I watched a fascinating show, today, on the North American Marten, a smallish omnivore that is related to wolverines, skunks, minks, badgers, ferrets, and weasels. The narrator mentioned that the Marten is known as an "indicator species", an animal whose species-health mirrors the health of its ecosystem. The more I thought about this concept, the more intrigued I became about the idea of humans being an indicator species. If beings from another planet came to visit Earth, what would our existence reflect? Just what would other-worldly beings deduce from watching and observing us?
Well, if we were observed this past weekend as an indicator species, the observers would devine that we liked green and yellow, we wore large blocks of cheese on our heads, we screamed while large males slammed against each other.....this after chasing one another, and we regularly waved yellow towels over our heads.
The observers would also see that the section of our country called Hollywood contains humans who preen over themselves in mirrors, embellish themselves in unnatural ways in natural places, collect baubles and bangles that they flaunt shamelessly, make rabbit procreation look like child's play, forget words to important patriotic songs and dance about like puppets on strings. It would be noted that large parts of the earth are covered by either water or snow, that Polar Bears are struggling in their native habitats but the American Bald Eagle is thriving.
They would see that pomp and circumstance is alive and well in Great Britain, that speculation runs rampant regarding ceremonial white dresses, and that commemorative tea cups are in large supply. They would observe large, ocean-going vessels traveling rapidly between Wal-Mart headquarters and China with America imports from Beijing flooding westward but minimal exports traveling east-bound.
As an indicator species, we might communicate to outsiders that while our ecosystem is in jeopardy, we remain blissfully ignorant and disinterested. Perhaps we should take a page out of the Marten's playbook and begin eating squirrels, mice, rabbits, birds, fish, insects, eggs......with the occasional addition of fruit and nuts.
I'm OK with this but I draw the line with ants and cockroaches. No sir.
Ancora imparo
