Autumn Driving is Here!

Fall driving season is here. That means admiring colorful foliage and colliding with frisky deer. The downside: the average car-deer collision auto repair bill is $3,171. On the other hand, you get a heap of fresh venison, for free.

You’re most likely to run into a deer in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. Chances are 1 in 53, much better than the odds at West Virginia casinos. Compare the rates in your state here.

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Image (“Vehicular Venison Sausage, after Disney”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Birth Control Makes Deer Less Horny

“A birth control injection for deer puts them completely out of the mood to mate for up to five years without a booster. GonaCon, as the birth control is called, even eliminates dangerous and destructive courtship behaviors responsible for the autumn increase in collisions between cars and deer.

 The birth control shot is actually a vaccine that causes the deer to produce antibodies against a key hormone, Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which triggers production of sex hormones. GnRH kicks in when days get shorter and triggers many animals from northern latitudes to get feisty for the mating season.”

“Deer Birth Control Could Prevent Collisions,” Tim Wall, DiscoveryNews

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Disposable. Sustainable. Plastic Bottles of Coke.

Q:  What’s full of empty calories, packed in disposable plastic, saves energy, helps Earth’s ecology, and improves the lives of the world’s poor?

A. Coca-Cola in 1.5 liter plastic bottles.

Let Them Eat Carp

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources plans to process tons of fish and donate it to area food banks. The fish: Asian carp, several aggressive, invasive species bent on world domination. They can weigh over 50 pounds and jump 8 feet in the air, knocking over fishermen. They also destroy underwater habitat, vacuum up plankton and algae, crowd out other fish species, and have no natural enemies.

DNR pays commercial fishermen to take Asian carp out of the Illinois River. The result: Asian carp haven’t taken over Lake Michigan yet, and the state has a heap of dead fish, 150 tons in the last year.

Attack of the Plastic Bags!

Disposable plastic bags just sit there, clogging our landfills and oceans, but their manufacturers aren’t so passive. Three of them are suing a reusable bag maker for saying  … that plastic bags clog our landfills and oceans. They claim such talk has ”irreparably harmed” their business.

Deer Birth Control

The permissive state of Maryland will allow use of the deer contraceptive GonaCon by unmarried bucks and does. Prepare for woodland orgies this fall. Nearby, the God-fearing Commonwealth of Virginia relies on a roadkill-maximizing abstinence-only policy. Virginia’s hunters and auto body shops are grateful.

 

Related:

“Roadkill Observation Collection System (ROCS): Phase III Development,” Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University

The Complete Venison Cookbook, by Harold Webster, Jr.

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Rhino Horn

Everyone knows that rhinoceros horn is used as an aphrodisiac in Chinese medicine. There’s just one thing: everybody’s wrong.

“Rhino horn has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) since at least 200 BC and never as an aphrodisiac. It is commonly prescribed as a cardiotonic or antipyretic (relieves fever). The horn from Asian rhino species are believed to be more potent than the African. (The other big black-market use of rhino horn is for the traditional decorative dagger handle or jambiyyas in the Middle East).

The use of rhino horn as an aphrodisiac is not noted in any TCM text. Please, the reality is that most wildlife poaching in Asia is not undertaken for the purposes of alleviating sexual dysfunction.”

 – “Old Myths Never Die: Rhino Horn,” Brendan Moyle, via Sciblogs (link added).

Still, that’s probably little comfort to the rhinos.

Related: “Rhino Horn Use: Fact vs. Fiction, PBS Nature

Image: Rhinoceros, by Albrecht Dürer. Download a copy here.

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City Birds

“Birds breeding in city centres, or “urban adapters” … were found to have larger brains relative to their body size.

Previous studies have highlighted the link between larger brains and behavioural innovation in birds and mammals.

Scientists say this new evidence is the first to show that brain size is a key factor for animals’ survival in urban environments.”

– “Adaptable urban birds have bigger brains,” Ella Davies, BBC Earth News

 Related?:

“Human Facial Expression From the Perspective of a Pigeon,” Kara Rogers, Britannica blog

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Easter — Earth Day Weekend

Earth Day has been observed on April 22nd since 1970.

Easter, the most important feast of the Christian liturgical calendar, occurs on the first Sunday after the Pascal Full Moon and the Vernal Equinox. The Western Church uses the Gregorian Calendar to calculate the date of the Equinox and the holiday; many branches of the Eastern Church use the Julian Calendar, and general observe the Easter holiday a few weeks later. We observe sunshine in Washington today, and plan to spend the afternoon enjoying it. Hope you can, too.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Earth Day Echoes

April 22nd  has been celebrated as Earth Day since 1970. A holiday that raises humankind’s awareness of our responsibility for the natural health of our planet. Sounds good, right?

Not in some ways:

“The 15 Corniest Pro-Environmental Songs,” Stacey Anderson, Rolling Stone

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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