Mainstream – Page 371 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

November 19, 2007

Chimp food gathering behaviour studied

Chimps dig tubers. In both senses.

November 16, 2007

Elephants free to drink in peace

We were had. Paris Hilton does not care about drunken elephants or rice wine. What does she care about?

November 16, 2007March 31, 2008

Mongolian megafish

Mongolians protect giant trout by not eating it. More for everybody else, I guess.

November 14, 2007November 13, 2007

Phytochemicals in yams

Yoruba twins due to yams?

November 13, 2007

Paris Hilton and agrobiodiversity

Paris Hilton worried about elephants getting drunk on rice beer. Pocket pig bandwagon awaits her.

1. Ancient farmers didn’t have to wait for the genetic diversity that made domestication possible. They selected from variation already present in wild plants, including the ancestors of rice and maize. Domestication was as much about spotting (or happening upon) useful differences as creating new ones.
2. English colonists in America called Indigenous dogs “wolves,” revealing as much about colonial perceptions as about the animals themselves. This history of Indigenous dogs shows how unfamiliar animals were classified through peculiarly European ideas about wildness.
3. Austria is bringing forgotten apple varieties back to life. Saving old varieties in genebanks is one thing: getting people to grow, sell and eat them is another, but it can be done. Or at least tried.
4. Jordan’s olive-oil heritage centres on traditional varieties such as Nabali and ancient Rumi trees, but most production is consumed locally, leaving exports limited and making provenance, cultivar and harvest date important indicators for buyers. Compare and contrast with Austrian apples.
5. Small island developing states have distinctive food cultures and ingredients, but face particular challenges in building sustainable and resilient food systems. FAO’s A Taste of SIDS explores the connections between island food, biodiversity and culinary heritage. Nice to see diversity within crops considered, though a few local variety names would have been nice.
Published on October 21, 2026