I do not see enough scientific value in this endeavor to justify the potential conservation harm. Bush meat is a serious conservation concern in substantial parts of the tropics. For a person from a wealthy country to encourage this practice for the sake of what is admitted to be play rather than a serious scientific endeavor seems to me to be unethical. The scientific questions mentioned could be addressed much more directly with experiments involving particular species that are not threatened and are not regular parts of the bush meat trade. Of course, to design such experiments, a person would need to be knowledgeable enough about the species involved and their ecology to know what he or she was doing.
Jared Diamond has addressed the matter of consumption of the flesh of bird specimens collected for science (only the skins and skeletons were normally preserved for scientific purposes) and their relative palatability in his works on New Guinea ornithology. He mentions in those discussions whether his New Guinean native assistants regularly ate particular birds or not, and the reasons they gave him. Perhaps the investigator could begin her studies by investigating what is already known in this area. What this "investigation" sounds like is simply a desire on the part of the "investigator" to collect gastronomic trophies. Please don't. David McNeely ---- "Clara B. Jones" <[email protected]> wrote: > Ecolog-l-ers: > 1. ...several individuals have posted me asking to share more about why i > want to sample "bushmeat"... > 2. ...there's really no reason not to be open w this project [intended to > be fun, anecdotal, and a type of "sciency" play for me]... > 3. ...the primary thing i'd like to get some sense of is whether qualities > of the aftertastes [and associated physical after-effects] of terrestrial > folivores and/or primarily folivorous animals correlate in any manner with > preferences of the animals as prey... > 4. ...however i go about this, there will be many problems related to > reliability & validity that i will not be in a position to [nor, > particularly, interested in] control [variation of all sorts, e.g., > gustatory variations, chemical defense, and, sebaceous gland, variations, & > in humans, cooking & other culinary treatments, etc, etc]... > 5. ...nonetheless, though this project is"fishing", it's something i've > wanted to do for a long time... > 6. ...obviously, i can begin with folivorous taxa i've already tasted [a > few in No Am*, a few in Central America*]... > 7. ...based upon 1 of my studies + interviews + observation, etc, in the > tropics over some period of *T*, frugivores &/or non-folivorous herbivores > are preferred tissue [as one would expect, i suppose]...[e.g., frugivorous > spider monkeys preferred to folivorous howler monkeys; many animal tissues > preferred to opossums] > 8. ...the literature i've perused so far [v interesting stuff by Tom Kunz] > basically rules out volant taxa [birds, bats]...in the US... > 9. ...among terrestrial taxa in the US, i would guess that some spp of rats > & snakes [& numerous insects] are folivores or, predominantly, folivorous... > 10. ...however, on balance, i do not know what they might be nor would i > know whether they are common or, whether the snakes might be poisonous but > edible... > 11. ...directly related to the above, for quite some time, i've been > interested in what, if any, adaptive significance [rather than simply > byproduct effects] "gaminess" may be all about; though, i haven't looked at > the literature to see what is already stated on this topic... > 12. ...because, for me, at present, this exercise is equivalent to "play" > [an aside to other things], i am only hoping to generate some ideas, maybe > a few serious questions, maybe thoughts about rigorous research designs... > 13. ...i am aware that there are many scientific and commercial studies > related to my exercise...both in the field [e.g., Paul Garber's work w > monkeys], in the lab [e.g., John Garcia's work w rats], and in industry > [e.g., "taste tests"]... > 12. ...if any of this interests any of you, please do not hesitate to > contact me...best, clara > > *...as a granddaughter and daughter of 3 gourmands, as a field worker, as a > traveler, as a relative & friend of many serious hunters & fishermen, as > well as, as a serious home cook, i have more experience than average with a > relatively wide range of capture [e.g., some trapping], preparations, and > foods, themselves [e.g., exotic produce & meat, eggs, entrails, wild > foraging, etc]...i severely qualify these statements knowing, and, > acknowledging, that many of you have, not only, more, and a wider range of, > examples & experiences than i, but that, many of you have, no doubt, > sampled a much wider range of exotic organisms than have i and on many more > continents...i understand that, in the domain of "wild" foods, there are > "lifers" as well as in birding... > > -- > Clara B. Jones > Director > Mammals and Phenogroups (MaPs) > Blog: http://vertebratesocialbehavior.blogspot.com > Twitter: http://twitter.com/cbjones1943 > Cell: -828-279-4429 > Brief CV: > http://vertebratesocialbehavior.blogspot.com/2012/10/clara-b-jones-brief-cv.html > > > "Where no estimate of error of any kind can be made, generalizations about > populations from sample data are worthless." Ferguson, 1959 -- David McNeely
