According to an article published in the New York Times, there are a few academics who are skeptical about the evidence put forth documenting the existence of IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKERS in Arkansas.
Apparently, Richard O. Prum ornithologists at Yale, Mark B. Robbins of the University of Kansas, and Jerome A. Jackson, a zoologist at Florida Gulf Coast University and the author of the book, "In Search of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker," will be be publishing an analysis of the evidence that calls most of the conclusions into question. The article will be in a peer reviewed journal and the principals in the original discovery paper will give a detailed rebuttal. For some reason, the journal of publication is being kept secret.
The times article quotes Mr. Jackson as follows: "the data presented thus far do no more than suggest the possibility of the presence of an ivory-billed woodpecker. I am most certainly not saying that ivory-billed woodpeckers are not out there. I truly hope that the birds do exist in Arkansas or elsewhere and have been championing this idea for a long time."
It's not clear whether we should make anything out of the fact that the skeptics are from Yale, Kansas, and Florida...
Posted by mbalame at July 21, 2005 3:43 PM