ALONE in the WILD - Thanksgiving 2012

WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR?
      We may be thankful for our bountiful thanksgiving feasts, our fancy dinner plates and wine glasses, our cars, our jobs, our new clothes, etc. However, we may take for granted the most essential ingredients in our lives: our family and friends, the abundant food not only available to us on Thanksgiving Day but on every day, the warm clothes on our backs, and the roof over our heads.
      One Scottish television producer/director/camera operator and adventurer, Ed Wardle, came to realize what he is most thankful for in his life when he took on the project of trying to survive in the Canadian Yukon alone for three months in the summer of 2009.
      Ed took up this challenge by filming a documentary of his time Alone in the Wild, and the only contact he had with the outside world was through a radio to use during emergencies, and a one way phone which he used to post daily Twitter updates. Channel 4 and National Geographic processed and edited the films Ed made to compose the series, Alone in the Wild. The documentary can be found in full here.
      If I were to outline every day of Ed's journey I would take a bit away from its overall beauty, but below I will begin to describe Ed's isolation experience by laying out what he does during the first third of the series:

WHAT HAPPENED
Day 1

      Ed Wardle's goal is to survive completely alone for three months in far Northern Canada. This was always a dream for him, but it turned out to be more than he bargained for. He is left on the edge of Tin Cup Lake by floater plane, with a gun, some basic supplies, radio, watch, camera equipment, canoe, map ... and himself.
      July 3rd, 2009 begins his adventure, and the person who dropped him off via airplane is the last person he plans on seeing for three months. From the moment he is left behind, the experience is surreal and unbelievable. This is evident when Ed says "what the hell am I doing?" as he sits down to take in the situation, unsure of what to do next.
      Ed then pulls himself together and adjusts the cameras and puts it in the canoe before setting off down Stay Away Creek, for everything for now on during his journey will be filmed by him. It is beautiful weather to start an adventure, though it is rougher country than he had expected, with muddy swampy areas greeting him when he reaches the shores of Dog Pack Lake.

      The loneliness he feels will heighten this experience, and the decisions he will be making constantly effect his well-being and survival. He needs to find a suitable camping spot, where he will put his supplies and sleep.
      It is a hot Canadian summer evening, and mosquitoes attack him "while plagued with decisions". He puts up the hammock, then a sheet over it to complete his "new bedroom", and sets up a basic electric fence around the clearing to ward off bears.
      A twig cracks and grunts are heard from a distance --- possibly a moose?
      He goes fishing when hungry, and his hopeful there will be many fish in the lake. While fishing, he spots a beaver swimming by. Then he catches a grayling, and two other fish (possibly grayling, Ed does not specify), for his dinner. They taste great because Ed is hungry, yet he will need more than three fish a day or he will start loosing weight.
      It is scary at 1 in the morning, when Ed is heading to his hammock, because that is when bears are most active. He wants to be quiet, but has to make noise so he does not surprise the bear if he happens to come across one. His electric fence is reassuring once inside its perimeter, but Ed is unsure what happens when it runs out of batteries...

Day 2

      Ed Wardle wakes up to a squirrel outside his perimeter in a tree. He contemplates shooting it, because he can, but thinks it "doesn't seem right, somehow, to kill a little squirrel". So he doesn't kill it for breakfast, and instead spend the morning making a lean-to shelter nearby. While building, he confesses to half making it up, but hopefully it will be waterproof, and he is proud of his creation once it is finished.
      The mosquitoes are huge, plentiful, and hard to deal with.

Day 3

      Ed Wardle came out to the wilderness to see it he "could do it", to go back where we were designed by Mother Nature to live as human beings. He is surrounded by "spectacular scenery" as he goes for a swim in the lake, something he's always wanted to do, though the water is freezing. It is calm out, with hardly a breeze, while he goes canoeing.
      He is in possession of a radio tracking device, on which he has to press the "OK" button every morning by 10 am so the series producers know he is alright. If he fails to send the message, then a plane will fly over at around noon to see if he is fine.
      He sees a classic bald eagle, though he seems unsure of its classification when he refers to it as: "golden --- American --- bald eagle?"

Day 4

      Ed now needs to be careful going back to his food stash in the morning, because it could attract bears. He takes a log with rope attached to it, climbs a tree to ~ 20 feet up, and hoists his food sacks up to keep them out of reach of animals.

      He wants to do extraordinary things all the time, so his life is exciting, vital, and worthwhile. This --- besides the "boyhood dream" ideal --- is one of the main reasons why Ed Wardle has come to the unforgiving Yukon. Not quite the same thing as running a marathon, but it sure is thrilling.
      When a plane flies overhead, Ed gets emotional and sits down. He cries because "it's gone", which is upsetting. Ed thinks that it might have flown over to see if he was OK, but he wishes it had done something to acknowledge that he had been seen --- like waggle its wings or something. He will have to cope with being alone, yet it is heartbreaking being left behind.
      Later that evening, he sees a porcupine (though he is yet again unsure of its classification) up a tree, but does not know why a porcupine would be up a tree. He wonders about eating him, because he can, but he is "kinda cute", so Ed leaves him alone.
      "It is good night for me, and good night for Mr. Porcupine."

