutch elm disease.

For a bit of comic relief, it’s hard to beat the elaborate courtship strut of the greater sage-grouse, while breathtaking beauty lies in one destination that still survives virtually intact.

With its million-plus acres of nearly pristine wilderness, Glacier National Park (nps.gov/glac) is a haven for grazing ungulates: moose and elk, bighorn sheep and mountain goats. Rarely seen gray wolves furtively hunt their prey. Tourists have a better chance of spotting one of the park’s roughly 300 grizzly bears from the Many Glacier Valley or Logan Pass trails (group outings are highly recommended, as is bear spray).

In this hiker’s paradise, tall white tufts of lilylike beargrass bloom unpredictably every three to seven years. The more bear-favored yellow glacier lilies cover hillsides high above turquoise glacial lakes like Grinnell and Cracker. Floating trumpet-shaped water howellia flowers grace the margins of wetlands linked to ephemeral kettle ponds. Bald eagles soar amid the peaks, American pikas scurry in the high country, and bull trout spawn in streams below. The park’s 25 glaciers are themselves endangered, expected to vanish well before 2030 if warming trends continue.

 

Southwest

The sun-baked Southwest might seem an inhospitable environment, but its astonishingly varied habitats host an array of plants and animals adapted to steep mountains and canyons, sere deserts and vast flatlands. The iconic great roadrunner still races throughout the region. Other indigenous species, like the desert tortoise and the enormous Colorado pikeminnow, have seen their home ranges shrink precipitously, and natives like the Mexican gray wolf and the California condor, both reintroduced in the 1990s, face uncertainty.

Big Bend National Park (nps.gov/bibe) encapsulates the seeming contradiction of a harsh desert teeming with life. The largest protected swath of Chihuahuan Desert in the United States, the 800,000-acre Big Bend borders the Rio Grande in southwestern Texas and rises in elevation from less than 2,000 feet to nearly 8,000 feet. The park’s aerial menagerie is unsurpassed in the nation, with confirmed sightings of more than 450 bird species, 180 butterfly species and 20 species of bat.

Birders can spy on a pair of nesting common black-hawks by Rio Grande Village, glimpse the only Colima warblers north of Mexico and even spot a black-capped vireo in the transition zone between mountain woodlands and desert. On the ground, visitors logged 175 sightings of mountain lions last year. More than 50 cactus species dot the desert with vivid blooms every spring, including the diminutive pink-fringed Chisos Mountain hedgehog cactus in the low open desert. In the summer, Mexican long-nosed bats stir at twilight to feed on the nectar of blooming century plants; in the fall, male tarantulas in search of mates cross the roads, their eyes shining diamond blue in the night.

 

Northwest

Vast evergreen forests end abruptly at the rugged Northwest coastline and the bracing waters of the North Pacific. In Alaska, the cold is not nearly enough to halt the melting of sea ice critical for polar bear survival, and humans are increasingly disturbing the arctic tundra habitat of the yellow-billed loon. Elimination of the northern spotted owl’s old-growth forest habitat through logging has spawned bitter political battles; meanwhile, the last known Tacoma pocket gophers were killed by domestic cats. Some endemic species remain in scattered pockets, like the giant Palouse earthworm, which can grow to more than three feet in length; the coastal meadow-dwelling Oregon silverspot butterfly; and the reddish-gray northern Idaho ground squirrel.

In Washington, the largest unmanaged herd of Roosevelt elk in the nation roams the impossibly green Hoh and Quinault rain forests of Olympic National Park (nps.gov/olym), where annual precipitation can be 12 to 14 feet. Record-setting Sitka spruce and western red cedar (their circumferences can reach 60 feet) are standouts in a forest of giants; when toppled, they can be swept out to sea along the peninsula’s 10 major rivers and then washed ashore as gargantuan pieces of driftwood.

From the viewing platform at Salmon Cascades on the Sol Duc River, visitors can see coho salmon jumping in October, while chinook salmon reaching up to 70 pounds will soon spawn freely up the Elwha River upon completion of an extensive dam removal project. Migrating gray whales can be spotted in March and April along Rialto or Kalaloch Beaches, though you will have to go a bit farther north to Lime Kiln Point State Park to see killer whales, or orcas. Native animals like the Olympic chipmunk frequent the edges of the national park’s subalpine forests; the increasingly rare Olympic marmot inhabits the backcountry. Hikers willing to become intimately familiar with tide charts may even spy sea otters lolling in secluded coves along the coastline and Steller sea-lions hauled out on the offshore rocks.

 

West

Within the seismically active Ring of Fire, the West has been shaken by volcanoes and earthquakes but tempered by the Pacific. The lovely western lily clings to the northern coast, while the fork-tailed California least tern visits the southern beaches during the summer breeding season. Inland, the Great Basin bristlecone pines of Inyo National Forest are among the most ancient living things in the world, with many dated to more than 4,000 years old.

Thousands of miles across the Pacific, Hawaii’s volcanic soils have nourished an exotic profusion of endemic plants and animals. Dozens of species have already succumbed to threats from the mainland, but hothouse wonders remain, including more than 30 types of the protected haha plants and the blind Kauai cave wolf spider.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area (nps.gov/goga), the nation’s largest urban park, also has among the highest number of endangered plant and animal species. Teeming tidal pools and more than 100 sea caves stud the rocky California coast, where brown pelicans dive for dinner. Harbor seals and California sea lions haul out at Point Bonita Cove as well as at Sea Lion Cove at Point Reyes National Seashore (nps.gov/pore), about 55 miles to the north. The San Francisco garter snake and its favorite meal, the California red-legged frog, haunt the wetlands at Mori Point in Pacifica. Colossal redwoods dominate Muir Woods National Monument, while fog-shrouded grassland, maritime chaparral and coastal scrubland adapted to the distinctive Mediterranean climate accommodate a remarkable assortment of endangered plants. Presidio clarkia, a delicate lavender-pink evening primrose relative, has taken to the harsh mineral soil above the parking lot at Inspiration Point in the Presidio in San Francisco. Stonecrop plants sustain the San Bruno elfin butterfly, whose larvae are tended by ant au pairs, and silver lupines nourish the iridescent mission blue butterfly.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (nps.gov/havo) boasts living marvels found nowhere else on earth. Visitors can spot a showy Kamehameha butterfly by mamaki trees, and admire one of Hawaii Island’s rarest plants, the hibiscuslike hau kuahiwi; it was rescued from the brink of extinction by decades of painstaking propagation, and now greets visitors by trail sign 11 in Kipuka Puaulu (Bird Park). In all, the park hosts 26 endangered or threatened endemic plant species, including the Mauna Loa silversword.

Five rare or critically endangered types of honeycreeper songbird persist at higher altitudes, where they can evade mosquito-borne diseases. Hawaiian petrels nest in lava tubes high on the slopes of Mauna Loa, while flocks of nene (Hawaiian geese) honk as they pass overhead in the early morning and early evening. Solitary Hawaiian monk seals rest on remote beaches, and backcountry hikers may spot a hawksbill sea turtle nesting at Keauhou, Halape or Apua Point from July through September.

 

10 Species Near Extinction

ALABAMA CAVEFISH (Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni)
Confined to underground pools in Key Cave National Wildlife Refuge, this rare species is dependent on aquatic animals that feed on bat guano.

ALALA OR HAWAIIAN CROW (Corvus hawaiiensis)
The entire population survives in captive breeding programs at Keauhou Bird Conservation Center and the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Hawaii.

BIG BEND GAMBUSIA (Gambusia gaigei)
A small fish reintroduced to three ponds in Big Bend National Park in Texas, its main threats are habitat loss and predation by introduced sunfish and other species.

COLUMBIA BASIN PYGMY RABBIT (Brachylagus idahoensis)
Conservationists are crossbreeding a small captive group with their close Idaho relatives and gradually reintroducing the progeny to central Washington.

FLORIDA BONNETED BAT (Eumops floridanus)
It persists in scattered roosts in South Florida, threatened by habitat loss and pesticides.

FRANCISCAN MANZANITA (Arctostaphylos hookeri ssp. franciscana)
A lone plant was spotted near the Golden Gate Bridge in 2009 and was relocated to a more secure site.

MIAMI BLUE BUTTERFLY (Hemiargus thomasi ssp. bethunebakeri)
Scattered individuals are found within Key West National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. Loss of coastal habitat, insecticides and poaching are threats.

OHA WAI (Clermontia peleana)
Presumed extinct for 90 years, this flowering plant was rediscovered in the Kohola Mountains of Hawaii. Seeds are being collected for propagation.

RED WOLF (Canis rufus)
Driven to the brink by overhunting and habitat fragmentation, this wolf has a wild population of about 100 in northeastern North Carolina.

WYOMING TOAD (Anaxyrus baxteri)
A fungal disease and predation have nearly wiped out the toad’s tiny population in two counties. Captive breeding programs are trying to save it.

    A Coast-to-Coast Guide to Endangered Species, NYT, 13.5.2011,
    http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/travel/endangered-species-travel-guide.html

Op-Ed Contributor

Think Like a Fish

June 28, 2009
The New York Times
By SALVATORE SCIBONA

Provincetown, Mass.

UNLUCKY fishermen are all alike: We don’t know how to see. My friend Jud has outfished me in all but one or two of the hundred times we’ve gone to the ocean and bay beaches and kettle ponds on Cape Cod. By both study and exercise, he knows the culture of striped bass better than I know my own nose. But to call him “lucky” would begrudge him a talent that I have never seen in anyone else and that lives underneath skill or knowledge.

One July night, on a falling tide that sifted through the granite jetty in the west end of Provincetown, we fished the same 10-foot sluice, with the same tackle and the same flies (he ties them for me), and I watched in outrage as he caught 20 stripers to my two.

Another night, on Long Point, the finger of sand that curls into Provincetown harbor at the far end of Cape Cod, the stripers were chasing alewife, peanut bunker and other baitfish through the current that rips the point on a rising tide. I caught the first fish of the night, a 32-inch bass, enormous for me and for the lightweight rods we were using. It took 20 minutes to land. Jud yelped in amusement and then caught eight more just like it, while I stood cursing and changing flies by the light of the town, two miles across the dark harbor.

What he can do and I can’t is face a piece of water and so absorb himself in the place that he seems to share the consciousness of the fish in it. If you have seen a school of 10,000 sand eels swerving as one animal under a wharf, you have seen that individuals can integrate their senses into a collective mind. Without the benefit of language, they share all the most important news: where to find food, light, threat, rocks. Human beings usually experience this common mind only under the stress of love or panic.

My friend pulls his hat brim down to deflect the sun, as everybody does, and makes the double-haul cast — a move in which the non-dominant hand jerks down and up on the line, both on the forward and back casts. Think of a man doing the polka with his arms. It isn’t as hard as it sounds; it just helps him reach the fish, not find them.

For all I know, he may, more often than not, see only a confluence of light and current, and point his desire at that spot, so that he believes he sees the fish before his eyes detect the animal itself. But I can’t deny that wherever he puts the lure, the fish find it.

We’ve evolved a neocortex that presents us with an awareness of past and future at the cost of forgetting where we are right now. Jud seems to switch that faculty off in favor of an older, lower brain. Like a sand eel in the school, he sees with 10,000 pairs of eyes. Many times when he was catching fish and I wasn’t, I’ve asked, “How do you know where the fish are?” And he’s said, “I see them.”

I may have glimpsed for myself what he sees, but only once. On an early summer afternoon we were fishing for brook and rainbow trout in the mid-Cape, at Cliff Pond. In reality, except after heavy rains, it’s two ponds split by a narrow sand bar.

More than 300 of these kettle ponds perforate the Cape. They formed around 10,000 years ago. As the Laurentide ice sheet retreated into Canada, it left behind chunks of ice as thick as 60 feet that the force of the glacier had plowed into the earth. The sediment outflow from the melting Laurentide sheet covered the blocks of ice, so they lay hidden and insulated for 1,000 years or more beneath the soil. As the climate warmed further, the blocks melted, the sediment crusts collapsed, and the deep holes that the blocks had formed began to fill with ground water and rain. In general, streams neither feed nor drain the ponds, and in the absence of wind they lie as still as mirrors.

Oak and pine trees ring Cliff Pond so tightly that if a wading fisherman tries to cast much farther than 10 feet, he snags his fly in the heavy brush during the back cast.

I was having a miserable afternoon, yanking one errant fly after another from the pine boughs. Jud came around the corner, having caught half a dozen brook trout and let them go. He saw my irritation and suggested another spot.

