Nathan Bison

Why did the plains bison adopt the lifestyle so dramatically over such a brief period of time? The answer lies, it seems, in the dangers that plains bison faced. Herd behavious is often a response to the presence of predators that can easily pick off isolated individuals or small groups. Such predators find it much more difficult to kill one of a herd. There were only three predators capable of hunting adult bison: wolves, grizzlies and Folsom point-wielding men. Humans are thus the only force capable of 'making' the plains bison... Human hunting literally helped form the American Plains Bison, which fossil record suggests Changed Both Physically and Behaviorally after the arrival of the Indians. Before then the Bison did not live in large herds and had much larger, more out stretched horns. For an animal Living in a wide-open environment like the Great Plains and facing a sophisticated predator armed with spears, mobbing in big groups is the best defense, since it affords the vigilance of many eyes; yet big, outstretched horns pose a problem for creatures living in such close proximity. It was human hunting that selected for herd behavior and the new upright arrangement of Bison HOrns, which appears in the fossil record not after the arrival of human hunters... Indian hunters and bison lived in a symbiotic relationship, the bison feeding and clothing the hunters while the hunters, by culling the herds and forcing them to move frequently, helped keep the grasslands in good health. the bison is a human artifact, for it was shaped by Indians and its distribution determined by them.

- a summary of Tim Flannery anthropologist.

--Nathan i can see why you hold little ear to authors such as Michael Pollan--on the perception that they attempt to take large ideas and gather as much info into purporting them in what appears to be a Dan Brownesque motif.

But again Dan Brown happened to be an author who projected himself into fame by creating literature that reflected the studious eye and elbow-grease that authors and journalists such as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were. Such journalists collect and follow a path of ideas and information: piecing them together. If it were not for their synthesis, such events as in the arrest of Virgilio González would never have been understood in the relation to its larger context: the blatant disregard of democracy within our country by our president of the time.

There would be no Environmental Movement if it were not for the writing of Rachel Carson: who at here time was strongly criticized--DuPont compiled an extensive report on the book's press coverage and estimated impact on public opinion. Velsicol threatened legal action against Houghton Mifflin as well as The New Yorker and Audubon Magazine unless the planned Silent Spring features were canceled. Chemical industry representatives and lobbyists also lodged a range of non-specific complaints, some anonymously. Chemical companies and associated organizations produced a number of their own brochures and articles promoting and defending pesticide use. However, Carson's and the publishers' lawyers were confident in the vetting process Silent Spring had undergone. The magazine and book publications proceeded as planned, as did the large Book-of-the-Month printing (which included a pamphlet endorsing the book by William O. Douglas).


will finish