Stupid people

And, erm, beetle porn.

Sorry, but I couldn't help myself. Especially because this particular flower included a voyeur... yeah, I know. But at least mine's a harmless hobby.

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You'll have to excuse me while I get on my high horse for a while. It doesn't happen too often, you must admit, so I think you can put up with it for a minute or two.

Today my Google alert for spiders (and shut up, world. It's not so weird to have a Google alert for spiders when you work as a naturalist. No, really. It isn't. And did I say shut up, world already? Well, then.) picked up a story out of the States about a Brown Recluse scare in a part of the country where those particular spiders aren't common (and, in fact, can't survive the winters). I'm not going to link to the actual story because things like this are ephemeral on the web and I really hate going back into my archives and finding broken links. It's not all that important anyway.

You see, it's not the news story that ticked me off. I can understand why people might be worried about spiders that might (but probably don't) cause necrosis when they bite. What made me want to beat the monitor with my forehead was the fact that the story featured a young girl handing out Brown Recluse "information" to people and wishing for a spider-free world because spiders are gross and scary.

Ok, so it wasn't actually even that part that had me considering violence to my father's computer equipment. It was the fact that this girl was being encouraged in her wish to eliminate every spider by her mother.

Yep, that'd be the stupid person I was thinking of. This woman, because of her own fear, was proud that her daughter is scared enough of something to want to get rid of it completely.

Now, anyone who's read this blog more than once knows that I have a fondness for spiders. Believe it or not, though, the offence against all things arachnid wasn't really what was upsetting. It was hearing that in this day and age there are still people out there who would want to destroy a part of an ecosystem because they consider it -- I don't know -- evil?

Hate to break it to you, darling, but that's not the way the world works.

For me, the key part to the word ecosystem is system. Many parts working together, each with its own importance. By the way (and before I go off on a tangent that I don't need to), there's a lot of good information on that answers.com link I just added. If you don't know what an ecosystem is, please read it. It'll save me having to type unnecessary explanations, and if it stops even one person from using the word incorrectly it's worth it.

Bit of a pet peeve, yes. Makes sense, considering the business that I'm in.

It also makes sense considering that my educational background is in mammalian ecology. I spend four years studying interconnectedness in nature, and it still amazes me. No wonder, then, that when I hear someone dismissing a vital part of the system just because they think it's icky I have to wonder if they're blind or just completely moronic. It doesn't take a lot of thinking to realise that everything out there depends on something else. Usually many somethings.

I fully admit that there are things in the natural word that I don't like. Maggots squick me out. I find mosquitoes annoying. I can't touch fish (seriously. It's a little weird, considering how many things I can touch without a second thought, but there you go). I'd be thrilled if the sapsuckers would stop attacking the mountain ash in the back yard. I'm tired of the pigeons who try to nest on my balcony. Do I want to banish any of them from the planet? No, of course not.

Except maybe the pigeons.






Kidding, yes. I just wish they'd find another building to bother.

The point is, get rid of any of those things and you'd find out that you've buggered up the rest of the system. I guarantee it. You might not find out right away how you've messed things up, but you will have. Eliminate the mosquitoes and you eliminate the dragonflies and dozens of other animals that depend on them for food. Destroy the sapsuckers and there wouldn't be hummingbirds this far north (that's one of my favourite examples of interdependence, actually, because people are always pleasantly surprised to hear about it. Things flower relatively late in the spring here, and without sapsucker holes to feed from the hummingbirds probably wouldn't manage). I'm sure there's even a use for pigeons if you look hard enough.

Get rid of spiders and we'd probably all be ass-deep in the insects they normally eat. Well, more or less. You see what I'm getting at, anyway.

Wanting to destroy something because we're scared of it or don't understand it is ignorant, arrogant, and potentially dangerous to the ecosystems that we inhabit (we're not above nature, despite what some religions may teach you. We're a part of the whole thing, as we find out in a panic when we screw something up). Teaching your child to want to destroy something because it somehow validates your own fear is ABSOLUTELY UNFORGIVABLE.

Yes, that needed capitals.

I'm done now. I'll come back later to try to add some actual English grammar to this particular rant, so ignore any mistakes you might notice until then.

Oh, one more thing just because I can. I took this pointless photo yesterday, and in a way it's an odd little postscript to the beetle porn. Not all beetles get a chance to star in happy-beetle photos, as you can see. The spider is, I think, a hammock spider, but I could be wrong. Mammalogist, remember? I studied furry things.

Definitely going now. Beck's on the internet radio, and I've got some serious chair dancing to do.

Happy Canada Day, everyone.