How an age-old photo of little chicks can awaken our conscience for biodiversity conservation and nature protection

Abstract

When discovering artifacts from ancient periods, humans often experience a deep and ineffable emotion. While studying the kingfisher as a symbolic representation of nature to restore the nature-human connection, we accidentally unearthed a valuable antique artifact in the journal: a picture of kingfisher taken nearly a century ago. The artifact was displayed in “Life History of the Amazon Kingfisher,” written by Alexander Skutch and published by The Condor (1957). Inspired by the picture, we wrote this paper to discuss the humanistic value of nature-related science, art, painting, and literature for humanities in the age of climate and biodiversity loss crisis.