Redneck biologist Jacques Cousteau

Those are four words I did not think I'd ever see in that configuration.

According to Wikipedia Ted Turner called him "the father of the environmental movement". See, they don't always start out crazy.

Seriously though people used to think it was a good idea to take fish census by dynamiting coral reefs? Did ornithologists ever use shotguns to help with bird censuses? I know now they get a whole bunch of people to watch them and keep a count and extrapolate from there.

Happy Hours: Did ornithologists ever use shotguns to help with bird censuses?

I seem to recall someone using large nets being used to trap bats so they could do a count on bat populations. But I don't remember if the bats were harmed in the process.

Happy Hours: \Seriously though people used to think it was a good idea to take fish census by dynamiting coral reefs? Did ornithologists ever use shotguns to help with bird censuses? I know now they get a whole bunch of people to watch them and keep a count and extrapolate from there.

Early natural history museum used to frequently capture, kill, and preserve specimens for display. So the answer is 'yes, people thought this was a good idea'. The natural history museum in Banff (new window) is an example of this. Inside contains a stuffed, tagged, and displayed example of every critter that lives in Banff National Park. The exhibit hasn't been expanded since the '30s, so the museum itself is a time capsule of environmental and conservation practices. To illustrate how far we've come, an entire hot springs is closed in the Banff townsite to preserve of unique, lefthanded snails (new window) the size of rice grains.

Current fish studies of the sort in the Cousteau video are now generally done unobtrusively by temporarily stunning the fish with electricity and doing pop counts or other studies. It works remarkably well, but there is still the occasional casualty. The heartbreaking thing about the Cousteau video in hindsight is not the fish deaths, but the habitat destruction. It speaks to what a limitless resource reefs once looked like to us, all of 50 years ago.

I couldn't help but think, as they swam over what Cousteau called "a tragic scene" thinking... "WTF, man, YOU CAUSED IT!!!"

Yeah, how did they think this was a good idea, anyway?

Then to top it all off, they yank out a STILL LIVING puffer fish, which has survived an explosion of it's home, to die on a pile of dead fish. Geez... let the poor critter go.

On the plus side, the film crew ate pretty good that night.

dittybopper: tjsands1118:
They're call bunt punt guns and they take down an entire flock at a time

FTFY.

They also work just dandy against graboids:

Interesting and now that I've read the Wiki page I learned that "graboids" is not a term for "gun-grabber" but that they made 4 farking Tremors movies? One was enough for me.

Happy Hours: Interesting and now that I've read the Wiki page I learned that "graboids" is not a term for "gun-grabber" but that they made 4 farking Tremors movies? One was enough for me.

You missed out, buddy. The Tremors movies are among my favorite popcorn-munching monster movies!

Happy Hours: According to Wikipedia Ted Turner called him "the father of the environmental movement". See, they don't always start out crazy.

Seriously though people used to think it was a good idea to take fish census by dynamiting coral reefs? Did ornithologists ever use shotguns to help with bird censuses? I know now they get a whole bunch of people to watch them and keep a count and extrapolate from there.


I believe you are referring to the trusty Winchester Field Guide. It predated the National Geographic, Sibley's, and all those other written guides.

Essentially no they were not used to take a census (I am sure at some point in some form some one used a shot gun to take a bird census), but for the most part what you are thinking of was the use of fire arms to kill birds so that you could take the time to examine them and figure out what species they are. Yes this did have a rather major impact on certain bird populations and there are at least a handful of extinct species that many people point to the use of the Winchester Field Guide as the major contributing factor to their extinction. However many of the sketches and drawings for accuracy purposes ended up using the preserved birds for their drawings to create modern field guides. Additionally the added benefit of binoculars being more readily available reduced the use of fire arms to identify species.


About bats you are thinking of Mist Netting. It consists of a very fine net which the bats are not capable of sensing that they fly into, no they are not injured in the process, that does not mean they enjoy the poking and prodding by researchers that follows.

Mist netting is also common for bird researchers to use on smaller birds, they can then add colored bands to identify individuals in that populations.

Most Bird population studies are done by taking point counts, often along a river because they allow for ease of travel in hard to get places, where many birds nest (the many National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska for example). To collect either it will be done in a boat or else if they want specific habitats they will pull up on shore, and hike a transect, stopping at specific points. Either way the process of collection is relatively the same.
1. Stop everything and sit quietly so the birds become active (usually 2-5 minutes).
2. Record the bird species you hear and see, and number.
3. Many point counts will also have you plot direction from where you are, and distance (usually greater or less than 50m) from you).
4. You make note of the habitat around you.
5. Note any unique things that may be required. For instance if you see an owl or a hawk perched within sight or flying over birds will behave differently and it may be the cause of any unexpected variability.

Due to how birds live and where many of them live you will only see a small number of them, you end up identifying them by song.



Small mammals on the other hand it is not uncommon to use some traps that will kill them to take their populations. The other common methods involve microchips, or toe clipping. And yes toe clipping is exactly what it sounds like.



On to the fish. Fish are very similar to birds in that you will not see the majority of them at any given time in a coral reef, plus you can not rely on sound to identify them. So dynamite would be the easiest method of studying the populations. Now it is kind of frowned upon given how long it takes a reef to form, and the answer for fish populations seems to always come out at "Lots of types of fish, and lots of them."

Tillmaster: Anyone else get the impression that the fart noises were added in post-production? And yes, the poor bloody puffer fish had survived the initial explosion.

And here I thought that the fish actually DID say, "DIE HUMAN!" in a robot voice.

Are you a detective? You should be.

Tillmaster: Silly sod. I meant the first sounds. You know, the ones referenced in the headline.

Oh yeah, those. No, I didn't notice that those sounds were way louder than the rest of the audio at all. You have a keen ear, friend.

not a cuttlefish, moron.

Gamera is Filled with Turtle Meat: Cuttle

Cuttlefish are cute.