The NYC Parks Department recently found a natural way to
de-weed their green spaces – by bringing in a herd of goats to eat them!
Apparently the plan worked a little too well, and now the goats are getting
territorial about the bushes. I have to wonder if there was this much
undergrowth in the days when deer roamed Manhattan? Back in the 1700’s, New
York City’s entire topography was different, and I don’t just mean in terms of
the landscape. There were giant oysters in the harbor, and there were seals,
both of which generated interesting cuisine in the taverns. These animals lived
in harmony in the harbor, along with turtles, and yes, turtles were a popular
dish too. The USA also had a native chestnut tree, but a fungus imported from
Japan wiped all those trees out. When the land’s native flora and fauna die
out, what are we losing besides local ingredients? This is what Wohlleben’s
book tries to figure out.
Peter Wohlleben, a
conservationist from Germany, begins with Yellowstone Park’s program to rebuild
the wolf population. The result has been a reduction in the elk herds and an
increase in beavers, bears, and native trees. Even the flooding has been
reduced. He also shows how domesticated dogs are a far greater danger to humans
than the wolves, which are essentially harmless. Far fewer people have been
attacked by wolves than by feral dogs, and when the wolves and bears do attack
humans, it’s because the humans have been stupid enough to feed them. Then we
have the giant salmon that fertilize the plants along the riverbank, and feed
the bears and birds. When non-native trout were introduced, they crowded out
the native salmon, and that starved out everything else.
Hate seeing a dead
deer by the roadside? To the wolves and vultures, a dead deer is a ten-course
dinner. Bears and wolves are attracted by the smell, and they come to gorge,
and then the vultures and ravens smell the stink of the rotting meat, and they
come in to pick at the leftovers. Ravens show up too, but due to size
differences they have to wait until the end of the line. Due to their
sensitivity, the ravens alert the wolves if bears are close, so they can gobble
as much meat as they can before the slower bears come lumbering in. When all
the other carnivores are done, mice come in to pick the hard-to-reach parts,
then the insects eat the rest, and the birds and bats eat the insects. When all
the beasts have finished, the decaying bones fertilize the soil.
Excessive light
from cities, waste from livestock, human waste, and climate change are all
covered in this book. The science of how fish, carnivores, and elk function
together has been portrayed in an earlier book by Gary Larson, titled There’s
a Hair in My Dirt. A young worm, fed up with his life, learns how much he
really means to the environment, along with all the other dirty animals. He
learns how dead trees help the forest grow, and how forests need fires every
now and then, and how chirping birds are actually cursing at each other, and
how snakes prevent diseases by eating rats. Even better, the worm learns how
the biggest problem is the two-legged mammals who get in nature’s way.
Here in New York
City, the Peregrine Falcon has made a comeback in the last 20 years, and I’ve
had the pleasure of seeing them swoop down to snatch rats. In New Jersey, I had
the pleasure of seeing a vulture eating a deer carcass, the stink of which I
could smell from a hundred feet away. Every time I got close enough to take a
photo, the vulture would fly away and sit on the fence, as if to say “that’s
alright, I’ll wait for you to leave, and then I’ll eat my lunch in peace.” I
tried several times more to photograph the vulture, but he kept flying to the
fence to wait for me to leave. To this day I admire his patience.
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