Sometimes when I listen to these podcasts after I’ve recorded and edited them, it strikes me that I may have meandered a little bit more off the path than I usually do. This time, I could say that I detected an annoying clunk in the recording, the origin of which I couldn’t determine any more than I could completely eliminate it. But the truth is that in my heart I know the events described in this podcast are related. But for some reason, my head apparently didn’t get the message. I will say that one possible explanation that I
Read more →I have a love-hate relationship with New Year’s. Because I’m a morning person who doesn’t enjoy late night events during which people get louder and more inebriated and suffer from Football Fatigue Syndrome (FFS) after being inundated by it during 9 years in Ohio, few of the traditional holiday activities appeal to me. On the other hand, the fact that this is the case caused me to create a New Years tradition of my own a.k.a. a quiet day with the animals and a specifically chosen book accompanied by some personal favorite food and drink. Depending on the weather,
Read more →Right after I recorded this, I heard a linguist talking about how often we forget the source of the words we use every day. One of the examples given was creature which comes from the same root as create and creator. Not only do we rank as creatures among other creatures relative to the animals in the world around us, we also function as creators deliberately or inadvertently changing each other as we each strive to achieve balance. An awareness of the power of those interspecies connections is yet another miracle worth contemplating and celebrating this holiday season.
Read more →For those who never heard of parahawking (which I’ve since discovered has been demoted to a sport), here’s a trailer for a film on the subject. Frankly I much prefer the encounters that occur spontaneously. To me, there’s something extremely special about a close encounter with any wild animals in their natural environments. There’s also something about the encounters with powerful raptors that seem to have particularly potent effects. Once early in my veterinary career, a young man brought in an osprey who had been so seriously injured there was no way we could save him. But even though
Read more →My guess is that once you listen to this podcast, you’ll be able to think of other trends that occur in physical health that have parallels in behavioral health and vice versa. Whether we seek to fulfill our animals’ physical or behavioral needs, we always need to beware of the Iago Effect. Never heard of this? That’s understandable because I just made it up. 🙂 Iago was a character immortalized by Shakespeare in Othello. He was a man who wanted to be remembered, not for loving unwisely but for loving too well. Poetic as that may be, it didn’t
Read more →For those who have never read any of Edward O. Wilson’s groundbreaking books about nature and the environment, you can find them here. Although I mentioned Consilience in this podcast, Biophilia is another great one, but there are many others. Wilson is one of those people about whom I can truly and humbly say that he has undoubtedly forgotten more about this planet and the life-forms who inhabit it than I can ever hope to know. But rather than that making me want to give up, his writing always inspires me to try harder.
Read more →Just a few meandering thoughts about my favorite holiday.This year I again get to lounge about while my treasured daughter-in-law does more than the lioness’s share of the work. All I have to do is enjoy myself and return home with lots of left-overs. Miraculous in it’s own way. At most, I arrive with one dish and return home with a feast. Something else to be thankful for on this special holiday.
Read more →The other part of this subject that I’ll leave you to think about is whether animals do the same thing. It’s seem they must. But how would it manifest, and how would we know it existed? Definitely something to ponder about while I’m cleaning house, working outdoors, or waiting in line somewhere…
Read more →The links mentioned in this podcast can be found here. The new book has working title and no cover, but here’s a picture of a group of animals, Bamboo and Ollie to be exact, engaging in some group behavior with each other and their own and each other’s images in a mirror.
Read more →Click here to hear the interview with biologist and conservationist Alan Rabinowitz that I was listening to during my early Sunday morning grocery shopping foray. For those burdened with a glacial speed dial-up connection like I am, it’s also available in transcript form. If you listen or read the entire interview, you’ll find much food for thought about the power of the human-animal bond that goes way beyond the scope of this podcast.
Read more →