With eyes full of wonder, my daughter showed me a delicately deceased dragonfly which she had found at school. Somehow she managed to bring it back home, unbroken, using a Tupperware from her lunchbox. The dragonfly still had the metallic blue tint of complex eyes and we marveled at the complicated latticework of its wings. The first fossilized record of a dragonfly is estimated at 400 million years old, which makes these insects one of the earliest of organisms. Somehow, they have remained largely unchanged since then, so looking at a dragonfly is, in some ways, like glimpsing part of a prehistoric world, and yet new species of dragonfly are still being discovered. It’s amazing isn’t it! They are considered to be one of the deadliest predators, with a success rate of over 95% (according to a study done by the University of Turku in Finland, at least). When compared to lions which are able to make about 25% of their kills, it probably explains why dragonfly evolution hasn’t altered much. What I didn’t know, was that no dragonfly is alike, and the pattern of their wing is unique to each individual, just like fingerprints. The veins are formed as the wings stretch and develop, creating a complex set of geometry that tells the story of each dragonfly’s growth. What ends up is the intricate stained-glass windows of a wing. This got me thinking about other animals which are unique. I remembered a morning spent tracking Elephants with Stuart, as he explained how to point out the direction they were moving by the scuff of their toes. In the talcum-powder-fine dust, we compared the footprint fingerprints of the different Elephants, and how the lines in the sand told the story of each one’s identity. When we came across the herd some time later, they were drinking at a pool formed along the Limpopo. Stuart pointed out the difference between male and female by the shape of their forehead and the slope of their back. He also showed us the unique wearing of tusks and ears that could give each Elephant a first name. But elephants are not the only mammals where specific individuals can be picked out of a herd. The russet squares that cover a Giraffe like a map of ancient islands are also unique in their arrangement. The mascara-black stripes of Zebras are also unique to each individual. Individual Lions can be known by the patterns near their whiskers, or the more obvious wild mane hair for males. Leopards have identifiable rosettes, best recognised around their faces, and the same can be said by the spots on Cheetah. Even the proportions of yellows and reds and blacks on a Crested Barbet are distinctive. The small white polka dots of Guineafowl are also characteristic for each individual. All of this got me thinking further about how we seem to classify our world. When it comes to animals, we seem to feel the need to group them into some sort of a hierarchy – the big five, little five, ugly five. We give significance to some over others based on beauty or rarity. I wonder if things would be different if we perceived each animal as an individual, with their own stories. Dr Ian McCallum wrote about this in one of my favorite poems entitled Wilderness. It was dedicated to the memory of Dr Ian Player, one of those keystone voices of conservation. Part of it goes like this: By whose command were the animals Through groping fingers, One for each hand, Reduced to the big and little five? Have we forgotten That every creature is within us carried by tides of earthly blood and that we named them? I think that when we look to the wilderness as a collective rather than an ecosystem of individuals, the contribution by each and every organism is diminished. If we can appreciate every dragonfly, every guineafowl, every elephant, perhaps their vitality will resonate more. Perhaps seeing the unique faces of our wild spaces will make it more difficult for our world to inflict its terrors on our natural heritage. Perhaps it will enable a kinder outlook, and make the conservation of places like Tuli Wilderness more of a priority. For our own sake.
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ContentSome thoughts about things, sometimes philosophical, sometimes just musings. The world through my eyes... Archives
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