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Vultures, Human Evolution, Global Warming, and Windmills

10,000 Birds

The topic was the concept of humans as predators, or hunters, or really, eaters of meat, and I was discussing the many ways in which people misconceived this notion. Even though this referred to a period after the supposed “scavenging” phase, it lent support to the idea of a stepwise evolution of the ability to hunt.

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Book Review: Spillover – Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic

10,000 Birds

If you’re feeling fearful or ignorant, well, I can recommend vox.com’s coverage (as in most things), but you could also do worse that picking up Spillover – Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen. This lake is close to the cave. My photo of the cave was bad, sorry.

Humane 161
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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. The Common Buzzards , for example, who usually hunt by circling high above the landscape, will hover in kestrel fashion much more frequently. The kestrels , on the other hand, will more frequently hunt from low perches.

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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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Getting the Bill – Taste, Touch and Smell in Birds

10,000 Birds

Whilst catfish have around 100,000 taste buds, rabbits around 17,000 and humans approximately 9,000, birds rarely exceed 100 of these receptors. But certain bird species go against the grain here and some even appear to have a better sense of smell than many mammals, humans included. Let’s talk about taste.

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The Struggle to Save the Birds of Honduras

10,000 Birds

Everyone talks about human rights and there exists so many groups that are either governmental or non-governmental who work toward that cause. The quail, guans, ducks and pheasant are hunted for their meat. He is also the Vice-President of the Honduran Ornithological Association.

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From Today's New York Times

Animal Ethics

To the Editor: In “ Hunting Deer With My Flintlock ” (Op-Ed, Dec. He says he hunts out of a need to take responsibility for his family, who evidently live where the supermarkets offer no meat. He says meat tastes more precious when you’ve watched it die. May I recommend a trip to a slaughterhouse? Nothing noble there.