Tag Archives: Conservation

The King of Ants

Posted on August 9, 2010 | 3 comments

This weekend I ran into this delightful video by NOVA about  E.O. Wilson, an entomologist, conservationist and one of my favorite humans ever. Wilson’s child-like enthusiasm for  ants has translated into a couple dozen books and a pile of prestigious awards, including 2 Pulitzer prizes and the 2007  TED prize.

Coincidentally I was also learned this weekend that he recently published a new book… a novel! In Anthill, warring ants function as commentary on the behavior of human society. Hmmm… sounds like another favorite book of mine, Watership Down.

E.O. Wilson is the reason why I clap in delight when I see a cool bug and why I protect scorpions from my silly freaked-out friends when we’re camping. Hopefully one day I’ll get to hear him lecture and shake his hand.

It’s good to have heroes.

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Snowflake: The White Gorilla

Posted on April 10, 2010 | Leave a comment

I just finished watching this delightful but sad Nature video about the albino gorilla, Snowflake, who died in 2003. It was a really interesting look at our history and relationship with gorillas but it didn’t make me like humans more, that’s for sure. I was stoked to find out about the Congo Gorilla Forest at the Bronx Zoo. It’s a 6.5 acre recreation of the native rainforest of the western lowland gorillas. Gorillas are under great threat of extinction due to logging and the bushmeat trade. You can help to preserve these amazing apes by contributing to organizations such as the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Click to watch via Nature

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Seamount Expidition: Sea Creatures!

Posted on December 28, 2009 | 1 comment

Juevenile Oreo Fish

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) recently completed a six-week expedition to the southern Indian Ocean. The crew studied six seamounts with the goal of  developing “ecosystem approaches to fisheries management for biologically-globally significant and commercially-important areas beyond national jurisdiction, the high seas.” They collected nearly 7,000 species, many of which are new discoveries and delightfully odd!

Check out their blog for an account of their adventures and additional photos.

Also, you can support IUCN and projects like this one by donating here.

Sea Toad

Unidentified Octopus

Unidentified Fish

Hatchet Fish

Unidentified Fish

Barreleye Fish

More about the Barreleye from a previous post.

All photos by Sarah Gotheil

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The Secret Lives of Seahorses

Posted on August 14, 2009 | Leave a comment

Dwarf_seahorseaI’ve been dying to go to the Secret Lives of Seahorses exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Seahorses are such strange and romantic little things. They perform courtship dances (lasting up to 8 hours), hold tails, swim snout to snout and bond monogamously for a season.

Then to top that, the males carry and birth the babies! What gentlemen. The female deposits her eggs into his pouch, using a tube called an oviduct, where he fertilizes and incubates the fry until they are ready to swim out fully developed. The pouch provides nutrients, oxygen and regulates salinity.  The male even produces prolactin (a hormone found in pregnant women) and has contractions during the birthing process.

Pigmy SeahorseYou can find an archived webcast here of Monterey Bay Aquarium experts discussing seahorses, pipefish and sea dragons. It’s about an hour long but has some really great photos and videos.

If you’d like to aid in the conservation of one of America’s only species, you can send a note to Governor Schwarzenegger of California asking him to support legislation which will help protect marine areas. Monterey Bay Aquarium makes it easy by providing a form which can be personalized and delivered from the site.

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