Pause to Wonder

I remember back in the seventies (world population then was around 3.6 billion) everyone was talking about the urgent dangers of overpopulation.

Then, suddenly, the subject disappeared. For around 30 years. Looks like the discussion’s finally starting up again.

Estimated world population now: 6.7 billion.

Why does this happen all the time? What causes this cyclic collective amnesia?

The first camera-trap photographs of the cheetah, taken as part of a systematic survey of 1,750 square miles of the central Sahara, are providing scientists with information on population numbers, movement and how it interacts with its environment.

…and their precise expressions at the exact moment of stepping down on something funny and unexpectedly triggering flood lights and a whirring, clicking camera machine.

Seriously though, it’s an interesting little article, and a lovely cat. Don’t miss the second photo — you have to hit the teeny “next” above the first one.

If the thought of another dwindling species threatens to immobilize you with despair, do something! Give Panthera (a wonderful wildcat conservation organization) your pocket change! And enjoy the gorgeous photos on their website.

Seems like such an simple and obvious idea… why don’t we do this more often? I’d love to see this in Paris. We could use a little more wildlife. This city doesn’t even have squirrels! (A bar of fine Parisian chocolate to the first one who can tell me the story behind that one!) Anyhow, have a gander at a video of city-worker goats doing their job in LA.

If only we could get them to gather autumn leaves, too. Those leaf blowers are evil. They pollute (the ones I’ve seen belch out a black cloud of pollution), they shatter the peace with a horrible amount of noise and ergonomically I’ve heard they’re very bad for the workers who use them.

Now if I can just get some goats to help me with the housework… who am I kidding? They’d just eat my throw rugs and scare the bejeezus out of the cats with their rectangular pupils.