This is the marvelous construct of "niche," the very particular way an organism uses its habitat, and it allows for an almost incomprehensible degree of peaceful coexistence. Choose a cubic foot of earth, about anywhere that isn't paved; look closely enough, and you'll find that thousands of different kinds of living things are sharing that place, each one merrily surviving on something its neighbors couldn't use for all the tea in China. I'm told that nine-tenths of human laws is about possession. But it seems to me we don't know the first thing about it.

Barbara Kingsolver, High Tide in Tucson