We climbed around an oak grove and onto the sand bar that divides the water. Not much high vegetation grows on the bar, so if you face east you can back cast as far as you like without snagging a tree, and fish the smaller pond with ease. The sun was going down in the drizzle. A screeching racket erupted, from the nearby marsh it seemed, but also from everywhere at once.

“What are those?” I asked.

He said, “peepers,” a frog smaller than your thumbnail that can scream as loud as an air raid siren. They lived all over the marsh, he said; but wherever I looked, I couldn’t find them.

We knew the fish were roaming the inlet we faced; he’d seen them there, but he left me alone and fished from the other side of the marsh.

I cast long and short, played the surface with a caddis fly, switched to a nymph to fish the bottom, strategized to no end, but nothing doing. The sun behind me threw my long shadow on the water and shot through a billion droplets hovering over the pond. I kept on wading deeper, thinking harder, catching nothing.

Anyone who fishes is an animist, and anyone who is frustrated while fishing becomes an egoist. So when a rainbow appeared over the far woods, I believed the cornball god of the place was having a laugh at my expense. But who can look away from a rainbow?

I stopped awhile and took it in, backing out of the weeds into shallower water, shaking my sore arm. The bright arc rose from one flank of the distant forest and fell into another. Above the uppermost red band, a secondary arc emerged — thicker, the colors reversed, with red on the underside, purple on top — and disappeared. The low clouds rumbled.

And all at once, with no invitation, the place penetrated me. My mind coextended with the woods and the pond. All my senses sent their data not to the front office of the brain for analysis and criticism, but to a room far below, to the body’s mind. The squishy silt beneath my feet smelled of leaf rot, the wind of ozone. The hidden throng of peepers rang from all quarters. The cold sun struck me in the back of the neck.

My fly line lay coiled in the black water. I threw it behind me, threw it forward, letting a few yards out, then cast backward again.

I had no awareness of future or past. I had forgotten everything I knew. My pores were soaked with the place.

The fly shot out, settled on the pond, and sank beneath the stippled surface. Nothing emanated from me but one thing, a passion that rose from the bottom of my lungs and out my throat into the whistling air: it was the bottomless desire, in the bottomless present, to catch a fish. I stripped the line once between the fingers of my right hand.

The line jerked and went taut. And I yanked up on the rod. And the line dived. I stripped again and drew up the rod. The pond cracked.

And a trout pitched itself out of the water and screwed through the yellow air.

 

Salvatore Scibona is the author of “The End.”

    Think Like a Fish, NYT, 28.6.2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/opinion/28scibona.html

On Mustang Range, a Battle on Thinning the Herd

July 20, 2008
The New York Times
By FELICITY BARRINGER

GERLACH, Nev. — Five mustangs pounded across the high desert recently, their dark manes and tails giving shape to the wind. Pursued by a helicopter, they ran into a corral — and into the center of the emotional debate over whether euthanasia should be used to thin a captive herd that already numbers 30,000.

The champions of wild mustangs have long portrayed them as the victims of ranchers who preferred cattle on the range, middlemen who wanted to make a buck selling them for horsemeat and misfits who shot them for sport. But the wild horse today is no longer automatically considered deserving of extensive protections.

Some environmentalists and scientists have come to see the mustangs, which run wild from Montana to California, as top-of-the-food-chain bullies, invaders whose hooves and teeth disturb the habitats of endangered tortoises and desert birds.

Even the language has shifted. In a 2006 article in Audubon magazine, wild horses lost their poetry and were reduced to “feral equids.”

“There’s not just horses out there, there’s other critters, from the desert turtle in the south to the bighorn sheep in the north,” said Paula Morin, the author of the book “Honest Horses.”

“We’ve come a long way in our awareness of the web of life and maintaining the whole ecology,” Ms. Morin said, adding, “We do the horses a disservice when we set them apart.”

Environmentalists’ attitudes toward the horses have evolved so far that some are willing to say what was heresy a few years ago: that euthanasia is acceptable if the alternatives are boarding the mustangs for life at taxpayers’ expense or leaving them to overpopulate, damage the range and die of hunger or thirst.

The federal Bureau of Land Management, the legal custodian of the wild horses and burros, recently proposed euthanization. For years, the bureau has been running the Adopt-A-Horse program, selling mustangs from the range to those who would care for them. But 30,000 once-wild horses were never adopted and are being boarded by the agency at facilities in Kansas and Oklahoma (another 33,000 run wild). As feed and gas grow more expensive, the rate of adoptions plummets.

Boarding costs ran to $21 million last year and are expected to reach $26 million this year, out of a $37 million budget for the bureau’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, which is intended to protect the animals. And drought lingers here in northern Nevada, where the mustangs were rounded up on a recent weekend morning to prevent them from starving.

The bureau “can’t do a good job of taking care of horses on the range if they have to take care of all the horses off the range,” said Nathaniel Messer, a professor of veterinary science at the University of Missouri and a former member of the federal Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Committee.

Steven L. Davis, an emeritus professor of animal science at Oregon State University, said: “Many of the wild horse supporters claim that the horses have a right to be there. I reject that argument.” He added: “They damage the water holes. They damage the grasses, the shrubs, the bushes, causing negative consequences for all the other plants and critters that live out there.”

For groups formed to protect the horses, the specter of euthanasia as a solution remains anathema. “It’s not acceptable to the American public,” said Virginie L. Parant, a lawyer who is the director of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.

The mustang, Ms. Parant said, “is part of the American myth. People want to know that they can come to the American West and know that they can see herds of wild horses roaming. It’s part of the imagery.”

As mustangs increasingly competed with cattle in the 1940s and 50s, many were rounded up and slaughtered. They found a champion in Velma Johnston, better known as Wild Horse Annie, who pushed Congress to act. In 1971, Congress gave the federal bureau the job of caring for them.

Shelley Sawhook, the president of the American Horse Defense Fund, argues, along with other horse defenders, that the federal government “mismanaged the program from the very beginning.” She added that “their proposal to euthanize is a stopgap measure” to cover what she believes is an overly aggressive policy of removing horses from the range for the benefit of cattle interests.

Accusations of mismanagement have dogged the bureau across Democratic and Republican administrations; a decade ago The Associated Press found that a few agency employees were adopting mustangs themselves and selling them to slaughterhouses. In the wake of lawsuits by the Fund for Animals and other groups, the bureau required anyone adopting a mustang to sign a binding pledge not to send it to a slaughterhouse. In 2001, the Earth Liberation Front took credit for the firebombing of an agency hay barn on the Nevada-California border.

Today, the fundamental rift between the bureau and its critics involves two judgment calls: how many horses can a range of 29 million acres support, and how should that level be maintained?

Arlan Hiner, an assistant field manager for the bureau in Nevada, said, “We’re supposed to be managing for ecological balance.” Over all, the bureau wants to cut the wild herd by about 6,000 horses. Ted Williams, the author of the Audubon article, argued that without euthanasia such a balance would be impossible.

Mr. Williams’s article infuriated the mustang advocates even more than the agency’s proposal to resume euthanasia. Ms. Parant laughs at the idea of attributing the range destruction to horses when cattle greatly outnumber them.

Jay F. Kirkpatrick, a scientist who is the director of the Science and Conservation Center in Billings, Mont., wrote in a rebuttal to the Audubon article that Mr. Williams had not given sufficient weight to birth control options, which could make “serious inroads” on horse populations.

“The issue is not that the technology doesn’t exist, but that the B.L.M. is not investing in it,” Professor Kirkpatrick wrote.

Herd sizes, the bureau says, double every four years. And the agency is working with a contraceptive that is largely effective for two years in mares. Alan Shepherd, the official who helps run the contraceptive program, said that it showed promise but had limitations.

“The ultimate thing is you can’t catch them all,” Mr. Shepherd said.

The horses that came rushing into the corral ahead of the helicopter were taken to a holding facility and will eventually find their way into the Adopt-A-Horse program.

The bureau said it would be premature to discuss the criteria for culling horses or the means of euthanasia. Longtime observers believe that older, unadoptable horses would be the focus of such a program. And in past mustang-thinning operations at holding facilities, marksmen shot the horses, said Dr. Messer of Missouri.

After Representative Nick J. Rahall II, Democrat of West Virginia and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, raised questions this month about the euthanasia proposal, the bureau agreed to make no decision until after completion of a Congressional audit of the program, which is due in September.

    On Mustang Range, a Battle on Thinning the Herd, NYT, 20.7.2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/us/20mustangs.html?hp

Efforts on 2 Fronts to Save a Population of Ferrets

July 15, 2008
The New York Times
By JIM ROBBINS

WALL, S.D. — A colony that contains nearly half of the black-footed ferrets in the country and which biologists say is critical to the long-term health of the species has been struck by plague, which may have killed a third of the 300 animals.

A much-publicized endangered species in the 1970s that had dwindled to 18 animals, the black-footed ferret had struggled to make a comeback and had been doing relatively well for decades. But plague, always a threat to the ferrets and their main prey, prairie dogs, has struck with a vengeance this year, partly because of the wet spring.

The ferrets are an easy target for the bacteria. “They are exquisitely sensitive to the plague,” said Travis Livieri, a wildlife biologist here who is trying to save the colony. “They don’t just get sick, they die. No ifs, ands or buts.” Humans can catch plague, but it is easily treated with antibiotics.

Mr. Livieri is working with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service’s black-footed ferret recovery team, the Forest Service and some volunteers to try to save the colony at Conata Basin by dusting prairie dog burrows with flea powder that kills the plague-carrying insects. Mr. Livieri is also working on a vaccination program, prowling the prairie all night to capture ferrets for injections.

But the fight is not only against the plague. While the federal Forest Service is part of the effort to protect ferrets, it has also, at the request of area ranchers, poisoned several thousands of acres of prairie dogs on the edge of the Conata Basin, a buffer strip of federal land adjacent to private grazing land. The buffer strip does not have ferrets, but it is good ferret habitat, experts say, and if they were to spread there it could help support the recovery.

But prairie dogs eat grass, and a large village can denude grazing land. The rodent, in fact, has long been detested in the West as a pest.

Of even more concern to biologists and environmentalists, though, is a Forest Service study of an expanded effort to kill prairie dogs in ferret habitat, which biologists say could be devastating to the restoration of the ferrets.

J. Michael Lockhart, the former director of the recovery effort for the Fish and Wildlife Service, retired in January in part to protest the poisoning of prairie dogs, believing that could jeopardize the fragile gains of the ferret. “I think it’s insane,” said Mr. Lockhart, now a wildlife consultant. “Those sites are so important. They need to preserve as much of that habitat as they can.”

A decision by the Forest Service on whether to poison prairie dogs on land that has no ferrets, but is suitable habitat for them, is due out soon. A decision on whether to poison prairie dogs in ferret habitat is being delayed, said the under secretary of agriculture, Mark Rey, to see how the spread of the plague plays out. “We’ll see how big it is, how far it is likely to spread and how many prairie dogs we have left as it runs its course,” Mr. Rey said. “Prudence dictates we collect this information.”

But Mr. Rey said that to not deal with prairie dogs could hurt the program. “Prairie dogs are spreading off federal land to private land,” he said. “And our goal is to keep the black-footed ferret program with broad public support, and one way to do that is to make sure prairie dogs don’t spread onto private land.”

Black-tailed prairie dogs, food for numerous prairie predators, may be threatened themselves. A few years ago the Fish and Wildlife Service, in response to a petition, decided they were warranted for listing as a protected species, but precluded because of higher priorities. That designation was later changed and is now being reconsidered.

For now, though, efforts are focused on stopping the disease.

Losing this population to the plague would be a blow for the entire ferret recovery program and personally heartbreaking, said Mr. Livieri, who has worked for 13 years to restore this population south of Badlands National Park. He started with the National Park Service, then worked for the Forest Service and now cobbles together financing for his own nonprofit organization, Prairie Wildlife Research.

Until now this was the most robust population of ferrets, so healthy it provided wild kits for other recovery efforts in Colorado, Montana, Utah, Mexico and elsewhere. “Last year 52 ferrets came out of here to supplement or start new populations,” Mr. Livieri said.

Most of those populations have struggled with plague and other problems. One population, near Shirley Basin, Wyo. — where the 18 surviving ferrets were found — has struggled with plague but now may have close to the number of ferrets here. There are thought to be about 1,300 ferrets extant, 1,000 or so in the wild and 300 in captivity.

