Specimen collection, while potentially uncomfortable for much of the population, is standard scientific practice; to assign, report, write, and publish a piece exploring the subject “from both sides” would reinforce the opinion that this is a matter that is up for debate, when in fact it is one on which the scientific community is quite unified.
Letter from the editor: 800 Comments and Counting: The Reasoning Behind Our Kingfisher Posts
I’ve stayed out of the Moustached Kingfisher debacle because I feel like the self-selected audience that follows The Brain Scoop and loves natural history museums is also an audience that understands the importance of these collections, and can appreciate and comprehend how these institutions came to be through the highly regulated and selective collection of specimens for research. And I feel like the quote above says more than I can about the topic (but.. we have done a video on it, too).
(via thebrainscoop)
This. All of this.
