S8 Ep661: 4. European arrival brought a herding culture that clashed with North American predators. Driven by human exceptionalism and religious dogma, colonists viewed wolves as enemies, initiating bounties to eliminate the "common devourer". (4)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
4. European arrival brought a herding culture that clashed with North American predators. Driven by human exceptionalism and religious dogma, colonists viewed wolves as enemies, initiating bounties to eliminate the "common devourer". (4)
1838
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Zoe Ball and Joe Wiley here from the Digit podcast, and we're currently sponsored by the Woodland Trust. |
| 0:06.6 | The Woodland Trust lets you dedicate a tree, a bench, even a whole area of woodland in someone's name. |
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| 0:21.9 | dedication directly supports the Woodland Trust's vital work. So if Woods are your happy place or |
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| 0:33.1 | Visit woodlandtrust.org.org.org slash dig it. Full terms and conditions can be found on the Woodland Trust website. |
| 0:45.8 | I'm John Batchew with Professor Dan Flores, whose new book, Wild New World, tells the epic story of animals and people in America. |
| 0:53.5 | First contact from European diary keepers and chronologies that are important here, |
| 1:00.7 | 16th, 17th century. |
| 1:03.1 | And what I learn is that the Europeans were amazed, flabbergasted at the range of animals |
| 1:09.7 | they had no comparable name for or had never experienced. |
| 1:14.2 | This was the Eurasian people who came 13,000 years ago, but in those 13,000 year differences, |
| 1:22.6 | there had been major changes in Europe and in North America for the biosphere that they're now entering. |
| 1:30.3 | And at first, Dan, there are quotes, one young man named Wood, he's amazed, he's overwhelmed, |
| 1:37.3 | he sees this as awe, with awe. Does that go away quickly or does that remain into the 18th century, that awe of the |
| 1:46.1 | scale of wildlife? It remains through a great deal of American history, in part because |
| 1:56.2 | Europeans bring with them a knowledge of the old world that goes back to the Greeks and Romans, and in some cases even farther. |
| 2:07.6 | They have what's called a great chain of being that enumerates and illustrates all the creatures that you know as a European, |
| 2:16.6 | but they have no conception that there are other |
| 2:19.8 | grand continents across the oceans. And when they arrive in the Americas and then begin confronting |
| 2:25.4 | thousands of new birds, new mammals, new reptiles, new plants that they have no idea |
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