collecting and learning

[Michael Gochfeld]

I collected (shamelessly) lots of wildlife, vertebrate and invertebrate, 
live and dead (squished or badly stuffed). I learned a lot and used my 
terraria and aquaria to teach kids in summer camps.  Perhaps I didn't 
need to pick up 18 Red Efts one rainy afternoon, but to watch 18 kids 
enraptured by these creatures must have been worth something. .    I 
worry that kids aren't allowed to have a pet toad or snake or 
what-have-you (unless of course it is some costly exotic which they 
aren't likely to find around their homes).  Of course, the land around 
homes isn't what it used to be either.  And kids can always learn about 
butterflies virtually.  I keep explaining to my mother in law that the 
world isn't ever going to be like it used to be, when she tells me that 
the world isn't like it used to be.

Teaching others and building a constituency for the natural world (which 
has to include both the pros- and the antis,  staves off the inevitable.

MIKE GOCHFELD
\

Patrick Foley wrote:

> Phil,
>
> It is surely wise to respect the lives of any creature, butterflies 
> and moths included. Nonetheless, all animals live on the lives of 
> creatures they eat. Even vegetarians depend on widespread disruption 
> of natural habitats (I'm talking about farms compared to forests and 
> grasslands) which leads to the deaths of many insects for every meal 
> you eat. As every lepster is happy to point out, cars take more leps 
> than even the most diligent butterfly collectors.
>
> It is theoretically possible to live a life where very little harm is 
> done (consider the Jains of India), but impossible in practice. I 
> would aim at getting the most knowledge, wisdom and experience (which 
> is where humans can hope to shine) out of the tiny lives we inevitably 
> shorten.
>
> The reason scientific collecting may be somewhat more justifiable than 
> "recreational" collecting is that the knowledge accumulated can be 
> longer-lasting and more wide-spread. But there is often no clear 
> distinction. Many recreational collectors pass their collections on to 
> insect museums. Recreationalists pass their data and ideas on to 
> scientists through forums such as this. And most insect researchers 
> start off as "recreational" collectors.
>
> Ultimately, the main reason that mammals, birds, reptiles and 
> amphibians are no longer automatically collected for University 
> "ology" courses is the increase in human population and the heavy toll 
> such collections could make on vertebrate populations (there are of 
> course other reasons also: legal, financial, the satisfaction of 
> vertebrate care and use protocols, and the diminished influence of 
> taxonomists compared to ecologists and ethologists in academic 
> vertebrate research).. We still tend to make collections in Entomology 
> and Plant taxonomy for standard courses, mainly because the population 
> sizes tend to be higher. It is very rare indeed that insect collectors 
> substantially affect insect populations.
>
> I don't consider this argument to be a clear and closed case. I spend 
> hours each year arguing this stuff out with my children, two of whom 
> are very vegetarian and with my wife who collects lots of ticks and 
> fleas as a veterinary epidemiologist, but can hardly bear to see me 
> collect a bumblebee (halictids don't bother her as much) or a 
> butterfly. It is good that we care so much about these creatures. But 
> it is good to get some perspective.
>
> Patrick Foley
> patfoley at csus.edu
>
> Phil Cross wrote:
>
>> I am not a lepidopterist. I joined the list to help my 7 year old
>> grandson, who is a keen naturalist, and have sugared for moths, and
>> enjoyed their beauty in situ and in photographs I have taken.
>>
>> I have read the recent correspondence with interest, and felt impelled
>> to offer my opinion, for what it is worth.
>>
>> Killing wild creatures for a hobbyist collection is abhorrent to me; a
>> frivolous waste of beautiful life. I can see scientific study may
>> require dead specimens, but I can't see how otherwise it can be
>> justified. Why should it be different from the study of birds, for
>> example? I don't think there are any collectors of dead birds any
>> longer, and egg collectors are now punished by law.
>>
>> Just my humble opinion, but I shall continue only to photograph and
>> enjoy these wild creatures alive. Regards, Phil.
>>  
>>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:
>
>   http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl
>


 
 ------------------------------------------------------------ 

   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:

   http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl