Word: naturalist
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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When on board H.M.S. Beagle, as naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South America, and in the geological relations of the present to the past inhabitants of that continent. These facts seemed to me to throw some light on the origin of species--that mystery of mysteries, as it has been called by one of our greatest philosophers. On my return home, it occurred to me, in 1837, that something might perhaps be made out on this question by patiently accumulating and reflecting an all sorts of facts which could possibly...
Alarmed by the loss of species around the world, the celebrated naturalist--winner of biology's highest honors and two Pulitzer Prizes--has become an ecological Paul Revere. "The loss of biodiversity," he is fond of saying, "is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive...
...Pliny pattern persists. The scientific side of the observer's mind demands objective evidence, as the great naturalist usually did; but the brain's mythopoeic, magic-thinking side is lured to marvels--to alchemy, to spells, to bat people on the moon or aliens on other planets. Can these matters be addressed with a whole mind? Can the two instincts of the brain--Einstein and Elvis-sighting--be made to fit together like compatible spoons...
FROM 1979 TO 1986 I WORKED AS A NATUralist guide in the Galapagos Islands. Back in the old days, lobster was plentiful, and we could snorkel at night to provide people with the delicacy for lunch or dinner. Sea cucumbers were not harvested but merely pointed out to underwater enthusiasts as part of the unique marine world of the islands. The 16 species of shark were regarded with passing awe, as they are among the shiest of Galapagos wildlife...
When the sea-cucumber season began in October 1994, things quickly got out of hand. Dozens of fishing boats appeared, drawn by the high price the sluglike creatures fetch in Asia. According to Jack Grove, a Florida-based naturalist and photographer and founder of the nonprofit group Conservation Network International, many fishermen bought their registrations on the black market. By December, park officials estimated, as many as 7 million sea cucumbers had been harvested, far more than the authorized limit of 550,000. There are reports that boats coming to collect the sea cucumbers arrive with prostitutes and drugs from...