Lutra 47(1)_Editorial_2004

Just normal

Every scientific publication is preceded by observation of a phenomenon. Questions about it have to be properly framed and the results clearly understood before an article can be produced. Very unusual phenomena tend to be noticed earlier, explored earlier, and the results published earlier. Less unusual phenomena that appear to be ‘just normal’, can often go unnoticed for a long time. This is particularly true of situations where changes of biological phenomena occur very slowly; when the crucial step of posing questions may not be taken and the phenomenon may not be investigated for a long time, if at all. This issue of Lutra contains examples of both unusual, as well as rather more usual, phenomena. Striking examples of the first are given in Longevity records in the red fox by Jaap Mulder, Partial albinism in the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758) by Bauke Hoekstra and Evidence of lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) predation by otter (Lutra lutra) in a Welsh cave system by Dan Forman et al.; all these are noteworthy observations. Yet there may be many other unpublished observations or studies of the ages of red foxes, of non-albino red squirrels, or otter spraints without traces of lesser horseshoe bats. These phenomena were not published, or maybe not even investigated in depth, because they appeared to be just normal......