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.
Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, Zulkifli Hasan has stated in a press conference on April 1st that all urban areas on the island of Borneo will be shut down. The reason for this sudden stop of not only the expansion of metropolitan areas, but also to their existence is the Indonesian government’s recent plan to evacuate all citizens currently residing in Indonesian Borneo.
Everything you need to know about orangutans. There are a lot of things, but if you want a quick run down of the species, what they’re like and the troubles they are facing in the wild. Orangutans are critically endangered, as over 50% of the orangutan population has been lost over the last 50 years. This is mainly due to hunting and habitat loss. There are quite a few different organizations working to save the orangutan, most notably OFI which was started by Dr. Birute Galdikas who conducted the first ever long term study of orangutans in 1971. Since then we have learned a lot about orangutans, especially in that they are extensive tool users and they are much more social than previously thought.
Click on the photo for the full infograph! (You won’t regret it!)
I got to meet up with lead okapi keeper Megan Lumpkin at the Dallas Zoo last week and she told me all about the DZ’s leading okapi breeding program! She was so nice and welcoming and let me see the DZ’s new baby okapi and the process by which they weigh her every morning and I even got to meet their oldest okapi and give her a good ear scratching!
A little while back I posted about the Aceh Protected Forest, a national park in peril and some ways that it might be improved. But there are still a lot of parks in peril out there, one that especially comes to mind is Masoala National Park in Madagascar. Madagascar has lost 85% of it’s forest to slash and burn farming, but it’s also one of the most unique ecosystems on the planet. How can we keep the lemurs leaping through the quickly falling forests of Madagascar? Well I guess you’ll just have to keep reading…
Silky Sifaka, photo from Creative Commons by “Simpsonafotsy”
After 13 years of searching, setting up over 1,500 camera traps, baited traps the Formosan clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa brachyura) has been declared extinct. This has been suspected for some time, though scientists still held out hope, even though there has not been a confirmed sighting in over 30 years.
Look at that! Dr. Carin Bondar’s name fits perfectly in my title! Not to mention it’s always fun to start off a post with an alliteration, they’re just so catchy, aren’t they! Well it’s been a little while since I featured a fabulous female scientist (there I go again!) and Dr. Bondar has been keeping me entertained on almost every facet of social media this past month. Whether it’s her quirky YouTube videos, her sarcastic Tweets or her down right adorable Instagram feed, she is always up to something entertaining! So lets take the time to honor this science queen and get to know a little more about her.
By now everyone has seen the memorable reuniting of Christian the lion and his two former owners John Rendall and Anthony Bourk. It has been making its round on the social media circuit for several years, but what do we know of Christian’s story beyond he lived in London for some time before being moved to Kenya to live a free life among other lions. But first, if you haven’t seen the clip that made Christian famous, check it out.
Today is the age of social media. News papers and magazines are dying and people are now getting their information from places like Facebook, Twitter or… hey! even blogs like this one! Well, besides from online news sources like National Geographic or Science Daily who should you be following to get your daily dose of science? Well, lets take a look at a few of my favorite places gain some serious knowledge.
I am so excited to finally announce that I will be spending three magnificent weeks in Sierra Leon observing chimpanzees this summer. It has been a while since I published a personal post, since I have been waiting to hear back from a few different institutions regarding my future in primatology. But now that I am pumped full of excitement and vaccines, I think that it is safe to share a little bit about the Tonkolili Chimpanzee Project in the Tonkolili District of Sierra Leon in Western Africa.
Chimpanzees in Sierra Leon. Photo courtesy of the Arcus Foundation.
Endangered Living 