Ep435 - Mary Roach | Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law
Apr 5, 2024
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Mary Roach, author of 'Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law,' explores the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, from animals on trial in history to modern scientific approaches. She discusses wildlife crime, quirky audiobook narration, macabre tactics like effigies against vultures, and promoting coexistence between humans and animals.
Human-wildlife conflicts are best resolved through science, not jurisprudence.
Liability concerns heavily influence decisions in handling situations involving animals.
Encouraging coexistence and compromise is crucial in addressing human-wildlife conflicts.
Deep dives
Mary Roach's Inspiration and Writing Style
Mary Roach was drawn to writing by authors like Bill Bryson and Susan Orlean, who combined research with a unique style and humor. She majored in psychology, fostering a love for exploring different worlds through travel. While she didn't have specific mentors, she was guided by magazine editors early in her career, and her long-standing editor, Jill Bialosky, has played a crucial role in shaping her writing.
Reporting and Writing Process
Mary Roach's writing process involves immediate writing after reporting on a subject, capturing fresh details while they are vivid in her mind. She often frequents cafes for ambient noise that strangely helps her focus. Notes taken during reporting sessions amount to a small percentage of what makes it into the final book, with only around 2% of the gathered information making the cut.
Value of Natural Resources and Liability Concerns
Determining the true value of natural resources, like living trees or alpine lakes, remains a complex issue with intrinsic worth hard to quantify. Mary Roach explores how liability concerns often shape decisions in human-wildlife conflicts, with legal repercussions influencing the handling of situations involving animals.
Encouragement and Compromise in Human-Wildlife Conflicts
Mary Roach discusses a trend towards encouraging coexistence and compromise in human-wildlife conflicts, highlighting a shift towards more careful and thoughtful approaches. She touches on the importance of bridging different groups, fostering conversations, and finding solutions that accommodate both conservation efforts and human interests.
Animals Enforcing Laws Among Themselves
While exploring human-wildlife conflicts, Mary Roach learns from a chimpanzee researcher, Jill Pritz, that chimpanzees in Senegal partake in self-policing within their groups, enforcing rules and maintaining order. This insight showcases how animals can exhibit behaviors that mirror human societal structures by adhering to a form of law among members of their community.
Mary Roach visits Google to discuss her book "Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law."
What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology.
Mary Roach is the author of six New York Times bestsellers, including "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers"; "Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal", and "Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void." Her books have been published in 21 languages, and her second book, "Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife", was a New York Times Notable Book. Mary has written for National Geographic, Wired, The New York Times Magazine, and the Journal of Clinical Anatomy, among others.