Monday, October 2, 2017

What a difference a name makes

Great story about snakes on the New Scientist website.

One of the deadliest snakes in Africa turns out to be not what it was assumed. Instead of being an invasive species, it is an new species, one which should be protected.

What a difference a name makes, 24 little
cosmologies.

"New" in this context means new to science, not new to the island. I wonder if a snake didn't just get into this guy's laptop, and rewrite some work, as an evolutionary maneuver.  See, there were plans to eradicate this species because it was invasive on the island. Now, the argument is the snakes should be protected: the cobra-preta is unique on this island. It exists nowhere else. Wouldn't be the first time snakes had a say in a story.





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