The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living beings breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again.
— From William Beebe’s The Bird (1906)
Image: Walton Ford’s Falling Bough, which depicts the now-extinct passenger pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius, (click the image to enlarge it)
Both images are via Jeffrey K. Edwards on Flickr and can be found here and here.
The Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, is being challenged on its view that wild horses aren’t native to the United States. The argument rests on biology and not history. It is being argued that the wild horses, currently roaming the West, are genetically the same horses that roamed the West thousands of years before. Therefore, proponents of this view argue that wild horses should be managed as native wildlife and not as “‘feral weeds’ [or] barnyard escapees.” According to one advocate of this view, “‘The Spanish [merely brought] them home.’” More via the San Francisco Chronicle:
The group In Defense of Animals and others are pressing a case in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that maintains wild horses roamed the West about 1.5 million years ago and didn’t disappear until as recently as 7,600 years ago. More importantly, they say, a growing stockpile of DNA evidence shows conclusively that today’s horses are genetically linked to those ancient ancestors.
The new way of thinking could carry significant ramifications across hundreds millions of acres in the West where the U.S. Bureau of Land Management divides up livestock grazing allotments based partly on the belief the horses are no more native to those lands than are the cattle brought to North America centuries ago.
Rachel Fazio, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told a three-judge appellate panel in San Francisco earlier this year that the horses are “an integral part of the environment.”
“As much as the BLM would like to see them as not, they are actually a native species. They are tied to this land,” she said. “There would not be a horse but for North America. Every single evolutionary iteration of the horse is found here and only here.”
Judge Mary Schroeder, former chief of the circuit, asked: “Just like polar bears?”
“Yes,” Fazio answered, “they belong there.”
. . .
“This isn’t about history, it’s about biology,’ Kirkpatrick said. “The Spanish were bringing them home.”
. . .
Kirkpatrick said Europe’s domestication of the horse over about 6,000 years may have changed the nuclear makeup of some genes but “it remains the same species and retains the same social organization and social behaviors that evolved over 1.4 million years.”
Continue reading this article at the San Francisco Chronicle. More on research that suggests wild horses should be managed as native wildlife via Jay F. Kirkpatrick, Ph.D. and Patricia M. Fazio, Ph.D. (emphasis added):
A study conducted at the Ancient Biomolecules Centre of Oxford University (Weinstock et al. 2005) also corroborates the conclusions of Forstén (1992). Despite a great deal of variability in the size of the Pleistocene equids from differing locations (mostly ecomorphotypes), the DNA evidence strongly suggests that all of the large and small caballine samples belonged to the same species. The author states, “The presence of a morphologically variable caballine species widely distributed both north and south of the North American ice sheets raises the tantalizing possibility that, in spite of many taxa named on morphological grounds, most or even all North American caballines were members of the same species.”
In another study, Kruger et al. (2005), using microsatellite data, confirms the work of Forstén (1992) but gives a wider range for the emergence of the caballoid horse, of 0.86 to 2.3 million years ago. At the latest, however, that still places the caballoid horse in North America 860,000 years ago. 5 The work of Hofreiter et al. (2001), examining the genetics of the so-called E. lambei from the permafrost of Alaska, found that the variation was within that of modern horses, which translates into E. lambei actually being E. caballus, genetically. The molecular biology evidence is incontrovertible and indisputable, but it is also supported by the interpretation of the fossil record, as well.
Finally, very recent work (Orlando et al. 2009) that examined the evolutionary history of a variety of non‐caballine equids across four continents, found evidence for taxonomic “oversplitting” from species to generic levels. This overspitting was based primarily on late‐Pleistocene fossil remains without the benefit of molecular data. A co‐author of this study, Dr. Alan Cooper, of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, stated, “Overall, the new genetic results suggest that we have underestimated how much a single species can vary over time and space, and mistakenly assumed more diversity among extinct species of megafauna.”
The fact that horses were domesticated before they were reintroduced matters little from a biological viewpoint. They are the same species that originated here, and whether or not they were domesticated is quite irrelevant. Domestication altered little biology, and we can see that in the phenomenon called “going wild,” where wild horses revert to ancient behavioral patterns. Feist and McCullough (1976) dubbed this “social conservation” in his paper on behavior patterns and communication in the Pryor Mountain wild horses. The reemergence of primitive behaviors, resembling those of the plains zebra, indicated to him the shallowness of domestication in horses.
The issue of feralization and the use of the word “feral” is a human construct that has little biological meaning except in transitory behavior, usually forced on the animal in some manner. Consider this parallel. E. Przewalskii (Mongolian wild horse) disappeared from Mongolia a hundred years ago. It has survived since then in zoos. That is not domestication in the classic sense, but it is captivity, with keepers providing food and veterinarians providing health care. Then they were released during the 1990s and now repopulate their native range in Mongolia. Are they a reintroduced native species or not? And what is the difference between them and E. caballus in North America, except for the time frame and degree of captivity?
The key element in describing an animal as a native species is (1) where it originated; and (2) whether or not it co‐evolved with its habitat. Clearly, E. caballus did both, here in North American. There might be arguments about “breeds,” but there are no scientific grounds for arguments about “species.”
The non‐native, feral, and exotic designations given by agencies are not merely reflections of their failure to understand modern science but also a reflection of their desire to preserve old ways of thinking to keep alive the conflict between a species (wild horses), with no economic value anymore (by law), and the economic value of commercial livestock.
