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Stealing the Preacher

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Karen Witemeyer

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“Here were humans bound across centuries by the faith-based belief that these birds were worth preserving . That they might help future generations, trusting that the march of scientific progress would forever present new ways of looking at the same ancient skins. In the other current ran Edwin and the feather underground, and the centuries of men and women who looted the skies and the forests for wealth and status, driven by greed and the desire to possess what others didn't.”

EnvironmentNatural History Of Science
Author:Kirk Wallace Johnson
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“She (Alexandra Horowitz, scientific expert on dog olfaction) notes ...that many dog owners deny their animals the joys of sniffling. To a dog, a simple walk is an odyssey of olfactory exploration. But if the owner doesn't undertand that and instead sees a walk as simply a means of exercise or a route to a destination, then very sniffy act becomes an annoyance...For Horowitz, the implications are clear: Let dogs be dogs. Appreciate their their Umwelt (world) is different, and lean into that difference. She does this by taking Finn (her dog) on dedicated smell walks...If he stops, she stops. His nose sets the pace. The walks are slower.”

Natural History Of Science
Book:An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
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“In 19951995, (scientist) Theunis Piersma showed that Red Knots find shellfish up to eight times more frequently than would be expected if they were doing random searches...As a knot's bill descends into the sand, it pushes on the thin rivulets of water between the rains, creating a pressure wave that radiates outward. If there's a hard object in the way - say, a clam or a rock - the water must flow around it, which distorts the pattern of pressure. The pits on the knot's bill tip can sense those distortions, detectings surrounding objects without having to make contact with them. This ability, which Piersma calls "remote touch" is impressive enough, but the knot improves it even further by probing the same areas repeatedly, stabbing its beak up and down several times a second. This stirs up the sand grains, which settle into a denser configuration, heightening the buildup of pressure from the beak and making the distortions more obvious. Every time the knot lowers its head, the foud around it becomes more obvious, as if it were using a kind of sonar based on touch instead of hearing.”

Natural History Of Science
Book:An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
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