tales from the wild metropolis
The holiday soundtrack, which retailers now begin to cue up before the Thanksgiving dinner plates have been cleared from the table, has a limited playlist. Even though the variety of artists covering these tunes is diverse, it doesn't take long for the music to become little more than background noise. However, there’s one tune that... Continue Reading →
Grab forty winks. Saw logs. For a species that’s habitually short on shut-eye, we humans sure have come up with myriad ways to talk about it. We also spend a lot of time and money studying sleep, or the lack thereof. Yet, in spite of decades of inquiry, researchers still don’t have a good fix... Continue Reading →
Ever wonder why hens’ teeth (and any other kind of avian teeth for that matter) are rare? It’s because teeth are heavy. That’s a problem if you live life on the wing but can’t use a knife and fork to cut your meals up into easy-to-swallow morsels. A bird’s beak (aka bill) is an adaptation... Continue Reading →
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans throw out 34 million tons of food each year—an average of 93 thousand tons per day, and some experts estimate the amount triples on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Food for thought, while making another trip to the garbage can following our national day of feasting. Waste not,... Continue Reading →
Could there be a holiday more representative of the true nature of American culture than Thanksgiving? Considered the least commercial of our national holidays, yet the true theme of the day is consumption. Family, food, and football are all available in quantities large enough to cause a bit of indigestion. Moreover, the entire event is... Continue Reading →
"Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?" With Thanksgiving less than 2 weeks away, that's the question on everyone's lips. Even those who don't have lips, like the barred owl (Strix varia)—a species that seems to be innately, and oddly, curious about kitchen staffing. If these owls had access to cable television I'm sure... Continue Reading →
Sinatra was wrong. I’m sorry Ol’ Blue Eyes, but the line that says if you can make it in a big city you can make it anywhere doesn’t hold true for everyone. For a lot of wild species, especially those who can tolerate living close to human beings, Gotham—and nearly every other town and suburb—has... Continue Reading →
Fright-night is lurking just around the corner. Frankensteins, mummies, zombies, ghosts, and golems will soon leave their lairs to roam freely through our cities and suburbs, searching for something to eat. Butterfingers, Baby Ruths, and brains—oh my! Reanimated but mindless creatures? HA! They don’t scare me. It’s the ones I’m not so sure I could... Continue Reading →
Next-Door Nature 