Plague thrives in wet years, and this has been one of the wettest in the region in years. A combination of insecticide and vaccines can be very effective, said Dr. Dean Biggins, a research biologist with the United States Geological Survey, who has studied plague and ferrets. He said he had seen a plague outbreak hit a line of dusted burrows and stop cold. “There’s no question they can be protected,” he said. “It’s not whether we can do it, but are we willing because of cost and labor? It might have to be done every year or two.”

For now, the race is on to protect the heart of the ferret population. Mr. Livieri, often working by himself, drives from his home in Wellington, Colo., six hours away, and spends a week or two at a time scouring the prairie all night in hopes of injecting all of the ferrets.

Treating ferrets, though, is only half of the equation. Enough prairie dogs need to survive the plague to keep the ferrets from starving to death. One ferret eats 125 to 150 prairie dogs a year.

The landscape is pockmarked with burrows. Some have been marked with a streak of white dust to kill fleas, and then pinned with a small orange flag. Ferrets dwell in the prairie dog burrows among their prey, kill the prairie dogs at night and devour them underground.

On a recent night, glowing eyes were common, but not the right kind. At around 2 a.m., Mr. Livieri and others see their first shining ferret eyes. Mr. Livieri turns his truck and rumbles quickly to the burrow, and a tiny masked ferret peers up at him. He places a long slender trap in the hole and drives away. The ferret, which turns out to be a young female, crawls into it.

Mr. Livieri returns, and the trap is removed. Briskly, to minimize handling, plague vaccine is injected into the animal’s rump, hair dye is swabbed on her neck to indicate she has received her first injection, she is sprayed with flea spray and released into her hole. She turns and looks back up at her captor.

This is the 30th ferret of the estimated 150 that remain here that need to be captured and treated. Each animal must be caught a second time for a booster.

“You feel helpless when a disease like this comes in and threatens everything you worked for,” Mr. Livieri said. “That’s why I am going to be out here spotlighting, doing what I can.”

    Efforts on 2 Fronts to Save a Population of Ferrets, NYT, 15.7.2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/science/15ferrets.html?hp

How Darwin won the evolution race

It's 150 years since Darwin made one of the the most significant breakthroughs in scientific history - the theory of natural selection. But if it hadn't been for a young ornithologist on the other side of the world, his seminal work might never have appeared. Robin McKie tells the extraordinary story behind The Origin of Species

Sunday June 22, 2008
The Observer
Robin McKie
This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday June 22 2008 on p6 of the Features and reviews section.
It was last updated at 01:59 on June 22 2008.

In early 1858, on Ternate in Malaysia, a young specimen collector was tracking the island's elusive birds of paradise when he was struck by malaria. 'Every day, during the cold and succeeding hot fits, I had to lie down during which time I had nothing to do but to think over any subjects then particularly interesting me,' he later recalled.

Thoughts of money or women might have filled lesser heads. Alfred Russel Wallace was made of different stuff, however. He began thinking about disease and famine; about how they kept human populations in check; and about recent discoveries indicating that the earth's age was vast. How might these waves of death, repeated over aeons, influence the make-up of different species, he wondered?

Then the fever subsided - and inspiration struck. Fittest variations will survive longest and will eventually evolve into new species, he realised. Thus the theory of natural selection appeared, fever-like, in the mind of one of our greatest naturalists. Wallace wrote up his ideas and sent them to Charles Darwin, already a naturalist of some reputation. His paper arrived on 18 June, 1858 - 150 years ago last week - at Darwin's estate in Downe, in Kent.

Darwin, in his own words, was 'smashed'. For two decades he had been working on the same idea and now someone else might get the credit for what was later to be described, by palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould, as 'the greatest ideological revolution in the history of science' or in the words of Richard Dawkins, 'the most important idea to occur to a human mind.' In anguish Darwin wrote to his friends, the botanist Joseph Hooker and the geologist Charles Lyell. What followed has become the stuff of scientific legend.

In order to preserve Darwin's claim on natural selection Hooker and Lyell arranged for a joint reading of both men's works at the Linnean Society in Burlington House, Piccadilly. On 1 July in a room that is now part of the Royal Academy, society members were summoned to hear the news of a theory that has gone on to cause more offence and trouble to our species than any other in our history. Exactly 150 years ago next week, a notion, more radical even than Marx's, was set loose on the world - though it certainly did not seem that way at the time.

For a start, Darwin and Wallace did not give eloquent lectures to a cheering mass of Linnean Society members who realised God was dead, as is often suggested. Neither scientist was present: Wallace was still in Malaysia while Darwin was at home grieving with his wife, Emma, over the death, on 28 June from scarlet fever, of their 19-month-old son, Charles.

Then there was the audience. It was made up of gentleman amateurs. For several hours they were bombarded with items of society business followed by readings of Darwin and Wallace's notebooks, papers and letters. At the end, members walked out 'not so much stunned by new ideas as overwhelmed by the amount of information loaded upon on them,' said historian JWT Moody in a 1986 study of the meeting. Bored silence greeted the news that humanity had been deposed from the centre of creation.

Months later, the intellectual penny had still not dropped. The Linnean society's president Thomas Bell, writing in his review of 1858, concluded the year had not been marked by 'any of those striking discoveries which at once revolutionise the department of science' - presumably, the dethroning of God being insufficiently revolutionary for his liking.

Nevertheless the fuse had been lit. 'Wallace's letter gave Darwin a good kick up the backside,' says the geneticist Steve Jones. 'He had prevaricated for 20 years and would have done so for another 20 if he hadn't realised someone else was on the trail.' The summer of 1858 changed everything for Darwin. Although by no means an arrogant man, he knew his worth. He was already a Royal Society Gold Medal winner and was not going to be robbed by a whippersnapper specimen collector in Malaysia. So he sat down, with a board across his knee, on the only chair in his house that could accommodate his long legs, and wrote up the research he had been carrying out for the past 20 years.

The end result was On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, whose 150th anniversary will be celebrated next year along with the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. Remarkably, it is the only major scientific treatise to have been written, deliberately, as a piece of popular writing, a book whose interlacing story lines have been compared with those of George Eliot or Charles Dickens and which is peppered with richly inventive metaphor. 'Darwin was creating a lasting work of art,' as Darwin's biographer Janet Browne puts it.

This praise is echoed by Dawkins whose Channel 4 series Dawkins on Darwin will be screened this August. 'When you read The Origin of Species, you get a real feeling that Darwin was very keen to be understood. He did not want merely to persuade fellow scientists, he wanted to show to the public the truth of his ideas. He took great pains with it, which is why it is such a convincing book. Its sentences are perhaps a bit long-winded by modern standards, but for its time it must have been an easily understood work.'

This accessibility ensured natural selection came to the public's attention in a much more vivid form than might otherwise have been expected and hastened those anguished and outraged responses that Darwin had anticipated. 'Utterly false and grievously mischievous,' said Darwin's old teacher, Adam Sedgwick, in a letter to his former pupil. Darwin's supporters - Hooker, Lyell and Thomas Huxley - rallied to his defence, beginning a battle that culminated in the famous debate between Huxley and Bishop Wilberforce at the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Oxford, in June 1860. Huxley is popularly credited with defeating Wilberforce - at an institution where two-thirds of graduates took holy orders. Not a bad show, though the decisive nature of Huxley's 'victory' is now questioned by many historians. It was more a score draw, they reckon. On the other hand, it is clear that change was in the air and the publication of The Origin of Species accelerated this transformation. The Church, until then the nation's authority about the natural world, was losing ground and science was taking over.

'Over the following decades, Darwin's defenders came to occupy influential niches in British and American intellectual life,' notes Browne. 'Toward the end they were everywhere, in the Houses of Parliament, the Anglican Church, the universities, government offices, colonial service, the aristocracy, the navy, the law and medical practice; in Britain and overseas.' These men ensured natural selection endured and saw to it that Darwin received a Westminster Abbey burial in 1882 - not bad for an avowed agnostic.

Darwin remains venerated to this day, his features appearing on the current £10 note. By contrast Wallace has been forgotten. He was happy to let Darwin and his friends promote natural selection. 'This assures me the acquaintance and assistance of eminent men on my return home,' he told his mother. A general suspicion remains that he got a raw deal, however. Self-educated and from a humble background, Wallace had none of the privileges accorded to university-educated Darwin, whose father was a prosperous doctor. He had had to make his way as an apprentice carpenter and then a trainee surveyor, before turning himself into a distinguished naturalist. He was also an early socialist, a supporter of women's rights, a backer of the land reform movement and a consummately skilful writer. Joseph Conrad kept a copy of The Malay Archipelago - Wallace's account of his eight years in the region - on his bedside table and drew on it for his own books, most notably Lord Jim

But Wallace was also blighted both in luck and in character. His first great specimen-gathering expedition - to the Amazon - ended in disaster when the ship returning him to Britain caught fire and sank, taking with it thousands of specimens and his hopes of an assured income. The collector survived with only a couple of notebooks and an indignant parrot.

And Wallace was impetuous. While Darwin fully understood the implications of his theory, holding back publication because he knew he would upset believers, including his wife, Wallace plunged in, happy to upset society. He didn't give a damn, said Jonathan Rosen, in an essay on Wallace in the New Yorker last year. 'This utter independence from public opinion is one of several reasons that he has all but vanished from popular consciousness.'

In addition, Wallace believed in spiritualism (which Darwin and his friends detested) and later campaigned against vaccination. 'Wallace was an admirable man and was almost saintly in his treatment of others,' says David Attenborough. 'However, as a scientist, he was no match for Darwin. Wallace came up with the idea of natural selection in a couple of weeks in a malarial fever. Darwin not only worked out the theory, he amassed swathes of information to support it.'

This point is backed by historian Jim Endersby. 'Natural selection was a brilliant idea but it was the weight of evidence, provided by Darwin, that made it credible. That is why we remember Darwin as its principal author.' On his round-the-world voyage on the Beagle, between 1831 and 1836, he had filled countless notebooks with observations, particularly those of the closely related animals he saw on the different islands of the Galapagos. And then, in his vast garden at Downe, Darwin had crossbred orchids, grown passionflowers and on one occasion played a bassoon to earthworms to test their response to vibrations. He collected masses of data about plant and animal breeding to support his arguments in The Origin of Species. Wallace could provide nothing like this.

This has not stopped accusations that Darwin and his supporters used some very dirty tricks indeed to scupper Wallace. According to these ideas, Darwin received Wallace's paper from Ternate several weeks earlier than he later claimed, filched its contents and then used them as his own in The Origin of Species. This argument is outlined in two American books - by Arnold Brackman and by John Langdon Brooks - that were published 20 years ago and depict Darwin as an unscrupulous opportunist and intellectual thief. Neither book provides anything like a convincing case, however, and the vast majority of academics have since concluded their claims are neither fair nor credible.

As Wallace's own biographer Peter Raby concludes: 'Never has an intriguing theory been built on slenderer evidence. As for the human factor, there is nothing in Darwin's life to suggest that he was capable of such massive intellectual dishonesty, even if he was not especially generous in acknowledging his sources and debts.'

Indeed, historians argue that had it not been for Darwin, the idea of natural selection would have suffered grievously. If he had not been the first to develop natural selection, and Wallace had been the one to get the kudos and attention, the theory would have made a very different impact. 'In the end, Wallace came to believe evolution was sometimes guided by a higher power,' adds Endersby, who has edited the forthcoming Cambridge University Press edition of The Origin of Species. 'He thought natural selection could not account for the nature of the human mind and claimed humanity was affected by forces that took it outside the animal kingdom.'

This is perilously close to the idea of Intelligent Design, the notion - put forward by modern creationists - that a deity had a hand in directing the course of evolution. By contrast, Darwin's vision was austere and indicated humanity as a mere 'twig on the enormously arborescent bush of life which, if replanted from seed, would almost surely not grow this twig again', as Stephen Jay Gould describes it. According to Darwin, there are no get-out clauses for humans. We are as bound to the laws of natural selection as a bacterium or a tortoise.

The roots of this unforgiving doctrine have a very human face, however. Darwin meshed his life and career tightly together. He was a family man to his core and while he was grief-stricken by the death of baby Charles in 1858, he had been left utterly shattered by the death from tuberculosis of his 10-year-old daughter, Annie, in 1851, as his great-great grandson, Randal Keynes points out in his book Annie's Box: Charles Darwin, his daughter and human evolution. Mustard poultices, brandy, chloride of lime and ammonia were all that medicine could then offer Annie when she started to sicken. None had any effect on her worsening bouts of vomiting and delirium until Annie 'expired without a sigh' on 23 April 1851, Darwin recalled. 'We have lost the joy of the household and the solace of our old age.'

