Evideosecurity on LinkedIn: Latest updates: How archaeologists can help us live with wild animals… (2024)

Latest updates: How archaeologists can help us live with wild animals For thousands of years, people in the British Isles lived with and depended on wild animals for food and clothes. The land teemed with species such as deer, boar, wolves, lynx and beavers. Then came farming, population growth and industrialisation. Many species were hunted to extinction and their habitats were lost. Archaeological research reaches back in time to understand how humans and wild animals interacted. Ancient bones and teeth reveal these complex relationships. Today, interactions between wild animals and people are often in the news, from urban foxes to tree-felling beavers and wild boars. Even the red deer – the monarch of the glen, celebrated as a symbol of wild Scotland – is facing widespread calls for population control and, on the Hebridean island of South Uist, total eradication.Deer were a mainstay of British diets before farming and, out on the islands, my research demonstrates they remained an important food source beyond the 15th century. It was only in the middle ages that deer became the preserve of royal hunts and later the favoured prey of fee-paying hunters. Today they are often viewed as pests by the communities they impact. A combination of factors, including COVID-19 and climate change, has seen deer numbers increase and affect both landscapes and gardens. They also cause accidents on roads and carry the ticks that pass on Lyme disease. As wild animals, they are not owned and only become someone’s property when they are captured or killed by persons entitled by law to do so. This is usually the owners of the land they inhabit. Land owning estates manage most herds and may provide hunting access for a fee. The venison can be sold, but often goes to waste due to a lack of sufficient trained staff to check carcasses and markets for the meat. Hides are generally not valued and antlers are sold as dog chews. South UistIn March 2023, the tensions between red deer and locals reached a crisis point on the Scottish island of South Uist. There was a call to eradicate an entire herd of 1,198 animals, as their behaviour was negatively affecting locals. Arguments on either side focused on their history, use and value. Almost 1,200 red deer roam freely around South Uist. Saint Street Studio/Alamy As an animal archaeologist, my research has shown that red deer were taken to Scottish islands for food more than 5,000 years ago. In the absence of any predators, their numbers were controlled through the killing (and eating) of both red deer calves and adults. Hides were worked and the valuable antlers, shed annually from stags, were used to create beautifully crafted tools and adornments. Red deer are represented in early art, both on and off the islands. A recent find of spectacular rock art on mainland Scotland has highlighted their cultural importance du

Latest updates: How archaeologists can help us live with wild animals For thousands of years, people in the British Isles lived with and depended on wild animals for food and clothes. The land teemed with species such as deer, boar, wolves, lynx and beavers. Then came farming, population growth and industrialisation. Many species were hunted to extinction and their habitats were lost. Archaeological research reaches back in time to understand how humans and wild animals interacted. Ancient bones and teeth reveal these complex relationships. Today, interactions between wild animals and people are often in the news, from urban foxes to tree-felling beavers and wild boars. Even the red deer – the monarch of the glen, celebrated as a symbol of wild Scotland – is facing widespread calls for population control and, on the Hebridean island of South Uist, total eradication.Deer were a mainstay of British diets before farming and, out on the islands, my research demonstrates they remained an important food source beyond the 15th century. It was only in the middle ages that deer became the preserve of royal hunts and later the favoured prey of fee-paying hunters. Today they are often viewed as pests by the communities they impact. A combination of factors, including COVID-19 and climate change, has seen deer numbers increase and affect both landscapes and gardens. They also cause accidents on roads and carry the ticks that pass on Lyme disease. As wild animals, they are not owned and only become someone’s property when they are captured or killed by persons entitled by law to do so. This is usually the owners of the land they inhabit. Land owning estates manage most herds and may provide hunting access for a fee. The venison can be sold, but often goes to waste due to a lack of sufficient trained staff to check carcasses and markets for the meat. Hides are generally not valued and antlers are sold as dog chews. South UistIn March 2023, the tensions between red deer and locals reached a crisis point on the Scottish island of South Uist. There was a call to eradicate an entire herd of 1,198 animals, as their behaviour was negatively affecting locals. Arguments on either side focused on their history, use and value. Almost 1,200 red deer roam freely around South Uist. Saint Street Studio/Alamy As an animal archaeologist, my research has shown that red deer were taken to Scottish islands for food more than 5,000 years ago. In the absence of any predators, their numbers were controlled through the killing (and eating) of both red deer calves and adults. Hides were worked and the valuable antlers, shed annually from stags, were used to create beautifully crafted tools and adornments. Red deer are represented in early art, both on and off the islands. A recent find of spectacular rock art on mainland Scotland has highlighted their cultural importance du

Latest updates: How archaeologists can help us live with wild animals For thousands of years, people in the British Isles lived with and depended on wild animals for food and clothes. The land teemed with species such as deer, boar, wolves, lynx and beavers. Then came farming, population growth and industrialisation. Many species were hunted to extinction and their habitats were lost. Archaeological research reaches back in time to understand how humans and wild animals interacted. Ancient bones and teeth reveal these complex relationships. Today, interactions between wild animals and people are often in the news, from urban foxes to tree-felling beavers and wild boars. Even the red deer – the monarch of the glen, celebrated as a symbol of wild Scotland – is facing widespread calls for population control and, on the Hebridean island of South Uist, total eradication.Deer were a mainstay of British diets before farming and, out on the islands, my research demonstrates they remained an important food source beyond the 15th century. It was only in the middle ages that deer became the preserve of royal hunts and later the favoured prey of fee-paying hunters. Today they are often viewed as pests by the communities they impact. A combination of factors, including COVID-19 and climate change, has seen deer numbers increase and affect both landscapes and gardens. They also cause accidents on roads and carry the ticks that pass on Lyme disease. As wild animals, they are not owned and only become someone’s property when they are captured or killed by persons entitled by law to do so. This is usually the owners of the land they inhabit. Land owning estates manage most herds and may provide hunting access for a fee. The venison can be sold, but often goes to waste due to a lack of sufficient trained staff to check carcasses and markets for the meat. Hides are generally not valued and antlers are sold as dog chews. South UistIn March 2023, the tensions between red deer and locals reached a crisis point on the Scottish island of South Uist. There was a call to eradicate an entire herd of 1,198 animals, as their behaviour was negatively affecting locals. Arguments on either side focused on their history, use and value. Almost 1,200 red deer roam freely around South Uist. Saint Street Studio/Alamy As an animal archaeologist, my research has shown that red deer were taken to Scottish islands for food more than 5,000 years ago. In the absence of any predators, their numbers were controlled through the killing (and eating) of both red deer calves and adults. Hides were worked and the valuable antlers, shed annually from stags, were used to create beautifully crafted tools and adornments. Red deer are represented in early art, both on and off the islands. A recent find of spectacular rock art on mainland Scotland has highlighted their cultural importance du

Pelican: Description, Types, Species, and Habitat#Birds #Pelican #Profile #Species

Pelican: Description, Types, Species, and Habitat#Birds #Pelican #Profile #Species

Pelican: Description, Types, Species, and Habitat#Birds #Pelican #Profile #Species

Pelican: Description, Types, Species, and Habitat#Birds #Pelican #Profile #Species

This week I am writing about the prominent reasons why pheasant populations and other bird species are declining. It is an interesting read for those who don’t hunt or are unaware of the conservation issues occurring right now. I also give some insight on what you can do to help! As always, link to website in bio.Link to blog post: https://lnkd.in/ghGxsfT3#pheasant #pheasanthunting #conservation #pheasants #uplandhunting #uplandbirdhunting #hunting #birdhunting #outdoors #wildlifeconservation #habitat #climatechange #ecosystems #ecology #wildlifebiology