Native status for wild horses would place these animals, under law, within a new category for management considerations. As a form of wildlife, embedded with wildness, ancient behavioral patterns, and the morphology and biology of a sensitive prey species, they may finally be released from the “livestock‐gone‐loose” appellation.
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The author or licensor of these images does not endorse my work or me, and their image is protected under an attribution license.
Shortly after the catastrophe, the so-called “Faceless 50″ stayed behind in an attempt to mitigate the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Image via wallyg on Flickr.
Some of Japan’s elderly have volunteered their well-being in exchange for the well-being of their nation’s future. Via TIME:
[A] newly formed group called the Skilled Veterans Corps shows just how vital pensioners are to rebuilding a nation still reeling from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Composed of nearly 250 retired engineers and other professionals as of June 1, the group is volunteering to tread where few dare to go: the forbidden zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which is still leaking radiation after the earthquake and tsunami devastated the facility. Skilled Veterans Corps was founded by Yasuteru Yamada, a 72-year-old retired engineer who believes that it is the older segment of society that should expose itself to potentially deadly radiation, thereby protecting younger Japanese from long-term health risks. “Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop,” Yamada told the BBC. “I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live.”
The stoicism and selflessness with which Japanese have dealt with this year’s natural disasters have been remarkable to behold. But nowhere is the collective, sacrificial spirit greater than among Japan’s elderly. They, more than younger Japanese, remember what it was like when Japan was not yet a rich, comfortable nation. Many, like Yamada, are determined to contribute whatever they can to return their country to normal. “Our generation who has, consciously or unconsciously, approved the construction of the Fukushima nuclear power plants and enjoyed the benefits of the vast supply of electricity generated… should be the first to join the Skilled Veteran Corps to install or repair the [Fukushima plant's damaged] cooling system,” says a mission statement on the group’s new website. “This is the duty of our generation to the next generation and the one thereafter.”
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The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me, and their image is protected under an attribution license.
Images via cotinis and myriorama on Flickr (their images can be found here, here, and here (depicting an emerging cicada that will later darken)). The map, depecting Brood XIX’s range, is via the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
The thirteen-year cicadas have emerged, and some areas of the South are being inundated with the droning roar that’s being produced by tens of thousands of male thirteen-year cicadas, which are in pursuit of a mate. The sound might be annoying to some ears, but I believe it’s a fascinating sound that’s produced by an unusual event that only occurs five or six times during the average American’s lifespan.
When I first heard the constant droning noise emanating from the forests surrounding my sister’s home, it sounded as if it was from some large drilling operation, but I later learned that the noise was originating from thirteen-year cicadas, which hadn’t appeared since 1998. They’ll return again in 2024. By that time, I’ll be celebrating my 48th birthday. Sheesh!
Anyhow, there are also seventeen-year cicadas, but they’re “found largely in the Northeast and Midwest.” There are also cicadas that emerge yearly, and they’re appropriately called annual cicadas. The periodical cicadas can be distinguished from the annual cicadas by their “bright red eyes.’” This brood of thirteen-year cicadas is known as the “Great Southern Brood” or “Brood XIX.” Wikipedia has more information on brood numbering:
Periodical cicadas are grouped into 30 broods, based on the year they emerge. Broods are numbered using Roman numerals; broods I–XVII are the seventeen-year cicadas, while Broods XVIII–XXX are the thirteen-year cicadas. Some broods are known not to exist, but they are retained in the numbering scheme for convenience. This scheme was put forth by C.L. Marlatt in his classic study of 1907. Since then the actual number of broods has been recognized as 15 rather than 30.[5]
More via Reuters:
The cicadas are not dormant during their long life underground. “They are actively growing,” Hinkle said. “The little nymphs are down in the ground, they’ve got their mouth parts attached to tree roots and they’re sucking the juice out of tree roots.”
Mysteriously, when year 13 arrives, the nymphs burrow through the soil to the surface to become adults. They shed a layer of skin, leaving a shell behind. Then they inflate and dry their wings, allowing them to fly.
The roar begins as males attract females by furiously vibrating membranes in their abdomens, producing a loud drone.
“It is one of nature’s great oddities,” said Seabrook.
There are several theories behind the cicadas’ strange and lengthy life cycle.
One is that it is nature’s “shock and awe” approach to produce an overwhelming number of cicadas at one time so that predators can’t possibly eat them all.
Many animals love to munch on cicadas, including turkeys, raccoons, skunks and coyotes.
. . .
But the fun, the feast and the noise will soon be over. After mating, females lay eggs on tree branches and, within a week or two, most of the adults die or get eaten. Little cicadas hatch, fall to the ground and burrow into the soil.
“We won’t see them again until 2024,” said Hinkle.
Continue reading this article at Reuters.
The thirteen-year cicada, yet another reason to conserve nature.
Video: Cicadas: the familiar sound of summer
Video: After 13-Year Wait, Major ‘Mating Party’ To Begin
Video: 2011 TENNESSEE CICADAS: The Emergence of Brood XIX
Video: Amazing Cicada life cycle – Sir David Attenborough’s Life in the Undergrowth – BBC wildlife
Video: 6-Story Wall of Cicadas
On the Net:
