Meet the Other Social Influencers of the Animal Kingdom
Culture, once considered exclusive to humans, turns out to be widespread in nature.
A chimpanzee in the Chimfunshi wildlife sanctuary in Zambia, where one chimp began a tradition of wearing a blade of grass in the ear, which carried on after her death.Credit.David Pike/Alamy
May 7, 2021
Julia, her friends and family agreed, had style. When, out of the blue, the 18-year-old chimpanzee began inserting long, stiff blades of grass into one or both ears and then went about her day with her new statement accessories clearly visible to the world, the other chimpanzees at the Chimfunshi wildlife sanctuary in Zambia were dazzled.
Why this year s Folsom Lake super bloom is so amazingly rare - and troubling
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A spectacular super bloom of lupine flowers has exploded in and around Folsom Lake.
Lupine flowers, which are native to California and commonly found around the state, tend to crop up every year. But this spring, experts say the super bloom that’s sprouted in the Sierra foothills reservoir 25 miles east of Sacramento is like nothing they’ve ever seen and says a lot about the dire state of California’s deepening drought.
Just last weekend the state park saw thousands of people, some from as far as Nevada, drive in to catch a glimpse of the bright purple lupines that now blanket the reservoir in areas that normally would be underwater but are now fertile blooming ground because of historically low water levels.
Geographical Magazine
A STORY OF US: A New Look at Human Evolution by Lesley Newson & Peter Richerson book review A STORY OF US: A New Look at Human Evolution by Lesley Newson & Peter Richerson book review Written by Kit Gillet by Lesley Newson & Peter Richerson • Oxford University Press
The journey of the human race has been as much about changes in communities and culture as it has been about our physical evolution. That’s perhaps the key takeaway from the fittingly titled
A Story of Us, which charts humankind’s journey back to seven million years ago.
Through seven stages of human evolution we’ve morphed into the species we are today. However, while physical evolution – our switch to walking upright, larger brains, the ability to use tools – has been fundamental, without social constructs we might not have made it, let alone become the dominant species on the planet. Authors Lesley Newson and Peter Richerson
Geographical Magazine Geographical s pick of the books: April 2021 Written by Geographical 2021 There s something fresh for everyone this April. Read on for our pick of the best new non-fiction reads
BOOK OF THE MONTH – UNDER A WHITE SKY: The Nature of the Future, by Elizabeth Kolbert
‘I was struck, and not for the first time, by how much easier it is to ruin an ecosystem than to run one.’ It’s a throwaway sentence, but one which neatly encapsulates the phenomenon Elizabeth Kolbert aims to portray in her fascinating new book. The context for this comment concerns the many years spent pumping water from the aquifer that feeds Devils Hole, a geothermal pool in Death Valley National Park, Nevada, during the late 1960s. Quarterly surveys are now conducted to track the health of the pupfish population, with supplementary food delivered by the National Park Service to ensure they have enough to eat. The fish even h