When will we learn...

"four legs good, two legs baaaaaad..."

The cat used it paws and the bird will use its feet. Usually a cat will leg it if it faces something its own size.

you see that........ Pussy beats cock any day

I agree ... I have been pussy whipped in every relationship I have ever had.

boom!

Headshot!

i watched a couple of old boys pulling eels out of the thames yesterday and decided that i was going to find some eels to eat and learn a bit more about them. I couldn't find any eel anywhere and i guess this is why:

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_eel[/ame]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/21/eel-thames-population-crash

had read up about them in my river cottage fish book too. amazing things eels. every single one, jellied or otherwise started life in the sargasso sea... the horse lattitudes.

weird thing is, is that the thames is cleaner than it has been for 40 years (it was declared ecologically dead in the 60s) but no one knows exactly why they're dying out at an alarming rate.

i watched a couple of old boys pulling eels out of the thames yesterday and decided that i was going to find some eels to eat and learn a bit more about them. I couldn't find any eel anywhere and i guess this is why:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_eel

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/21/eel-thames-population-crash

had read up about them in my river cottage fish book too. amazing things eels. every single one, jellied or otherwise started life in the sargasso sea... the horse lattitudes.

weird thing is, is that the thames is cleaner than it has been for 40 years (it was declared ecologically dead in the 60s) but no one knows exactly why they're dying out at an alarming rate.

rewind

i watched a couple of old boys pulling eels out of the thames yesterday and decided that i was going to find some eels to eat and learn a bit more about them.

but no one knows exactly why they're dying out at an alarming rate.

rewind

i watched a couple of old boys pulling eels out of the thames

weird thing is

pause it there

a couple of old boys

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw"]YouTube-
Dramatic Chipmunk[/ame]

Haha.

the pope

Are you sure?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmuOhy-YXdE

It seems the possible culprit has been found and guess what -- it isn't us.

The colony collapses are caused by the combination of Nosema ceranea microsporidian and RNA viruses. I haven't got a link to anything else than a Finnish paper, but as the source of the news was BBC (they were quoting some US researchers), I'd think the news can be found elsewhere, too.

So step off the blame train, please.

Alas I am unable to read Finnish but from internet research (as credible as that may be) suggests that the Finnish paper isn't univerally accepted and that combinative causes are still an issue, including human intervention (pesticides, forced migration, declining biodiversity of plants for their food sources in our hedgerows). Just because something else is involved doen't mean we shouldn't consider our impact on driving something towards a tipping point. If the blame train pulls up at your platform, don't rush off to the ticket desk to see if perhaps you can go somewhere else instead. If there's one thing you can learn from the Matrix, you can only dodge bullets for so long.

they are not the sole pollinator of most plants.

Accepted. Cow's aren't the only source of milk, but if they all started dying then I reckon there would be cause for concern about the future of ice-cream, if you catch my drift.

So, basically, you're saying that you're sad that we lost the dodo, right? ;P

Nope, sad about the effects of losing the dodo.

I was doo-dooing you. :)

Species that are higher up in the order kill species below them.
How about within our own species? How about if someone (A human) kills you or someone you care about because they don't consider you to be of the same calibre as them? Surely that's just nature right?

dont go there mate

Why?

We're discussing nature and the killing of animals by either intentional or unintentional acts of other animals.

Originally it was, as I can't be bothered getting into one of these arguments again.

Then I got thinking, why is it not natural? People use the word natural all the time, when it comes to food that particularly gets me, but that's another topic. If one species starts wiping out another species and they become extinct as a result, is that natural? If the impact of species like lions, sharks etc. on an ecosystem is natural, why is man's impact not natural? We're animals at the end of the day. We're just another species that will live for a tiny period on this planet like all the other species that have lived and died out beforehand.

rep!

actually: You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to mmccarthy again.

How about within our own species? How about if someone (A human) kills you or someone you care about because they don't consider you to be of the same calibre as them? Surely that's just nature right?

No, killing in nature (to me at least) is killing for food or survival. So if another human killed me or someone I cared about because they had to in order to survive that would be just nature. If they wanted to eat them, not so much, as that's cannibalism, which isn't exactly natural for most species including our own.

The good thing is, the scientists managed to create a new cell out of lab crafted DNA strands.
They will be able to produce alien forms for the next installments of Star Wars.

Canabilism is quite common in nature.

I think the difference is that we have choices, yet mostly we make the wrong/easy ones. As a race, we need to think more about our actions.

Makes note to buy fuel in the morning.

*Then I got thinking, why is it not natural? People use the word natural all the time, when it comes to food that particularly gets me, but that's another topic. If one species starts wiping out another species and they become extinct as a result, is that natural? If the impact of species like lions, sharks etc. on an ecosystem is natural, why is man's impact not natural? We're animals at the end of the day. We're just another species that will live for a tiny period on this planet like all the other species that have lived and died out beforehand.

*Well, there is the can of worms called morality and consciousness which makes us different from all other animals. Then there is the fact that the depredations under discussion are generally the result not of humanity as a whole but of a relatively few individuals which is not the case with lions and sharks and so on. As far as I am aware there is precious little evidence of caribous, for example, killing for profit or of owls, impoverished by an unjust economic system that exists to serve the interest of a few rich owls, turning to poaching in order to survive. Nor, I am pretty confident, are any animals except humans driving other animals to extinction because they believe, as a result of pervasive superstitions whose continued existence is promoted for reasons of personal self-agrandissement or money-making or as a method of wider social control by a few individuals, that eating powdered horn or pickled penises will cure their acne or enhance their fertility.

No, killing in nature (to me at least) is killing for food or survival.

And you think all the environmental damage humans cause is purely for these reasons?
It's not even ignorant or naive, it's denial.

And yes I don't want an argument, but it's reasonable to expect a response, just becasue I disagree doesn't mean i wan't a fight.

Canabilism is quite common in nature.

I think the difference is that we have choices, yet mostly we make the wrong/easy ones. As a race, we need to think more about our actions.

Makes note to buy fuel in the morning.

Okay maybe my "most species" statement was a bit off, I meant most species that I know off.

And you think all the environmental damage humans cause is purely for these reasons?
It's not even ignorant or naive, it's denial.

And yes I don't want an argument, but it's reasonable to expect a response, just becasue I disagree doesn't mean i wan't a fight.

It's natural that the more dominant species will wipe out weaker species, usually for selfish reasons. Because they can.

How exactly can a gibbon be selfish? Ever heard of an altruistic duck? A selfless slug? A compassionate bee? An ambitious wren?

It's natural that the more dominant species will wipe out weaker species, usually for selfish reasons. Because they can.

No, not to wipe out the other species. Wiping out a species down the food chain fucks up the eco system in which you (as the dominant species) lives. Yes, success as a species is defined by competition for food and resources, but also by living in a suistainable environment. The latter is just as important as the former.

Humans have no competition for food and resources, and seem to see their environment as expendable. Dangerous combination. You think this is nature at play. It isn't, it's markets. I think human nature is combatible with the natural world, but not as it's playing out at the moment