Save the Bonobos. Save the World.
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Gorilla Reunion!Click on the “Gorilla Reunion” link above to see one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever seen. It is the reunion of a man named Damian Aspinall and a gorilla named Kwibi. Damian raised Kwibi until he was five and then released him back into the wild in West Africa. Five years later, he returned to reunite with a now ten-year-old Kwibi. West Tisbury School 1st & 2nd Graders Talk About What They CAN DO to Help Endangered AnimalsThe West Tisbury School on Martha’s Vineyard has a very special group of 1st and 2nd graders who are very interested in how they can help endangered animals. Click on the link to see their amazing pictures and hear their voices as they let us know exactly what’s happening to some of the earth’s most beautiful animals and what they and we can do to help save them. I’m Lucy Gets Rave Reviews From Animal World USA Magazine!Check out the January issue of Animal World USA Magazine by clicking on the cover and downloading the pdf. A fantastic review of I’m Lucy: A Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo appears on page 10! Then be sure to read on as this is a fantastic magazine dedicated to the world’s animals and the people who love them! Also, make sure to check out Animal World USA’s “Weeks for the Animals” to see if your city has one coming soon. Biologist Ursula Goodenough Reports From The Great Ape Trust!!Kanzi with Lexicon video from the Great Ape Trust Most Bonobo Lovers are doubtless familiar with the outstanding work by Sue I have had the privilege of getting to know Sue, and a few months ago had I had cool interactions with Kanzi’s foster mother Matata (his birth mother While it’s obvious in the photographs in I’m Lucy, it was only after looking The facilities at the Great Ape Trust are splendid — lots of uncultivated Marian’s Latest Visit and the Newest Baby BonoboI go to Jacksonville, Florida once or twice a year to document Lucy growing up. I have being going there since 2004 when Lucy was one. (Lucy was born December 1, 2003) . I was there last March, 2009, and just at that time Kuni (Kaleb’s mom) became pregnant with the baby due in late October. It was decided that I should come around November 7th when the baby would be a few weeks old and I would photograph it. I made my plane reservation in July! When I arrived with my camera equipment to the platform where I was to photograph, Kuni and her baby girl were not out on exhibit. The baby had been born on November 6! She was barely one day old! She was kept inside with her support group consisting of Lucy, Lorell and Aquili (the possible Dad) because the keepers wanted to keep an eye on her to make sure she was nursing enough. However, on Sunday, I was invited to be in the back to observe Kuni and the baby. I was given a notebook and pencil and asked to keep notes on the nursing. The baby nursed plenty I was happy to report. I sat in a chair and watched the group for FOUR hours. As we know bonobos get the same illnesses that humans do so I had had my TB test, and needed to wear a mask over my nose and mouth the entire time I was there. The next day Kuni and her baby (as yet unnamed) were out on exhibit. I got the pictures. Delfi Messinger, the Director of Animals at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, used these two pictures to make the announcement of the new baby bonobo.
1000 Classrooms, $3, A World of DifferenceOur favorite 11-year-old, James Brooks, in cooperation with the Canadian Ape Alliance, has started a project called 1000 Classrooms. James hopes to get 1000 western classrooms to donate $3 each to buy a dozen eggs from the widows of Park Rangers killed protecting the apes. The eggs will be given to the children at the Kahuzi-Biega Environmental School in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Because of this purchase, the widows earn an income, the children and teachers are given nutritious food and the apes are safer because there is less demand for food! The Eggs for Kids Program makes sure every kid and every teacher gets an egg per day! Scientists Do Research for This Year’s “Red List”Every year, scientists work for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, an organization that works on many projects to conserve all types of animals, ecosystem and plant species, to put together a new Red List. The Red List is an up-to-date list of this year’s threatened species. For 2008, scientists from Conservation International, another organization that works to take care of important species, landscapes and seascapes on Earth, are working in Barcelona to discover new and old endangered or threatened species. This year’s list will detail more than 45,000 endangered species! That’s a lot. Even though this doesn’t talk about ALL species on Earth, it gives us an idea about our planet’s health in general! For example the Malayan Tapir has recently been added to the list, their population has declined mainly because of climate change, which is a direct result of global warming.
