Landscapes & Letters
Paul McCarney
Archives
When a new species is identified, its discoverer typically has the privilege of naming it. Hundreds of wildlife and plant species around the world are named for explorers, scientists, and celebrities. Species such as the Humboldt squid, Steller sea lion, Douglas fir, and Stasimopus mandelai, a species of South African spider named in honour of Nelson Mandela, are named for specific people. We talk about these species often but may not always… Read More
The Latin names for wildlife and plant species follow a specific and universally accepted structure that allows us to talk about the same organism across languages, countries, disciplines, and knowledge systems. It might seem cumbersome to memorize Latin names for species that might already enjoy pleasant sounding and culturally significant local names. However, the background of the Latin naming system, known as binomial nomenclature, is interesting and useful to understand. Many Latin… Read More
There are far too many great outdoors books to keep up with, but I like to do a couple of these posts each year to highlight some of my favourites. Summer is a great time to catch up on novels, and while the two novels in this list are moving pieces of writing, they are not exactly light-hearted. But if you are looking for outdoors books that dig into the depths of… Read More
Paul McCarney