Kingdom of Rarities - Featuring Eric Dinerstein
A cultural shift could save rare species
© Eddy Lee / Flickr.com/lonesomecrow
Why are some creatures rare and others common? What forces – natural and manmade – cause rarity? Eric Dinerstein travels far and wide for answers. He wonders how different the world could be with a few changes: “. . . what if we started caring about rare wildlife with the same intensity as we do about our pet dogs and cats? That’s the thought that gives me hope.” You can learn more in Dinerstein’s book, The Kingdom of Rarities.
BirdNote®
Kingdom of Rarities – Featuring Eric Dinerstein
Interviewed by Chris Peterson
This is BirdNote!
[Calls of male Red Birds-of-paradise]
Why are some creatures rare and others common? What forces – natural and manmade – cause rarity?
Eric Dinerstein, Director of Biodiversity and Wildlife Solutions Program at Resolve, travels the world for answers:
“Some birds, like New Guinea’s Red Bird-of-paradise are rare because their range is so limited. [Calls of male Red Birds-of-paradise]
Others, like the Kirtland’s Warbler of North America, need very specialized breeding habitat.
[Kirtland’s Warbler singing]
The Greater One-horned Rhinoceros of Nepal has become rare from poaching for its horn and from the loss of its preferred feeding areas.
[Baby and female Indian Rhino grunting & thrashing around]
Huge plantations on Brazil’s tropical savannas are pushing out mammals and birds that once roamed there. [pause] Rarity is also caused by human warfare and the ever-increasing number of hungry people.
It sounds pretty bleak, doesn’t it?
But what if we started caring about rare wildlife with the same intensity as we do about our pet dogs and cats? That’s the thought that gives me hope. I feel like we’re on the edge of a cultural shift, where in 20 years, people are going to insist on setting aside land for the well-being of rare creatures. Bhutan and Costa Rica are already showing the way. And every time you tell people why wildlife is important to you, you help prepare the ground for the political will that will save many rare species.”
[Calls of male Red Birds-of-paradise]
Enjoy Eric Dinerstein’s book, The Kingdom of Rarities. Find a link at birdnote.org.
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Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Calls of Red Birds-of-Paradise at a lek [163674] recorded by E. Scholes; the song of a Kirtland’s Warbler [168330] by W.L. Hershberger. Female and baby Indian Rhinoceros [96339] recorded in Nepal by Linda Macaulay.
BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2005-2017 Tune In to Nature.org April 2017 / 2020 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# rarity-01-2013-04-10 rarity-01b
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