Keynes argues persuasively that Annie's death had a considerable impact on Darwin's thinking. 'In her last days, he had watched as her face was changed beyond recognition by the emaciation of her fatal illness. You could only understand the true conditions of life if you held on to a sense of the true ruthlessness of natural forces.'

Thus Darwin's eyes had been opened to the unforgiving processes that drive evolution. 'We behold the face of nature bright with gladness,' he wrote years later. 'We do not see, or we forget, that the birds which are idly singing around us mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life, or we forget how largely these songsters, or their eggs, or their nestlings, are destroyed by birds or beasts of prey.' Or as he wrote elsewhere: 'All Nature is war.'

This pitiless vision - which stressed blind chance as the main determiner in the struggle for survival and the course of evolution - was upsetting for Victorians who put such faith in self-help and hard work. Nevertheless, this is the version of natural selection which has since been supported by a century and a half of observation and which is now accepted by virtually every scientist on earth.

It has not been a happy process, of course. Even today, natural selection holds a special status among scientific theories as being the one that it is still routinely rejected and attacked by a significant - albeit small - segment of society, mainly fundamentalist Christians and Muslims. Such individuals tend to have few views on relativity, the Big Bang, or quantum mechanics, but adamantly reject the idea that humanity is linked to the rest of the animal world and descended from ape-like ancestors.

'Twenty years ago, this was not a problem,' says Steve Jones, a professor of genetics at University College London. 'Today, I get dozens of students who ask to be excused lectures on evolution because of their religious beliefs. They even accuse me of telling lies when I say natural selection is backed by the facts. So I ask if they believe in Mendel's laws of genetics? They say yes, of course. And the existence of DNA? Again, yes. And genetic mutations? Yes. The spread of insecticide resistance? Yes. The divergence of isolated populations on islands? Yes. And do you accept that 98 per cent of DNA is shared by humans and chimps? Again yes. So what is wrong with natural selection? It's all lies, they say. It beats me, frankly.'

This dismay is shared by Dawkins. 'These people claim the world is less than 10,000 years old which is wrong by a great many orders of magnitude. Earth is several billion years old. These individuals are not just silly, they are colossally, staggeringly ignorant. I am sure sense will prevail, however.'

And Jones agrees. 'It's a passing phase. In 20 years, this nonsense will have gone.' Natural selection is simply too important for society to live without it, he argues. It is the grammar of the living world and provides biologists with the means to make sense of our planet's myriad plants and animals, a view shared by Attenborough whose entire Life on Earth programmes rests on the bed-rock of Darwinian thinking.

'Opponents say natural selection is not a theory supported by observation or experiment; that it is not based on fact; and that it cannot be proved,' Attenborough says. 'Well, no, you cannot prove the theory to people who won't believe in it any more than you can prove that the Battle of Hastings took place in 1066. However, we know the battle happened then, just as we know the course of evolution on earth unambiguously shows that Darwin was right.'

Darwin and Wallace's theory: The four key parts
· Creatures of the same species differ from each other in ways that are inherited. This is known as variation. An example is provided by the giant tortoises of the Galapagos archipelago, which Darwin studied in detail. Among those born to the same parents, some will have longer necks than others.

· More creatures in a population are born than can survive. This is the struggle for existence.

· Some creatures of the same species possess characteristics that give them a better chance of surviving and reproducing than others in that species. In the case of Galapagos tortoises, those with longer necks will be able to reach up higher to feed off plants, a useful characteristic during droughts when grass is not available to provide food. This is natural selection.

· These favoured characteristics are passed on to future generations and accumulate. Over a long period, new forms of life evolve. This is the origin of species. For the Galapagos' more arid islands, it meant the appearance of tortoises capable of stretching up to higher branches.

Chance discovery: Darwin's lucky break
Charles Darwin's name is linked irrevocably with natural selection. Yet his involvement with the theory was not preordained. He initially turned down the chance to travel on the Beagle, and only later changed his mind. In addition, there was the origin of the post he filled onboard. The position of naturalist was privately funded by its captain, Robert Fitzroy. The latter, although a gifted seaman, was a melancholy man obsessed by the suicide of his uncle, Viscount Castlereagh, a Tory politician who committed suicide by cutting his throat on 12 August 1822.

Fitzroy was convinced he had inherited the same suicidal tendencies, which might claim him at any time on the voyage. So he paid for a companion - Darwin - to help keep him from despondency on the five-year trip. Darwin recalled Fitzroy's 'low spirits, on one occasion bordering on insanity'. Thus Darwin's odyssey came about only because of one man's dread of inherited insanity. Had a senior member of the Conservative government not killed himself, his nephew would not have worried about family madness and he would not have sought a learned companion to distract him.

The history of science would have been very different. The term Darwinism would be unknown, and we would most likely speak of Wallacism today when talking about natural selection. On the other hand, Darwin's presence seems to have been beneficial. Fitzroy returned intact and was later made head of the body that was to become the Meteorological Office. (The shipping forecast area Fitzroy is named after him.) His morbid fear of suicide was not misplaced, however. In a fit of melancholy, Fitzroy killed himself - by cutting his throat - on 30 April 1865.

A brief history of evolution
What they said - about where we come from - when

Sixth century BC

The idea that species could change and evolve into other species existed before Darwin and Wallace came up with their theory of natural selection. The ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander put forward early evolutionary ideas, for example. However it was not until the end of the 18th century, with the development of the sciences of botany and geology, that the idea of evolution was debated seriously. The problem for naturalists was simple, however. If God did not create every type of living creature, how did one type of animal or plant change into another? What process drove evolution?

1800

One of the first proposed mechanisms was put forward by the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. He argued that characteristics acquired by an animal during its life were passed on to future generations. An animal which developed muscles or a long neck would pass these on to its offspring. The idea was the first decent shot at deriving a theory of evolution. Unfortunately for Lamarck, it has not survived the scrutiny of science. Generations of cats which have had their tails docked have not evolved into tail-less cats. Acquired characteristics are not inherited, though the idea persisted as a serious scientific concept into the 20th century.

1830-1833

Another key event in the development of a mechanism that could explain the evolution of species was the publication of the three volumes of Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology between 1830 and 1833. Lyell argued that the history of the Earth was not one of short-term violent transformations or catastrophes but one of gradual changes that took place over extremely long periods. This vision of a planet shaped by tiny alterations - caused by erosion, sediment formation, the impact of wind and other factors - operating over aeons had a profound impact on naturalists.
 

1858

The ideas of Wallace and Darwin were read at the Linnean Society in London. Both men had been deeply influenced by their observations of wildlife across the globe. On his round-the-world journey on the Beagle, Darwin had also carried a copy of Lyell's Principles of Geology, which provided a background to his studies of animals and plants in the Galapagos and other parts of the world. Wallace, for his part, had made his observations in the Amazon and Malayasia.

1865

The Origin of Species, published in 1859, lacked one key feature: an understanding of genetics. That knowledge was provided by Gregor Mendel in 1865 when his studies of plants led him to develop the laws of genetics. The basic unit of this process is the gene,which is the focus of the forces of natural selection. Mendel's laws were overlooked by mainstream science until the start of the 20th century, however. Only then was it possible to understand the genetic mechanisms that underpin natural selection.

1953

Francis Crick and James Watson unravel the structure - a double helix - of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the material from which the genes of all living creatures, from ants to whales, is constructed. The discovery allows scientists to begin detailed studies of the impact of natural selection at a molecular level.

    How Darwin won the evolution race, O, 22.6.2008, http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jun/22/darwinbicentenary.evolution

Op-Ed Contributors

A Wilderness, Lost in the City

May 29, 2008
The New York Times
By WILLIAM C. THOMPSON Jr. and ROBERT F. KENNEDY Jr.

MANY people are astounded to learn that there is a teeming wildlife preserve in New York City. Ridgewood Reservoir on the Brooklyn-Queens border is an oasis where an amazing range of plant and animal species thrive in a verdant landscape of steep hills and narrow valleys amid the city’s paved sidewalks.

But what’s more astounding, the city’s Parks Department could wind up destroying it.

Ridgewood is an accidental wilderness, tucked alongside the Jackie Robinson Parkway. Built in 1858 to provide drinking water to Brooklyn, the reservoir was abandoned in 1989.

As the 50 acres reverted to wetlands, meadows and forests, tens of thousands of plants and trees took root and flourished. Turtles, fish, frogs and millions of insects moved in. Songbirds nested in the glades, transforming the area into a migratory rest stop. According to the National Audubon Society, 137 species of birds use the reservoir, including eight rare species. It is a place as close to unspoiled nature as you’re likely to find anywhere within city limits.

Yet, the New York City Parks Department is considering a $50 million “renovation” project that would cover more than 20 acres of the reservoir with athletic fields and facilities.

This plan flies in the face of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s widely hailed environmental blueprint, which bemoans the loss of the city’s natural areas. The Parks Department’s own scientific consultants have warned against disturbing the reservoir, an area they call “highly significant for the biodiversity of New York City and the region.”

The parks commissioner has said the city needs the athletic fields to combat childhood obesity. This is an important objective, but the money that would be used to destroy this extraordinary natural habitat could be better spent improving Highland Park, next to Ridgewood Reservoir. Highland Park has plenty of ball fields to serve its neighborhood, but they are in such deplorable condition that few people use them.

Ridgewood’s natural preserve is a great place for people of all ages to walk and hike. Its trails should be upgraded with benches and rest areas as well as markers pointing out unique flora and fauna. The Parks Department should also open areas of the reservoir for guided nature walks, a great educational tool.

Ridgewood Reservoir offers visitors a rare chance to lose themselves in a forest, to hear bird song, to touch wilderness and to sense the divine. The city shouldn’t let that slip away.

William C. Thompson Jr. is the comptroller of the City of New York. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a lawyer for Riverkeeper, an environmental group.

    A Wilderness, Lost in the City, NYT, 29.5.2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/opinion/29kennedy.html

Polar Bear Is Made a Protected Species

May 15, 2008
The New York Times
By FELICITY BARRINGER

The polar bear, whose summertime Arctic hunting grounds have been greatly reduced by a warming climate, will be placed under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced on Wednesday.

But the long-delayed decision to list the bear as a threatened species may prove less of an impediment to oil and gas industries along the Alaskan coast than many environmentalists had hoped. Mr. Kempthorne also made it clear that it would be “wholly inappropriate” to use the listing as a tool to reduce greenhouse gases, as environmentalists had intended to do.

While giving the bear a few new protections — hunters may no longer import hides or other trophies from bears killed in Canada, for instance — the Interior Department added stipulations, seldom used under the act, that would allow oil and gas exploration and development to proceed in areas where the bears live, as long as the companies continue to comply with existing restrictions under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Mr. Kempthorne said Wednesday in Washington that the decision was driven by overwhelming scientific evidence that “sea ice is vital to polar bears’ survival,” and all available scientific models show that the rapid loss of ice will continue. The bears use sea ice as a platform to hunt seals and as a pathway to the Arctic coasts where they den. The models reflect varying assumptions about how fast the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will increase.

In prepared remarks, the secretary, who earlier in his political life was a strong opponent of the current Endangered Species Act, added, “This has been a difficult decision.” He continued, “But in light of the scientific record and the restraints of the inflexible law that guides me,” he made “the only decision I could make.”

The Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed suit in 2005 to force a listing of the polar bear. The center, based in Arizona, has been explicit about its hopes to use this — and the earlier listing of two species of coral threatened by warming seas — as a legal cudgel to attack proposed coal-fired power plants or other new sources of carbon dioxide emissions.

But in both cases, the Bush administration has parried this legal thrust, saying it had no obligation to address or try to mitigate the cause of the species’ decline — warming waters, in the case of the corals, or melting sea ice, in the case of the bears — or the greenhouse-gas emissions from cars, trucks, refineries, factories and power plants that contribute to both conditions.

On Wednesday, Mr. Kempthorne specifically ruled out that possibility, saying, “When the Endangered Species Act was adopted in 1973, I don’t think terms like ‘climate change’ were part of our vernacular.”

The act, he said, “is not the instrument that’s going to be effective” to deal with climate change.

Barton H. Thompson Jr., a law professor and director of the Woods Institute of the Environment at Stanford University, said the decision reflected the administration’s view that “there is no way, if your factory emits a greenhouse gas, that we can say there is a causal connection between that emission and an iceberg melting somewhere and a polar bear falling into the ocean.”

Few natural resource decisions have been as closely watched or been the subject of such vehement disagreement within the Bush administration as this one, according to officials in the Interior Department and others familiar with the process.

