Category Archives: Nature

The Bloodthirsty Monster Up in the Trees

Nature, Social

There are sometimes discussion, and acknowledgement, of the alienation of urban people from nature. I got a first hand proof of this today. I was having lunch with a couple of fine ladies, the other one of which, happens to be gloriosly pregnant. The talk around the table turned to squirrels and the havoc they with e.g. pot plants.

The discussion quickly spiraled into the definite demonizing of squirrels, they are stupid, harmful, annoying and danger to children. Yes, that is correct. There was genuine fear around the table of a squirrel harming a baby left asleep in her carriage. Apparently there are even accessories sold to baby carriages to protect the child. From squirrels.

This situation puzzles me. It is obvious that the worry exerted by these women is genuine even though the basis for it might be irrational. Thus the actions they take as a response to that worry are rational. Buying something to protect that child from … squirrels will bring more credence to that worry, otherwise the act of buying those accessories becomes irrational. And so, very simply and stealthly, there’s a vested interest in preserving and defending (and probably embellishing) the original notion of squirrels as a danger to children.

On Cute

Concepts, Nature, Social

Cute is something that seems to have found a perfect way to propagate itself in the Internet. There are websites such as cuteroverload and lolcats that are especially catering for peoples need for cute. In the Internet, cuteness is usually associated with animals, but also on inanimate objects, like toys. The defining quality in cute is not the object matter but that it somehow possesses some human qualities such as sadness, vulnerability, guilt, speaking, stealing etc. When a duck has learned to steal packs of crisps from a store, it’s cute. When a cuttlefish appears to be sad, exhibited by its (apparent) droopy eyelids, its cute, nevermind that a cuttlefish has no eyelids. If a cats mouth seems to portray a smile (preferably in a manga style) thats cute. You get the point.

Sometimes this humanizing animals for cute has its drawbacks. If a pomeranian lets out something that sounds like a human giggle, is it really enjoying the “tickleing” administered by its (apparent) mistress? Some of the viewers don’t seem to think so.

As a petless person, this tendency to see human qualities in animals is quite, should I say puzzling? It clearly gets it wrong in many occasions and therefore the whole meaningfulness of this tendency becomes questionable. Afterall we are talking about mostly people who claim to be animal-lovers who administer procedures on their pets based on their loaded view of their pets. It has been said that a dog understands its owner better than its owner understands it.

Dying Birds

Nature

Note: This post isn’t particularly uplifting.

I like birds. It’s not nice to see them die, even though I recognize it as “business as usual” -type of action. Two weeks ago on a Sunday I headed to city for a cup of coffee and while parking my bike I noticed a what looked like a chick, sitting on a windowledge of a cellar window. It looked a bit dazed as chicks do and as if fallen of a nest, so I let it be and even blamed myself for not taking my camera with me. I noticed an opportunity to get my picture appear in Cuteoverload.

I proceeded to take care of my caffein needs and by chance I could see the same windowledge from my table. I could even see the small bird. I tried to spot its parents but I didn’t. When I leaving an hour or so later, I noticed the bird had died.

The next Monday I was heading to Turku early in the morning and was cycling on the campus when I heard a thud above me. I breathly pondered what an earth could make a sound like that. The question was duly answered quickly when a bird fell on the ground about two metres from me. In a way reminiscent of a number of Python sketches. I proceeded to park my bike and thought that I’d check on the bird after that. It was apparently alive.

When I came back, not many seconds later, the bird was dead and a small puddle of blood was forming under its head. How uplifting. I came to think whether it was the initial collision to a certain off-the-ground -campus facility or the following collision with the ground that killed it. Had it fallen on my lap, would it have survived?

I quickly recognized the futility of this line of questions so proceeded to think other things.