interestingasfuck

Glad to spread the word! Nature doesn't need help from us to be amazing.

Believe me, I hate being the spoiler, but we don't need to have only negative takeaways.

They still are real photos in a sense. Overabundance of resources is what is being exploited here, so these are still real animals doing real things, just in a way that is unnatural. The wolf and bear are still beautiful animals.

We can use this same "trick" to help us keep extra predators in our rehab clinic. Many of our birds of prey, for example, would live solitary lives and fight off strangers, but we can often share aviaries (of the same species) since with us, food is calculated and delivered so it cuts down that natural competitiveness while they are recovering. We're bending nature's rules to allow us to rehab more animals, not for likes online though.

And now that you know about some of these practices, you can better gauge what is natural behavior and be more critical (as in judging what is ethical vs questionable vs outright faked). Being empowered to make your own choices is a good thing. I see this with owls, as are some countries they can be kept as "pets."

I see photos of Bell, a very rare and beautiful melanistic barn Owl quite often. She is someone's legal "pet" and her photos are beautiful glimpses of a creature we'd rarely ever see. But I don't think owls should be pets, so I enjoy seeing her in my feed, but I won't like the photos or share them with you guys. It's legal, so I would criticize anyone outright for enjoying them, but I would like you to know that she's not a free bird.

Another classic is this Little Owl. She's the "pet" of a German lady. She stages many cute photos with her owl and dog. Again, legal, but unnatural behavior, and I like my wild animals to be wild.

With the gray areas out of the way, we have a toooooon of unbelievably talented wildlife photographers in the world who are amazing at finding animals without disturbing them or causing them to do unnatural things. I try to reasonably vet people before I share them, and I am always finding new people whose work I love.

Most people in this hobby (sport?) are dedicated to doing things ethically. They will call out bad photographers, and explain how they do their thing while being good friends to their subjects. So I wouldn't go full-on jaded. The majority of wildlife photos are still going to be harmless. But like with many things, when something looks too good to be true, maybe put a little bit of that critical eye on it. If you don't see other animal photos of the same behavior, then something might be amiss.

It sucks we have to vet every dang aspect of life, but I think the reality was we always did, were just better today at outting con artists and frauds because we have more info and examples at our fingertips to check against. And while it stinks finding out something cool is a fake or misrepresentation, me, personally, I'd always prefer to know the truth.

"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.

The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.

The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.

If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.

This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.

Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.

When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?

We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.

As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.

One thing we know - there is only one God. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart. We ARE all brothers after all."

• Chief Seattle (maybe)

https://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/seattle.htm

Only to a specific subset of humans does your quote apply.

Agent Smith is wrong about humans. Capitalism does that not humans. For profit incentives and motivation does that. Not people.

except that's not at all true.

just look at invasive species that are only kept in check by human intervention.

Tail down in dogs can mean loads of things. Tail down in wolves can mean everything from hunting, stalking, chilling, walking, checking if I am home and gonna feed them.

Can confirm, I just checked with Maia now .