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Deconstructing Slate's "Pepper" Series

Animal Person

For those who didn't read the five-part Slate series " Pepper, the stolen dog who changed American science " by Daniel Engber , I recommend it for the history, but also for the misconceptions and assumptions that you might want to discuss on the Facebook discussion about the series. Let's deconstruct: Part I: Where's Pepper?

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KwaZulu-Natal

10,000 Birds

At first the Zulu King Dingaan gained the upper hand by slaughtering a large contingent of Boers (including their leaders Piet Retief and Gert Maritz) but the infamous Battle of Blood River in 1838 lead to a division of the territory between what was later known as Natal to the south and Zululand to the north. Image by Hugh Chittenden.

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Birding Tianmashan, Shanghai in January 2023

10,000 Birds

Both bushtit species occasionally are supported by helpers when breeding ( source ). As I frequently mention, science is quite wonderful. Different from the Black-throated Bushtit males, the Silver-throated males seem to be jerks as they do not participate in incubation. What do the males do while their partners are incubating?

Birds 147
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Birding Tengchong, Yunnan, China in 2017

10,000 Birds

Unfortunately, the Ashy Drongos did not exactly do what he predicted that they would do – mob potential predators more frequently during the breeding season and mob the more dangerous predator (in this case, the Black Eagle) more intensely. If you do not like that explanation, the HBW has another one: “khloros green (cf.

China 181
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The Passenger Pigeon & A Message From Martha: One Pigeon, Two Book Reviews

10,000 Birds

This bit of science is a nice final counterpoint to an account that has emphasized art, history, and literature. He effectively brings his point across by presenting facts and images and a little bit of hard science. Or the destruction of the forests, food source and breeding grounds. We’ve all read Jurassic Park.

2014 160
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The Nonessential Whooping Crane

10,000 Birds

Another 170 are in captivity, many of them breeding stock for reintroduction efforts. My friend Vickie Henderson , who has some serious long-range vision, looked at the science behind Tennessee’s crane hunting proposal and found it badly wanting. There are 400 whooping cranes left in the wild, 100 of them in the eastern population.

2011 242