Crying Wolf (Life Sciences)

[Mick Harper]

It's news to me about the extent of Galician tin. That's another theory I'll have to revise. Thanks a bundle.

[Mick Harper]

What do you do with surplus bison in Yellowstone Park? No, you can't kill 'em. Are you kidding, these are national treasures. Here's what you do:

1. Look for an area totally unsuited to bison--semi-desert, high altitude etc.
2. And unsuited for everything else--so there won't be any local opposition to speak of.
3. It has to be big, unfenced and so devoid of life not even hunters go there.
4. You finally come up with the Henry Mountains in southern Utah.
5. You shove the bison into the backs of trucks and drive them to the Henries.
6. You let them out, making sure not to leave any feed or water to tide them over.
7. You drive off, leaving the bison to 'die of natural causes'.

Job done? You prolly noticed there's only seven points, not the statutory ten...

[Mick Harper]

8. The bison herd is now four hundred strong
9. The Henry Mountains are buzzing with newly arrived fauna and flora
10. There is no bison herd.

It is this last point that is of special interest to Megalithic Imperialists. Remember, these are bison that have been deliberately excluded from human contact. (The whole thing was more by way of a deliberate experiment than the way I characterised it. Full story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ayj3_uVjt0 )

The original bison immediately split up and explored their range as individuals or in small units. They set about creating all kinds of new habitats by

(a) nibbling grass rather than tearing it up as, say, cattle do
(b) constantly seeking out fresh pastures rather than favouring old ones as, say, cattle do
(c) churning up the soil, thereby creating myriad micro-niches rather than having little surface effect as, say, cattle do.

In short, natural bison are a keystone species, without which all natural environments either die or require vast inputs of artificial assistance to keep alive. But bison do this--it would seem--by acting as individuals or in small groups rather than in grotesquely large herds.

What all this portends vis à vis the story given in Megalithic Empire (and in my next but one book) is something I haven't begun to grapple with. Nor, at this rate, ever will.

[Mick Harper]

British rivers have either lost all their salmon or numbers are down to very low levels. What's the harm? Just a few toffee-nosed gits can't fish for salmon, right?

Wrong! It turns out the entire upriver eco-system requires thousands of decomposing salmon bodies (they all die after their one spawning episode) to release shedloads of Atlantic carbon and other suchlike goodies. Not just the river itself but the trees and stuff near the river.

Come back, toffee-nosed gits, we needed you after all.