Word Of The Day

Synanthropic:

synanthrope (from the Greek σύν syn, “together with” + ἄνθρωπος anthropos, “man”) is a member of a species of wild animals and plants of various kinds that live near, and benefit from, an association with human beings and the somewhat artificial habitats that people create around them (see anthropophilia). Those habitats include houses, gardens, farms, roadsides, garbage dumps, and so on. [Wikipedia]

Noted in “Little green invaders: how parakeets conquered the world,” Graham Lawton, NewScientist (11 April 2020, paywall):

For now, invasive parakeets are considered synanthropic, meaning that they live in close proximity to humans so as to exploit artificial habitats such as heat islands and bird feeders. But climate change could alter that. “My suspicion is that as the climate generally warms, and particularly as winters get milder, there are probably more birds making it through the winter and that’s helping the population to grow,” says Blackburn. “Increasingly, I think we’ll see them outside the cities.” They will probably spread even further north. So, there may yet be life in Monty Python’s Norwegian Blue parrot – there is a blue variety of ring-necked parakeet.

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About Hue White

Former BBS operator; software engineer; cat lackey.

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