After the department missed a series of deadlines, a federal judge ruled two weeks ago that the decision had to be made by Thursday.

In recent days, some officials in the Interior Department speculated that the office of Vice President Dick Cheney had tried to block the listing of the bear. People close to these officials indicated that two separate documents — one supporting the listing, and the other supporting a decision not to list the bear — had been prepared for Mr. Kempthorne.

In an interview, Mr. Kempthorne and his chief of staff, Bryan Waidmann, said they had not discussed the decision with anyone in the vice president’s office, though they did not dispute that two documents had been made available for the secretary’s signature this week.

“Let’s say I had my options available,” Mr. Kempthorne said.

The provision of the act that the Interior Department is using to lighten the regulatory burden that the listing imposes on the oil and gas industry — known as a 4(d) rule — was intended to permit flexibility in the management of threatened species, as long as the chances of conservation of the species would be enhanced, or at least not diminished.

Kassie Siegel, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the listing decision was an acknowledgment of “global warming’s urgency” but would have little practical impact on protecting polar bears.

“The administration acknowledges the bear is in need of intensive care,” Ms. Siegel said. “The listing lets the bear into the hospital, but then the 4(d) rule says the bear’s insurance doesn’t cover the necessary treatments.”

The science on polar bears in a warming climate is nuanced, which allowed the administration to shape its decision the way it did. Over all, scientists agree that rising temperatures will reduce Arctic ice and stress polar bears, which prefer seals they hunt on the floes. But few foresee the species vanishing entirely for a century and likely longer.

There are more than 25,000 bears in the Arctic, 15,500 of which roam within Canada’s territory. A scientific study issued last month by a Canadian group established to protect wildlife said that 4 of 13 bear populations would most likely decline by more than 30 percent over the next 36 years, while the others would remain stable or increase.

M. Reed Hopper of the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property-rights group based in Sacramento, called the decision to list the polar bear “unprecedented” and said his group would sue the Interior Department over the decision.

“Never before has a thriving species been listed” under the Endangered Species Act, he said, “nor should it be.”

John Baird, the environment minister for Canada, said Wednesday that the government would adopt an independent scientific panel’s recommendation to declare polar bears a species “of special concern,” a lower designation than endangered, and he promised to take other unspecified actions.

Management of the bear populations is the responsibility of Canadian provinces and territories. The territorial government of Nunavut, which is home to upward of 15,000 polar bears, had campaigned against new United States protections for the bear, largely because of worries that the lucrative local bear hunts by residents of the United States would stop when trophy skins could no longer be brought home.

Andrew C. Revkin and Ian Austen contributed reporting.

    Polar Bear Is Made a Protected Species, NYT, 15.5.2008,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/us/15polar.html

Editorial

Until All the Fish Are Gone

January 21, 2008
The New York Times

Scientists have been warning for years that overfishing is degrading the health of the oceans and destroying the fish species on which much of humanity depends for jobs and food. Even so, it would be hard to frame the problem more dramatically than two recent articles in The Times detailing the disastrous environmental, economic and human consequences of often illegal industrial fishing.

Sharon LaFraniere showed how mechanized fishing fleets from the European Union and nations like China and Russia — usually with the complicity of local governments — have nearly picked clean the oceans off Senegal and other northwest African countries. This has ruined coastal economies and added to the surge of suddenly unemployed migrants who brave the high seas in wooden boats seeking a new life in Europe, where they are often not welcome.

The second article, by Elisabeth Rosenthal, focused on Europe’s insatiable appetite for fish — it is now the world’s largest consumer. Having overfished its own waters of popular species like tuna, swordfish and cod, Europe now imports 60 percent of what it consumes. Of that, up to half is contraband, fish caught and shipped in violation of government quotas and treaties.

The industry, meanwhile, is organized to evade serious regulation. Big factory ships from places like Europe, China, Korea and Japan stay at sea for years at a time — fueling, changing crews, unloading their catch on refrigerated vessels. The catch then enters European markets through the Canary Islands and other ports where inspection is minimal. After that, retailers and consumers neither ask nor care where the fish came from, or whether, years from now, there will be any fish at all.

From time to time, international bodies try to do something to slow overfishing. The United Nations banned huge drift nets in the 1990s, and recently asked its members to halt bottom trawling, a particularly ruthless form of industrial fishing, on the high seas. Last fall, the European Union banned fishing for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, where bluefin have been decimated.

The institution with the most potential leverage is the World Trade Organization. Most of the world’s fishing fleets receive heavy government subsidies for boat building, equipment and fuel, America’s fleet less so than others. Without these subsidies, which amount to about $35 billion annually, fleets would shrink in size and many destructive practices like bottom trawling would become uneconomic.

The W.T.O. has never had a reputation for environmental zeal. But knowing that healthy fisheries are important to world trade and development, the group has begun negotiating new trade rules aimed at reducing subsidies. It produced a promising draft in late November, but there is no fixed schedule for a final agreement.

The world needs such an agreement, and soon. Many fish species may soon be so depleted that they will no longer be able to reproduce themselves. As 125 of the world’s most respected scientists warned in a letter to the W.T.O. last year, the world is at a crossroads. One road leads to tremendously diminished marine life. The other leads to oceans again teeming with abundance. The W.T.O. can help choose the right one.

    Until All the Fish Are Gone, NYT, 21.1.2008,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/opinion/21mon1.html

Seeking to Save Shelter Dogs From Death

October 13, 2007
Filed at 9:55 p.m. ET
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The New York Times

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sweet William, a young black Labrador retriever in Illinois, has two days to live.

Sandy, a golden female Jindo in New York, also has just two days left. Kate Hepburn, a tan female boxer in California, has 18 days to live.

On Saturday, these were some of the dogs in shelters across the country slated for death -- their fate posted on a Web site that aims to save their lives by offering them for adoption.

Each is tagged with a death date set by a shelter -- and a countdown clock showing the days, or hours, until the animal is destroyed.

Dogsindanger.com works with more than 120 shelters nationwide that destroy dogs. How much time the dogs get before death varies from state to state. In New York City, a stray dog must be kept a minimum of three days, while a shelter has the legal right to immediately destroy an animal that is abandoned there by its owner.

About 4 million dogs are put to death each year in the United States, by injection or gas.

In the three weeks since the site has been up, dozens of dogs have found new homes. Their photos are posted on a section of the site marked ''Success Stories.'' The images of dogs that didn't make it adorn the site's ''In Memoriam'' wall.

''It's not the fault of the shelters,'' said Alex Aliksanyan, a pet adoption advocate who made money in the Internet travel business. ''They don't like doing this, but they have to abide by the law, which requires a shelter to control its animal population.''

Aliksanyan spent a half-million of his own dollars to start The Buddy Fund Inc., a nonprofit organization that operates the site and is named after his miniature American Eskimo dog.

''I've done well, and it was time to give something back,'' said the 50-year-old Turkish-born entrepreneur of Armenian heritage. ''So I thought, let's bring the story of these animals dying quietly in these shelters to the public and say, 'Can you do something?'''

He hired a half-dozen staffers to manage and market the site. Shelters post information about each dog directly, with daily updates and information on how each shelter can be contacted. Aliksanyan ships out free digital cameras and software for the task.

A shelter can sometimes delay a dog's death date -- if it has room in its kennel and few new strays coming in. A death date can get moved up, too, if the shelter becomes overcrowded.

The adoption service is free both for shelters and people looking for pets, allowing users to search by location, breed or time until death.

The in-your-face site, Aliksanyan said, ''is not a place to sit with your 6-year-old and say, 'This one's going to die, that one is going to die.'''

He said he is driven by the philosophy of the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, whose words are posted over the ''In Memoriam'' page: ''The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.''

------

On the Net:

Dogs In Danger: http://www.dogsindanger.com

    Seeking to Save Shelter Dogs From Death, NYT, 13.10.2007,
    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Canine-Countdown.html

12.45pm

Stag hunters found guilty of breaking ban

Thursday June 7, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Steven Morris

A professional huntsman and a volunteer helper today became the first members of a stag hunt to be found guilty of breaking the ban on hunting wild mammals with dogs.

Richard Down, an employee of the Quantock Staghounds in Somerset, and Adrian Pillivant, a lorry driver who was acting as a volunteer "whipper-in", were each ordered to pay a £500 fine and £1,000 costs.

A judge decided that the pair had used two pairs of staghounds to pursue red deer for almost three hours and over 10 miles.

Down, 44, and Pillivant, 36, had argued that they were using the dogs to flush deer out to three marksman - which can be exempt under the Hunting Act 2004 if the animals are shot dead "as soon as possible". They also insisted that they were hunting to control the deer, which compete with livestock for food.

But district judge David Parsons concluded that the purpose of the hunt was "sport and recreation, preserving a way of life that the participants and the defendants are not prepared to give up".

The judge, sitting in Bristol, added that the pair were "disingenuous in attempting to deceive me into believing they were exempt hunting". After the ruling, members of the tightly knit staghunting community expressed dismay and shock.

They said they had taken advice from the police, lawyers and the pro-hunting group the Countryside Alliance, which supported the defendants' case, and believed that the Quantock Staghounds and the two other stag hunts that operate in Somerset and Devon were operating within the law.

A spokesman for the Countryside Alliance said that in the light of the convictions the three hunts would have to consider carefully how to work in future.

The League Against Cruel Sports, which brought the prosecution, said the convictions showed that hunts were continuing to break the ban, which came into force two and a half years ago, and that the law, heavily criticised when it came into force, could work.

The League brought the first successful case against a huntsman, fox hunter Tony Wright, last year. The appeal against his conviction will be heard in Devon next month. The first prosecution against a fox hunt led by the police and Crown Prosecution Service is due to take place in the autumn.

On the day Down and Pillivant were judged to have broken the ban, the Quantock Staghounds met at Crowcombe, near Taunton. At least 17 riders, including children, followed the hunt, and others watched from quad bikes and four-wheel vehicles.

As monitors from the League watched, groups of deer were flushed out on three occasions over two and three quarter hours, and six animals shot. Four dogs were used, two at a time.

Supporters of Down and Pillivant said what they did should be viewed as separate events - deer were flushed and killed as soon as possible. But the judge said: "This was a continual act of hunting over a period of two and three quarter hours ... some of the deer found at the first flush were present at the final flush ... the dogs may well have been deployed in relay to use fresh dogs to chase the deer faster and harder, to tire them quicker and to compensate for having to hunt with only two dogs."

    Stag hunters found guilty of breaking ban, G, 7.6.2007,
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/hunt/Story/0,,2097635,00.html

Wayward Whales Closing in on Golden Gate

May 30, 2007
Filed at 7:58 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) -- A humpback and her calf were seen less than 10 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge and the salty sea after a two-week sojourn through a Northern California river delta.

The wayward whales passed under the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge at the north end of San Francisco Bay on Tuesday afternoon. If the humpbacks can navigate south around a peninsula and a nearby island, few obstacles would remain on their route past Alcatraz to the Pacific Ocean.

''They're heading very much in the right direction,'' said Rod McInnis, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Still, there are fears the whales might continue into the long southern half of the bay instead of turning west and exiting into the Pacific.

''There are lots of places they could get themselves into trouble before they go out of the Golden Gate,'' McInnis said.

The duo was first spotted May 13 and got as far as 90 miles inland to the Port of Sacramento before turning around.

Biologists said the saltier water where the mother humpback whale and her calf have been swimming since leaving Rio Vista has helped reverse some of the health problems caused by long exposure to fresh water.

Lesions that had formed on the humpbacks' skin over the weekend appeared to be sloughing off, California Department of Fish and Game deputy director Bernadette Fees said. Scientists also reported that a coating of algae that was clinging to the mother had fallen away.

Veterinarians were unable Monday to see whether the whales' wounds had started to heal, Fees said. Antibiotics were injected into the whales on Saturday to try to slow the damage from the gashes, likely caused by a boat's keel.

With the whales on the move, officials did not plan to take any action to prod them toward the Golden Gate Bridge.

A convoy of boats was escorting the pair to protect them from heavy ship traffic in the bay. Bay Area ferry commuters could face delays depending on the whales' location, Coast Guard officials said.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, the U.S. Coast Guard hauled several swimmers out of the water as they tried to approach the whales and fended off about 100 boats carrying would-be whale watchers.

Ariadne Green, 57, of Vallejo, came to the waterfront to catch a glimpse Tuesday after traveling last week to Rio Vista, where the whales circled for a week before heading toward the ocean. She said seeing the humpbacks was a ''profound spiritual experience.''

