Since the early 1200’s the Tower of London has been home to more than monarchs, lords and prisoners. Keeping exotic animals at the tower became a tradition started by King John in 1210. Everything from lions to tigers to bears, oh my, have been kept in and around the tower grounds. Today not much remains of the fantastic menagerie except a few trained crows and metal statues where the real beasts once stood, but the stone walls pulse with the history that they have seen.
I am so incredibly sorry for my absence these past few weeks. I’ve (sort of.. long story for another time) moved to Oxford and I have had little time (or wifi) these past few weeks. But on the bright side I got the chance to visit the Bird of Prey Centre in Loch Lomond, Scotland. It was a trip that happened a bit by accident, but I am so glad that I got to visit such a beautiful place and find such an incredible centre.
One of the few animals I saw on a regular basis while in Sierra Leone was the Great Blue Turaco. The first time I was told by Papanie that the giant blue bird that flew overhead was a turaco I was shocked. The turaco I had worked with in Dallas had barely been half that size! But the more I saw them the more resemblance I saw to Marty, my Dallas-dwelling turaco. So in honor of the Great Blue Turaco and the amazing wildlife of Sierra Leone, lets have them be the next focus for an Odd Animal Profile.
Corythaeola cristata. I don’t normally include the scientific names in my O.A.P.s but Corythaeola crostata rolls off of the tongue with such grace. It is a name that couldn’t belong to any other animal than this giant, blue bird. Continue reading OAP: Great Blue Turaco
Friday, May 23rd, 2014
It’s five a.m. and I have been awake for almost an hour. I heard the first rooster at 4:30 a.m. and now all of the birds have woken up.
Thursday, May 22nd, 2014
I read recently that if you added up all of the land in the world that has been cleared for crops it would add up to a piece of land roughly the size of South America.
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is one of the largest national parks in the world and one of the few national parks that actually covers multiple countries. This was in hopes to create a protected migration path for a variety of the species found in this park. So lets learn a little bit more about this amazing park.
Did you know that the Drongo, a small bird that lives in the Kalahari desert has been observed crying wolf? That’s right. The Drongo actually calls out false alarm calls to drive away competition. Sounds that are usually reserved for seeing predators are being used to scare off other birds and cause them to drop whatever juicy insect they’ve got their claws on!
It’s been a while but it is time for another Odd Animal Profile! If you haven’t been around on the site long check out some of our other OAP’s like the oh so popular okapi or maybe you’re in the mood to learn about the sunda flying lemur? Oh I do love animals called “flying” that can’t actually fly! Why don’t they just call this amphibian the gliding frog? Or the frog that can jump extremely long distances? Well, I guess it’s because it’s quite a mouthful, so flying frog it is!
Education is key to conservation. I think that this is an incredible message worth sharing. It is what I aim to do every time I post on endangeredliving.com, our FB page or my twitter. I want to educate people and teach them about species they may never have heard of, so that they can care. You have to know something exists and that it is in trouble to be able to want it to help it. It is such a basic idea that can get over looked.
So I encourage you to share this photo, to remind people how important it is to learn every day. Keep an open mind and it can lead to a great idea that might just change the world.
Want to see some amazing animals that can be found in the Florida Keys? Click through the photo slideshow! Want to see a less informational, more fun video of my time in the Florida Keys? That’s down at the bottom. Enjoy!
Endangered Living 