When I was a boy my step-dad, who is military historian, introduced me to the story of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and I consider him one of my “heroes”.

Take care.

Yep, I fear the same thing. Our scientific and analytical minds always thinking that we can formulate answers to some of the worlds oldest questions and mysteries…mother nature works in her own ways at her own pace. I fear that humanities biggest downfall will be to question and remain ignorant to nature’s own intelligence.

It distresses me to see so many animals suffering, but I take some solace in the fact that new species are also being discovered every day . I fear we don’t know as much as we think we do….

I have some photos of a mother sperm whale and her calf I took in 1975. This was not on a whale watch. This was on a smallish boat. I recently found them and will scan them into my computer and send your son (and you) a coupleif you wish. Or I will probably be better off getting a Photo account somewhere. (duh) You’ve made me think that maybe that little calf and his/her mom are still out there.

The US Navy turned over sonar readings to Wood’s Hole after the fall of the Soviet Union. While searching for Soviet submarines, the crew members also recorded the soundings of the whales. And of course they named them and could, year after year, track their migrations using the sonar.

Well, the researchers started trying to match up the soundings to their records; to get a better picture of the entire sperm whale population. They ended up with a few sonar recordings they couldn’t match up. It didn’t concern them greatly.

About 5 years ago, some fishermen out of Glouchester were off George’s Banks and encountered a sizeable pod of sperm whales. They called it in, as they really shouldn’t have been where they were at that time. The Coast Guard responded and took photos. And get this….Not one of the photos matched the photos Wood’s Hole had.

Ok……to make a long story short, investigation showed that these whales were previously unknown to humans. A Pod of about 80 Sperm Whales were out there in the Atlantic for a hundred years or so, totally oblivious to the humans. There were a lot of red faces in the Marine Biology field for a while. Well, I thought it was a cool story. GO Whales!

Agreed. Who gives a fuck about this monkey? How does this primate affect my life? Not at all. Besides, I’ve got more pressing issues to deal with. To wit: How is the Green Bay Packer quarterbacking situation going to play out? How much higher are gas prices going to rise? I’m reduced to driving my Hummer only three times a week; I have to slum it with the much more fuel efficient BMW for the other days. And finally, my neighborhood Starbucks just closed. Life sucks. Fuck the monkey.[/quote]

While this user seems to despise the actions of Matt Good, I do think that in this particular post, he was being sarcastic. If in fact he wasn’t being sarcastic, and he really did care that Starbucks closed in his neighbourhood and he could ONLY drive his hummer 3 days a week…well, life really must suck for someone such as that.

“Agreed. At the end of the day, who gives a fuck about this monkey? How does this primate affect my life? Not at all. I’ve got more important issues to deal with. To wit: How is the Green Bay Packer quarterbacking situation going to play out? How much higher are gas prices going to rise? I’ve got to park my Hummer a couple days each week, and drive the (more fuel efficient) BMW instead. And finally, my closest Starbucks just closed. These are important issues. Fuck the monkey”

Not funny - but I don’t suppose you meant it to be funny. Criticism is generally, and most responsibly used as a way to disagree with a subject for which you care about, have some poignant, articulate, and useful contribution to make, and sometimes know something about. If you don’t care about the topic - fine. If you really care more about your, probably, fictitious cars, that is OK too. I you don’t want to contribute something thoughtful, inspired, or insightful - and have a genuine contribtution to make then - go away. You’re like some unepmloyed shock jockey.

I care.

Think of it as money (monkey) in the bank. The environment acts as a massively complex economy responsible for the production of the food, water and even the oxygen we breath. Every species plays its part and adds to the overall stability of the system. Start removing too many links in the chain and major collapses are inevitable. So while one primate species disappearing isn’t going to fundamentally change things, it’s an indicator of a serious process that’s taking place right in front of our eyes.

We all better start caring, when top predators like sharks and most marine fish species are removed by industrial fishing to the point where jelly fish are becoming a major catch in some parts of the world including the US, we’re fucking up one of the most important sources of oxygen in the world, the oceans. It’s all connected, and nature doesn’t give a damn what kind of vehicle you drive, just how big an impact you have.

Hey, I didn’t notice that either. That’s creepy.

I had certainly heard on langurs prior to this post - but not that specific species. You inadvertantly raised a good point - or reminder though - that part of conservation is education. Through education we hopefully can make connections with things and then have empathy for them. As an example in the Yukon we have one of the world’s smallest deserts (around 280 hectares) and in that desert can be found an endangered plant, the Baikal sedge. it is only found in 4 other places in North American, and even still, there is not much of it left. Most of you on here would not know that - and I’m sure the guys that go out there on weekends and run the stuff over with their ATV’s don’t know it either. I’m sure if a few more of them knew this, they’d find another place to roar around (I’d hope so anyway). It’s OK to not know about langurs, rare sedges, gorillas, etc., - but to know about them, or not be willing to learn about them and then still not give a shit is not OK.

I didn’t know that Taam Doog was Matt Good spelled backward until today - like Cigev Civ or something.

The reality of this just hurts.[/quote]

RIght. Honestly BJ, had you even *heard* of the douc langur before today? Be honest, your Illustrious Leader foisted this primate’s plight upon you today. And this comes from the self proclaimed dog lover…. who keeps them cloistered in an apartment. Dogs need exercise, not spend their lives cooped up in a shitty apartment.[/quote]

Whew… I believe them’s fightin’ words. lol

Honestly, these are not dingos caught out of the wild and holed up in our “Illustrious Leader’s” (Matt’s) apartment. These are domesticated (by us) dogs that would be dead if left alone outside. They get their exercise. They love their life and would be miserable without Matt and their apartment. True, we have created the environment for them to love, and taught them how to love it, but that’s damage done a long time ago. The best we can do is to not do this to any other species in the future.

I have not heard of the douc langour either. I’m sure there are hundreds of other species I haven’t heard of. Does this mean I don’t care? Absolutely not. I try, in my own ways, to do what I can for this planet of ours, and I think as long as we all can HONESTLY say we do this, we can look at this picture and still sleep at night.

Although it’s just a drop in the bucket….at least something positive to focus on and raise awareness.