We all have intrusive thoughts — it’s part of human nature. In case you're wondering what that means, an intrusive thought can be defined as ‘an unwanted, involuntary, or unpleasant idea, image, or urge that can be difficult to manage or eliminate.’ That's right, we've all had them, and that's okay.
Although the varied definitions of this term tend to come off with a more negative connotation, intrusive thoughts can also be discussed as a poignant and curious thought that comes to the mind all by itself. Where am I going? That's the same thing a fish might have asked itself before plummeting over Niagara Falls.
How many animals do you think go over that waterfall every minute, month or year? The 53-metre world-class drop doesn't just carry water. Nor does the water exclusively carry minerals, nutrients and pollution.
Whenever I look at Niagara Falls, I have an intrusive thought about the number of animals that, like an intrusive thought itself, go involuntarily over the edge. Some may classify this as morbid curiosity, but from a biological perspective, doesn't it make you think?
As I watch the the Niagara River break over the limestone shelf and begin its vertical descent, I often spot the various gulls and ducks who float on top of the water just metres before the drop. Right until the last metre, they casually lift off and take flight. It's almost like they're floating to the edge and flying away just for fun, and to show us that they can.
What about beavers? There is a stable beaver population upstream of Niagara Falls, and I can guarantee that Canada's most iconic animal has accidentally gone over the falls tons of times.
White-tailed deer are surprisingly great swimmers, but if one of these intelligent mammals were to accidentally misjudge the one-kilometre width of the upper river, they would soon find themselves being pulled toward a free fall they will never experience again. I am sure this has happened before, and interestingly, I'd be willing to bet that deer have gone over the falls while thousands of people stared at the scenery with no clue that this happened. After all, the Canadian side, Horseshoe Falls, has a brow 670 metres long. Any large animal or item going over the falls would be as easy to spot as a needle in a haystack.
Sleek northern water snakes and our nine species of frogs have definitely gone over the watery precipice as well. They would have no clue what's coming. Even Canada's largest freshwater turtle species, the common snapping turtle, could have its rugged carapace cracked in half by a fall like that.
And then there's the fish, some 75 species ranging from tiny minnows to gargantuan lake sturgeon. We can all recognize that fish get swept over that world famous waterfall every second of every day. I have no data to back up this guess, nor does anybody from what I can tell, but I'd estimate that several thousand fish go over Niagara Falls every 24 hours. It would be fascinating, or perhaps disturbing, to have the world's best thermal cameras placed on the falls to study how many creatures go over the brink.
My curiosity churns like the base of the waterfall as I ponder this. What percentage of these fish survive the fall? Do smaller fish have an advantage in this situation over larger fish because their small compact mass makes them more protected? As for mammals and all other vertebrates in general, I'm going to hazard a guess that most wouldn't make it out alive. Yet animals are tougher than we often give them credit for.
I think my epiphany about this perhaps odd conversation is that nature just happens, and it happens without us. Before the arrival of the wall of skyscrapers, the Niagara River Parkway and buses full of eager sightseers, animals have been unintentionally going into the world's most violent dishwasher for 12,000 years. Prior to European settlement, black bears, wolves, the eastern cougar, the wolverine, rattlesnakes and many other animals would have fallen off in total silence without a conversation or statistic to prove it.
It's a crazy thought, but it's reality. Nature doesn't know crazy. It just exists and persists while we go out about our daily musings, never once stopping to think about how many animals go over Niagara Falls.