''They need to go home now because their health is in jeopardy,'' Green said. ''It's good to know they're on their way back.''

    Wayward Whales Closing in on Golden Gate, NYT, 30.5.2007,
    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Delta-Whales.html

Celebrating, and Quarreling Over, Frogs

May 20, 2007
The New York Times
By JESSE McKINLEY

ANGELS CAMP, Calif., May 17 — Every May, they come. Thousands of slimy little athletes, primed for the biggest event of their careers, the World Series of competitive frog jumping: the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee.

Then, of course, it’s back to the pond.

But after nearly 80 years of peaceful jumping, a civil war of sorts has broken out among the human overseers of this annual, undeniably bizarre event, which was inspired by Mark Twain’s classic 1865 tall tale, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” about an inveterate gambler and his gifted amphibian. The dispute, which pits the group that has long presided over the jump against the fair’s organizers, has resulted in a pair of dueling competitions this year, each planning to hold their finals on Sunday.

All of which has cast a pall over what should be the county’s biggest weekend of the year.

“It’s sad,” said Emily Stemler, 85, the director of the Angels Camp Museum and Carriage House, who attended the first competition in 1928. “I think they ought to get back together. But I guess you can’t stop what they call progress.”

The squabble has also divided many of the competitors, grown men and women who spend days and nights before the fair crawling around ponds and swamps looking for the perfect jumping frog. Known as frog jockeys, the handlers are clannish, working in teams of 10 or more to gather the frogs from waterlogged places around the state. Hundreds of human competitors, and more than 2,000 frogs, are expected to compete at the fair this weekend, with the top 50 advancing to the finals.

It is semiserious business, with cash prizes and bragging rights on the line. Many teams test-jump the frogs in the days before the three-day fair competition, looking for traits that might lead to the ultimate prize: the world record, held for the last two decades by the famed Rosie the Ribiter, who in 1986 made a staggering triple jump of 21 feet, 5 3/4 inches.

In competition, frogs are allowed to jump three times and land — all while their jockeys yell, stomp the ground, and, yes, occasionally blow on the frogs’ nether regions. Measurements are down to the quarter-inch, which can often separate champions from mere fly-eaters. The animals are then caught with nets, thanked for their services (sometimes with a kiss), and returned to “frog condos,” basically large metal canisters with a few inches of water.

Good jockeys are renowned in Calaveras, where teams have been known to capture 200 frogs to find a single winner.

“There’s an art and a science to it,” said Bill Proctor, a former pilot who is something of a legend in the sport for having fielded, with his brother-in-law, a series of winners in his career, which ran from 1958 to 1978. “Frogs are like any other animal: certain ones are better athletes than others. A lot of that is the environment they are living in. I can’t give away any secrets, but there’s certain kind of environments where they really have to jump to get away.”

Indeed, considering the $5,000 prize for a world record, it is not completely surprising that most competitors fiercely guard exactly where their frogs — American bullfrogs, often eight inches long and always underpaid — are gathered.

“We’ve had the champion the last two years,” said Mike Ziehlke, 45, a member of the local Calaveras Frog Jockeys who works, appropriately enough, at the local water utility. “I ain’t telling.”

Like many ardent jockeys, Mr. Ziehlke said he knew all too well about the schism in the frog world and did not want to take sides, although he is entering the fair’s competition. “We are not a political organization,” he said. “But sometimes when people are treated like kindergarteners, they act like kindergarteners.”

The issue at the heart of the squabble is the very topic of Twain’s story: money. Last year, after rain hurt attendance and damaged the fair’s bottom line, organizers informed the Angels Camp Boosters, the group that has run the jump since its inception, that they might change direction in 2007. The boosters, a group of longtime residents and business owners, had received a $2,300 stipend to organize and judge the competition, a fee fair organizers said they could not afford this year.

Ray Malerbi, chief executive of the fair, which he said could draw up to 50,000 people in a good year, said his board was also concerned that “the frog jump was beginning to lose its hold and that it was either stagnating or at least not moving forward.”

The boosters, however, were not about to bow out without a fight. So this spring, they announced that they would stage their own frog jump in a local park on the same weekend as the fair.

Donovan Hamanaka, the boosters’ vice president, disputed the fair’s assertion that the boosters had lost focus, saying that publicity about the spat had actually energized his group, which he said had gained members in recent years after a period of faltering enrollment. “You’d be surprised what kind of care we’re getting from the community,” said Mr. Hamanaka, 25, a former frog jump finalist who called the fair’s decision a “slap in the face.” He added, “We’ve got teenagers coming in, wanting to join.”

Legend has it that Twain visited this Gold Rush town in 1865, when he overheard and penned the tale of Jim Smiley, a man “always betting on any thing that turned up” and his “modest and straightforward” frog Dan’l Webster. In the story, Smiley loses $40 in a bet after a rival fills Dan’l Webster with buckshot.

Nowadays, such behavior is strictly prohibited by the fair’s frog welfare policy, a four-page document that outlines rules, including treatment of hundreds of “rent-a-frogs,” which are stored in a cellarlike room under the main jumping stage. There, rules stipulate that frogs are kept cool and in the dark, limited to three jumps daily, and that soothing music, either soft rock or cool jazz, is played at all times.

Also forbidden is the jumping of any California red-legged frogs, the breed the fictional Dan’l Webster is believed to be. Those frogs, now listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, were devastated in the late 1800s by the appetite for frog legs among miners in the Sierra Nevada and later in cities like San Francisco.

“It became a sort of sushi craze of that time,” said Robert Stack, the founder of the Jumping Frog Research Institute. “And a whole lot of people over-frogged to feed the craze.”

Dr. Stack said the situation was not helped by the importing of bigger, badder bullfrogs from the East Coast, which “will eat anything that moves that fits in its mouth,” including smaller, red-legged frogs. That sort of omnivorousness still frightens wildlife advocates, who view the Calaveras event as an environmental disaster waiting to happen.

“With hundreds of frogs and lots of people, it’s hard to keep a lid on these things,” said Michael Markarian, the executive vice president of the Humane Society of the United States. “If one frog escapes into the wild populations, it could have an impact on imperiled species.” Fair officials say they are careful to return their frogs to nonthreatened habitats.

Officials in Angels Camp, about 130 miles east of San Francisco in the Sierra Nevada foothills, said they hoped the current bad blood did not distract from the fair, which is the biggest tourist draw of the year for a town of about 2,800 people.

Mr. Proctor, the former champion and a member of the boosters organization, said he would not attend the fair this year, out of loyalty to his colleagues. But he said he hoped the two groups could work out their differences before the 80th anniversary next year.

“We’re too small of a community to fight like this,” Mr. Proctor said. “This is supposed to be fun.”

    Celebrating, and Quarreling Over, Frogs, NYT, 20.5.2007,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/us/20frog.html

With Return of Sea Lions, a Rebirth at Bronx Zoo

April 28, 2007
The New York Times
By STACEY STOWE

Having a home renovated is never easy. But at least Adrienne, Cleo and Indie, who normally live in the Bronx, were fortunate enough to have been on an extended vacation in Brooklyn during the noise and dust of their construction project.

In June, these three female sea lions will return from an 18-month sojourn at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island to their restored pool at the Bronx Zoo Wildlife Conservation Park. The pool is one part of the $6.7 million renovation of Astor Court, which dates to the zoo’s early years. As a bonus, a new male suitor is expected to arrive a few weeks later.

Under a steady rain yesterday, landscapers laid sod in the Peacock Garden for the June 1 reopening of the 22,000-square-foot mall at Astor Court, whose formal steps and terra cotta balustrades lead to a panoramic view of the zoo’s original Victorian designs. Astor Court is being renovated in stages, with different dates for completion.

The areas being renovated include an Italian garden of boxwoods and roses; the Rockefeller Fountain, which has provided a welcome spritzing to many of the two million annual visitors; and a suite of Beaux-Arts-style buildings considered to be the heart of the 265-acre zoo.

One of those buildings, the Lion House, which opened in 1903 and was designed by the New York architects Heins and LaFarge, has been closed for more than two decades, and the lions roam an outdoor exhibit.

The Lion House, which is expected to open next year, will be converted into a 40,000-square-foot, $49 million exhibit on Madagascar, an island located off the southeastern coast of Africa and home to 1 percent of the world’s biodiversity. Visitors will be able to see a 13-foot Nile crocodile, ring-tailed lemurs and the fossa mammal.

Construction workers inside the building yesterday were busy scaling ladders while artists painted the trunks of fake baobab trees. In a feature of the exhibit sure to resonate uncomfortably with city dwellers, hundreds of hissing cockroaches will live inside the trunk of one of the fake baobab trees.

“They eat kibble, banana peels, pretty much anything,” said James Breheny, director of the zoo, holding one of the four-inch-long insects, whose serrated shell appeared shellacked in the mahogany hue of a cello.

The renovations, designed by FXFowle Architects, are part of the zoo’s 25-year master plan and meant to uphold its mission to educate visitors about wildlife and nature and to protect declining wildlife, said Steven Sanderson, president of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates the zoo.

Along with improving the zoo’s appearance, the Astor Court renovations are also being done with the environment in mind. The Lion House is expected to be the first landmark building in New York City restored in accordance with the stringent environmentally sensitive guidelines of the United States Green Building Council, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustainable building design and construction, Mr. Sanderson said.

One of the environmental solutions is a storage and filtration system that recycles water from the zoo’s laboratories. It would save more than 140,000 gallons of water a year.

“At the end of the 25-year plan, we’ll set the standard in green materials and conservation and be able to link our guest experience to the mandate we have: to conserve wildlife around the globe,” Mr. Sanderson said.

As part of the restoration project, a variety of lighting styles were replaced with energy-saving Victorian reproduction lighting, and slatted benches yielded to wrought iron and wood versions, said Sue Chin, director of planning and design for the zoo.

Like the sea lions, the peacocks that once lived in Astor Court were moved during renovations, in this case, to the Children’s Zoo. The birds will eventually be able to roam the entire zoo, but zookeepers hope that the mirrored Victorian “gazing balls” that are going to dot Astor Court will entice them to stay there.

“We’re going to try to attract them here with those,” Ms. Chin said, “so they can gaze at their beautiful image.”

    With Return of Sea Lions, a Rebirth at Bronx Zoo, NYT, 28.4.2007,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/28/nyregion/28zoo.html

Arkansans Asked to Help Count Turtles

April 24, 2007
Filed at 12:03 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- On slow summer days, counting box turtles is one way to enjoy the outdoors. The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission is asking Arkansans to help with a survey of the animals to determine just how common, or rare, they are. There has never been a statewide survey of box turtles.

Maryland scientists in 2004 determined that the eastern box turtle populations were declining, and they blamed habitat destruction, road deaths and mowers and other land-clearing machinery among the causes. The animals also once were exported extensively as pets, a trade that was banned in 1994.

Other states, including Florida, North Carolina, and Texas, also are monitoring box turtle populations.

Starting in May, the Arkansas commission is asking anyone spotting the reptiles in their yards or elsewhere to report their findings online or by calling the commission. The commission has done previous studies on tarantulas and bumblebees in the state.

Jane Jones-Schultz, the commission's education and information coordinator, says the public's help will give scientists better estimates on how many box turtles live in Arkansas.

Two types of box turtle are native to the state -- the three-toed box turtle and the ornate box turtle.

The three-toed variety is found in forests, marshes and grasslands across the state. They are typically olive brown with yellow or orange markings.

The ornate variety is found in dry, open habitats in the Arkansas River Valley, Grand Prairie and Ozark Mountains. They have more striking markings, particularly on the bottom of its shell or plastron, which can be very dark with bright yellow lines. The top of their shell or carapace is dark brown to nearly black.

The surveys ask for information on the turtle's size and where it was found. The commission also asks for pictures, if possible. Duplicate sightings will give researchers an idea of how big a turtle's range is.

Jones-Schultz says the animals shouldn't be captured as pets because they are finicky eaters and need sunlight.

Box turtles can live for decades. An ornate box turtle can live into its forties while a three-toed turtle can survive into its seventies. They become mature around 13 and mate from April to October. Although a female can produce 200 eggs over her lifetime, only two or three offspring typically will survive to adulthood.

The survey will last at least a year, perhaps longer. The surveys should be available on line by the first week of May, Jones-Schultz says. They also are available by calling 501-324-9619.

