Omer 2019 Day 45: Blue-Headed Wrasse

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Omer 2019 Day 45: Tiferet in Malchut, Beauty/Balance in Leadership
Blue-Headed Wrasse

The blue-headed wrasse is a beautiful saltwater fish that embodies balance in leadership. All individuals hatch as females and the largest, most dominant one changes from female to male to be the leader of the school. Whenever the male dies, another female will become a male to take his place.

To learn more, check out the Radiolab podcast, Gonads: X & Y

This year's animal Omer is a collaboration between myself and my friend Halli, a PhD in animal science. Thank you for counting the Omer with us!

Omer 2019 Day 44: Lemmings

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Omer 2019 Day 44: Gevurah in Malchut, Bravery in Leadership
Lemmings
When you think of lemmings, the first thing that probably comes to mind is a moving carpet of rodents following each other blindly off a cliff and into the sea. However, this is a common misunderstanding of how these animals actually operate. While no one knows why, it is well documented that lemmings experience dramatic population swings ranging from highs that threaten their ecosystem due to overcrowding to lows that threaten the species with extinction. During thoe booms, lemmings do their best to spread out, and since they can swim, they might find themselves following a braver lemming into the sea in search of more resources. Lemmings can swim, and aren't half bad at it either, but if a lemming were to find itself in, say, the ocean...well, that might be a bit more than it could handle, this is the origin of this misconception.

Walt Disney's White Wilderness, which popularized the myth that lemmings jump off cliffs in a frenzied, unthinking mass suicide.

This year's animal Omer is a collaboration between myself and my friend Halli, a PhD in animal science. Thank you for counting the Omer with us!

Omer 2019 Day 43: Horses

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Omer 2019 Day 43: Chesed in Malchut, Loving-Kindness in Leadership
Horses
Whether domesticated or wild, horses are a good example of loving-kindness in leadership. Domestic horses are led by their riders or owners for work or leisure purposes, but as with most things, commands given with patience and loving-kindness often yield the most positive results. Wild horses exhibit this too in their own way. Horses live in large herds (when populations allow), and males lead their harems (groups of females) to the best grazing areas with the sweetest grass. They fight off other males with a fierce passion, and defend their territories with equal force. These are things we want in a leader - passion, kindness, care for those in your community.

Photo by Helena Lopes from Pexels

This year's animal Omer is a collaboration between myself and my friend Halli, a PhD in animal science. Thank you for counting the Omer with us!