Until recently, zoologists believed that all species of phocids (true seals), a pinniped family, use a different maternal strategy than do otariids (fur seals and sea lions), another pinniped family. Mother otariids use a foraging strategy. They acquire moderate energy stores in the form of blubber before arriving at breeding sites and then fast for 5 to 11 days after birth. Throughout the rest of the lactation (milk production) period, which lasts from 4 months to 3 years depending on the species, mother otariids alternately forage at sea, where they replenish their fat stores, and nurse their young at breeding sites. Zoologists had assumed that females of all phocid species, by contrast, use a fasting strategy in which mother phocids, having accumulated large energy stores before they arrive at breeding sites, fast throughout the entire lactation period, which lasts from 4 to 50 days depending on the species. However, recent studies on harbor seals, a phocid species, found that lactating females commenced foraging approximately 6 days after giving birth and on average made 7 foraging trips during the remainder of their 24-day lactation period.

    The maternal strategy evolved by harbor seals may have to do with their small size and the large proportion of their fat stores depleted in lactation. Harbor seals are small compared with other phocid species such as grey seals, northern ele- phant seals, and hooded seals, all of which are known to fast for the entire lactation period. Studies show that mother seals of these species use respectively 84 percent, 58 percent, and 33 percent of their fat stores during lactation. By comparison, harbor seals use 80 percent of their fat stores in just the first 19 days of lactation, even though they occasionally feed during this period. Since such a large proportion of their fat stores is exhausted despite feeding, mother harbor seals clearly cannot support all of lactation using only energy stored before giving birth. Though smaller than many other phocids, harbor seals are similar in size to most otariids. In addition, there is already some evidence suggesting that the ringed seal, a phocid species that is similar in size to the harbor seal, may also use a maternal foraging strategy.

    Many researchers regard Thailand's recent economic growth, as reflected by its gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates, as an example of the success of a modern technological development strategy based on the market economics of industrialized countries. Yet by focusing solely on aggregate economic growth data as the measure of Thailand's development, these researchers have overlooked the economic impact of rural development projects that improve people's daily lives at the village levelsuch as the cooperative raising of water buffalo, improved sanitation, and the development of food crops both for consumption and for sale at local markets; such projects are not adequately reflected in the country's GDP. These researchers, influenced by Robert Heilbroner's now outdated development theory, tend to view nontechnological development as an obstacle to progress. Heilbroner's theory has become doctrine in some economics textbooks: for example, Monte Palmer disparages nontechnological rural development projects as inhibiting constructive change. Yet as Ann Kelleher's two recent case studies of the Thai villages Non Muang and Dong Keng illustrate, the nontechnological-versus-technological dichotomy can lead researchers not only to overlook real advances achieved by rural development projects but also mistakenly to conclude that because such advances are initiated by rural leaders and are based on traditional values and practices, they retard "real" economic development.