So, the people of South America domesticated Amaranth.
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So, the people of South America domesticated Amaranth. But, then this already human-adapted plant was spread by birds over the ocean to Africa and Greece and even India.
No wonder humans have such big heads. You find a new plant and it just sort of "fits" into your farming and living habits. (because other people you know nothing about have shaped it.)
I guess this happens for animals too, like bees and butterflies. So maybe it doesn't explain human hubris as much as I think.
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So, the people of South America domesticated Amaranth. But, then this already human-adapted plant was spread by birds over the ocean to Africa and Greece and even India.
No wonder humans have such big heads. You find a new plant and it just sort of "fits" into your farming and living habits. (because other people you know nothing about have shaped it.)
I guess this happens for animals too, like bees and butterflies. So maybe it doesn't explain human hubris as much as I think.
@futurebird 1/2 Do you have a source for the bird hypothesis? Because if that were the case, we would be teaching people the wrong stuff in our cultural heritage centre in France.
Here, Amaranthus cruentus is one of the oldest traditional food plants, anchored in folklore and even a day of the French Revolution calendar. The oldest written source is from 1544. We teach the introduction by colonisers who also brought plants to Africa. Plus a possible introduction by trade routes from Asia. We
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@futurebird 1/2 Do you have a source for the bird hypothesis? Because if that were the case, we would be teaching people the wrong stuff in our cultural heritage centre in France.
Here, Amaranthus cruentus is one of the oldest traditional food plants, anchored in folklore and even a day of the French Revolution calendar. The oldest written source is from 1544. We teach the introduction by colonisers who also brought plants to Africa. Plus a possible introduction by trade routes from Asia. We@futurebird 2/2 have also wild native amaranthus species: https://www.sauvagesdupoitou.com/rech/vous?p=31 so a parallel development could be a hypothesis (genetics had to prove it).
But the combination of the written evidence and the dates of colonialism speak more in favour of the plundering variant (or seeds in boots/material). We have not yet been able to find any evidence before Columbus.
Why could birds have started their work in the 16th century?
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So, the people of South America domesticated Amaranth. But, then this already human-adapted plant was spread by birds over the ocean to Africa and Greece and even India.
No wonder humans have such big heads. You find a new plant and it just sort of "fits" into your farming and living habits. (because other people you know nothing about have shaped it.)
I guess this happens for animals too, like bees and butterflies. So maybe it doesn't explain human hubris as much as I think.
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@futurebird 2/2 have also wild native amaranthus species: https://www.sauvagesdupoitou.com/rech/vous?p=31 so a parallel development could be a hypothesis (genetics had to prove it).
But the combination of the written evidence and the dates of colonialism speak more in favour of the plundering variant (or seeds in boots/material). We have not yet been able to find any evidence before Columbus.
Why could birds have started their work in the 16th century?
I watched a youTube video that I'll try to dig up again. She did mention that there was still some controversy over this. I'm totally not the expert.
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I'm rereading The Voyage of The Beagle.
Where he reaches New Zealand and finds a typical English farm, with pigs and cows, barley and wheat.
With "every fruit and vegetable which England produces". Among which he includes … potatoes.
@EricLawton The 19th century was a high of colonialism and collecting seeds, fruits, plants, and animals around the globe.
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@EricLawton The 19th century was a high of colonialism and collecting seeds, fruits, plants, and animals around the globe.
Like pokemon. I really think that if a species was named in that period and never really studied or well described it ought to be fair game to get a new binomial.
There ought to be a little more than being "first" to getting to name living things.
Specifically? There should be at least one behavioral paper written from *observations* of the creature where that author chooses to use the name again. Ideally there should also be a local history paper too.
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F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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Like pokemon. I really think that if a species was named in that period and never really studied or well described it ought to be fair game to get a new binomial.
There ought to be a little more than being "first" to getting to name living things.
Specifically? There should be at least one behavioral paper written from *observations* of the creature where that author chooses to use the name again. Ideally there should also be a local history paper too.
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I agree.
Though name changes for us old, occasional naturalist are confusing.
I took me a while to get used to the name change from Composite to Aster.
@EricLawton @NatureMC Well the point would be that this applies to names used for the holotype and little else.
