I received an email about Swallows which has been doing the rounds the last few weeks. In my humble opinion though, the interpretation accompanying the photos is more of an emotional, anthropomorphic take on things than a purely factual one.
Although it is positive in that it increases empathy and caring for birds, I think a different and slightly more scientific interpretation might be more likely.
Check out the pictures referred to below with the original caption plus my interpretation and let me know your thoughts! The original text is in italics and my take on it is in normal black font.
Millions of people cried after seeing these pictures throughout America and Europe and even in India. It is said that the photographer sold these pictures for a nominal fee to the most famous newspaper in France. All copies of that newspaper were sold out on the day these pictures were published. And some people think animals don’t have a brain or feelings… Do animals have souls?
It is great that people have been touched by this story – the more people we have in the world who care about birds, the happier I am. But I do think we need to have a good understanding if we want to ensure their survival. If these pictures motivated people to donate money to organizations like BirdLife South Africa, that’s brilliant, but conservationists spend a lot of time studying birds and don’t put human emotions to animal actions, no matter how familiar they may look. If wrongly applied, assuming a human emotion for a bird can cause more damage than good, like well-intentioned people catching fledglings and trying to look after them because they look scared, instead of just leaving them alone for their parents to take care of them.