      Ed Wardle canoes to the other side of the lake at the end of week 1 to drop off the first lot of tapes. A plane will come by in the early morning hours to pick them up.
      Back near base, he cleans pots, swims in the lake, eats by the campfire, gazes at the scenery, and fishes knee deep along the bank.

Day 7

      This morning, Ed goes around the surrounding area and sets up four rabbit traps in various locations. When he was young and living on a farm in Scotland, Ed and his brother would hunt rabbits on the weekend and sell them to the local butcher for 10 pits or so. He does not enjoy or want to kill, but he recognizes that he must in order to find proper food.
      He tries not to be nervous about bears, but when walking along the side of an incline slope, he stops to listen for noises in the surrounding brush. Maybe it is nothing, but there could be something there. Later, he finds a big footprint pressed against the moss. If it is a bear print, then there is a pretty big bear lurking somewhere nearby.

Day 8

      He is hungry today, finding it difficult to move around. Ed has now come to the last hole in his belt from the loss of weight he has had to endure, because he is not getting enough food. He finds himself doing things again and again because he forgets what he was doing in the first place. Even in describing this experience to the camera on his shoulder, he repeats phrases already spoken.
      Ed visits his rabbit snares, but there are none caught --- not in a single one. Walking back to camp, Ed realizes his current predicament, saying he "definitely can't last three months like this..."

Day 9

      It started raining last night and it hasn't stopped, lasting all day. Ed Wardle waits the weather out.

Day 10

      Ed resorts to eating leaves and purple flowers. The plants with the purple flowers (which Ed found a few days ago, but is just eating them now) are known as Indian Potato, with the potato part in the earth, so Ed has to dig them up in order to acquire the nutritious part. There is a poisonous and nonpoisonous variety of the plant, and both live in the same regions and look nearly identical. The only different is the cap-like structure right before the petals: in the poisonous variety the cap is long and spiky (like eyelashes), while in the nonpoisonous variety the cap is bulbous and smooth. Since this is the only difference, Ed has to check each plant to make sure it is safe before eating it.

      Later on, Ed sees a moose trudging through the lake not too far away from where he stands among the trees. While he could get nearly a month of food from one moose (and at this moment is close enough to get a good shot at it), according to Canadian law, he is not allowed to hunt big game and so just watches it pass him by. Watching the beautiful creature, Ed thinks contemplating how he could eat him "seems a bit cruel, but everything here is about food".
      A porcupine scurrying up a nearby trunk scares the moose away --- Ed decides to kill the porcupine because he is hungry enough to do so. He shoots the porcupine, gets him, so it falls into the water. Ed picks it up out of the water, skins it and guts it. He says it is "like a big pig, really", and has to get into the butchering mentality so he can work fast enough before the flies can get in. Usually we are used to getting our food from supermarkets, and we miss the whole process beforehand. Ed Wardle makes a point that he does not enjoy doing this, but it is just something he has to do.
      Even while roasting it over the fire, he doesn't fancy eating it because it resembles a large rat and is so alien to him as a food source. Yet when he begins eating it, he says the liver is genuinely delicious and is definitely better than fish.
      Ed is worried the pile of guts left behind and then the smell of the roasting campfire will attract bears. So he says "hello, bear" into the darkness as he creeps through the forest to his camp. He is nervous on his walk, singing about his situation as he goes. Hopefully the electric fence will help him sleep as he rolls into his hammock.
      In the hammock and periodically glancing over his shoulder, Ed tells the camera in his lap a story someone told him before he came to the Yukon. When camping, two friends were sleeping in their sleeping bags when a bear lumbered by. The bear dragged one friend away by his sleeping bag to eat him, and because he was zipped up all the way in the sleeping bag he couldn't get out, so luckily his friend woke up and shot the bear, saving his friend.
      "I really wish I hadn't known that story, thanks."

Day 15

      Ed Wardles decides to "experiment" and move camp, trying to find other places with more food. Before moving everything, he journeys up the sides of the valley to see what energy it will take to leave. On those steep sides, rocks loosely fall and he nearly loses his footing.
      On his trek, Ed finds a pile of bear feces, and their relative freshness solidifies the bear's presence in those parts. Nearby, there is freshly dug up ground, but Ed does not know what all of it means. "I just don't know, I don't know enough."
     Ed sees something in the trees, and although he is too far away to tell exactly what it was, he is wide-eyed and alert. The bags under his eyes are profound as he throws a "hello" at the trees. He says "let's get out of here" and starts walking back down the slope and towards camp.
      Closer to the water, Ed looks behind him and says he sees a bear through the trees. Ed speeds up, wanting to run but knowing if he does so he may entice the bear to chase him, so he repeats "there's a bear, there's a bear" "don't run" and "it's ok" to try and stay calm. As he speed walks, he keeps glancing behind him, saying he caught a glimpse of a dark coated bear running the area he had just left.
      The hairs on the back of Ed's neck are standing up, and the video cuts to when he is alone in his hammock that night. With the green glow from the camera's night vision throwing the lines and scruffiness of Ed's face into relief, hearing him whisper "I keep hearing things" chills to the bone. The stillness of his features and his highly dilated pupils make this the most intense scene in the series.
      In the dead of night, Ed Wardle looks behind him from his suspended position, tucked into the folds of the hammock. Half of his mind thinks that everything will be fine, but the other half thinks he is "taking a big risk sleeping here like this". Ed thinks he should pack up his supplies and move camp somewhere else.

