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fe944b7
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A tree's most important means of staying connected to other trees is a "wood wide web" of soil fungi that connects vegetation in an intimate network that allows the sharing of an enormous amount of information and goods." --
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fungi
fungus
soil
trees
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Tim Flannery |
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eb2ace4
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One of the biggest obstacles to making a start on climate change is that it has become a cliche before it has even been understood
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science
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Tim Flannery |
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62f2092
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As long as scepticism is based on a sound understanding of science it is invaluable, for that is how science progresses. But poor criticism can lead those who are unfamiliar with the science involved into doubting everything about climate change predictions.
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science
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Tim Flannery |
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af59775
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But in 1972 Dutch palaeontologists Bert Boekschoten and Paul Sondaar announced that the bones came from an unusual, tiny hippo, which they named Phanourios minor--'small manifested saint'; the cave had been visited for centuries by villagers seeking the fossilised bones of their 'saint', who they believed could cure various maladies.1
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Tim Flannery |
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975bc68
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Malta has a rich and varied faunal history, including dwarf elephants and hippos, and a giant, flightless swan that stood taller than the island's pachyderms.
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Tim Flannery |
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9b6d118
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We are often appalled at the tragic prevalence of wildlife poaching in Africa, where only a resolute if underfunded band of park guards works to prevent the total elimination of rhino and elephant.* But 70 years ago things were even more desperate in Europe, for Europe had lost its megafauna, and even its wisent had been driven into extinction in the wild. Its largest surviving wild creatures were antelope-sized, and even some of them were ..
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Tim Flannery |
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0120a65
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There are parallels, I think, between the impact of Europeans on brown bears, and the effects of domestication, particularly on dogs. Both sets of selective pressure have altered the behaviour and diet of the beasts in question. Admittedly, Europe's bears still live in the wild, but an argument can be made that the Europeans have domesticated wild Europe itself. It would be well worthwhile assaying the behaviours, diets and reproductive pat..
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Tim Flannery |
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43c24a7
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While we sit in our air-conditioned homes and eat, drink and make merry like cattle in a feedlot without the slightest thought about the consequences of our consumption of water, food and energy, we only hasten the destruction -in the long term- of our kind.
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Tim Flannery |
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89dbc3c
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The Moors, who settled many parts of southern Europe in the eighth century, proved to be enthusiastic naturalisers. They are strongly suspected of, or were clearly responsible for, the introduction of at least four important mammal species into Europe: the Barbary macaque, porcupine, genet and mongoose.
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Tim Flannery |
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283bd6e
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Heck's attempted rewilding serves to reinforce a very important fact: Europeans are now the mind over their land. What they desire, the land will become. And if their desires are toxic and dangerous, then that will manifest itself in nature. Europeans cannot escape responsibility for shaping their environment; as even withdrawal from management will have profound consequences.
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Tim Flannery |
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194309e
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beg them to compare the Oostvaardersplassen not with their dreamtime Europe of the classical age, but with a long-vanished continent where large mammals, rather than agricultural practices, shaped landscapes.
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Tim Flannery |
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49fda59
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But more than anything else, the species owes its spread to a strange phenomenon discovered in 1930 by the biologist Lancelot Hogben. Heavens knows what led him to do it, but Hogben found that if you injected an African clawed frog with the urine of a pregnant woman, within hours it would lay eggs. Before chemical pregnancy test kits became available in the 1960s, African clawed frogs were kept in labs and hospitals worldwide for confirming..
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Tim Flannery |
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4631770
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There are now more wolves in Europe than in the United States, including Alaska!
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Tim Flannery |
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74b17d6
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Goodstein demonstrated that in every case, when compared with the actual costs paid, the estimates were grossly inflated.6 His examples range from asbestos to vinyl, and in all instances but one the estimated cost flowing from regulatory change was at least double the actual cost paid, while in some cases estimates were even more exaggerated.
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Tim Flannery |
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d7a6535
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Defining Europe is a slippery undertaking. Its diversity, evolutionary history and shifting borders make the place almost protean. Yet, paradoxically, Europe is immediately recognisable. With its distinctive human landscapes, once-great forests, Mediterranean coasts and Alpine vistas--we all know Europe when we see it. And the Europeans themselves, with their castles, towns and unmistakable music, are every bit as instantly recognisable. Mo..
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Tim Flannery |
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c65bec9
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When, in 1970, palaeontologist Lambert Beverley Halstead pointed out that Scrotum is a scientifically valid name and the first ever proposed for a dinosaur, a shudder went through the normally stolid taxonomic community. Things may not have been helped by the fact that Halstead seems to have been obsessed with dinosaur sex. His most memorable work is an illustrated compendium of dinosaurian copulatory positions--a sort of reptilian Kama Sut..
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Tim Flannery |
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ae81d3f
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In our Gaian world, everything is connected to and influences everything else.
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Tim Flannery |