10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2012

Sorry for banging on about black-footed ferrets, but here’s a bit on why this trip was so special to me: Forty years ago the black-footed ferret was a bit more like the Loch Ness Monster than it is today. The species was extinct, a vanished part of the vanishing prairie — and not for the first time.

Ferrets 192

Ferrets South Dakota Wyoming Captive Animal 192

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

There are the endemics, which are odd in their own way, and then there introduced species, which are so varied in their type and origin that you get the feeling you’ve arrived at the aftermath of a small zoo that escaped. What is surprising is quite how many species did end up here, and how economically unimportant they were.

New Zealand 162

New Zealand Possums Rabbits Ferrets 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2012

Wildlife conservation is concerned with protecting wildlife at the level of species or perhaps population. With the exception of species that number in the hundreds, conservation biologists are not as concerned with the fates of individual animals, it is only when such fates of many individuals are added up do they begin to worry.

Animal Rights 267

Animal Rights Rights New Zealand Animal 267

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2012

I had noted that if you took a quick look around you’d think there were a lot of birds and very few mammals. Of course, a lot of the mammals would be hiding. 1) The total percentage of a species that is killed by some force may have a very large evolutionary or adaptive effect even if the percentage is very small, like in the 0.5

Cats 189

Cats Boston Ferrets Killing 189