Chapter 12: The Madness Gene

In chapter twelve, Kolbert explains the extinction of the neanderthals and the factors that could’ve led up to it. The Neander Valley is in Germany and it is an attraction where visitors can see how the neanderthals lived.  Tools and bones have been discovered all across the Middle East and Europe. They lived through cold climates until their sudden extinction thirty thousand years ago. There were theories about why this happened such as climate change or disease. The author believes that humans were the cause of the demise of the neanderthals. She meets Svante Pääbo who studies ancient genetics. When the bones of the neanderthals were first discovered, they were disregarded because it was believed that they were just human bones. “The bones, they said, belonged to an ordinary person. One theory held that it was a cossack who had wandered into the region in the tumult following the Napoleonic Wars. The reason the bones looked odd- Neanderthal femurs are distinctly bowed-- was that the cossack had spent too long on his horse.” (241) This shows how Neanderthals and humans share a great amount of traits due to some shared genes. When humans encountered and bred with the neanderthals, they established a gene mixture continued to transform. This chapter connects to the theme, science is a process. As scientists continued to make observations about the differences in the bone structure of humans and neanderthals, it allowed them to understand how neanderthals evolved into modern humans. 

 

Chapter 11: The Rhino Gets An Ultrasound

In chapter eleven, Kolbert is at the Cincinnati Zoo where she met Suci, a sumatran rhino. She is part of one of the last five species of rhinos that living and the oldest. Sumatran rhinos once lived abundantly in the Himalayas. This was put to a halt as the forests of southeast Asia were cut down which created a decrease in their habitat. Over the years, the population has continued to diminish. Conservationists from singapore tried to prevent this by capturing forty rhinos and seven were sent to the United States. These efforts weren’t very successful in the beginning. The rhinos that were sent to America were fed hay which is not a good diet for them. This caused four out of the seven to die. Two rhinos were sent to the Cincinnati Zoo and there were many attempts to get a rhino named Emi, pregnant but Suci was born eventually. In this chapter, the author was questioning why oversized animals were going extinct. The book states, “Much more recently, toward the end of the last ice age, jumbo sized animals could be found in pretty much all parts of the world.” To answer her question, she went to Big Bone Lick because during the eighteenth and nineteenth century, bones from different species of animals were sent there. Some theories are that climate change led to the extinction of oversized animals and another was that throughout history, animals are hunted for multiple reasons. This chapter connects to the theme, Human survival depends on developing practices that will achieve sustainable systems. This was evident with the efforts of the singaporean conservationists and the many attempts to impregnate Emi. If humans change their habits, this would protect all different species around us. 

Chapter 10: The New Pangaea

This chapter begins by describing an event where wildlife biologists were getting a bat census in Albany. This was during winter because bats are hibernating in stable caves. When they got there, they were shocked at a peculiar sight. They found dead bats and it looked like they were dunked in talcum powder. The next winter, dead bats were also found with a white powdery substance on them, and it continued to happen in subsequent winters. This powder was concluded to be a fungus that was prominent in the cold. It was called geomyces destructans and it was accidentally imported to America from Europe. This chapter focuses on the transport of animals across continents. Darwin discussed that it is impossible for animals to travel across continents without the help of humans. Naturally, there are some processes that allow certain species to travel, such as fungi being blown through the wind but there are many limits because of land masses like oceans. Kolbert participated in a bat census with Al Hicks, and when they were there, they also found dead bats who had the fungus on them. Once again, chapter ten demonstrates how humans alter natural systems. The transport of  geomyces destructans and animals to different parts of the world affects species negatively. Kolbert states, “As in the high stakes game, two very different things can happen when a new organism shows up. The first, which might be called the empty chamber option, is nothing. Either because the climate is unsuitable, or because the creature can’t find enough to eat, or because it gets eaten itself.” (201) This shows how when animals are brought to different parts of the world, it alters certain ecosystems. A transported animal can either die off, or it can thrive in this new part of the world but affect the ecosystem.