------

On the Net:

Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission www.naturalheritage.org

------

Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com

    Arkansans Asked to Help Count Turtles, NYT, 24.4.2007,
    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Counting-Turtles.html

Game Park Owner Mauled to Death by Lions

April 21, 2007
Filed at 4:04 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- The owner of a game reserve was mauled to death by a pride of lions Friday as helpless paramedics looked on.

The South African Press Association reported that paramedics called to the Krugersdorp Game Reserve, near Johannesburg, could only watch as lions attacked Dirk Brink, 58.

''It was extremely dangerous for them to approach,'' said Mark Stokoe, spokesman for emergency rescue service Netcare 911.

''Paramedics could not attend to him immediately and they had to wait for game rangers and police to chase the lions away,'' he said.

This took a ''significant amount of time,'' he said, adding Brink was dead by the time he could be approached.

''The attack was very bad. The door to his car was open when we got there and it appears the lions dragged him to the bushes before attacking him,'' he said.

    Game Park Owner Mauled to Death by Lions, NYT, 21.4.2007,
    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-South-Africa-Lion-Attack.html

Conservation Officer: Wolf Chased Cars

April 19, 2007
Filed at 3:47 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRIMSON, Minn. (AP) -- When conservation officer Steve Peterson got a call that a timber wolf was chasing vehicles on a country road near Brimson, he thought it was prank or a misidentified German shepherd. But then he saw it firsthand.

''I couldn't believe it. It was like a dog chasing cars,'' Peterson said. ''It looked like a big, healthy male wolf. No mange.''

Responding to the call last Friday, Peterson saw the animal hide in the ditch as a pickup approached and then come bounding out to chase it.

The wolf did the same when Peterson drove to that spot, where he stopped his vehicle.

''He hung around for a minute or 90 seconds and then walked off. I haven't heard any more reports since then,'' Peterson said. ''I don't know if it was protecting some food or what. I've never seen anything like it. I've seen turkeys and ducks and geese chase after people's cars, but never a wolf before.''

Roughly 3,000 wolves live in northern Minnesota. Usually, wolves stay away from people and vehicles.

------

Information from: Duluth News Tribune, http://www.duluthsuperior.com 

    Conservation Officer: Wolf Chased Cars, NYT, 19.4.2007,
    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Odd-Wolf.html

Dead Alligator Found in Indiana Drain

April 19, 2007
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:47 a.m. ET
The New York Times

BERNE, Ind. (AP) -- Surveyors looking for the source of a clogged drain in southern Adams County found a 7-foot dead alligator. ''At first they thought it was a turtle in there, but then they discovered an alligator,'' Adams County sheriff's Deputy Larry Butler said.

He said the 120-pound alligator, which had been dead for about a week, was put inside the drain after it died. The sheriff's department and the Department of Natural Resources were looking for the owner of the reptile found Monday in Berne, about 30 miles south of Fort Wayne.

It is legal to own alligators in Indiana, but the state requires owners to apply for a permit with the DNR for alligators that are longer than 5 feet, said Greg McCollam, assistant director with the department's fish and wildlife division. There were no permits registered in Adams County, he said.

In March, animal enforcement officers nabbed a 3-foot-long alligator in a mobile home in Gary. Two months earlier, a dead alligator was found in a rolling garbage container in the Gary's Glen Park area.

    Dead Alligator Found in Indiana Drain, NYT, 19.4.2007,
    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Drain-Alligator.html

Barbaro Is Euthanized After Struggle With Injury

January 29, 2007
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The New York Times

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. (AP) -- Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was euthanized Monday after complications from his breakdown at the Preakness last May.

"We just reached a point where it was going to be difficult for him to go on without pain," co-owner Roy Jackson said. "It was the right decision, it was the right thing to do. We said all along if there was a situation where it would become more difficult for him then it would be time."

Roy and Gretchen Jackson were with Barbaro on Monday morning, with the owners making the decision in consultation with chief surgeon Dean Richardson.

It was a series of complications, including laminitis in the left rear hoof and a recent abscess in the right rear hoof, that proved to be too much for the gallant colt, whose breakdown brought an outpouring of support across the country.

"I would say thank you for everything, and all your thoughts and prayers over the last eight months or so," Jackson said to Barbaro's fans.

On May 20, Barbaro was rushed to the New Bolton Center, about 30 miles southwest of Philadelphia in Kennett Square, hours after shattering his right hind leg just a few strides into the Preakness Stakes. The bay colt underwent a five-hour operation that fused two joints, recovering from an injury most horses never survive. Barbaro lived for eight more months, though he never again walked with a normal gait.

The Kentucky Derby winner suffered a significant setback over the weekend, and surgery was required to insert two steel pins in a bone -- one of three shattered eight months ago in the Preakness but now healthy -- to eliminate all weight bearing on the ailing right rear foot.

The procedure on Saturday was a risky one, because it transfered more weight to the leg while the foot rests on the ground bearing no weight.

The leg was on the mend until the abscess began causing discomfort last week. Until then, the major concern was Barbaro's left rear leg, which developed laminitis in July, and 80 percent of the hoof was removed.

Richardson said Monday morning that Barbaro did not have a good night.

    Barbaro Is Euthanized After Struggle With Injury, NYT, 29.1.2007,
    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-RAC-BarbaroDeath.html

Op-Ed Contributor

The Vanishing Man of the Forest

January 6, 2007
The New York Times
By BIRUTE MARY GALDIKAS

ONCE again, I am driving, under the blazing equatorial sun, down an uncomfortable, rutty relic of a road into the interior of central Borneo. With me are two uniformed police men, one armed with a machine gun. The landscape is bleak, no trees, no shade as far as the eye can see. Our mission is to confiscate orangutan orphans whose mothers have been killed as a result of the sweeping forest clearance taking place throughout Borneo.

Many years ago, Louis Leakey, the great paleo-anthropologist whose work at Olduvai Gorge and other sites in East Africa revolutionized our knowledge of human origins, encouraged me to study wild orangutans — just as he had encouraged Jane Goodall to study chimpanzees and Dian Fossey to study gorillas. Later, he laughingly called us the “trimates,” or the three primates.

Orangutans are not as well known as chimpanzees and gorillas. But like their African cousins, orangutans are great apes, our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom, and the most intelligent animals, with the exception of humans, to have evolved on land. Orangutans are reclusive, semi-solitary, quiet, highly arboreal and red, facts that come as a surprise to some people. Their name is derived from the Malay words “orang hutan,” which literally mean “person of the forest.” And it is the orangutan’s profound connection to the forest that is driving it to extinction.

Without forests, orangutans cannot survive. They spend more than 95 percent of their time in the trees, which, along with vines and termites, provide more than 99 percent of their food. Two forests form their only habitat, and they are the tropical rain forests of Borneo and Sumatra.

Sumatra is exclusively Indonesian, as is the two thirds of the island of Borneo known as Kalimantan. That places 80 to 90 percent of the orangutan population, which numbers only 40,000 to 50,000, in Indonesia, with the remainder in Malaysian Borneo. What happens in Indonesia, particularly Kalimantan, will determine the orangutan’s future.

When I first arrived in Central Kalimantan in 1971, orangutans were already endangered because of poaching (for the pet trade and for the cooking pot) and deforestation (by loggers and by villagers making way for gardens and rice fields).

But it was all relatively small-time. The forests of Kalimantan were vast — Indonesia’s are the second largest tropical rain forests in the world, after Brazil’s — and forest conversion rates small. People still used axes and saws to cut down trees and traveled by dugout canoes or small boats with inboard engines.

I went straight to work, beginning a wild orangutan study that continues to this day, and establishing an orangutan rehabilitation program, the first in Kalimantan, which has returned more than 300 ex-captive orangutans to the wild.

But the wild is increasingly difficult to find. In the late 1980s, as it entered the global economy, Indonesia decided to become a major producer and exporter of palm oil, pulp and paper. Before this, the government had endorsed selective logging. Now vast areas of forest were slated for conversion to plantations to grow trees for palm oil and paper production. Monster-sized bulldozers, replacing the chain saws of the early logging boom, tore up the forest, clear-cutting as many as 250,000 acres at once for palm oil plantations.

At the same time, the price of wood, particularly the valuable hardwoods that grow in Indonesia’s rain forests and fetch a high price on the black market, increased. Illegal logging became rampant, even in national parks and reserves.

While illegal logging degrades the forest, plantations absolutely destroy it. And the destruction is not only immediate, but also long-term. Forest-clearing leaves huge amounts of dry branches and other wood litter on forest floors; a small spark can ignite enormous forest fires, particularly in times of drought. During the 1997 El Niño drought, approximately 25 million acres, an area about half the size of Oklahoma, burned in Indonesia. Thousands of orangutans died.

Indonesia has achieved its goal of becoming one of the two largest palm-oil producers and exporters in the world. But at what cost? At least half of the world’s wild orangutans have disappeared in the last 20 years; biologically viable populations of orangutans have been radically reduced in size and number; and 80 percent of the orangutan habitat has either been depopulated or totally destroyed. The trend shows no sign of abating: government maps of future planned land use show more of the same, on an increasing scale.

•

We’re back in the jeep. The police view the trip inland as a success. They confiscated five orangutans and one woman volunteered her crab-eating macaque, an unprotected species. Two of the orangutan owners, both women, shed tears, but we invited them to visit their “pets” at the Orangutan Foundation International’s Care Center and Quarantine, where they will be rehabilitated and eventually released to the wild.

I am pleased to think that five more orphan orangutans will once again feel the branches and leaves under their feet as they swing through the trees. Yet I am somewhat melancholy. The fragile forests that make orangutan life possible are fast disappearing. Where, I wonder, are the billionaire philanthropists and the international policies that will prevent orangutans — and all great apes — from going extinct?

Indonesia is a vast, densely populated country where millions live in or near poverty. The temptation to exploit natural resources to feed people today, never mind tomorrow, and to expand the economy, is great. And the plantations are but one example. Surface-mining of gold in the alluvial fans of white sand has been practiced for two decades, leaving virtual moonscapes near the National Park where I work. Now zircon mining has entrenched itself all over Central Kalimantan, with each zircon mine obliterating 1,000 acres of rain forest. Two years ago nobody, myself included, even knew what zircon was.

The international community must recognize that it has some responsibility for what happens to the great rain forests of Indonesian Borneo. Foreign investment in local development programs needs to be expanded. Village level projects, like the one financed by the United States Agency for International Development and run by Boston-based World Education near where I work, have empowered farmers, strengthened village economies and employed local people, giving them a stake in preserving the forest.

We need more of these programs. Indonesia could also impose a special tax on companies that profit from rain forest destruction, with the revenues dedicated to forest and orangutan conservation. Proper labeling of palm oil content could allow a consumer boycott of soap, crackers, cookies and other products that contain it. Finally, Indonesia needs to be more vigorous in enforcing the excellent laws it already has to protect its forests.

When I arrived in 1971, Borneo was almost a Garden of Eden, the most remote place on earth. Now it has been drawn into the global economy, one government decision, one business plan at a time. But the destruction of Borneo’s forests and the extinction of the orangutans are not inevitable. It is possible to protect our ancient heritage and closest of kin — one orangutan, one national park, one piece of irreplaceable forest at a time. We only need to decide to do it.

Birute Mary Galdikas is president and co-founder of Orangutan Foundation International in Los Angeles and a professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

    The Vanishing Man of the Forest, NYT, 6.1.2007,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/opinion/06galdikas.html

Study Sees ‘Global Collapse’ of Fish Species

November 3, 2006
The New York Times
By CORNELIA DEAN

If fishing around the world continues at its present pace, more and more species will vanish, marine ecosystems will unravel and there will be “global collapse” of all species currently fished, possibly as soon as midcentury, fisheries experts and ecologists are predicting.

The scientists, who report their findings today in the journal Science, say it is not too late to turn the situation around. As long as marine ecosystems are still biologically diverse, they can recover quickly once overfishing and other threats are reduced, the researchers say.

But improvements must come quickly, said Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, who led the work. Otherwise, he said, “we are seeing the bottom of the barrel.”

“When humans get into trouble they are quick to change their ways,” he continued. “We still have rhinos and tigers and elephants because we saw a clear trend that was going down and we changed it. We have to do the same in the oceans.”

The report is one of many in recent years to identify severe environmental degradation in the world’s oceans and to predict catastrophic loss of fish species. But experts said it was unusual in its vision of widespread fishery collapse so close at hand.

The researchers drew their conclusion after analyzing dozens of studies, along with fishing data collected by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and other sources. They acknowledge that much of what they are reporting amounts to correlation, rather than proven cause and effect. And the F.A.O. data have come under criticism from researchers who doubt the reliability of some nations’ reporting practices, Dr. Worm said.

