Flamingo Friday: Foreground

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Seven Science-y Topics for the Thanksgiving Table

Running out of conversation starters for the holiday? These subjects will keep the whole group engaged:

1. The U.S. National Dog Show

[this breed ("schnerrier") not recognized by the American Kennel club]

A great all-around topic for dog lovers (favorite breeds; favorite fur-styles; “I love it when the Afghan hounds/Komondors run!”) and a good springboard for discussions on artificial selection.


2. Turkeys

Of course. More opportunities to discuss artificial selection, tryptophan

, wild turkeys taking over (sub)urban areas, and why we’re eating such a basically boring food (there is no good reason).


3. The science of food

I’m more of a zoology/ecology-focused conversationalist myself, but there’s a lot of ground to cover here, from the pH of cranberries and how heavy cream whips to new research into how we process taste (though I’m a bit skeptical of the interpretations of some of the studies).


4. Local bird sightings

This gives the birders a chance to talk about migratory ducks and the first juncos of the year and gives the non-birders an opportunity to drink more.


5. Why everything related to biology-and/of-queerness is problematic and fraught

If you have an LGBT gathering, you can spend a good 45 minutes—at least—rehashing the topic of homosexuality and heterosexuality as social constructs and why dolphin sex lives (as fun as they are to discuss) can never be the final word on human identity politics.


6. Thankfulness

Probably I should be grateful more often and regularly, but one a year is a start, right? Among the many wonderful things on your list, consider adding primary producers, corrective lenses, wildlife refuges, and pollinators.


7. The myriad sexual systems of marine invertebrates

Because it’s always the right time to talk about barnacle endowment, sex-changing snails, and parasitic males.

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(Sub)Urban Incursions: Revenge of the Turkeys

Once, back in grad school, I led my departmental ecology/evolution reading group in a discussion of the sometimes funny, sometimes uneasy interactions of humans and wildlife in “human” areas.

We talked about several problems, but the one I remember best was the influx of wild turkeys into metro-Boston neighborhoods like Brookline, MA.

Around that time, the Boston Globe had done a story on the matter that included quotes from residents who had called the police over turkey sightings or incidents. These were some of the best—or, at least, most entertaining—quotes I have ever read in the newspaper on any subject. For example:

“Caller reports ‘giant’ turkey (½ the size of an elephant). Fears it will wander into traffic in front of Starbucks.”

“Caller reports 18 turkeys in her backyard. ‘Something must be done,’ caller says. ‘It’s just not right.’”

It’s been years since that discussion, but every fall I think of the turkeys invading Brookline, and this year I decided to do a quick online search to see if they were still a problem.

Sure enough, I found news stories like these from last year and this one:

Wild Turkeys Overrun Brookline, Mass. (ABC news)

Turkeys strike back, attacking the people who eat them (MSN)

Wild turkey invades home in Brookline (Boston Globe)

—And, this just in: Wild Staten Island Turkeys Everywhere (Audubon magazine)

The problems of living in harmony with the animals that we have either previously displaced or unwittingly attracted to an area (because of the food or habitat our own behaviors provide) are many. Different situations will require different behaviors, from acceptance and avoidance to actions ranging from better trash and land management all the way to culling.

At their most basic, though, all of the solutions will require us to recognize that we are not the only species out there, even in areas that we think of as ours. We will have to move beyond our feelings of entitlement and think about what we can do to live around other animals without either animosity or the excessive, hubristic fascination that leads us to pet bears or feed bananas to Coney Island seals.

Until that happy, enlightened time arrives, however, we can at least entertain ourselves with reports like these:

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Woolly Thinking: some ovine religious study

I love church signs. They’re full of entertaining parables, made-up proverbs, and easily misconstrued phrases.

One of my favorites, on a church sign in the Detroit area during the winter holidays, expressed this wish:

“May the Earth fall to its knees

In a whisper of peace”

Just imagining the logistics of that one has brightened my spirits when suffering through dark moments like long grocery-store lines.

I mention this on a blog about wildlife, however, because early this fall I came across the following sign announcing an upcoming sermon:

Now, this obviously highlights the integral nature of sheep to religion, but—just how do we read that?

On the one hand, there’s the rather snarky, “I have other sheep also, Gerald.”

On the other, there’s the more solely descriptive, “I have other sheep, also Gerald.”

The latter being more appropriate for a biblical verse like, “Rejoice with me; for I have found my [Gerald] which was lost.”

That’s the great thing about religion, isn’t it? It’s all about interpretation.

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Flamingo Friday: Triangles

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Fall Dog series (4)

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Not-so-wild Wildlife: Found Right Here...

Seen along a path in an upper portion of Rock Creek Park. Probably not as surprising as the guinea pig itself, but highly entertaining.

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Flamingo Friday: Sweet Sleep

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Fall Dog series (3)

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Flamingo Friday: Portrait of the Flamingo as a Young Bird

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Fall Dog series (2)

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Flamingo Friday: 86

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