We looked at one of Heinrich's books, focused on ravens, 11 months ago. This is a general collection of his writings on a wide array of biological subjects, spanning decades. There's a section each for plants, insects, birds, mammals, and what he titles "strategies for life", which is about larger evolutionary trends. I'm used to biologists not necessarily staying tied to a single taxonomic group - one of my professors studied rabbits, flying squirrels and snakes - but I feel they usually tend to stay within a biological class.
The essays are casually written and straightforward. These were not experimental results written up for peer review, although Heinrich does describe some different studies he conducted at one time or another. The tests to see if ravens and crows possess insight, and whether it's inherent to the species, or only certain individuals. Or about studies to determine how bee colonies regulate temperature to avoid either freezing or overheating.
Some of the others are more philosophical. Heinrich ruminating on why almost all the plants in his garden with vines spiral counter-clockwise up whatever surface they're climbing if the encounter and obstacle, and how DNA could appear to spiral the same way, and why that would be. Or about the connection humans feel with predators when we see them hunting down prey in the wild as our ancestors did. Which then segued into a whole thing about how those same skills our ancestors used in hunting are carried forward in games and sports, the possible limits on how far the human body can go.
He adds a postscript to that one that many of the recent (80s into early 2000s) record-setters turned out to be on performance-enhancing drugs, and that's not what he was referring to. But really, isn't that human ingenuity to look for any edge also a part of those same ancestral hunting instincts? At some point, early humans figured out a sharp stick or rock would be more effective against an animal that blunt teeth and stubby nails. Better hunting through science.
'Although heavily armed against bee stings, the hornets are not immune to the lethal effects of overheating, which the honeybees have exploited as a defense. At strong hives, the hornets may first be grabbed and held by several bee defenders, and the two hundred to three hundred bees will cluster tightly around the attacker.'
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