[Lekooks] Article from Smithsonian Magazine November 2017

[Harrahy, Elisabeth A]

Thank you, Paula.  Timely.  Yes.  The experts have known this, and have been waiting for it for some time.  Unfortunately, most politicians have not made preparing for it, a priority.  Every year when I teach ecology, and I talk about geographic distribution, dispersal and migration, I talk about the bird flu.  Many of my students have heard of bird flu and associate it with China, someplace very far away.  Of course, I tell them there are many types of bird flu (H1N1 was partly a bird flu), but experts have been worried about a particularly virulent one coming along that will pass person-to-person.  Then I show maps that indicate where some sandhill cranes and other bird species in North America go for part of the year-- to Alaska and over the water to Siberia for seasonal nesting-- the same nesting grounds where cranes and other bird species from China go.  In these areas of Siberia, there can be mixing, and it is quite possible for a bird to bring a bird flu from China back with it, when it returns to North America.  So not really so far away after all.  And that is not counting the human migration part, the effects of which we are witnessing now with this particular caronavirus.

And thank you Kirsten for the David Quammen interview.  He is a fantastic writer.  I have his "Flight of the Iguana" essay collection if anyone wants to borrow it....Of course, that is actually locked up in my office on my campus at the moment...   

Sincerely,
Elisabeth

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Subject: [Lekooks] Article from Smithsonian Magazine November 2017

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Interesting predictive conclusion from an article we are reading in an old Smithsonian Magazine (Nov, 2017)...Paula and Greg