Ostensible delicacy sometimes hides durability and adaptability. Orchids are the example. They certainly are adaptable with species that live not only in the tropics, but elsewhere. And they appear to be durable. We know their fossil pollen from tens of millions of years ago, and their origins possibly run to 100 million years ago. If that conjectured date for their origin is correct, then orchids survived what the mighty dinosaurs couldn’t: A worldwide mass extinction 65 million years ago. While mammals were diversifying and proliferating after that event, orchids were also, and with more success—if we go by species count. In kinds and varieties these beautiful flowers outnumber mammal species about 4:1.
So, orchids are tough in a sense that counts. They can, in spite of their delicate appearance, survive very hazardous circumstances. Not just survive, we should note, but flourish, proliferate, and evolve. Of course, just about any individual mammal can destroy an orchid, so durability here means surviving through the ages, weathering changes to place. Apparently, orchids did a better job as a surviving group than did all of our rather intelligent ancestors, from Australopithicus afarensis through Homo habilis to Neandertals—all delicate individually and as groups.
Orchids might even survive the onslaught of destruction by humans. As we chop down tropical rainforests, where about half the more than 20,000 species of orchids grow, the other orchid species live where they can, unconsciously waiting to adapt to new environments or to return to the ones that we abandon. Delicate flowers wait till we, like our ancient ancestors, are gone.
Are orchids an analog for two types of humans? There are those who destroy the seemingly delicate and the delicate they have sought to destroy through the ages. In every instance the destruction has been temporary, the destroyers succumb to some extinction event, and the seemingly delicate rise again and proliferate. And, as the orchids outnumber the mammals, the delicate outnumber the destroyers.
Of course, there’s no way to get this message to the current and next generation of destroyers. They destroy now and will destroy until they succumb to their own extinction. In their inevitable absence some beautiful, delicate flowers will adapt and endure.
So, orchids are tough in a sense that counts. They can, in spite of their delicate appearance, survive very hazardous circumstances. Not just survive, we should note, but flourish, proliferate, and evolve. Of course, just about any individual mammal can destroy an orchid, so durability here means surviving through the ages, weathering changes to place. Apparently, orchids did a better job as a surviving group than did all of our rather intelligent ancestors, from Australopithicus afarensis through Homo habilis to Neandertals—all delicate individually and as groups.
Orchids might even survive the onslaught of destruction by humans. As we chop down tropical rainforests, where about half the more than 20,000 species of orchids grow, the other orchid species live where they can, unconsciously waiting to adapt to new environments or to return to the ones that we abandon. Delicate flowers wait till we, like our ancient ancestors, are gone.
Are orchids an analog for two types of humans? There are those who destroy the seemingly delicate and the delicate they have sought to destroy through the ages. In every instance the destruction has been temporary, the destroyers succumb to some extinction event, and the seemingly delicate rise again and proliferate. And, as the orchids outnumber the mammals, the delicate outnumber the destroyers.
Of course, there’s no way to get this message to the current and next generation of destroyers. They destroy now and will destroy until they succumb to their own extinction. In their inevitable absence some beautiful, delicate flowers will adapt and endure.
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