The Collective Picture

Humanity has always been intrigued by the strange and exotic, a trip into Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ showcases this fascination with the unexplored ’savage’ lands that fueled the colonial era. Exhibits displaying individuals from indigenous cultures, such as the ‘Negro Village’ at the 1878 Paris World fair, highlights this history of gawking at the proverbial ‘other’. It is this showcasing of the ‘other’ that has, in the past, left me unsettled by displays of animals and the zoo experience. As much as I relish the ability to see animals that would otherwise be unknown to me I am quick to feel unnerved by concerns over quality of life.

Many zoos have faced criticism regarding this, such as the Calgary zoo, which is having its practices reviewed because of these concerns. Despite these problems zoos, at least the well-managed ones that emphasize research and advocacy, play an important role in furthering our understanding of and ultimate ability to preserve animal populations. As habitat loss, poaching and pollution wage winning battles of destruction on animal populations our best efforts to preserve a species often relies on the use of protective custody. With the world giant panda population at an estimated 1,600 U.S. born pandas Mei Lan and Tai Shan have left their homes at zoos in America to assist in China’s breeding programs.

Washington Zoo’s Farewell Cake for Panda Tai Shan

Aside from creating globe trotting animals to ward off extinction zoos are also collecting and preserving DNA. Scientists at the San Diego Zoo are preserving the genetic material of a growing number of species, creating what has been dubbed the ‘frozen zoo.’ This term brings to mind some sci-fi B flick that centers on an apocalyptic future where children view animals as stored test tube offspring. But the reality is far less mad scientist, using DNA to clone endangered animals that are then ‘mothered’ by a genetically similar surrogate, but this approach has its limitations. The potential that this frozen zoo has to restock the earth’s animal populations rests on the challenge of creating and maintaining natural spaces for these species to have their second chance. Even scientists involved in this project are quick to acknowledge that despite the potential that this work creates it does not outweigh the importance of preventative measures, such as preserving habitat. So as scientists work on collecting and preserving banks of DNA, the rest of us must ready for a future, ideally building a world where animals like the giant panda do not need to rely on captivity and surrogacy for their survival.

Central Park – feeding hippo. George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress). No date recorded on caption card.

Zoo feeding. Paul Martin (1864-1944)_Collection of National Media Museum

1890. Baby elephant at the zoo. Collection of National Media Museum/Kodak Museum

1899 ca. Group of public school children looking at bears in the National Zoo, Washington, D.C. Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection Library of Congress http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a01568

1900. A zookeeper smokes a pipe while feeding the bears. Lincoln Park Zoo.Part of the Illinois Urban Landscapes Project: www.fieldmuseum.org/urbanlandscapes/

1900. Zebra (probably Grant’s) Lincoln Park Zoo with man in bowler hat and suit feeding it or looking through cage. Brick building behind with arched doorways. Part of the Illinois Urban Landscapes Project: www.fieldmuseum.org/urbanlandscapes/

c1901. The Bear pit, Lincoln Park, Chicago. Detroit Publishing Co. Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a07947

Between 1909 and 1923. Deer at the zoo, National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress) http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/npcc.18934

1925 ca. Baby elephant at Taronga Zoo. by Sam Hood. State Library of New South Wales

1925 Better Ole Club Orchestra at Zoo. National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress) http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/npcc.13289

28 september 1961. Caretaker Jan van Keulen cleans the mouth of a hippopotamus. Nationaal Archief: www.nationaalarchief.nl

Further Reading:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/03/010309080531.htm

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/conservation/science/at_the_zoo/the_frozen_zoo/

Transportation systems form the outline of a city, mapping points of intersection and defining spaces based on these connections. In one sense they appear as very industrialized, dug into the earth, fortified and stabilized with construction and existing as almost dead spaces devoid of natural growth. But nature’s organisms have been building transporting systems long before the inauguration of the London underground in 1863. Researchers in Japan have recently shown that these well designed distribution systems exists not just in ant colonies but also in slime mold. The researchers used the slime mold as the center city and placed pieces of oat around it to represent smaller towns. The mold stretched out to form a tunneled system that best retrieved and distributed the nutrients from the oat. Once the mold had its system set up it resembled the transit system of Tokyo as can be see in these images. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/access/id/55515/name/tero2HR_edited.jpg

