Constance Casey, over at Slate.com, has written several articles detailing the lives of a number of less than savory animals. They are wonderful! To date she has written about slugs, vultures, ticks, and jellyfish. Each article gives us, the readers, a closer look at an animal that in general we don’t want to get any closer to than through a bunch of words and pictures. The great thing about each piece that Ms. Casey has written is that they encourage a reconsideration of some of the other living things on this planet. The tick might not be a pleasant creature all and all (especially with the potential spread of lyme disease) but that doesn’t mean that they are not worth our interest and inspection. The reality is that all the different animals that we share the world with currently have come about through millions of years evolution, much like ourselves, and ultimately these creatures are just playing the surviving game.
When I was a kid I had a book (the title of which I cannot remember) that looked at almost all the creatures that Ms. Casey has written about, as well as several other “icky” critters. I loved that book! I honestly think that it did a lot for me to develop a great fascination with pretty much any living thing. So much so that when I found a blackwidow in my room not too long ago I didn’t just freak and squish it but spent several minutes closely observing it, marveling at the beautiful and complex little creature. Then I did squish it, not because I take particular pleasure in killing anything, even spiders, but mostly because I am aware that the little red hourglass indictes the female black widow, and that female spiders are known for laying a good quantity of eggs, which in turn hatch into a bunch of other little spiders (and considering the black widow’s poisonous bite I’m not that eager to have more around, regardless of how interesting I think they are).
This is a message for Nathaniel, who kindly wrote that he enjoyed my Slate pieces about ticks and other creatures people often find revolting.
The book he is thinking of, that he remembers fondly, is Animals Nobody Loves by Ronald Rood from 1971.Rood wrote about, among others, the octopus, rat , flea. and pigs . and wolves. he predicted wolves would be extinct by the year 2000 because people feared and hated them.It’s good we turned that one around. Hey, Nathaniel, thank you. best, connie c.
Connie thank you so much for reminding me the name of that book. It was certainly one of my favorite reads back as a child. Also thank you for your wonderful pieces on Slate. Just a few days back I was mushroom forging with some friends in the woods of SC and one friend found a tick on her jeans. Fortunately none of us ended up being bit by any ticks, but seeing one reminded me of your piece and just how interesting these creatures, which we’d often prefer to avoid, can be. Thanks again, Nathaniel