Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Beautiful science writing!
Article on a 'rediscovery' of a species of nautilus.
The subject could have been dull, but author Devin Coldewey makes it exciting. Haven't heard of the author before; now I'll start watching for more.
Last two paragraphs:
The nautilus is also a living fossil. Animals extremely similar to today's nautiluses can be found as far as 500 million years back into the fossil record. That means they saw the dinosaurs come and go without missing a beat — but overfishing and disappearing niches may put an end to that long history. "As it stands now, nautilus mining could cause nautiluses to go extinct," Ward said. He isn't optimistic about upcoming talks to classify the nautilus as a protected animal, either. But nautiluses didn't survive two mass extinctions and half a billion years of sharp-toothed competition by being pushovers.Gets two major points exactly right, points that science writers nearly always fuck up. (1) If a creature has lasted through many changes of climate and chemistry, it's going to continue. The fact that it's still here tells us that it's adaptable. (2) Overfishing and overhunting are the actual causes of extinction. We may crowd out subpopulations with urban sprawl, but that doesn't have a long-term effect on the whole species because the critters can usually move elsewhere. If we shoot or net a critical mass, they can't move elsewhere. ¶ 5:47 PM
