Comments on: What the Inuit Taught Scientists About Killer Whales

By: Daniel J. Andrews

Daniel J. Andrews — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:51:15 +0000

Up here we call it TAK, traditional aboriginal knowledge. Our guide for this week has some good insights into animal movements, and in the past their recommendations about areas we need to study have been excellent. Last year I privately suspected we’d be wasting our time because we were only in the region for less than a week, not nearly long enough to collect data I wanted, but I was wrong. We found some items that will have an impact on how this unopened region will be developed (or not developed) in the coming years.

By: rork

rork — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:19:24 +0000

Most local people near me cannot properly identify even 10 native species of plants. They can identify several hundred company logos though.

By: Phil McGillivary

Phil McGillivary — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:43:35 +0000

I was once asked to collect TEK about Great White Sharks in Hawaii with regard to locating their birthing areas, which are recorded in several stories. On asking a well-known Hawaiian scholar from east O’ahu I got a very detailed and lengthy account of exact locations and details of the animals’ use of the area. I then asked when the last one was seen. “Oh, about 70 years ago,” he said. This points up the fact that TEK can persist long after observations have taken place, especially for large upper predators.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:19:53 +0000

George, you are of course correct. I don’t recall typing Inuits but with autocorrect anything can happen!

By: George Lessard

George Lessard — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:05:18 +0000

Sorry folks… even the Smithsonian can sometimes make a mistake… “Inuits” is incorrect…that’s because “Inuit” is already the plural form of the word… grammatically the rule is… One Inuk, two Inuuk, three or more Inuit.