“Mates” by John Tangney
DOES WHAT WE LEARN THROUGH OUR RESEARCH TRANSLATE INTO OUR HUMAN BEHAVIOR?
Here is an example…and then you decide.
Research was conducted in Utah because ranchers were concerned that the small herd of Bison, that were placed on Public Land there, were eating up all the forage that the ranchers wanted for their cows. Now to condense it to the findings of the research, this is what they found.
It was not the Bison who were responsible for higher levels of foraging, but the VERY NUMEROUS jackrabbits present. When the ranchers found this out, they came up with the SOLUTION all by themselves. We need to stop killing the Coyotes…they will take care of hunting the jackrabbits.
But did anything change in the behavior toward Coyotes? The answer is NO. And why…..the so called big game hunters wanted to keep killing coyotes for fear they might take one of their deer.
So to what value was all the effort of this research? And who were the “winners” and who were the “losers.”
There were no winners….everyone was the loser…..the ranchers, their cows, the bison, the researchers, the deer, the Coyotes……and those who thought they owned the deer…for theirs is the greatest loss because they have disconnected themselves with the amazing connectedness of life. And by doing so, have lost something precious as a human.