Still, he said in an interview, “there is not a piece of evidence” that contradicts the dire conclusions.

Jane Lubchenco, a fisheries expert at Oregon State University who had no connection with the work, called the report “compelling.”

“It’s a meta analysis and there are challenges in interpreting those,” she said in an interview, referring to the technique of collective analysis of disparate studies. “But when you get the same patterns over and over and over, that tells you something.”

But Steve Murawski, chief scientist of the Fisheries Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, said the researchers’ prediction of a major global collapse “doesn’t gibe with trends that we see, especially in the United States.”

He said the Fisheries Service considered about 20 percent of the stocks it monitors to be overfished. “But 80 percent are not, and that trend has not changed substantially,” he said, adding that if anything, the fish situation in American waters was improving. But he conceded that the same cannot necessarily be said for stocks elsewhere, particularly in the developing world.

Mr. Murawski said the Bush administration was seeking to encourage international fishery groups to consider adopting measures that have been effective in American waters.

Twelve scientists from the United States, Canada, Sweden and Panama contributed to the work reported in Science today.

“We extracted all data on fish and invertebrate catches from 1950 to 2003 within all 64 large marine ecosystems worldwide,” they wrote. “Collectively, these areas produced 83 percent of global fisheries yields over the past 50 years.”

In an interview, Dr. Worm said, “We looked at absolutely everything — all the fish, shellfish, invertebrates, everything that people consume that comes from the ocean, all of it, globally.”

The researchers found that 29 percent of species had been fished so heavily or were so affected by pollution or habitat loss that they were down to 10 percent of previous levels, their definition of “collapse.”

This loss of biodiversity seems to leave marine ecosystems as a whole more vulnerable to overfishing and less able to recover from its effects, Dr. Worm said. It results in an acceleration of environmental decay, and further loss of fish.

Dr. Worm said he analyzed the data for the first time on his laptop while he was overseeing a roomful of students taking an exam. What he saw, he said, was “just a smooth line going down.” And when he extrapolated the data into the future “to see where it ends at 100 percent collapse, you arrive at 2048.”

“The hair stood up on the back of my neck and I said, ‘This cannot be true,’ ” he recalled. He said he ran the data through his computer again, then did the calculations by hand. The results were the same.

“I don’t have a crystal ball and I don’t know what the future will bring, but this is a clear trend,” he said. “There is an end in sight, and it is within our lifetimes.”

Dr. Worm said a number of steps could help turn things around.

Even something as simple as reducing the number of unwanted fish caught in nets set for other species would help, he said. Marine reserves would also help, he said, as would “doing away with horrendous overfishing where everyone agrees it’s a bad thing; or if we banned destructive fishing in the most sensitive habitats.”

Josh Reichert, who directs the environmental division of the Pew Charitable Trusts, called the report “a kind of warning bell” for people and economies that depend on fish.

But predicting a global fisheries collapse by 2048 “assumes we do nothing to fix this,” he said, “and shame on us if that were to be the case.”

    Study Sees ‘Global Collapse’ of Fish Species, NYT, 3.11.2006,
    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/science/03fish.html

Swans deliver a climate change warning

Published: 28 October 2006
The Independent
By Cahal Milmo

For decades, the arrival of the first V-shaped flights of Bewick's swans in Britain's wetlands after a 2,000-mile journey from Siberia heralded the arrival of winter.

This year, a dramatic decline in numbers of the distinctive yellow-billed swans skidding into their winter feeding grounds could be the harbinger of a more dramatic shift in weather patterns: global warming. Ornithologists at the main reserves that host the birds, the smallest of Britain's swans, said only a handful had appeared on lakes and water courses. Normally, there would be several hundred.

The latest arrival in a decade of Britain's seasonal influx of 8,000 Bewick's swans throws into sharp relief the debate on the effects of climate change as it enters a crucial week. As the Government's forthcoming Climate Bill is finalised, Sir Nicholas Stern, a former World Bank economist, is expected to warn in a report on Monday that failure to tackle global warming will provoke a recession deeper than the Great Depression.

But far from Westminster, the potential ecological impact of the same phenomenon was being noted in the absence of the high-pitched honking call of Bewick's swans on reservoirs and wetlands from the Ouse to the Severn estuary. The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) said its first three birds had arrived at its Slimbridge reserve in Glouc-estershire, only on Thursday, the latest arrival since 1995.

In Welney, Cambridgeshire, where there are normally 100 Bewick's by the end of October as the vanguard for a winter population of 1,000; a solitary male was this week the sole representative. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said that two of its reserves in East Anglia which host the bulk of the British population - the Ouse Washes and Nene Washes - were also devoid of Bewick's. Experts said that the slow arrival was due to warmer than usual conditions on the continent, in particular the birds' other main wintering grounds in the Netherlands, and an absence of the north-east winds that aid their migration from the Arctic tundra of northern Russia.

The disruption to the swans' migration pattern fits into an emerging pattern of fluctuating numbers of bird species and population movements blamed on climate change. Redwings, another winter visitor to the British Isles, started arriving from Scandinavia only this week. Normally, they come in early September.

Other species which normally leave Europe for the winter, such as the blackcap, are now staying through the year. The WWT and other bird conservation groups said that it would take weeks to assess whether the late arrival of the Bewick's, named after the 18th-century English engraver and ornithologist Thomas Bewick, would affect the overall numbers wintering in Britain.

Since reaching a peak of about 9,000 in 1992, numbers of the swans have fallen by about 5 per cent. In 2004, numbers of wintering ducks, geese, swans and wading birds fell to the lowest level for a decade.

    Swans deliver a climate change warning, I, 28.10.2006,
    http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1935939.ece

The Times > Nature note

February 04, 2005

GREY SQUIRRELS are mating. Several males may chase a female through the bare branches, making harsh buzzing notes, and try to mate with her. Males will also chase away their rivals. The female crouches on the ground when she is ready to mate, and generally it is the first male to get to her who succeeds.

Once the female is pregnant, she appropriates a warm winter drey well lined with moss and feathers, or builds a new one, and keeps all other squirrels out of it. She gives birth in the drey about six weeks after she has mated. Usually she has three young. They are naked and blind at first, but their fur soon grows, and they are first seen out of the drey when they are about seven weeks old. This will generally be about the end of April or the beginning of May.

Grey squirrels bury nuts and acorns in the ground in autumn, and now they are looking for them again. But they do not remember where they put them and can only find them by smell. Many get overlooked, and sprout up as young trees in the spring.

DJM

    Nature notes, Times, 4.2.2005,
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,61-1469617,00.html

November 29, 1899

The Boer war curtails our hunt balls

From the Guardian archive

Wednesday November 29, 1899
Guardian

It is some years since the clerk of the weather has treated fox-hunters so kindly during November.

For, given a pack of hounds and a good supply of foxes, sport is dependent on conditions of climate. It has been said of November that, unless a man returns home from hunting plentifully bespattered with mud - not the result of contact with mother earth - the chances are he has not enjoyed much sport; the suggestion being that at this time of the year scent lies best when the ground is fairly deep.

Something there may be in the idea, yet runs of the highest merit have occurred frequently during the present month, and, unless it be in woodland rides, the going is certainly not heavy.

On account of the Transvaal [Boer] war the usual hunt balls have been abandoned in many countries, and funds, or a goodly portion of them, will go to swell the subscriptions in aid of sufferers.

It is felt that public balls would be out of place while those who remain at home are watching anxiously for news of relations and friends. Some hunts, notably the Quorn, have started subscriptions for widows and orphans.

It seems that wire is gaining ground in the Cotswold country. A strong committee was appointed to deal with the matter. It should be remembered that the farmer uses wire mainly because it is cheap and convenient.

He has no desire to interfere with fox-hunting, and when the matter is represented to him in a proper way by persons he likes and respects, he will usually yield and at least take down his wire during the hunting season. This, however, must be done without cost to the farmer.

Many brilliant runs were recorded on Saturday, none better than by the North Cheshire - a pack, by the way, which has been rather fortunate of late in escaping disaster from passing trains.

Brereton was the meet. Hounds were thrown into Union Gorse. A fox was soon away, and, obligingly selecting a capital line of country, travelling with that long, stealthy gait which looks so easy and yet is fast enough.

Middlewich was passed, then the hunt swept on at a clinking pace in the direction of Coton. Only darkness deprived the pack of a well-earned meal, and when they were whipped off at the end of an hour and forty minutes, a ten-mile point had been reached.

On the same day I hear Sir Watkin Wynn's hounds showed good sport, sharp handling a brace of foxes, each of which ran far and fast before being pulled down. North-country packs have shared in the almost universal good sport.

    From the Guardian archive > November 29, 1899 > The Boer war curtails our hunt balls, G,
    Republished 29.11.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,,1959612,00.html

October 25, 1848

The Great Sea-Serpent is seen again

From the Guardian archive

Wednesday October 25, 1848
Guardian

The following letter has been addressed to the editor:

19th October, 1848. Sir, I have just reached this port on a voyage from Malta and Lisbon, and my attention having been called to a report relative to an animal seen by the master and crew of HMS Daedalus, I take the liberty of communicating the following circumstance.

When clearing out of the port of Lisbon, upon the 30th September last, we saw the American brig Daphne, of Boston; she signalled for us to heave to, and lay-to while the mate boarded us, and handed a packet of letters to be despatched per first steamer for Boston on our arrival in England.

The mate told me that when in lat.4 11 S. lon.10 15 E. wind dead north, upon the 20th September, a most extraordinary animal had been seen. It had the appearance of a huge serpent, or snake, with a dragon's head. Immediately upon its being seen, one of the deck guns was brought to bear, which having been charged with nails, and whatever other pieces of iron could be got at the moment, was discharged at the animal, then only distant about 40 yards from the ship; it immediately reared its head in the air, and plunged violently with its body, showing that the charge had taken effect.

The Daphne was to leeward at the time, but was put about on the starboard tack, and stood toward the brute, which was seen foaming and lashing the water at a fearful rate; upon the brig nearing, however, it disappeared, and, though evidently wounded, made rapidly off at the rate of 15 or I6 knots an hour, as was judged from its appearing several times upon the surface.

The Daphne pursued for some time, but the night coming on, the master was obliged to put about and continue his voyage. From the description given by the mate, the brute must have been nearly 100 feet long, and his account of it agrees with that lately forwarded to the Admiralty by the master of the Daedalus.

I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient servant, James Henderson, master.

· There must be some error in the preceding letter, either in the latitude or longitude indicated, or in the date - perhaps in both. The point 4 11 S. latitude and 10 15 E. longitude is close to, if not actually upon, the coast of Africa; and it is an impossibility for any sailing vessel to reach the mouth of the Tagus in 10 days (the 20th to the 30th Sept.), from that part of the coast of Guinea.

Her majesty's ship Daedalus was two months on her voyage home from where she saw the serpent, which is only about 14 degrees farther south. Ed

    From the Guardian archive > October 25, 1848 > The Great Sea-Serpent is seen again, G,
    Republished 25.10.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,,1930900,00.html

November 4, 1840

Monster of the Thames

From the Guardian archive

Yesterday (Friday) afternoon, one of the largest River Thames eels ever seen was caught in the City Canal, Limehouse, under the following circumstances: The locks of the canal which open into the river had to be opened for the purpose of letting out a large vessel, when a great body of the water rushed out. A short distance above the place where the vessel had been lying, a kind of gut or creek existed, and which was left dry by the receding of the water.

Three boys, who were on the spot, seeing a large portion of the mud agitated, went down to discover the cause, when, to their astonishment, they saw what at first they took to be a snake, but which proved to be an enormous eel, of the thickness of a man's thigh, and about 15 ft long.

The boys instantly attempted to secure the extraordinary prize; but, for some time, they were unsuccessful, as the monarch of the eel tribe felt no inclination to be retrieved to terra firma, as, upon being grappled with, he beat the mud about with his tail, and in a short time covered his assailants with the deposit of the river. The boys, however, were not to be beaten; and, after a long and arduous struggle, they succeeded in drawing their captive ashore, when some men, who had stood by, attempted to take the monster away from his legal captors.

This they resisted, and some gentlemen who were drawn to the spot interfered, and the boys retained possession of their prize, which they subsequently sold for 32s. to an individual who, it was said, intended to exhibit it. As a proof of the immense size of the monster, it was weighed, and found to exceed 63lb.

    From the Guardian archive > Monster of the Thames, November 4, 1840,
    The Guardian > The Guardian Review, 6.8.2005.

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