Winter Management

The NYT’s Natalie Angier is one of my favourite popular science writers. Her stuff…

by Andrew Potter on Tuesday, December 14, 2010 12:06pm - 11 Comments

The NYT’s Natalie Angier is one of my favourite popular science writers. Her stuff is always interesting and she has a really fun writing style. Today she profiles the muskox, and its particular genius for survival:

With their stubby legs, musk oxen are not migratory like caribou or great dashers like reindeer. Their basic approach to winter management is: Don’t just do something — stand there. “You’ll see them in a big storm, drifted over, covered with snow,” said Dr. Lawler. “They’re almost part of the scenery.”

Meanwhile, here’s an old HWW profile:

 

Tags:

Bookmark and Share
  • Emily

    'Don’t just do something — stand there'

    Good grief….we have a muskox govt!

  • Guest

    I mean really, why NOT contact the Canadian Wildlife Service in Ottawa?

    lol

    • andrew potter

      I always loved that line.

  • CAPS

    Those Hinterland Who's who moments were always great. Like this classic:

    [youtube _fzURXpftMo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fzURXpftMo youtube]

    • Leo

      OMG that made me laugh – they should run it in the DTES but then BCCL and Pivot Legal will claim it violates their Charter of Rights, lol!!!

    • Sigh

      Brilliant

  • bergkamp

    "Their basic approach to winter management is: Don’t just do something — stand there. “You’ll see them in a big storm, drifted over, covered with snow,” said Dr. Lawler. “They’re almost part of the scenery.”

    I watched that popular penguin documentary a couple years ago and remember thinking same thing about penguins. It must be diabolical to be those animals, stand there in cold for months on end.

    I hope to never be reincarnated as a penguin or a muskox, I have to say.

    • Sigh

      Having stood waiting for a bus in 30 below weather, I have sometimes wished I were a muskox.

  • madeyoulook

    Their basic approach to winter management is: Don’t just do something — stand there. “You’ll see them in a big storm, drifted over, covered with snow,” said Dr. Lawler. “They’re almost part of the scenery.”

    That sounds a lot like Highway 402 motorists in Southwestern Ontario this week.

  • Guest

    <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/e/f_3m0_vKTUw"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/e/f_3m0_vKTUw&quot; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

  • Guest

    Oops. Guess I did it wrong up there…

    [youtube f_3m0_vKTUw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_3m0_vKTUw youtube]

From Macleans