The full article can be found here. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/55512/description/Slime_mold_is_master_network_engineer

Congestion continues to plague many urban spaces, a problem which requires increasingly innovative approaches to the idea of transportation. Recognizing that these modes of distribution exist in the very basic structures of life has the potential to inspire better design. The underworld of a subway may seem removed from the cities that they run under but they are the lifeblood of it. At its very core a subway provides the circulation system similar to what exists in our own human bodies, in an insect community and yes even in mold. Life on earth depends on sourcing and distribution and the more efficient and adaptable we are to this the better chances we have of living in sync with our surroundings.

Between 1900 and 1906. City Hall subway station, New York. Detroit Publishing Co. Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a11579

June 8, 1901. Rapid transit construction work at Union Square, New York City, June 8, 1901. Photo copyrighted by Underhill, N.Y.C. Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b11129

Construction du métro, Paris 1902-1910.

c1904. In the subway, New York, N.Y. Detroit Publishing Company Photograph Collection. Library of Congress hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a11582

c1904. Ticket office, City Hall subway station, New York. Detroit Publishing Co. copyright claimant, publisher. Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a11578

Between 1905 and 1945 Senate Subway R.R. Harris & Ewing Collection (Library of Congress). Washington, D.C. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hec.14709

c1912. LaSalle St. Tunnel – looking south from north end of Twin Bore. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Copyright by Wm. M. Christie. Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c28456

Entrance, Berlin. Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Subway fire, breaking through subway roof. George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress). http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.18110

1896. Millennium Underground, the end of the tunnel at Heroes’ square in Budapest, Hungary.

As I enter another long cold winter in Ontario the glistening snow and frigid wind-chill doesn’t just bring to mind the need for a warm drink.  The late onset of snow in December for Southern Ontario set a precursor to the much anticipated but largely disappointing climate talks in Copenhagen. The days of viewing such weather patterns in terms of being thankful for a warm December day and secretly elated for receiving a White Christmas seems to be gone.  Replaced instead by viewing fluxes in weather patterns in terms of emissions and whether or not our eco-foot print was light enough this year. Sadly the new change in how many of us interpret meteorology did not seem to influence world leaders who sat debating environmental protocols as the decade ended. Worse still Canadians were left with the equally frigid sense of international distain as the Albertan oil sands and our failure to be leaders for environmental change were heavily featured during Copenhagen. One wonders how to keep warm this winter with politicians doing little to exact change and the international media portraying Canada as a spoiled first nation leading the world to environmental destruction.

Steeping back from the headlines and looking instead at the potential for change in the future seems to be the only way to approach this topic with any glimpse of optimism.  This New Years I hope for a 2010 that sets the pace of change, not because of some apocalyptic future that the likes of Al Gore has fated us too and not even because I still wish to relive those early days of supposed change promised by Obama, but simply because we can and should do better. Until that time we can at least enjoy the sanctity of freshly fallen show for what it has and maybe someday soon will again symbolize. Not influxes in weather patterns that predict our collective dome but rather the beauty and joy of winter.

1943. Mt. Hood and Timberline Lodge are shown under a blanket of snow during the winter of 1942-1943. The lodge was closed because of war conditions. USFS photo #424587 by George Henderson (not an official USFS photographer). Gelatin silver prints. Gerald W. Williams Collection, Civilian Conservation Corps album. : Oregon State University Libraries.

1940 Mar. Center of town. Woodstock, Vermont. “Snowy night” Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, DC 20540. Call Number: LC-USF34- 053307-D. hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

1910. Union Sq. after storm. Bain News Service,, publisher. George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress). hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Between 1910 and 1915. Toboggan party. George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress). hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.10040

1909. Photograph of the snowplow and Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company Engines 22 and 25 at Warner Station. The Galt Museum & Archives website: www.galtmuseum.com/archives.htm

1901. Stormy day, St. Catherine Street, Montreal, QC. Wm. Notman & Son. McCord Museum. www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/VIEW-3449

January 22, 1905, Image 17. New-York tribune. (New York [N.Y.]). Chronicling America (Library of Congress). chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1905-01-22/ed-…