Rocky the Flying Squirrel鈥� Transforming useless knowledge into essential perspectives
Is studying the natural history of wildlife essential because we need to know more about wildlife or indulgent because we need to do more to protect wildlife given what we already know? Why is wildlife natural history featured so prominently on television and in the media, yet considered to offer few benefits to science or society within the contemporary research landscape? This lecture will focus on the natural history of wildlife, including useless knowledge, essential perspectives, and the connection between the two. Rocky and Bullwinkle will be featured, along with their wild squirrel and moose counterparts, and several other wildlife species. How many spruce cones can a red squirrel hoard? Why do arctic moose and southern bats migrate north for the winter? What is a beaver鈥檚 favourite food? Why can鈥檛 you catch marten and collect beech nuts in the same year? Murray Humphries is an associate professor in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences and holds a NSERC Northern Research Chair.
2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the Food for Thought Lecture series! This year's lectures will bring together experts whose research takes them from the high Arctic to the deep forests, and from the treetops to the soil below. Join us for a look at "Life on Planet Earth 鈥� Natural History at Macdonald."