July 2009

      Ed --- thin, weak, weathered --- cries "this is hard" to the camera in the relentless Canadian midmorning air. He lacks concentration and wonders "what have I got myself into...".

Day 16

      Ed says he promised to film even if he had nothing to say, and he has had nothing to say for days now. It is as though everything has stopped and all that remains is silence. There is only silence in the heart of the Yukon. At a little bit after 49 minutes into Alone in the Wild, Ed reports that there are no animals and no fish in the valley. His leaving thoughts of wisdom ponder if without any stimulus, perhaps we just stop...

REMAINING QUESTIONS
      The second half of Alone in the Wild seems to go continuously from bad to worse to worser. One of the main life lessons that I walked away from this film with was that seemingly simple decisions such as: Where do I go next? Do I spend my time hunting rabbits, porcupines, or fishing? can be the difference between life and death. With his own decisions in mind, I wonder what Ed Wardle would do differently if he did this experience over again.
      In Alone in the Wild, Ed eats fish for a week before making rabbit snares and waits even longer before hunting porcupines. I wonder if the second time around he would instead search for alternative food sources earlier. Would he hunt more animals, such as porcupines, beavers, squirrels, etc.? Would he make the rabbit snares earlier and multiply their abundance and range so as to improve the likelihood of success? Would he fish every day, especially towards the beginning when there seems to be more fish around?

      Ed Wardle seems to know the bare minimum about the surrounding flora and fauna, and only is really sure of what specialists advised him of before embarking on his adventure in the first place. He fails to properly recognize the bald eagle when he sees it, does not seem to be positive of the porcupine at first, does not know what sort of habitat he should expect the salmon to be in, and does not know what the torn up earth means for the nearby bear activity. If Ed was to redo this whole experience, I wonder if he would do more studying on the local terrain before leaving. Would he research the most common flora and fauna? Where they are most likely found, and what they mean for his survival (such as bears being negative, fish and game being positive)?

      We may contemplate the answers to the questions above, but we will never know the true answers if Ed Wardle refuses to venture back into the stomach of Yukon, Canada. Which brings me to my next question:
      If given the chance to redeem his honor and attempt this wilderness survival challenge again, would Ed take it? I think not. If you have seen the series in its entirety, you will know that Ed nearly goes mad towards the end from the isolation. Throughout the 51 days he is in the wilderness, Ed faces joy, fear, and hunger, but it is the loneliness that ultimately consumes his fortitude and destroys his endurance.

      On a spinoff of the last question, I wonder if Ed would be willing to do it again if he could bring even just one or two other people with him. Since it was the loneliness and not the hunger that made him quit in the end, I wonder if having two or three people trying to survive in the wilderness would create a different overall tone of the series. This seems it would make it more of a survival guide/reality tv show instead of one man trying to live off the land by himself.

      After watching this and seeing how it effects Ed Wardle's mental state so much --- being cut off from the outside world as he starves ---, I wonder who would be willing to take his place. After seeing Alone in the Wild, who would be willing to accept such a challenge? Someone with more training in survival or of the surrounding Yukon during that time of the year? And if someone watched Alone in the Wild and then attempted the same challenge with the same criteria (same time span and time of year, same terrain, same supplies and safety protocol, etc.), would they learn from Ed's mistakes?

      Nonetheless, something positive has to be said about Ed's incompetence in completing aforementioned challenge. Since he is not professionally trained in the skill of prolonged, isolated survival, he lent the series a greater sense of realism. I honestly believe that a common person with a similar skill level as Ed's would experience similar triumphs and hardships as Ed did on his journey. Ed knows how to make a fire, fish, climb trees really high, and skin and gut animals in order to properly cook them. I know personally that I can only fish and climb trees well, so I would have to learn how to make a proper fire and how to butcher fresh game before being able to last even half as long as Ed did in the wild.
      When reading over some commentary on the series on www.channel4.com, I noticed that a few compared Ed Wardle to Bear Grylls, a British adventurer, writer and television presenter (best known for starring in the show Man vs. Wild). In Bear Grylls's show, he has a team of people doing the camera work, so he does not have to worry about the equipment nor about every being totally alone. Grylls also would receive medical attention a lot quicker than Wardle would, though in Grylls's show they tell him to put himself in more extreme positions than he would if he was making decisions on his own. However, I think the key difference between Alone in the Wild and Man vs. Wild is that Wardle was trying to live alone in the wild, whereas Grylls is dropped in the wilderness and then spends his time trying to find civilization ASAP.

