billions of more years than humans and their "taming nature" foolishness. Nature might have a slight edge over humans' technology.

🦫

I wish the Americans could learn how less can be more.

Over the past several years, scientists have documented the remarkable intellectual abilities of a variety of animals, even beyond cetaceans and primates, including elephants, mollusks like octopuses, various birds, and of course beavers. Maybe it's about time we took a step back and considered that we should be partners with our fellow companions on this planet, leveraging their vast storehouses of natural intelligence. For this partnership to blossom, there would need to be come compromises, like maybe we should stop eating so much meat, and stop despoiling the environment for quick profits.

My friends and I would hike into remote ponds and lakes and sleep overnight in one of the many lean-to's that were constructed by the state EPA for that purpose.
We were at the lean -to on the shore of Peaked Mountain Pond, and could see several beaver lodges in the pond.
After we got there and settled in, a beaver swam right at us from the pond, got close to the shore, turned around, and slapped it's tale hard on the water.
It was very loud; almost like a gun shot. It was the beaver's message that this was it's space, and it didn't like us intruding.
Very impressive!
The whole area was filled with small ponds, meadows, and marshes...a testament to their ability to create and maintain an environment that provide food and shelter for a wide variety of woodland creatures.

I'd have been eaten alive.

You had to cover up and use protective sprays. But, it was worth it.
We once were walking through the woods, and heard movement and a growl about 100 feet from us. We had surprised a sleeping wolf! There were 4 of us, so he wisely decided to grumble and then move off. We were 19-20 yrs old at the time, and a single wolf wouldn't have risked it. We were armed.
Funny thing, we were told there weren't any wolves in that area. We were also told there weren't any moose in that area, so the creature that sounded like a tank crashing through the undergrowth, with hooves thundering must have been an imaginary one.

n/t