anthrotherology

ruzuzu commented on the word anthrotherology

"As human settlements expand across the earth’s surface, conflicts with wildlife are increasing. According to a review in the journal Animal Conservation, this represents “one of the most widespread and intractable issues facing |conservationists| today.” Researchers have been paying closer attention to these clashes: The number of scientific articles published annually about human-wildlife conflict (ranging from grain theft by rodents to farmers being trampled by elephants) increased from zero to more than 700 between 1995 and 2015, as indexed by Google Scholar. There have even been calls to coin an entire new discipline for studying the issue: anthrotherology, combining the Greek words for human (anthropos) and wild animal (ther). To understand the anthrotherologist’s dilemma, look to other countries’ parallels, like Japan’s wild hog problem or, closer to home, many national parks’ issues with bears."

-- "On the Front Lines of South Africa's Baboon Wars" by Kimon de Greef (https://www.outsideonline.com/2231291/frontlines-south-africas-human-vs-baboon-war)

September 6, 2017