Chapter 13: The Thing with Feathers

In the last chapter Kolbert goes to the Institute for Conservation Research (ICR) to research the future of preserving endangered animals. Kolbert starts to think of why species have to be endangered and that if humans could destroy so much in the environment they could also protect the environment from their actions. Kolbert starts to focus on the positives that humans are doing. An example being in 1974, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act, which arranged for the protection of animals on the verge of going extinct. Another example being the way Kolbert notices that people are dedicating time and effort to getting certain species to reproduce and save them from extinction. This serves as hope for the future that people can somehow prevent or alter events from occurring. Changing the planet's biodiversity will start with the altering of human actions that have become normalized. I personally find that many people chose to disregard what is happening in the world because they are ignorant and do not see constant changes in our environment as a threat.

Chapter 12: The Madness Gene

In this chapter Kolbert addresses the role that homo sapiens may have played in wiping out Neanderthals. Neanderthals were proven to have been a smart species specializing in the making of tools including blades and scrapers made from stone flakes. Some argue that homo sapiens killed off the neanderthal species through interbreeding. Kolbert visits the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany were neanderthal fossils were first discovered. In analyzing the fossils scientists were able to see distinctions in bone structure revealing that they belonged to a different species than Homo Sapiens. Neanderthals were at first thought to be uncivilized creatures but after World War II scientists concluded that Neanderthals were not slouchy and hairy but in fact shared close resemblance to that of Homo Sapiens. Through DNA it is shown that Neanderthals could possibly shape the genetics of many modern humans.The theory of evolution is that humans first lived in Africa 200 million years ago and migrated across the globe to Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia. This theory is known as “Out of Africa.” A relevant theme is human survival depends on developing practices that will achieve sustainable systems since what makes homo sapiens themselves is deemed the way they interact with one another. Homo Sapiens have proven to be very intelligent as far as evolution goes and in comparison to Neanderthals. 

Chapter 11: The Rhino gets and Ultrasound

In chapter 11 Kolbert visits the Sumatran rhinoceros named Suci,  one of only five rhino species left on the planet. rhinos were once very common throughout the world, but after the 20th century, rhinos began to go extinct. a conservation group decided to send a small number of Sumatran rhinos to American zoos in hopes of perpetuating the species in captivity. However, five of these rhinos died almost immediately, thanks to a disease spread by flies which is due to the exportation of them to other environments. Kolbert questions why so many large animals are going extinct, which is why she travels to a famous fossil site, Big Bone Lick. It was believed by Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin that the ice age had killed off such large animals but other scientists argued it was the introduction of humans were responsible for the extinction of large animals. This relates to the them Humans have had an impact on the environment for millions of years because according to Jared Diamond and his observations (pg. 231) he brings up the point that “Australian giants had survived innumerable droughts in their tens of millions of years… and then have chosen to drop dead almost simultaneously precisely and coincidentally when the first humans arrived.” This indicates that the arrival of humans makes it look sketchy that these animals would be wiped off the face of the earth after adapting to tough climates. 

Chapter 10:The New Pangea

In this chapter like the golden frogs from Chapter One, the bats are dying off at an alarming rate due to a new toxin. When looking at the dead bats in New York, they saw that each of them had a white nose which scientists found to be an imported psychrophile which is a type of fungus. This is similar to the case of the golden frogs as humans have shown to be the main reason why it is traveling so fast due to trade. Darwin could not understand exactly how animals were able to travel without the aid of humans long ago. This thought later leads to  Alfred Wegener breakthrough as he established the theory of “continental drift” which means that continents were unified into the supercontinent Pangea. The present day transportation of animals from continent to continent means that these animals must adapt to new environments quickly. A theory as to why some animals are able to adapt in a new environment is referred to as “enemy release.” This is when “A species has been transported to a new spot, especially on a new continent, has left may of its rivals and predators behind.” This has to do with the theme technology and population growth have enabled humans to increase both the rate and scale of their impact on the environment since this can also cause a change in an environments original food chain.