A Natural Reality.
A natural reality is, that one of the necessities in sustaining life, has long been that fight for survival. The natural and necessary fact of competition with other forms of life, and in some cases even with our own kind, is that only one percent of all creatures that have lived are alive today.
This type of reality of nature was highlighted by an incident involving a young boy and his father. They had a fish tank with several goldfish and some catfish. The father was very knowledgable about all types of wildlife and instructed the young boy on how to cultivate daphnia, which are tiny aquatic crustaceans. The young boy took an empty jam jar and stuffed it with dry grass, banana skin and potato peel, then pored warm water in to fill up the jar.
A suitable place in the garden was found that was shaded from direct sunlight but still in a position that enabled it to benefit from the warmth of the summer time. After a few days, the water in the jar had changed colour and the contents had a very pungent aroma. After some more time had passed the wonder of nature had taken place as the jam jar had become home to thousands of semi transparent daphnia, who have a very distinct way of moving in the water, by using two strong long hair like appendages to jerk through the water in staccato moves.
Some of the daphnia were poured into another container and then into the fish tank. It was at that moment the placid fish had a character transformation into piranha like eating machines, making incredibly short work of the cloud of daphnia. The young boy felt a twinge of guilt for making a home for life and then so quickly bringing about an end, for some of it. Of course in nature the life time of daphnia is comparatively short but that did little to ease the revulsion felt by the young boy.
Prey and predator are hard concepts to take on board. In later life, the former young boy found that even inadvertently treading on a snail caused distress and when it comes to spiders or other insects that invade the home, he went out of his way not to contribute to the boyhood exuberance that had led to his earlier, memorable life lesson.
Funnily enough necessity can be the mother of invention and the boy’s new found approach to sustaining wildlife taught him that all sorts of insects do not have to be crushed or squashed but can be removed by using a simple home made, humane bug catching device. A clear and no longer used plastic tub with a suitable sized card to slip over the entrance of the container became a masterful means to successfully but humanely eradicating many insects, as once the intruder has been captured, it could then released into the garden unharmed.
The human race is nought point nought one of all life but it is in the process of destroying most other living organisms. Life and death are all part of nature and that in turn depends on the environment, varying dominant life forms and what time frame is being looked at, but there is one consistent influence and that is, the need for a competitive edge to thrive and survive.
This type of reality of nature was highlighted by an incident involving a young boy and his father. They had a fish tank with several goldfish and some catfish. The father was very knowledgable about all types of wildlife and instructed the young boy on how to cultivate daphnia, which are tiny aquatic crustaceans. The young boy took an empty jam jar and stuffed it with dry grass, banana skin and potato peel, then pored warm water in to fill up the jar.
A suitable place in the garden was found that was shaded from direct sunlight but still in a position that enabled it to benefit from the warmth of the summer time. After a few days, the water in the jar had changed colour and the contents had a very pungent aroma. After some more time had passed the wonder of nature had taken place as the jam jar had become home to thousands of semi transparent daphnia, who have a very distinct way of moving in the water, by using two strong long hair like appendages to jerk through the water in staccato moves.
Some of the daphnia were poured into another container and then into the fish tank. It was at that moment the placid fish had a character transformation into piranha like eating machines, making incredibly short work of the cloud of daphnia. The young boy felt a twinge of guilt for making a home for life and then so quickly bringing about an end, for some of it. Of course in nature the life time of daphnia is comparatively short but that did little to ease the revulsion felt by the young boy.
Prey and predator are hard concepts to take on board. In later life, the former young boy found that even inadvertently treading on a snail caused distress and when it comes to spiders or other insects that invade the home, he went out of his way not to contribute to the boyhood exuberance that had led to his earlier, memorable life lesson.
Funnily enough necessity can be the mother of invention and the boy’s new found approach to sustaining wildlife taught him that all sorts of insects do not have to be crushed or squashed but can be removed by using a simple home made, humane bug catching device. A clear and no longer used plastic tub with a suitable sized card to slip over the entrance of the container became a masterful means to successfully but humanely eradicating many insects, as once the intruder has been captured, it could then released into the garden unharmed.
The human race is nought point nought one of all life but it is in the process of destroying most other living organisms. Life and death are all part of nature and that in turn depends on the environment, varying dominant life forms and what time frame is being looked at, but there is one consistent influence and that is, the need for a competitive edge to thrive and survive.
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