Comment by duncan_bayne | Hacker News Reader

Comment by duncan_bayne | Hacker News Reader

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Okay, that's fair - it's more likely to be true than UFOs being aliens ;)

Personally, I'd be excited for this to be true for a number of reasons:

* I'm Australian. Any advance in the understanding of how fires spread is of material benefit to me and people I care about.

* I love animals. It'd be amazing if another species used fire, and may open up whole areas of research.

* I'm Australian, which means I take a bizarre pride in our image of having the most dangerous wildlife in the world. The existence of fire-wielding raptors would turn this knob to 11 :)

But I'm afraid I'm still betting "bush legend inspired by old Aboriginal myths" on this one.

It's true that most people flee fires, but a lot of people observe them closely, these days with some very shiny equipment (including IR cameras on helis, to see thermal sources clearly through smoke).

I'm fairly (but not entirely) sure that this behaviour would have been observed already if it were true.

I don't disagree that it would be better to have video evidence and that it might be a side effect of breathing too much campfire smoke.

But there really is a lot of understudied country out there. Hopefully curious ornithologists and others will start to head out bush during the Dry. If it's a bush legend -- though I hardly put this on par with yowies and bunyips -- then the picture will probably become firmer either way.

FWIW I'm Australian too. Darwinite turned New Yorker.

>I'm Australian.

Probably explains why you have a disparaging attitude towards indigenous knowledge.

Nice ad-hominem there ;-P

I'm actually first-generation Australian, grew up in New Zealand, and spent a lot of time immersed in the indigenous culture, learning the language, etc. One of the highlights of my school years was participating in the dramatization of the Maori creation myth. So I know quite a bit about indigenous myths and legends (albeit not many Australian ones), and the way they're used and interpreted in contemporary indigenous society.

But the thing about myths and legends - indigenous or otherwise - is that they're mostly bollocks. Sure they can have social value. But it behooves us to be _very_ cautious about how we interpret those myths and legends.

Some are basically true, and it can be frustrating when that's ignored. "No-one knows how the Moai at Easter Island were erected! It must have been aliens!" "Errr, we're local, we can show you if you'd like. Would've been nice if you'd asked."

But many _aren't_. And it annoys me to see people who should know better - actual scientists - treating them with altogether too much credulity.

I suspect that the idea that birds actively seed bushfires falls into this category.

But we'll see. As I say, I'd love to see actual proof of this behaviour. But I know which way I'd bet (see, gambling, I must be Australian ;) ).

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