Extra Credit Blog (Carl Safina)

On May 13 I attended a zoom event hosted by Professor Haas and Carl Safina. There were many interesting points that Safina mentioned in the zoom that interested me.

Safina talked about how humans constantly ask whether our pets love us. And this question is often centered around humans. I loved this quote that Safina said relating to love: “There is love on earth before us and there is love on earth besides us.” I found this interesting because humans often think that they are the only creature capable of love and emotion on Earth, however animals are perfectly capable of showing love and affection towards each other. Something that I also found interesting is that animals also have culture. I never thought of this concept before and I’ll admit that I thought only humans showed culture. But animals are capable of teaching others and spreading it through generation, and sometimes culture can be different within the same species.

Safina claimed that almost all populations of species are decreasing steadily. However, he was optimistic by giving us examples of species that have recovered significantly through awareness. For example, Safina mentioned in 1970, a New York Time article stated that Peregrine falcon’s extinction was inevitable. However, the population recovered dramatically and are no longer in danger. Similarly, bald eagles were once on the brink of extinction, but the population quadrupled. Another example are the humpback whales which are much more common now compared to the past.