The Editor’s Desk
Kiawah, naturally …
L
ou Guillette learned a great
deal about our alligator
population during the
time he spent doing
research on Kiawah Island. Much more
importantly, he also learned about us,
people who share this barrier island
with these reptiles. Not coincidentally,
Lou’s studies involved both animals
and human beings. He showed us that
the more we learn about the animals,
the more we will know about our home
environment and ourselves. If Kiawah
Island’s habitat is good for alligators, it
will be good for us.
Aaron Given and the interns who
spend countless hours banding and
evaluating birds at our two Island
banding stations gather significant
data about our feathered neighbors,
but they do not do so in a vacuum. As
they determine which birds visit, where
they stay, how long they linger, and how
healthy they are, they learn about the
suitability of Kiawah’s habitats for birds.
Certainly if the birds are thriving, that is
a hopeful sign for human beings as well.
Scientists today are producing a
prolific amount of work documenting
how highly developed animal species
are and how much we can learn from
them. See, for example, The Cultural
Lives of Whales and Dolphins by Hal
Whitehead and Luke Rendell where
these scientists discuss the fascinating
interactions of these huge species that
transmit information among themselves
and pass it on to their young beneath
the ocean depths.Their observations
will not be surprising to those of us who
are privileged to spend time on Kiawah
Island because we have had the amazing
experience of watching our bottle-nosed
dolphins herding fish onto the banks of
our rivers as they strand feed, teaching
their offspring to do the same.
Vince Musi, celebrated Natural
Geographic photographer, in a
TEDxCharleston presentation called
“Beauty and the Beast—Taming the
Wild” says, “Everything we are learning
about animals teaches us everything we
don’t know about ourselves.” That says it
all. The Kiawah Conservancy sponsors
research and education programs that
focus on the land around us and the
wildlife that have always called this
beautiful place home. We depend on
the generosity of our donors to continue
our efforts, and we are constantly
learning that so much of what we
discover leads us right back to making
life better for our homes, our wildlife,
and ourselves. NK
Spring 2016
“We have a calling: a need to be close to Nature, where she may cleanse our souls and wash away the stresses of yesterday.
It is emotional recompense for the cost of living.” — Fennel Hudson, Wild Carp, Fennel’s Journal – No. 4
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