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Whooper Swans at Lake Kussharo, Hokkaido

10,000 Birds

They are ridiculously unafraid of people there – so the cynic in me suspects that swan meat is not regarded as tasty by the Japanese (another explanation, that the Japanese just like animals too much, can presumably be discarded given the country’s very principled approach in insisting on the right to kill whales).

China 213
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Castellare di Castellina: Chianti Classico (2019)

10,000 Birds

In fact, the family name Lanius derives from a Latin word for “butcher”, though the “butcherbird” was a butcher long before humans even developed the language to describe these activities. Who knows – perhaps early humans got the idea of cutting and hanging meat by watching these shrikes at work in their arboreal abbatoirs?

2019 220
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15 Australian Birds (Episode 1)

10,000 Birds

One of my most vivid memories of watching The Sopranos – still the best TV series ever, in my opinion – is Tony outside barbecuing, occasionally turning the different pieces of meat. Contrary to alleged preferences among humans, the golden-headed cisticola has a shorter tail during the breeding season ( source ).

Australia 187
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A few Barbets

10,000 Birds

I saw it in a park in Delhi, and indeed the HBW remarks that it “has adapted well to human habitation, and is common and widespread in the parks and gardens of cities such as Delhi” (I once had a visitor from India here in Shanghai, and he asked me if/why there are no birds in Shanghai. Probably jazz. Pernice Brothers).

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Nyala, Southern Africa’s Stunning Antelope

10,000 Birds

In some ways the the flowering of the antelopes as an evolutionary group mirrors our own story, as they benefited and spread widely as the world’s forests gave way to savannah and plains, just like humans. The crest on the back becomes erect during breeding displays.

Africa 166
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Leaping Foxes

10,000 Birds

In German, if you are a rodent and you are smaller than – say – a human hand, you’re a mouse. And finally, there will be Marsh Harriers everywhere breeding in grain fields instead of reeds. But of course the mammalian meat eaters will be happy too and reproducing like there’s no tomorrow.

Fox 164
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A Look at Humane Farming

Animal Ethics

The film Partitions (running time: 14 min) by Audrey Kali gives an intimate glimpse of the ethical struggles that five small-scale meat farmers face when their animals are slaughtered. This is as humane as "humane farming" gets. This film provides an accurate portrayal of small-scale, non-intensive animal farming.

Farming 40