"A campephilus principalis is a ... woodpecker"

Another diversion into esoterica, if you'll permit me. I've been captivated by the news that the ivory-billed woodpecker isn't extinct after all. In fact, they have the thing on video. And apparently this isn't the only species to make a return from the grave, as the announced demise of the wonderfully named Miss Waldron's monkey has been withdrawn as premature. And moreover, an entirely new family of mammals has recently been discovered in Laos.

If you think that because of my right-wing bent I'm going to use this to rant against the Endangered Species Act, you're wrong. I think what this shows is that our planet is a wild and crazy place, full of surprises about the tenacity of life.

But I would also like to point out here, and for the record, that the ornithologists' assumption that Woody Woodpecker is a "pileated woodpecker" are simply nonsense. In a 1960s short, Woody is directly identified as campephilus principalis, the ivory-billed woodpecker. He torments a guy who wants to catch him, and that guy is in turn tormented by a game warden who makes it known that Woody is an endangered, and protected, species. It appears that Woody has indeed had the last laugh. And boy, does that put a spring in my step.