Update 1: After I emailed Zimmer a link to this blog this morning, he sent me this reply (posted here with his permission):
Hi Tom, I enjoyed the postings on your blog. I'm well aware there are any ivory-bill skeptics, and there should be until a bird is actually in hand and positively identified. eWhen I do advances like this, however, I need to take Gallagher's story at face value, because the event isn't really a debate. Actually I did a column a few months ago on the economic benefit of having a nearby once-thought-to-be-extinct species, and how it will remain alive and well if there's money to be made. Check it out at [this link]. I'll check out your blog regularly, and link it to mine.Update 2: Here is a related new blog entry from Zimmer.
Thanks for reading
Posts
5 comments:
Tom;
Send Willy Z. your website link.
Signed:
The ever vigilant and resourceful media.
Hmmm.....It seems that the wish to believe is stronger than the desire to be right.
Hey..that was good...you can put that right up there with Sagan and Dunn!
"The story of the Lord God bird is certainly worth the price of admission."
He got that right... it costs nothing to get a ticket, according to the other link you posted to the talk at Casper the Friendly College.
My Two Cents
Yeah, I'm skeptical but I haven't given up on Will Robinson ... read the quote attributed to him by Willy Z.
"The ivory bill, like the passenger pigeon or the bison, has always been an ultimate symbol of human greed, foolishness and things gone wrong," Robinson said, "and it's back! When I first read about it last year, it seemed like a miracle. The news story about it went right up on my bulletin board."
Sounds like Robinson could be hedging his bets here, as that quote could be read IRONICLY.
Plus as a scientist, he is using the word "miracle" the way that most scientists use the word miracle ...
right?
Also, are there Bison in WY anymore??
Now I'd he was on the side of sanity if instead of "bison" he had used the term "custer's 7th calvary".
Now that is good example of greed, foolishness and things gone wrong.
Also, are there Bison in WY anymore??
Yup. About 3000 pure-blood, always wild, never fenced, in Yellowstone. Enough to cause traffic jams.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Bison
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