Michael Pollan thinks the recent attacks on "foodies" and gluttony may be in part the product of an unholy alliance of Big Ag and stealth vegans-- really! For the record, for the past couple of years I have begun to suspect that The Atlantic has a stealth AR agenda-- something that would be less harmful if it were overt. The "new" management did tell me in blunt terms I could no longer write for them as soon as they came on, which I thought a bit odd as my last piece had won an award and been short- listed for another...
Dog "wrestling" (I would not call this virtually bloodless sport, used to test the bravery of flock protection dogs like Cat's throughout Central Asia, dogfighting) in Afghanistan. Actually Time-- surprisingly?-- pretty well gets it.
Patrick says Teddy Roosevelt was more hardcore than 50 Cent.
A visually stunning video of peregrines over London, if one that doubtless relies a lot on computers; HT Tim Gallagher and Walter Hingley.
Belyaev foxes for sale! I WANT one. Sy Montgomery, who sent the link, does too, but is afraid it might eat her "girls" (chickens). I fear my girls might eat the fox.
Last, a link to an Amazon reviewer, whose enormous body of work on everything from hot snakes to the glass flowers at Harvard I have barely tapped, but who is going to cost me money-- a New Mexico biologist who has interesting things to say about almost everything.
3 comments:
Yeah, I would LOVE a coupla these foxes, too, but at $6000.00-plus per critter, peasants such as myself can just forget it! Or wait. EVENTUALLY they WILL make their way to the U. S.of A., and be a big fad pet for awhile--everybody will try to make lots of money and go bust on them, scads will end up in rescue(or just released), and, if I am still alive, I can get one for free! Just like the Pot-Belly Pigs, Emu/Ostriches, Leopard Cat hybrids, Savannah Cats, Miniature Horse, Pygmy Goats, and on and on--all of which were exorbitantly expensive when they first appeared in the pet trade, but now can be had for next-to-nothing or free. All of my wolf-hybrids came from their fad phase of the late 70's early 80's, alas.(Although I personally benefited from rescuing 5 of the animals over those years, as did those individual wolf dogs....). So on the foxes-- I'll just wait.Somebody someday will be BEGGING me to take their foxes for free--I might get some free cages and other accoutrements in the deal, as well, as I always seem to with my rescued ferrets over the years.....L.B.
Lane-- in a word: yes.
Also, people in the former Soviet Union often have unrealistic expectations about how much the average westerner can pay.
Thank you for the link on the Belyaev foxes. I have been following the study for a long time and always believed that sooner or later they would enter the pet trade. It is at least a much better fate for those animals than the fate of most laboratory animals. It is also interesting to note that only the tame foxes will be getting a "second chance" and their relatives in a parallel study being bred for aggression will most likely be euthanized when no longer needed.
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