      These next two questions are trivial, just details in the series that were never explained, so I will state them plainly. When Ed Wardle travels from Dog Pack Lake to Tincup Lake, he does not explain how the plane receives the remaining tape recordings. Does he leave them on the opposite end of the lake and then Tweet the production staff their coordinates? I do not know.
      Also, when Ed does travel, he goes up a mini-mountainside and down the other side before journeying alongside a river to get to the next lake. Why does Ed not just venture by canoe? Was there no river or smooth crossway connecting Dog Pack to Tincup? What happened to the canoe if Ed left it behind? Again, I do not know but would like to.

      This next one is more opinion than question, but when Ed decides for certain to leave Dog Pack Lake and trek to another one for better resources is the day after he sees the bear and "keep[s] hearing things". And so, is the fear of bears the real reason why Ed left camp, risking facing the unknown in order to search for a new campsite? If so, then what does this decision making process say about how fears can influence the behavior of people in life and death situations?

      I consider the breaking point of Ed Wardle's reserve to be around the time when he has enough courage or desire to open the envelope of his family and friend's pictures and letter. They did not improve his mental state, but seemed to simply remind him of the world he left behind. They reassured him of the love and care he would receive upon completion of the challenge, and so this might have pushed him over the edge into throwing in the towel so that he could see his loved ones again. How long would he have held out if he had not seen those glimpses of his old life? 'Til death?

FINAL IMPRESSIONS
      This is a fantastic series. Although it aired in 2009, it's message still resonates with every viewer. I can understand why they have not attempted another season, since they would have to find someone crazy enough to take Ed's place, or convince Ed to come back. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is even slightly interested in this sort of topic.
      I would love to read a psychological analysis on Ed Wardle's mental state and changes throughout the documentary. An anthropological study on how we have lived in the wilderness in history might also be aided by this film. In both fields, the isolation effects in particular could shed light on how being social animals has helped us cope with exposure in the wild, and to what extent we have become social over the centuries, that one man cannot survive more than 50 days in the wild without needing to see those he loved. If there is a similar show done with a few people working together (such as a more realistic version of Survivor), then that could lend intel on how people work together in survival situations and what sort of relationship dynamics grow under such conditions.
      There is so much that this documentary can teach us: how to become humble under the powers of Mother Nature, how to respect those who willingly place themselves under those pressures in order to study that lifestyle and educate us on what it is like, and how important the surrounding biosphere is to our daily survival.

Want to know more about Alone in the Wild? Check out Channel 4's webpage for the show: Alone in the Wild, where you can read articles, learn more about Ed's camp, the equipment he brought and the safety protocol adhered to during the program's duration.

disclaimer: all pictures (all featuring Ed Wardle in Alone in the Wild) were found by searching "ed wardle" in Google Images.

Sharks After "JAWS"

How the Media Molds Our Perception of Sharks


The difference between these two videos is almost palpable:
1 - "Jaws" Trailer
2 - BBC Shark Footage

Before the 20th Century, sharks were seen as harmless pests to fishermen. There were even rewards given (which were not collected) for people who could prove they had been bitten by a shark, because bites were so uncommon. Sharks were seen as uninteresting because they were not targets of fishing industries and thus seen as unimportant. In addition, and partly due to the above mentioned factors, shark physiology and social structure were largely unknown.

Then, during World War II, sinking ships and airplane crashes during battles increased the number of bleeding, helpless people in the middle of the ocean miles from the nearest landmass. This increased the opportunity that humans would come into contact with sharks, and thus there was in increase in the number of attacks sharks made on those humans. This made shark bites more common, and thus sharks were seen as a threat for the first time.

This notion of sharks being threats was swept up by the media during the summer of 1916, when a rouge shark off of the New Jersey coast attacked multiple swimmers in a relatively short time period. This event became the basis for a book, which in turn became the basis for the movie "Jaws". The book was an exaggeration of the attacks, and the movie even more so.

Following the release of "Jaws", and largely due to its popularity, sharks and shark attacks were given a lot more attention than ever before. Sharks were seen as dangerous monsters of the sea, since in the movie they were portrayed as vengeful creatures which should be hunted and killed. There were tournaments held to catch sharks, and no remorse were given to sharks which were rare or juvenile, and the sharks which were caught were killed and used as trophies.

Now, thankfully, through scientific research we have come to understand sharks as important to the local ecosystems in which they live and so should be protected from unnecessary slaughter. However, in most of the world, shark finning is practiced without moderation and without control. As poaching is devastating to rhino populations, the modern finning industry is disastrous to sharks worldwide.

Finning is widespread throughout the globe, unmonitored, and thus extremely hard to control or even locate perpetrators in the act. Fins are usually bought at $300 per pound, which creates a high incentive to continue these practices. Because it is a multimillion dollar operation, 100 million sharks on average are slaughtered annually. As the rhino's horn is sawed from its face and the rest left int he dirt, shark fins are hacked from they're bodies (even if they are still alive) and tossed back overboard to be eaten alive by the other creatures of the deep. Up to 99% of the shark is wasted because shark meat is unprofitable.

