Is the California Gnatcatcher a Species or a Race?

Does even Donald Trump know?

I’ve long found the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to be one of the most intellectually interesting pieces of legislation from a lumper-splitter point of view because colossal amounts of money depend upon the definition of what is a species, but nobody seems to be sure of how to define “species.”

Above is the rare California Gnatcatcher, which the federal government is vastly concerned about preserving.

Below is the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, which is rare in America but common in Mexico:

I dunno …

For example, 25 years ago I had lunch with the then owner, Ken Zuckerman, of what’s now the Trump National Los Angeles Golf Club.

As Mr. Zuckerman explained, the key issue with building a golf course on the ocean cliffs in Palos Verdes was whether or not the rare California gnatcatcher bird, which nested in the sage brush, was a separate species from the common black-tailed gnatcatcher of northern Mexico?

It’s much like the question of human races, which I’ve been accused of not thinking about subtly enough.

If they weren’t separate species, Zuckerman could plow under all of the land he inherited, for building a superb golf course. But if the various gnatcatchers were protected under the Endangered Species Act, he could be ruined.

Eventually, however, he decided to leave fingers of sage brush between the fairways, which got governmental approval, but made the golf course overly difficult.

Then a whole bunch more stuff happened, such as …

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