Mingo:
The funny thing is that we have a column running in this same issue that
lists two major species, whereas the feature I was reading when I sent that
out designated four "types." That is probably a function of hunting
conditions and horn mass creating a different hunting experience/trophy
type: apparently the desert bighorn ram has very large horns for its body
weight. Some hunters care about that shit quite a lot, and I suppose there
are worse things they could be doing with their time and money (e.g., world
domination . . . I guess).
Yeah, I'm a bit burned out on Wikipedia: the rules about what they will
accept are so freakin' arbitrary sometimes. I don't think I ever got over
them deleting my Keith quote in Susan Crawford's entry: the editor who did
that suggested that (1) it might embarrass her, and (2) even if she was cool
with what I'd written (and she was) it wasn't up to the subject of a
Wikipedia article to determine what should and should not be in an article
about him or her.
Which, of course, was shorthand for "I don't like it on an aesthetic basis,
and I've been editing here longer than you, so I outrank you." Naturally,
there are other incidents of this type: there is a huge bias over there for
information that has appeared in print, vs. online, so in order to win
arguments one must be willing to go to the library and spend hours looking
up ancient, out-of-print periodicals and books, and then persuading the
senior editors to do the same.
And, yeah: I made a joke out of my Wiki-burnout. Then you went in with your
firetongs, and tried to pick the butterfly up by its wings . . . very
distressing, Domingo ;)
Thanks for the sheep data; that's the kind of thing I used to keep above my
desk when I was last copy-editing Hunting. It took me the longest time to
"get" that black bears aren't necessarily black, and brown bears aren't
necessarily brown, and grizzlies are just brown bears with a particular
"look" to their coat. Some of the nomenclature just doesn't make sense.
I go now to renew my understanding of the relationship between American deer
species (primarily whitetails and mulies) and the European reindeer that is
only hunted by the upper-crrrrust over there . . .
Namaste, Baby,
J
On Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Domingo Zungri <kdzungri_at_comcast.net>wrote:
> Joy:
>
> According to the National Geographic Society's "Wild Animals of North
> America" (1979), there are two species of wild sheep in North America: *Ovis
> dalli,* Dall's Sheep, and *Ovis canadensis,* the Bighorn Sheep. Stone's
> Sheep is a subspecies of Dall's Sheep, and Desert Bighorns are a subspecies
> of Bighorn.
>
> The same source also states that Polar Bears and Brown Bears have mated in
> zoos and produced fertile offspring, confirming that they are closely
> related.
>
> The Wikipedia entries on these animals seem perfectly adequate and
> accurate, BTW. Is this a case of "I don't join any club that would accept me
> as a member," perhaps?
>
> I like to think of Wikipedia sort of as the Hebrew National of Internet
> Information: They act like they have to answer to a Higher Authority.
>
> --Domingo
>
> P.S. If you really are back working at a magazine, then this information is
> probably too late for your deadline. Sorry; but I suppose you get what you
> pay for.
>
>
> --- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_yahoogroups.com<OliveStarlightOrchestra%40yahoogroups.com>,
> Joy McCann <joy.mccann_at_...> wrote:
> >
> > The way I got the story, there are four main types of North American wild
> > sheep: Dall, Stone, Rocky Mountain Bighorn, and Desert Bighorn. However,
> the
> > Desert Bighorns are actually several subspecies of Rocky Mountain
> Bighorn,
> > IIRC.
> >
> > And, no: I don't trust the folks at Wikipedia. Do you know what kinds of
> > people write at Wikipedia? Like laws and sausages, Bay-bee.
> >
> > And is it true that Polar Bears can mate with Brown bears and produce
> > fertile offspring?
> >
> > Yeah; I'm back at Hunting. And I'm rusty.
> >
> > --Joy
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>
>
>
--
Joy M. McCann
Goddess of Ink and Paper
(But pixels obey me, too.)
Mistress of proofreading, fact-checking,
Line-editing, and copyediting
Copy Write Editorial Services
818/429-9806
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Received on 2009-03-15 11:42:55