Not only is finning harmful to sharks, but it threatens local fisheries who rely on the ocean's bounty for survival when foreign organizations infiltrate their waters and strip it of its shark supply. While many countries agree that shark finning is a destructive process, each country is responsible for patrolling their own coastline. And so, some of the larger countries may have the ability but lack the will to patrol their waters, and some of the smaller countries may have the desire but not the funds nor the manpower to take on such a responsibility.

Wildlife conservationists and policy makers can talk all they want about how sharks should be protected, but if there aren't enough individuals aware of the issues and willing to make a difference, nothing is going to change, and the global shark population will continue to decline.

After "Jaws", the drop in shark populations inspired interest in the animals, and scientific research continues to be conducted today. And yet, there is still very little that we know and actually understand about shark lives and behavior tendencies. There is still so much to learn, so much to discover about sharks and other creatures lurking in the ocean blue.


These are the sites I used as resources:
1 - Live Science
2 - Shark Water

Some sites for shark organizations and more information about sharks:
1 - Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
2 - Ocean Health Index
3 - Research Site
4 - Team Orca

The River Project

      It may be easier to get involved with conservation efforts than you may realize. There are many opportunities to interact with and help protect the environment in your own neighborhood. You just need to stick your neck out a little in order to find those opportunities.

      One of the ways in order to get involved in New York where I live is through The River Project. From the own words of their website, "The River Project is a marine science station founded in 1986 at Pier 26 in Tribeca, on the lower west side of Manhattan, New York City. The River Project works to protect and restore the ecosystem of the Hudson River estuary through scientific research, hands-on environmental education, and urban habitat improvement.
      The River Project's programs and interactive exhibits expand public understanding of the estuary and inspire people to appreciate the ecosystem they live in. An intimate view of what is at the waterfront and beneath the surface contributes to a sense of well-being for urban residents and to the perception of New York City as a viable place to live and work.
      The River Project's offices, laboratory and research facilities are currently located at Pier 40 in Hudson River Park."

      I think it would be fantastic to be a part of the River Project community through their Marine Biology Internship Program because I wish to pursue a career in wildlife conservation. As Nelson Mandela states in my favorite quote, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world". It is impossible for people to preserve something they know nothing about, and so in order to inspire the public to preserve their environment, it is imperative that we do everything we can to educate people on the importance of our environment and the vibrant wildlife that lives amongst us. Researching wildlife is essential to gaining knowledge in order to educate others, and so it is important that we stay up to date with our local marine and land wildlife.
      Information regarding the River Project's Marine Biology Internship Program can be found here. A video taken by River Project members featuring the marine life on the bottom of the Hudson river can be found here.

      No matter where you live, I'm sure there are plenty of centers like NYC's River Project. Whether you volunteer at a zoo or aquarium, are a counselor for an outdoor camp, or properly dispose of litter whenever you find some on the street, there are endless ways to help the world in which we live every day. The first step is to desire to find such opportunities, and then to pounce once they arise.

KING OF BEASTS

An Overview

      Lions (Panthera leo) are classified into the Order Carnivora and Family Felidae. Being in the Order Carnivora means that all lions have powerful jaws and teeth adapted for stabbing, tearing, and eating flesh. Being a member of the Family Felidae means that all lions are cats, or felines, and thus share similar basic qualities and characteristics with other cats; from sabertooth to house cat.
      There are 5 subspecies of lions: Angolian lion (P. l. bleyenbergerghi), Asiatic lion (P. l. persica), Masai lion (P. l. massaicus), Senegalese lion (P. l. senegalensis), and Transvaal lion (P. l. krugeri). The Angolian lion lives in Angolia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zimbabwe. The Asiatic lion is only present in the wild in the Gir Forest of India. The Masai lion lives in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The Senegalese lion reigns in West Africa, whereas the Transvaal lion reigns in Transvaal. Since they're territories have not been known to overlap, it is easiest to discern which subspecies you are dealing with in the wild based on you location.

      The King of Beasts is distributed throughout Africa, from Sub Sahara to South Africa (excluding the Congo rainforest belt). We must not forget Gujarat, India where the Gir Forest Sanctuary holding the last wild Asiatic lions is located in our calculations. With the multiple countries in which these cats reside also comes an equally varied array of habitats. From the savanna woodlands of East Africa to the sands of the Kalahari Desert, lions have adapted to rule it all.
      Lions are known to us humans to be quite large, but there are subtle differences between adult males and females. From head to rear, males can be 8.5 - 10.8 ft, whereas females can only be 5.2 - 6.2 ft long. At shoulder height, males can be up to 4 ft and females up to 3.6 ft. The length of the tail for both males and females ranges from about 2 - 3.3 ft. Males can weigh from 330 - 530 lbs, while females only weigh 270 - 400 lbs. While adult lions can live up to 18 years in the wild, they can live up to 25 in captivity. This increase in longevity is due to many factors, including consistent food, shelter from harsh elements, and expert veterinary care.
      The typical menu in a wild lion's life would be mainly hoofed mammals such as gazelles, zebras, antelopes, giraffes, and wild hogs. The young of larger mammals, such as elephants and rhinos, are sometimes also hunted. Lions will also take smaller prey such as rodents, hares, small birds, and reptiles. However, since lions tend to gorge on food until full and then sleep it off, I doubt they would go for small prey often unless larger delicacies were scarce. Nonetheless, regardless of their diet, females typically need about 11 lbs, while males need about 15 lbs a day.
      Females are sexually mature at about 36 - 46 months in the wild and about 24 - 28 months in captivity. I can guess that they are sexually mature sooner in captivity because they are generally healthier and receive all the best nutrients needed to grow than they would in the wild. Once conceived, and after a gestation period of 100 - 119 days, around 2 - 4 cubs are born per litter. Cubs can be born at any time of the year, and are completely independent by about 2 1/2 years.
      From a distance, lions look a general golden brown, but up close there are distinctions throughout a lions coat. A lion can be light to dark tawny, with a lighter coloring on its abdomen and inner side of its legs. The back of the ears are black. Immature youngsters have a rosette pattern which fades as they mature, although the pattern may remain on lower abdomen and legs on adults. The male's mane varies from platinum blonde through reddish brown to black.


