Tuesday, Aug 27

Dear Reader,

Jane Goodall, the famed chimp researcher, broke a lot of rules when she went to Africa to live with the animals she was studying. She had no scientific degree. She gave names to the chimpanzees (considered a no-no in scientific circles). But what she learned changed what we understood about these animals.

Some of the thinking behind traditional conservation is being challenged again by researchers arguing that it’s not enough to simply help prevent the extinction of a species. Caring for individual animals matters, too. It’s called “compassionate conservation,” and a couple of whale researchers proposing it say that our ability to successfully protect a species hinges in part on our capacity to understand, relate to, and know individual animals and their histories, according to a story from Sierra Club. These researchers are following the lives of specific whales, noting whether they seem underweight, have evidence of ship strikes, or are tangled in fishing gear. Noticing the struggles of these individual whales, rather than the overall well-being of a specific species, isn’t sentimentality, they say. “Personal knowledge of particular whales,” said one of the researchers, “is essential to the study of behavioral ecology.”

Bluedot contributor Jorge Rodriques brought us a similar story from Guatemala, where a researcher realized that inviting local communities to get involved in conservation was more likely to lead to success. “School-taught classic conservation methodology focused on keeping landscapes pristine and devoid of human influence,” Rodriques wrote. “In the field, however, it was clear that conservation could benefit from the participation of local people.”

What’s clear from all of these examples is that the best scientists are open to new approaches to conservation.

Open-mindedly,

Dot