I can hear the conversation at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm.
“Bob, old Chompers just doesn’t seem to have an interest in any of the ladies. You think he’s just too old to care?”
“I dunno. He’s been in that pond with all the girl crocs for almost a year now. Nothing seems to be goin’ on, not even at night ‘cause I looked at the CCTV footage.”
“Maybe there’s something wrong with him. He’s certainly not producing offspring.”
You know, just when you think you have all the facts, someone comes along and says, “Look what I discovered.” And that’s the way it now appears to be with crocodiles from New Guinea (at least one of which is in that aforementioned alligator farm). According to a recent study of 90-year old skulls, the island is home to two species, one in the northern part of the island and the other in the southern part.* One was known; the other was recently named Crocodylus halli for the late Philip Hall, whose initial work led Chris Murray and Caleb McMahan to its discovery. Anyway, apparently to the untrained human eye, crocodiles all look alike, but crocodiles have always known the difference between their own and another species. Before Murray and McMahan continued his work, only Philip Hall among investigators (sorry, I couldn’t resist) surmised there were two species on New Guinea.
And that makes me think of today’s world in constant political turmoil stirred by an enormous population of reporters and would-be reporters, many of who seem to have untrained eyes.** To discover the true nature of species covered by old reports, we need to re-examine the fossil news; otherwise, we might connect people with no true connections, people incapable of producing the “offspring” that reporters with agendas suggest they produce(d). We might have been mixing our crocodiles. It makes me also think that as news people report on those against whom they have some bias, they see the gross similarities in a group and fail to see the subtle differences. Just as there are differences between two species of New Guinea crocodiles that went unnoticed by all but one researcher, so there are differences among the political species within one party.
“You know, Bob, people just like to come to the farm to look at alligators and crocs and to learn that one has a pointy snout and the other a more rounded one. They really don’t want to spend the time to learn the anatomical or physiological differences. What would they do with all that specific information, anyway? They just want to point and say to their children, ‘If you kids don’t start behaving, I’m gonna feed you to the alligators.’ Or, “Look at those teeth, kids.’ Or even, ‘Them’s the reason you don’t go into the swamp.’”
*Phys.org. New species of crocodile discovered in museum collections. 25 Sept 2019. https://phys.org/news/2019-09-species-crocodile-museum.html Accessed September 25, 2019.
**Just a grammar note here: “who seem to have untrained eyes” is the object of the preposition of. The use of whom in that sentence would be incorrect, but notice that in this very sentence whom by itself is the object of the preposition. In the essay’s paragraph, the subject of the verb seem is who.
“Bob, old Chompers just doesn’t seem to have an interest in any of the ladies. You think he’s just too old to care?”
“I dunno. He’s been in that pond with all the girl crocs for almost a year now. Nothing seems to be goin’ on, not even at night ‘cause I looked at the CCTV footage.”
“Maybe there’s something wrong with him. He’s certainly not producing offspring.”
You know, just when you think you have all the facts, someone comes along and says, “Look what I discovered.” And that’s the way it now appears to be with crocodiles from New Guinea (at least one of which is in that aforementioned alligator farm). According to a recent study of 90-year old skulls, the island is home to two species, one in the northern part of the island and the other in the southern part.* One was known; the other was recently named Crocodylus halli for the late Philip Hall, whose initial work led Chris Murray and Caleb McMahan to its discovery. Anyway, apparently to the untrained human eye, crocodiles all look alike, but crocodiles have always known the difference between their own and another species. Before Murray and McMahan continued his work, only Philip Hall among investigators (sorry, I couldn’t resist) surmised there were two species on New Guinea.
And that makes me think of today’s world in constant political turmoil stirred by an enormous population of reporters and would-be reporters, many of who seem to have untrained eyes.** To discover the true nature of species covered by old reports, we need to re-examine the fossil news; otherwise, we might connect people with no true connections, people incapable of producing the “offspring” that reporters with agendas suggest they produce(d). We might have been mixing our crocodiles. It makes me also think that as news people report on those against whom they have some bias, they see the gross similarities in a group and fail to see the subtle differences. Just as there are differences between two species of New Guinea crocodiles that went unnoticed by all but one researcher, so there are differences among the political species within one party.
“You know, Bob, people just like to come to the farm to look at alligators and crocs and to learn that one has a pointy snout and the other a more rounded one. They really don’t want to spend the time to learn the anatomical or physiological differences. What would they do with all that specific information, anyway? They just want to point and say to their children, ‘If you kids don’t start behaving, I’m gonna feed you to the alligators.’ Or, “Look at those teeth, kids.’ Or even, ‘Them’s the reason you don’t go into the swamp.’”
*Phys.org. New species of crocodile discovered in museum collections. 25 Sept 2019. https://phys.org/news/2019-09-species-crocodile-museum.html Accessed September 25, 2019.
**Just a grammar note here: “who seem to have untrained eyes” is the object of the preposition of. The use of whom in that sentence would be incorrect, but notice that in this very sentence whom by itself is the object of the preposition. In the essay’s paragraph, the subject of the verb seem is who.
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