Purpose of the Mane

      Male African lions are recognized worldwide by the hair growing around their head, neck, and upper chest. Like a crown on a king, a lion's mane is impossible to ignore. Dr. Craig Packer is the leading researcher of lions and has been recording the lives of lions in Tanzania for years. Curious about why lions had manes, he set out to answer the questions: Why do lions have different colored manes? Do the colors serve a special purpose, or are they just for show?
      In order to discover possible answers to the purpose of the mane, Dr. Packer and his research team ordered 4 life sized lion dummies from a Dutch toy company. Each had a different type of mane: one was short and blond, one was short and black, one was long and blond, and one was long and black. The dummies were placed throughout the lion territory of Tanzania and watched by hidden cameras. Packer and his team wanted to see how real lions would react to these plush replicas.

      Their findings were astonishing. The male lions would attack the blond plushes but stay well away from the black-maned plushes. In contrast, the females would ignore the blonds and rather shamelessly attempt to seduce the black-maned plushes. With these reactions in mind, the Packer team went through their data --- which consists of multiple generations of lions from multiple families --- and searched for the differences between light- and dark-maned lions.
      It turns out that the darker maned lions have higher testosterone levels than the lighter maned lions. This increased testosterone concentration in the body increases the lions ability to sire healthier cubs, heal faster after being wounded, and become stronger than lighter maned males. The purpose of a lion's mane is to indicate the testosterone level of its wearer. Furthermore, lions seem to know --- whether by experience or by being born with the knowledge already engrained into their DNA is unclear --- that darker-maned males will make better mates to females and worse foes to males.


Conservation Status

      African lions are listed and ranked as Vulnerable by the IUCN, with numbers declining due to habitat loss. In even worse condition, the Asiatic subspecies (P. l. persica) is ranked as Critically Endangered.
      The Cape lion (P. l. melanochaiatus), and the Barbary lion (P. l. leo), formerly found in North Africa, are both listed as Extinct.

      When asked by a reporter: Why are you so devoted to the study and conservation of these creatures?, Packer responded, "So that 100 years from now, there are still lions in Tanzania."


Disney Side-Note

      In Disney's 1994 animated movie "The Lion King", a lion cub named Simba leaves home and gives up his right to be king after being tricked into thinking he killed his father. His father is Mufasa, a large golden lion with a flowing red mane. Simba's evil uncle (Mufasa's brother), Scar, is a washed out gangly creature with a scraggly black mane. While Mufasa is the stronger king and father figure, Scar is and outcast who is disliked by the rest of the pride.
      In light of Dr. Craig Packer's new discovery, having Mufasa drawn with a darker mane and making Scar a blond would have been more accurate. However, since it's a movie, I'm going to let it slide. Red and gold are the colors of bravery and have been associated with lions for centuries, and black and scars are usually accompanied by the antagonists in stories.

      While this subject is interesting to think upon, I do not think Disney should change their perspective on lions, and "The Lion King" is perfect just the way it is.

Mother's Day 2012

Animal Mothers

        We celebrate Mother's Day every year to show our appreciation and gratitude towards our mothers for all the hard work they do every day to take care of us. Less noticed by us is how extraordinary animal mothers are in taking care of their offspring, and the extremes to which they will go to ensure their young's safety.
        There are countless examples of extreme mothers in the natural world, and there are a few that come to mind automatically. Lionesses band together in nursery-like groups in order to better protect their cubs, for when the pride is taken over by a new male he will kill the old male's cubs so the females will go back into heat. This will enable the new male to start his own bloodline in the pride, but regardless of who the father is the mothers will fight savagely against the larger aggressors to save her cubs. Polar bears give birth during the winter months in hibernation, and sometimes have to feed their cubs milk even though the mother has not eaten herself in many months. Salmon travel by instinct against river currents for miles to the spawning ground, where they themselves had been born. Against all odds, most survive the journey and of those survivors most will die after the spawning is complete, giving the ultimate sacrifice for the next generation. Probably the most incredible, chimpanzees are such socially oriented creatures that they will adopt orphan chimps and raise them as their own. These mothers seem to recognize that the survival of their young, regardless of the father or if it is even their own, is essential in the continuation of their species.