1

Okay, so I'm a couple months behind on this news, but it's still exciting! There are only a few hundred of these North African antelope in the wild thanks to over a century of overhunting. However, several thousand exist in captivity, and contain genetic diversity that will be crucial for ongoing reintroduction efforts in parts of the addax's historic range. That is, if those captive addax are made available to facilities working toward reintroduction. Many of the captive addax in the United States are owned by ranches that cater to trophy hunters. Instead of being used to produce new generations destined to be returned to reserves like those in Morocco and Tunisia, among others, instead the addax are raised to be "super exotic trophies" shot by hunters. One site even boasts that Texas has more addax than everywhere else in the world combined. Just to be clear, I am not anti-hunting across the board; I know several people here in the US who go deer and waterfowl hunting to fill the freezer for the year. However, there seems to be something incredibly wrong the fact that more addax are raised to be slaughtered as trophies than are sent to replenish wild populations. I suppose it's an improvement over people flying to Africa to poach from the last wild herds, but I'd love to see the sorts of money dropped into trophy herds being put toward habitat restoration and addax reintroduction. None of the hunting ranch sites I looked at said anything about contributing animals or other resources to reintroduction efforts, though they certainly had a lot to say about the opportunity to hunt a "super rare" antelope.On the bright side, zoos are more active in reintroduction efforts, and so it's wonderful news to hear that this is the second addax born at the Brookfield Zoo in as many years. Hopefully this little one and her brother will have descendants that will run wild in the north African deserts again.https://lnkd.in/gWPnR4Gp#biodiversity #endangeredspecies #extinction #zoos #wildlife #nature #hunting

#owls #logging #habitatloss #killing #anthropocentrism #love #mercy #reverenceforlife #loveofJesusMy dear friends in a reverence for life, there are times when human behavior seems comprised solely of one-off interactions, conducted solely by misguided, unfocused automatons, devoid of a fundamental ethos of care, much less love.In the article infra the US government, in its infinite wisdom (sic) proposes to cull, i.e., slaughter by shotgun fire, some 500,000 barred owls in the northwest portion of our country. The barred owls have outcompeted another owl species, spotted owls, to the point that the latter is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.The magnanimous, beneficent solution of our bureaucrats: blast the crap out of ‘em!A few truths before progressing to our homily and call to action.Barred owls most likely migrated westward following the arboreal growth along the US prairies elicited by settlers.Both species of owls, and of course all wildlife, have suffered from clear cutting of their forest home in the far west, a practice animated and sanctioned to this day by the various agencies charged with governance. Here are quotations from an article published by the Cornell University Ornithology Lab:“The bottom line is that extinction rates went down when the amount of habitat went up,.... “Spotted Owls cannot exist without old-growth forest. And now we’re talking about two species trying to use the same space, so in fact we need more of it.”“For coexistence to be possible, preserving remaining habitat may now be more important than ever.... “The long-term issue continues to be habitat loss. The more loss there is, the greater the competitive pressure becomes.”In sum, our bureaucrats propose on the one hand to extirpate a species that migrated due to human activity, and on the other hand to permit if not endorse and further the practice of razing their (and every other forest dweller) habitats to the ground, contributing to further, global extirpation!Miserere nobis!My dear friends, a reverence for life is an ethos of life affirmation, an ethos levying upon mankind the mandate to protect, assist and enhance life, all life.We are obliged to love our neighbor as ourselves, to esteem every fellow inhabitant of this world to be our neighbor, to be stewards of God’s creation in its entirety.My dear friends, I cannot offer you a solution to the quandary of dueling owls.I can however promise you this, so long as the motivating ethos for our behavior continues to be the result of shortsighted human self-centeredness, for that period of time will we encounter this gut-wrenching state of affairs, each time worse and ultimately more lethal than its prior iteration.Let us be compelled by the spirit of Jesus. Let us vow to bestow His love universally.That is the path to righteous and right behavior.That is the genuine and sole ethos upon which to ground our conduct.That is a reverence for life.

14

3 Comments