DAILY QUICK READ - JULY 16, 2016

Incredible Photos

Incredible wild life photos from The Guardian.  The tragedy is that most of the animals pictured will someday only exist in zoos and game preserves.  They won’t be wild animals any more, just exhibits.

Duck’s and Abstract Thinking

Lots of birds species are considered intelligent, but many are just considered colorful or, in some cases, dinner.  Ducks tend to fall into the dinner category.   Now we discover that they are capable of abstract reasoning. 

You better watch who you're calling "bird brain." A new study in the journal Science suggests that some birds are smarter than we realized.

The study, which was conducted by zoologists Antone Martinho III and Alex Kacelnik at Oxford University, found that newborn ducklings are capable of comprehending complex concepts such as "same" and "different" — abstractions that we typically think are beyond the capacity of most animals.

“The claim that abstract relational thinking is a unique ability of human beings can no longer be supported,” University of Iowa experimental psychologist Edward Wasserman wrote in an accompanying analysis. "Although animals may not be able to speak, studying their behavior may be a suitable substitute for assaying their thoughts, and this in turn may allow us to jettison the stale canard that thought without language is impossible."

The results suggest that ducklings are able to recognize not only shape and color but also sameness and difference — abstract concepts that require a complex understanding of the way things relate to one another. That the objects were in motion makes interpreting these relationships even more difficult.

Salt Lake City for Renewables

Utah is one of the most conservative and staunchly Republican states in the U.S.  So, how is it that the largest city in Utah is committed to 100% renewable power by 2032.  Apparently, climate change denial is concentrated at the top of the Republican Party, not where real people live. 

Mayor Jackie Biskupski and city council members signed a joint resolution Tuesday creating the Climate Positive 2040 commitment. The resolution acknowledges the scientific consensus that climate change is occurring and is driven by the burning of fossil fuels. City officials also stated in the resolution that changes in water systems and extreme-weather events are affecting Salt Lake City now and will be exacerbated in the future, according to North America Wind Power.

"This is the most ambitious step ever taken by Salt Lake City to address the threat of climate change," Biskupski said in a press release. "This commitment places the city among leading communities worldwide that acknowledge our responsibility to rapidly reduce emissions and forge a new path forward that protects our economies, societies and overall human well-being."

Saving Lobsters

Buddhists monks have been getting bad press lately.  The Tiger Temple raids disclosed both inhumane behavior and greed.   So, when a group of Canadian monks decided to save some lobsters from the dinner table it made a bit of a splash.

Venerable Dan, a spokesman for the monks who were involved in the mission, told the CBC that the purpose of the effort was to cultivate compassion for all living beings. Before taking them back out to sea, the monks held a ceremony where they prayed and chanted to the Buddha of compassion.

According to the CBC, local fishermen helped them find a location where the lobsters would be safe from being caught again.

"We respect everyone's dietary choice, so we're not doing this to convert everybody to be vegetarians or vegans," Venerable Dan said. "This whole purpose for us is to cultivate this compassion toward others. It doesn't have to be lobsters, it can be worms, flies, any animals, drive slower so we don't run over little critters on the street."

The effort was an incredibly thoughtful approach towards raising awareness about other beings and how precious their lives are to them, while showing just how easy it is to be compassionate.