Animals in the News

[Guest]

Here is a link for some more photos of Barle & Talini:
http://www.freep.com/photos/2005/polarbear0414/index.htm

Talini - an Inuit name for Snow Angel. Know how the winner picked it Google - that's right a 14 year old girl "Googled" until she found that name Sure have to give Google credit - what a phenomenon those guys are indexing the world

It's hard to believe they are cutting the funding to the Detroit Zoo. That's quite a hefty amount they are cutting. Even harder to believe it took Ron Kagen, the Director almost a year leg wresting with AZA to let Wanda & Winky go. BTW, the Detroit Zoo's 1 acre elephant habitat was much much larger than is required by AZA. Now it is NO MORE. Thank G

The real pity is the circus animals that are chained in one place for 22 hours a day or caged in rolling crates - everyday I will never give money or support to anyone or anything that exploits these animals while they are suffering

If I were rich I would fly to Canada & make videos of the Harp Seal massacre with the pools of blood & little bodies rotting on the ice and then go to every Norweigan and Danish "fine" store and play the tape over and over on a big screen - go the restaurants & opera houses and "ditto" until someone - somewhere - somehow got the message

Funding is a major consideration for any creature keepers. Which reminds me - just how nice it is to see everyone chipping in for Midnight's cams and donations with the Sponsor List growing every day Sure makes you feel a part of the TH.O SuperFan team because we are the fan team.

With all the happenings - Midnight, Sampson, and now the babies - plus our other friends it is almost impossible to decide which cam to look at first. Remember this:
Make new friends but keep the old, one is Silver the other Gold.

Hopefully, we learn from past mistakes how not to keep these animals. For so many years gone by it seemed the only way. Now with cams and streaming videos - we can see them, love them and not disturb them.

My heart too (I'm with gb3llma in handing it over) to the entire TigerHomes Team
Dave doesnt have to star in any movie to be our Superman

Ace

[gb3llma]

Hear, hear So RIGHT ON, ACE! The pictures are so awesome. Thanks.

I really DO like the name Talini..........even if it isn't really an Inuit name.
Check this out:
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/polar16e_20050416.htm
Can't blame google for this.........and makes ya wonder just WHY someone/s would put such misinformation on a website, hey?
_________________
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." ~John Muir~

[Guest]

Whoa gb3llma- how embarassing Funny you think they would have verified it BEFORE they announced the winner and not after - so much for tradition

Poor Amanda - bet that feels awkward to find out now. Have to admit I took the news article at face value and did not check it (Babblefish doesnt have a Inuit translator YET ) It did have a nice sound and honest I didnt care what name they picked for the little love bucket. That is the first time I ever saw a Polar Bear cub up that close.

BTW - the Detroit Zoo website has a Multimedia Archive tab under the Polar Bear header with free Mini-Movies for every week gone by. These are very charming to watch for those of you who have not had a chance to see them all
Ace

[nikki]

that would be funny and embarassing but the name is beautiful haven't got to watch all the videos I did see the one of her swimming and jumping that was funny loved it





_________________
Nikki

[tigerdave]

We have never worked with polar bears but I can tell you this J has worked with a few Bears and I have never worked with any but have been around a few people that have had bears and they are hard core and a treat to hang out with and take care of !!! J I know has a ton of Bears stories one of the places he worked for FREE at had few Bears that they took care of and they would also do educational stuff with so he has allot of experience handling and careing for them ! So yes Jason is a BIG animal NERD that's for sure !!! hehe !!!

[LEMUR-J]

Yep!
I love bears and have had the priviliage of working with a few different species. They are extreamly inteligent and very unpredictible (like all exotics).

J

[gb3llma]

Wanted to share this with you guys.....it seems that the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker--thought to be extinct for over 60 years!--has managed to beat the odds. Wonderful news for lots of reasons. Here's one link for the story.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4622633&sourceCode=gaw

530a comes too soon......gotta go!
_________________
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." ~John Muir~

[LEMUR-J]

I know! Is'nt that amazing! I saw that on CNN. Too cool! Now lets hope thier is 2

J

[gb3llma]

Too right! There just HAS to be at least a breeding pair! This is an awesome find because they have been working for over a year now to put protections for the area in place and continue to work towards getting several areas linked up for even better conservation and habitat for entire region. Very exciting news.