        A few weeks ago, I witnessed a mother and her ducklings in a courtyard between two buildings. Apparently, the mother Mallard had nested there, and has been doing so for years now. The building staff were aware of this situation, and provided crushed corn and fresh water for the ducks, although they should be able to find everything they need in the underbrush of the courtyard.
        I spoke to one of those staff members as he was refilling the fresh water tubs, and he said that there was no need to disturb the nest and attempt to move the ducklings until needed. Usually, they wait until the ducklings are 4 weeks old, and then a group of 5 to 7 adults help shuffle the family out of the courtyard and down to the nearby lake, where the youngsters can grow up on their own in their natural habitat. Below are pictures I took of the group when I got the chance.

This is a paper which was taped to the courtyard entrance. I think this notice was an excellent idea, so visitors know that there are ducks present, and how the local staff are taking care of them. 

This is a view of the mother duck with some of her babies. The nest is behind her by about twelve feet in a bush, and there is a path in the vines that allows the group to enter and exit their home. 

The staff members placed the plastic tub in the courtyard and made sure it was filled with fresh water. Here, you can see some of the ducklings already expressing their instinctive desire to swim. 

        "From the crawling ant to the leaping antelope" ("The Lion King", 1994), every mother raises her children a little differently. Some are more distant, such as spiders, who produce hundreds of young at a time, or sharks, who will sometimes attempt to eat their young after birth. These are more like clockmakers, who simply set life into motion and let natural selection take it from there. Others are more invested, such as kangaroos, who as marsupials carry in a stomach pouch their joey until fully weaned, or rhinoceroses, who have an 18 month gestation period. We as humans would fall into the latter category for the most part, since in general we house and feed our young until they go to college and move out on their own.

        An excellent website that reports on newly made moms is www.zooborns.com. They are either sought after by, or seek out themselves zoos and aquariums around the world which have just acquired new animal babies to their collection. I felt a need to make a shout-out to their site because it offers an excellent bridge between people who may not be the biggest animal lovers but can appreciate an adorable baby (animal) picture, and the cute accounts of young wildlife. Plus, I find the site so enjoyable, that I made ZooBorns my homepage.

EARTH DAY 2012

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!

      I love that there is an international official holiday dedicated to the celebration of our Earth and its health. Although I think people should be more aware of environmental issues year-round, having such an event as Earth Day allows people who may not usually be exposed to those issues to be enlightened and learn better ways to extrapolate "Earth Day practices" ----such as recycling, planting trees, and picking up litter---- to other parts of their calendar.

The History
     The idea of Earth Day came to founder Gaylord Nelson, at the time a US Senator of Wisconsin, after witnessing the devastating 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, CA. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a "national teach-in on the environment" to the national media.
      As a result, on April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.
      Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. "It was a gamble," Gaylord recalled, "but it worked."
      Much like 1970, Earth Day 2010 came at a time of great challenge for the environmental community. Climate change deniers, well-fundedoil lobbyists, reticent politicians, a disinterested public, and a divided environmental community all contributed to a strong narrative that overshadowed the cause of progress and change. In spite of the challenge, for its 40th anniversary, Earth Day Network reestablished Earth Day as a powerful focal point around which people could demonstrate their commitment. Earth Day Network brought 225,000 people to the National Mall for a Climate Rally and launched an international, 1-million tree planting initiative with Avatar director James Cameron and tripled its online base to over 900,000 community members.
     The fight for a clean environment continues in a climate of increasing urgency, as the ravages of climate change become more manifest every day. We invite everyone to be a part of Earth Day and help write many more victories and successes to Earth Day's history. Discover energy you didn't know you had. Feel it rumble through the grassroots under your feet and the technology at your fingers. Channel it into building a clean, healthy, diverse world for generations to come.

A Day of Adventure
      There are many ways to celebrate Earth Day. We could recycle more and reduce the amount of energy we use (which also saves us money, as an added incentive). We could also reuse things that break, such as if a pot shatters we could use the pieces to make a mosaic picture frame, or if a pair of jeans gets ripped we could use it to make doll clothes or a chic denim pocketbook.
      For one thing, the way I celebrated Earth Day was fun and interesting. As my first organized event as the Environmental Commissioner for my college dorm, I hosted a Clean Our Lakes initiative, where we walked around the two lakes on campus wearing latex gloves and carrying garbage bags, picking up litter as we went. I set up this event because our lakes are absolutely stunning and yet I had always noticed litter whenever I visited. Even though I expected to find a substantial amount of litter today, I was not prepared for the shear multitude of trash per square foot. It is one thing to walk past litter and think "It is terrible that someone would leave their trash on the ground; someone should pick it up", but it is another thing to actually go through with the task of picking up the litter you come across.

      The funny thing, was that when my friend and I were picking up litter around the lakes, one of the resident Canadian geese came over to see what we were doing and began to follow us. I thought it was cute that s/he was swimming alongside us in the lake while we were on shore cleaning up, but when the goose left the water we calmly kept on walking. S/he seemed bent on bothering us, and when s/he caught up to us (I had stopped to take a picture of a box turtle), s/he hissed to let us know we were unwelcome. We kept picking up litter, but now with one eye on the goose trailing us, and ears aware to other signs of geese activity.

