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Index of Subjects Hi Angela, Natural selection is always at work, however, in the case of (say) differential length's of starling beaks, such differences would have to be heritable, and not based on injury or some other pathology, in order for natural selection to act on them in an evolutionary context. There is also social selection at play in the world, and as I'm sure you (being a teacher) know better than I, there are always some individuals who, for a variety of reasons, don't fit into the standard models we have created through our educational system for their upbringing and education. How these might play out in the long term in terms of the evolution of the human mind, I don't think anyone knows fully. A sociologist might have more insights and knowledge about such matters. Best wishes for 2010! Chris On 1-Jan-10, at 1:44 AM, aljoudrey@eastlink.ca wrote: > OK, So allow me to expand... And to play devil's advocate / cop > out. ( I am a school teacher and I am always interested in hearing > EVERYONE'S opinion - regardless of age or assumed wisdom- as this > helps me inform / direct / understand my practice. I am not a > scientist or in anyway pretend to be. HOWEVER, I LOVE to engage > others in conversation about these types of things and listen to > their thoughts. ) > > In our medical, and usually later education model, we allow all > nature of children the opportunity to succeed. We do everything in > our 'nature' to allow success, to measure success, to evaluate > success against what is 'the norm ' ( or previous generation ) > consider success / the norm to be. BUT what if you are a starling > and over time warmer winters mean you need longer beaks to dig > deeper in softer soil / bird feeders/ cones etc... to find food. > How does that compare to what we are doing to children in our school > system? What if we are looking at children as being 'wrong' and > 'against the norm' because they do not pass the provincial norm 0 > which may well be based against a norm with entirely different > factors but they are really evolutions way of taking care of what > needs to be done? of what needs to evolve? It doesn't happen > overnight. but with time. > > ( I understand that I am making jumps in logic, and the writing > style is not precise but I just came back from an incredible walk in > the woods that was fully lit by as full moon with my dog and I feel > like I am on fire with thoughts and ideas!! ) > > Sometimes I feel afraid to write and express thoughts and feelings > on this site, even though I understand that we need to report > sitings and folks may well write to tell me that that is all this > is. But I so love hearing other points of view and this is a great > forum to discuss that need to share, to express opinion and to not > just report what was seen. And that entries can be wordy, but the > ideas can be worthy of greater thought.... > > Thank you for letting me ramble > > > Angela ( in Windsor NS ) > > > > > When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to > the rest of the world. > John Muir > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: john belbin <jbelbin@ns.sympatico.ca> > Date: Friday, January 1, 2010 0:07 am > Subject: [NatureNS] Deformed Starling > To: NatureNS <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca> > > >> I don't know if this is of interest to anyone but in a flock of 60-80 >> Starlings that descended here to feed at noon was one with a grossly >> deformed bill. The beak was about twice as long as normal, thin and >> severely upswept. It looked more like an Avocet bill than something >> on >> a starling. The lower half was distinctly longer than the upper one. >> It didn't seem to slow the bird down from scavenging on my deck, but >> it did use an unusual sweeping motion to gather the food there. It >> also seemed reluctant to put its right foot down, possibly indicating >> another problem with the leg or foot. >> >> I know there are people who gather information on deformities but I >> am >> not sure if this is worth reporting. Does anyone have any more >> information? >> John Belbin - Hantsport
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