Essays about beasts, monsters and nature
New blog post (rather more tongue in cheek than usual): Unicorns used to be fabulous, elusive beasts from the distant corners of the globe depicted on tapestries and the pages of medieval bestiaries. But look around now, and unicorns are nothing if not prolific. You can barely take a step these days without encountering one, figuratively or literally...
It seems like spangled octopuses have a great deal in common with spangled humans: fondling pretty things meditatively, snuggling up to one another and frolicing about unashamedly.
There is rarely a clearer demonstration of the ways in which the depictions of animals are used to give them moral weighing than looking at how a creature has been portrayed before and after its extinction. Especially if the extinction was caused or largely caused by humans. Take the thylacine....
A creative piece, written for the New Networks for Nature magazine out in November
Recently, the government announced that they would be extending badger culls (which have not worked) not only to other 'high risk' areas for bovine TB but also granting licenses in new 'low risk' zones across the UK as well. This is a very complicated issue.
A few weeks ago, one of the winning images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition was ignominiously disqualified. This brings up some interesting questions about truth in nature imagery.
There has been widespread lamentation of the passing of Sudan, the last male northern white rhino. But it was already an extinct species. These magnificent creatures snuffed it a long time ago and few people noticed. Extinction is sneaky.
