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121 " But what is the soul? Some say it is the self, the "I" that inhabits the body; without the soul, the body is like a lightbulb with no electricity. But it is more than the engine of life, say others; it is what gives life meaning and purpose. Soul is the fingerprint of God. "
― Sy Montgomery , The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness
122 " Her father left school to join the navy in World War II and worked as a tool grinder and machine specialist at a knitting factory for twenty years—till it was bought by outsiders who closed it down. He lost his pension. "
― Sy Montgomery , Birdology: Adventures with a Pack of Hens, a Peck of Pigeons, Cantankerous Crows, Fierce Falcons, Hip Hop Parrots, Baby Hummingbirds, and One Murderously Big Living Dinosaur
123 " Some villagers understand science simply as a different system of belief. “If you did not believe in science, how would you fly in an airplane?” one elderly fisherman asked me thoughtfully. “Without belief in science, the airplane would fall down. "
― Sy Montgomery , Spell of the Tiger: The Man-Eaters of Sundarbans
124 " Wilson has to leave early. He got the call earlier this morning: there is a bed for his wife in a nearby hospice. If she is going to take it, she must move today. The doctors still don't understand what is wrong with her, only that her self and her strength are ebbing away, and there seems no stopping it. Wilson's afternoon will be spent getting his wife, with whom he's traveled the world, ready for her final journey. "
125 " anemones, if unmolested by predators or stricken with disease, can theoretically live almost forever; scientists note that they do not appear to show signs of aging. "
126 " Dreaming and waking, on land and on water, I wandered, lost, in a landscape peopled with gods and animals unseen, a character in a story told in a language I could not understand. "
127 " But what is the real color of leaves? As a child I was once told that our blood is really blue, like the blue veins of our wrists; we only think blood is red because it turns color during a chemical reaction with the air. At the time I wondered how to test if this were true; I could think of no way to examine blood without exposing it to air. Unless blood is exposed to air, I thought then, we can't see it at all.Perhaps this is what happens to the birds here: perhaps it is the act of joining the air that calls forth their colors; perhaps the rest of the time the birds are really all green, and the leaves, though disguised by chlorophyll, are really the color of plumage. "
128 " Caught in the feathers, air gives birds their warmth and their flight; in hummingbirds, air even gives them their color. Their jewel-like radiance—emerald, ruby, amethyst—comes not from pigment, as in most birds’ feathers, but from air. "
― Sy Montgomery , The Hummingbirds' Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal on Wings
129 " Isn't this what we want to know about those whom we care about? What is it like, we wonder at each meeting, in shared meals and secrets and silences, with each touch and glance, to be you? "
130 " But no guard would accompany us; because of public anger over the destruction of the mosque at Ayodhya, a national strike day had been declared, and no one was working. "
131 " So, if an octopus is this smart," Steve asked Bill, "what other animals are out there that could be this smart--that we don't think of as being sentient and having personality and memories and all these things? "
― Sy Montgomery
132 " You are 50 percent less likely to see a bumblebee than you were in 1974. Butterfly populations have decreased, according to one estimate, by 33 percent in the last twenty years. Three billion birds have disappeared from North American skies in the past five decades. Audubon’s Birds and Climate Change Report warns that half of all birds on our continent are at risk, "
133 " With Athena, I've had four of her arms on me, and you peel them off and then the other four arms are on.""I think we've all been on dates like that," I observed. "
134 " Bears are meant for long lives. . . . they can live more than 30 years. Such a long lifespan testifies to the value of knowledge carefully accumulated and considered. "
― Sy Montgomery , Search for the Golden Moon Bear: Science and Adventure in Southeast Asia
135 " I wonder: Can a brainless animal feel curiosity? Does it want to play? Or does it only “want” toys or food the way a plant “wants” the sun? Does a sea star experience consciousness? If it does, what does consciousness feel like to a sea star? Clearly, I have entered a world I cannot judge by the rules I have learned on land among vertebrates "
136 " Feathers are among the most complex structural organs found in nature. Nothing of comparable dimension is stronger. They are made of keratin, the same as a human’s fingernails, a horse’s hooves, and a rhino’s horn—but the keratin in feathers, due to a difference in molecular structure, is even tougher. "
137 " typical bird’s feathers outweigh its skeleton. Feathers define a bird. By trapping and moving air, feathers protect the bird from cold and wet, and they enable it to fly. "
138 " Hummingbirds are less flesh than fairies. They are little more than bubbles fringed with iridescent feathers—air wrapped in light. "
139 " Signed by scientists including physicist Stephen Hawking in front of 60 Minutes cameras, it asserts that “humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness” and that “nonhuman animals, including all birds and mammals, and many other creatures, including octopuses [italics added], also possess these neurological substrates. "
140 " Perhaps, I muse, this is the pace at which the Creator thinks, in this weighty, graceful, liquid manner—like blood flows, not like synapses fire. "