Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!news.quux.org!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Lynn McGuire Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Re: "The Trek: An Epic of Survival (The Darwin's World Series)" by Jack L Knapp Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2024 20:34:50 -0600 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 69 Message-ID: References: <82b3mj58gn2n0lejeq3t0ca78plp0j7ul6@4ax.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2024 03:34:51 +0100 (CET) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="4e8078522b2983b5730980b5ef26a440"; logging-data="2117243"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/E0U2i3mS/khzx9FWON4tploMyW1atfik=" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:IaYNiW2PVHcZNUzNXo0MbWlJdP4= In-Reply-To: <82b3mj58gn2n0lejeq3t0ca78plp0j7ul6@4ax.com> Content-Language: en-US Bytes: 4171 On 12/17/2024 10:57 AM, Paul S Person wrote: > On Mon, 16 Dec 2024 16:47:40 -0000 (UTC), jdnicoll@panix.com (James > Nicoll) wrote: > >> In article , >> Paul S Person wrote: >>> On Sun, 15 Dec 2024 11:16:01 -0800, Bobbie Sellers >>> wrote: >>> >>>> On 12/15/24 09:32, Dimensional Traveler wrote: >>>>> On 12/15/2024 9:10 AM, Ted Nolan wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>>>> Humans have evolved to become very good at getting other animals to do >>>>> our work for us.  :) >>>> >>>> Yes we have but it is common situation that the species >>>> involved benefit somehow with the relationship to man-kind/cruel >>>> including the perpetuation of their DNA from a species that >>>> spares them to be of future use. >>>> The ecologically minded might point out that all the >>>> available species played a part in making ecological space >>>> for the biped with a larger brain. Thus it is to our own >>>> advantage in the future to maintain and extend populations >>>> of other predator and prey species. And to leave them alone >>>> to enjoy their lives in the territories left for them as >>>> much as possible. >>> >>> Nextdoor shows that several species (deer and, of course, bunnies and >>> rats but also coyotes and bobcats) have instead moved into the cities >>> and suburbs. >>> >>> This is thought to suppress the bunnies and rats, but it also makes >>> life outside dangerous for cats and at least small dogs. >>> >>> And possums and raccoons have been around for decades, if not longer. >>> >>> And then there are the flying dinosaur descendants, some of them cute, >>> others less cute. >> >> One of the odder details I encountered while digging through old >> newpaper files is that in 1900, Kitchener (then Berlin) parks did >> not have squirrels. They were deliberately introduced. Maintaining >> a breeding population was challenging, as kids kept killing the >> squirrels. >> >> In the last 40 years, Kitchener's downtown pigeon population seems >> to have plummeted due to local raptors suddenly discovering KW >> is basically one huge buffet. Seagulls also seem to be less >> common. > > Ebb and flow. > > I haven't seen a bunny for a long time now. But once they were, if not > common, then not rare sights. Some of them white, others brown. > > In the last Very Cold Winter, Nextdoor reported some amazing behavior: > hummingbirds, which (it appears) generally insist (violently) on using > the feeder all by themselves, were contentedly sharing feeders. > > These were, of course, feeders which were heated to the point that > their feet didn't actually freeze to the rails. I saw a brown bunny on our walk Sunday afternoon. It lives in my neighbor's front yard. Lynn