A picture of me picking up litter by Saint Mary's Lake. If I look awkward, it is because I was in the midst of a large Canadian goose posse and was wary of an ambush. Photos (this and above) taken by my friend on my camera. 

      No matter what you do to celebrate Earth Day, it should be something that you find fun and that fits with your lifestyle. If you enjoy what you do, then you are more likely to be good at it and to do it well.  On a side note, I also put bird seed outside my window for the local birds every Saturday, so as an extra Earth Day treat, I put more out today. I may blog about them soon, as soon as I can catch better pictures of them. 

      Earth Day is a special time to celebrate and protect our planet. Since the first Earth Day in 1970, there has been success but there is still much more to do. We can all help in many ways: picking up litter, planting trees, and saving energy.

The Bridge to Russia

My Universal Essay


      During my sophomore year of high school, I participated in the Russian Exchange Program offered at my school. Based on a worksheet I filled out describing my likes and dislikes, I was assigned a partner from a high school in Moscow. In November, she came to visit us in New York, where she would come with me to school and go site seeing with the rest of the Russian group during the day. Then in April, I went to Moscow and spent two weeks with her, going to school with her, and site seeing with my American group during the day. For a few days towards the end of her time here, her group went on a trip to Washington D.C., and while there my group and I went on a trip to Saint Petersburg for a few days. 
      It was such a great once in a lifetime experience for me, and I am so glad I did it. I enjoyed it so much, I wrote about it in one of the CommonApp essays that I sent to all the colleges I applied to. I pasted it below for you to read, and I think it does a better job explaining the program and what it means to me than I could in my previous paragraph:

     It is spring of my sophomore year, and I am spending two weeks with my Russian exchange partner, Masha Leonenko. I arrive at an airport, board a plane with my fellows classmates, and disembark at another airport. I wave goodbye to my family in New York, and wave hello to Masha’s family in Moscow. I leave my country behind and enter a new one, but I am to learn that while scenery and culture might change, people are constant.

I am surrounded by people different than me, but none are aliens. On my way to school with Masha, I notice, regardless of whether it is Tretyakovski Station or Grand Central Station, people pack into trains like sardines. Students in school put their jackets away in their lockers and spend the day in their designated classes. There are classes that Masha likes and classes that she does not, just as there are classes that I like and classes that I do not. I discuss the math problems on the board with my fellow American classmates also on the exchange, I listen along during History class, and I watch “The Great Gatsby” in English class. 

At night when I see the Russian production of “Monte Cristo”, it strikes the same spiritual chords as Broadway’s “The Phantom of the Opera”. I am proficient in Russian, but not fluent. However, when watching the Moscow production of “Monte Cristo”, the language barrier does not hinder the experience in the least. The emotions and tensions of the moment shine through the acting, voices, stage directions, and other visual cues. When my eyes close and I hear the music, am I in New York or Moscow?

When the wind blows, it still sends shivers down my spine. When it snows, it is still cold to my touch. The stunning museums I visit and my host family’s hospitality melt all stereotypes away. If I misbehave, I am not sent to a gulag labor camp. The KGB are not having me followed, and the Communists are not brainwashing me while I sleep. On Masha’s windowsill a rose blooms, and on her rug the ginger cat----Musya----plays with string. 

We are two different people living on opposite ends of the globe; Masha Leonenko and I have many differences. She is used to snowy days and city nights, whereas I am used to leafy days and cozy nights. She lives with the remnants of a controlled society but an evolving freedom and I with the spirit of a great society and beacon of freedom. She has blond hair and blue eyes, and I brown hair and brown eyes. She has a cat, and I have two dogs. Masha is an only child, while I am one of four. 

Even so, Masha Leonenko and I are mirror images. Our basis for joining the exchange program is the same; our love for culture and exploration through experiencing other languages, places and people. 

Russia and America are not the same; no two countries are. Each has their own blend of unique cultural characteristics. During our time together, Masha and I celebrate our differences, and they do not inhibit the growth of our friendship. This program is not a culture clash, but a culture mesh. My time in Russia teaches me that regardless of our national identities, we are all human. We are the same while we are different.

This is of me and a Russian man on Arbat (a strip of cobble stone streets with venders, restaurants, and shops), Moscow. He drew a magnificent charcoal sketch of me, which I am holding in the photo and still have hanging in my New York bedroom. 

This is of Masha Leonenko, my classmate's Russian partner, my classmate, and me (from left to right). We are on a tank featured in a War World II memorial park near Masha's flat. Another Russian student is taking the photo. 

      While it may not make sense why I included this on a blog which is supposed to be primarily about animals, no matter what interest we have in this world, I believe it is important to broaden our horizons to encompass the entire globe in our thought processes. Through the internet and phone services, the world is becoming an increasingly smaller place; in order to care about one another and the animals that live in other parts of the world, we must strive to learn about and respect other cultures, especially if doing so pulls us out of our comfort zone.