Here is a link to a MSN page from which you can view a video (it's got commercials and stuff playing first--bah!--but the vid is worth it. )

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7666344/

Just look for the video launch area and click.
_________________
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." ~John Muir~

[Guest]

Thank you gb3llma so much for that link. I have been reading all the Science journal articles on the species and it is AMAZING for any animal to come back from extinction. It is so interesting to read the history of the "Re-Discovery" - hush hush for almost a year now.

The researchers narratives and commentary on how they felt when they trecked deep into the woods and saw what no man has seen for almost 50 years - they literally almost fell out of their canoes is great reading They say by 1900 or so, the ivory-billed woodpecker was already one of the country's rarest birds, yet studied significantly with over 400 specimens displayed at museums. By 1939 there were only 26 birds estimated to survive. Habitat loss strikes again - logging.

I was just reading about the Imperial Woodpecker from northern Mexico - the largest woodpecker in the world last sighted in the late 1950's and believed to be extinct hhmmm....

John Fitzpatrick of Cornell University's Ornithology lab had some great things to say to the public:

"It is a flagship of the blunders of excess of overharvesting. Nothing could be more hoped for than this Holy Grail. For three generations this bird has been a symbol of the great old forests of the southern United States."

Imprint that one on your forehead The next Holy Grail will be finding there is a mating pair

Now this has me wondering how the Whooping Cranes are doing this year
Ace

[gb3llma]

Ah yes, the Whooping Cranes........well, you asked ..........what a project! And the work goes on. The ones who were startled into flight while migrating last spring have had difficulties.....

[LEMUR-J]

Anouther cool thing about the discovery of any new Endangered and in this case thought to be Extink spieces is that its habitat now has to be protected by law i believe in the US (to some extent). I know for a fact that a few years ago building was stoped on a lhudge tract of natural land with a specific habitat down in the Florida Keys because it was prooven to be the home of somekind of rare Rat Maybe called the "Everglades Wood Rat"? Could be wrong on the spieces, but it was a rat. I think they wanted to put up a large hotel or something near the famous Ocen Reef Club where coincidently David and I will be promoting wildlife concervation and education

[Guest]

Hello What good news - they HAVE TO protect the habitat now
Good news for the newly re-discovered Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
I really do hope we all learn from you guys and especially Otter John who has
said to us over and over again - "Before you save any endangered species
of animal - You must FIRST save the habitat."

Here is an interesting photo on Cornell University's website. The primary
source of food for our ivory-billed friend is Cerambycid Beetle larvae.
These beetles live and thrive in the heartwood of the same old decaying
hardwood forest trees where the ivory-billed woodpecker makes its home:



The caption states these oversized beetle larvae are the ivory-billed woodpecker's
primary source of food. Scientist studied some of these rare birds as far back
as 1911 & stomach content analysis of a single bird shows as many as 28-32 of these
LARGE beetle larvae inside. Vegetable matter analysis shows magnolia fruit, acorn,
hickory, pecan and even poison ivy seeds with this vegetation matter amounting to
about 50% of the stomach contents. The rest is nutrient packed Beetle Larvae and
the occasional arboreal termites for appetizers.
Mmm Mmm - Tasty

Guess you could say these guys live on Beetle Juice WOW

Now want to share another Cornell field guide photo which shows how they
make their field studies


Talk about dedication Can you Imagine

Ace

[gb3llma]

WOW Those are some mighty large beetle larvae and it's cool to see how the researchers disguise themselves for these projects. Saw another picture on one of the sites of a man in a canoe/kayak(?) wearing the same outfit! haha......hmmm, so was the canoe. The ivory-billed are also what is known as an Umbrella Species.......which means, for one, that the holes they create in the hardwoods eventually end up being used by other inhabitants of the area. Preserving habitat for the ivory-billed is also insuring a home for many other species as well. YEAH

WANDA & WINKY update:
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/elephants29e_20050429.htm
WOW
W&W's new home:
http://www.pawsweb.org/
It will be cool to be able to check in on them from time to time.
_________________
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." ~John Muir~

[Guest]

Thanks for the update gb3llma It is so interesting to read about Wanda & Winky adapting to larger spaces and relating to the other elephants. Looks like they made it

Gotta love it - hiding medicine inside raspberry Fig Newtons And now thanks to a $7,000 donation from a private individual to kick start this media project - an elephant cam is on the way
Ace