Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Black Mambas tongue flicks into Jacobson's pouch on the roof of the black mouth and
tastes air molecules
At the other extreme was the justification for killing and slaughtering of bought Nguni cattle
once a week to feed “us:” the hospital patients and staff with meat. Despite having watched the
dissection of slaughtered animals a few times, and finding the organs interesting but the
practices still disconcerting, the dissection of human anatomy under Professor Tobias was
always disquieting until one got into the “flow” of concentrating on the anatomy. That part, the
intricacies and beauty of perfectly made organs, like the heart, never ceases to amaze me. I
helped my father keep records of every .22 blank rounds we used for the slaughter and also
helped with the accounting ledger for the distribution of the meat which was carefully weighed
and billed for; everything was the equivalent of 44 cents per pound. The area in between these
two extremes was more difficult to rationalize for example shooting birds, pheasants and deer
in Sweden. At least birds and hares, and deer in Sweden, were for meat supplementation and
not for trophy purposes, although it cannot be denied there is a certain gratification of being
able to shoot a fast moving bird target on the wing. My cousins and I practiced shooting for
hare as kids by shooting at a hare target that rode down a slope on an iron wire and just like
sporting clays this was fun and entertaining. Hares and birds clearly did not fall into the
category of evil “them,” but neither were they threats to “us” nor was the amount of meat large
but still was an important supplement. Shooting wounded or trapped animals was also not an
issue or for that matter our neighbors shooting lions and leopards that were killing and eating
their Afrikaner cattle (long horned Sanga cattle derived from the Khoi Khoi Cattle of the Cape
and probably related to the African long horn cattle Columbus brought to the Americas); a
clear case of “us” versus “them.” None of this is unlike football coaches encouraging players
to go out and kill “them,” the opposing team, or even going to the extreme of putting bounties
on injuring certain opposing players.
US National Park Injuries from Bears, Quality, and Africa's Elephants:
The Wall Street Journal this week also had a story about deaths and injuries in the US
National Parks. It turns out that about 150 people are killed in the parks every year. In South
Africa this is extremely rare because people are not allowed out of their vehicles unless
accompanied by a game ranger. In the Kruger Park, the deaths I am aware of, all by leopards,
have been when Kruger Park game rangers or employees have been attacked.
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