Wild Ones- Bears and Half of Butterflies

So far Wild Ones by Jon Mooallen is very reminiscent in style of The Sixth Extinction. The book is similarly divided into case studies, but has more depth into each and less breadth. Mooallen similarly puts himself into each situation and not only describes the science but also his interactions with the scientists and their history and personalities. The story flows much better and less dense than the previous two reads, and I think would be very accessible to the public.

Many themes seem to be present so far in the book. The first of which seems to be the disconnect between the fantasy we have of animals, and the reality. The first few chapters of the butterfly section haven't delved into this much, but this idea was very prevalent in the intro and the polar bear chapters. It was interesting to see how the cultural views of polar bears has changed from viscous beasts, to cuddly vulnerable creatures. This view seemed to greatly upset the people in the town of Churchill who actually interact with the bears. I like the idea that Mooallen is trying to bridge this disconnect by going to see these species. I also like how the inspiration for this is his daughter. As much as I love the Disney versions of animals (who doesn't love the Lion King) they do seem to glorify certain animals over others. Even educational TV like Animal Planet and Nat Geo seem to sensationalize nature, and in my opinion this has gotten worse over time. I think it is important to get that connection by looking a wild animal in the eye and developing a healthy respect for the animal. I know many people who paint certain predators in a savage light, but that bias is not conductive to understanding the biology of the animal.

Another common theme is charismatic mega fauna. Of course the polar bear is a better spokesperson for climate change over a wolf spider. People have a fascination with animals that they can relate to, mostly mammals and birds. I thought it was interesting that the butterfly seems to "transcend" other insects in this respect. We see butterflies as beautiful and worth saving, but not other "creepy-crawlers." Most people wouldn't bat an eye at the extinction of most insects, but the lose of the polar bear would be seen as a tragedy. It's hard to get past this inherent bias in us, and I'm not sure how we as conservationists can overcome this in the public sphere. I like that we can use a charismatic megafauna to attack a broader issue, but as Mooallen suggests, the media has been oversaturated with polar bears and the message is getting lost. I think using multiple species as examples and not just the classic polar bear could help with this, but still it might not be enough.

A third theme that seems to be common in this book is the idea that these animals can no longer exist without human intervention. This has created a lot of cynicism in some of the scientists trying to help. One of the lepidopterists. Powell, has gone so far as to say "what is the point." It is disheartening to know that the butterflies can't exist unless we continuously and artificially alter the landscape, and the polar bears cannot exist without the possibility of supplemental feeding. This reminds me of the phrase "you are alive but are you really living." Yes the species still exists but are they really living. This was an idea that was hard for me to grapple with. I don't want to see these species go extinct, but it sad to think that they would be completely dependent on humans.

A final thing that struck me in the book was the fact that many of the people who love the polar bears the most, were climate deniers. I couldn't understand this. How can you deny the thing that is causing the extinction of a species you claim to love. I enjoyed that Mooallen referred back to the mammoth story we read about in The Sixth Extinction. Extinction is a hard thing to grasp and it is hard to believe that these species could possibly cease to exist.