Things like this growing list of endangered species are just another reason to start paying more attention to global warming and how its affecting everyone and every thing! Remember just making small changes in our own daily life makes a huge difference! You are a powerful planet protector. Here are a few easy things to do:
Breaking News: Gorilla Kid Summit in NYC TODAY!NEW YORK, New York, September 25, 2008 (ENS) – The first Kids Gorilla Summit, which is happening on Friday in New York City will enlist young people to make a commitment to help endangered mountain gorillas and the people of Africa. The summit will explore the connection between the urgency of wildlife preservation and inter-related humanitarian issues. This event and the gorilla conservation campaign it spearheads were born out of a commitment to action made at the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative shortly after last summer’s massacre of 10 of the world’s remaining 720 mountain gorillas, of which, 380 live in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park. A project of the William J. Clinton Foundation established by the former U.S. president, the Clinton Global Initiative convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, such as the planet’s dwindling biodiversity.
The gorilla conservation campaign brings together some of the world’s most respected names such as Kenyan conservationist Dr. Richard Leakey, founder of Wildlife Direct, and South African Anglican Archbishop, activist and Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu. Turtle Pond Publications and Scholastic, in association with Dr. Richard Leakey’s Wildlife Direct and the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation through the catalyst of the Clinton Global Initiative, are the partners in this effort to protect the mountain gorillas. Dr. Leakey started Wildlife Direct in 2005 to raise awareness and funds for conservation in some of the worlds most endangered and dangerous places. Operating deep in the jungles of eastern Congo, blogs written by rangers last year alerted the world to the crisis facing mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Funds raised through the blogs have enabled the Congolese wildlife authority, the Congolese Nature Conservation Institute to continue wildlife conservation activities on the ground despite the ongoing crisis that pits rebels and government troops against each other for control of the area inhabited by the gorillas. “Wildlife Direct was conceived as a way of facilitating exchanges between the front lines of conservation and the rest of the world, to create a community of people concerned about conservation and to allow for direct interaction with and support to the conservationists on the ground,” Dr. Leakey says on his blog. The Kids Gorilla Summit will now be part of that community. Participants will discuss the new children’s book, “Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One of Their Own, published by Scholastic Press. It was written by the best-selling team of Craig, Isabella and Juliana Hatkoff, photographer Peter Greste, and ecologist Dr. Paula Kahumbu who is in charge of conservation, policy and partnerships at Wildlife Direct. Some 180 students in grades five to seven will view short videos of the gorillas, as well as special animated “Gorillasodes” that were created by students from the United States and Rwanda to help spread the word about the gorillas’ plight. The young people will discuss the issues with Leakey, Kahumbu and Hatkoff, and they will meet four reporters who are members of the Scholastic Kids Press Corps, reporting from Africa. After learning about the gorillas and the region, the students will develop their own ideas for solutions with the help of educational, web-based technological tools. At the end of the summit, participants will be asked to sign the Kids Global Act Pact, which will declare their commitment to taking action to make a difference. Students nationwide can participate via a live national webcast at http://www.scholastic.com/miza and will be able to email questions to participants. In addition, http://www.scholastic.com/miza and http://www.miza.com, created jointly by Turtle Pond and Scholastic, will offer students up-to-date information on the gorillas brought from Wildlife Direct’s field-based blogs written by the Mountain Rangers and other activities and resources. The new curriculum and online portal will be distributed to a million students to teach them about the gorillas, their habitat and the Mountain Rangers, and is intended to empower them to become advocates for change. Flood damage at Great Ape Trust will likely exceed $1 million
How Are Bonobos and Chimpanzees Alike?Recently, we talked about how bonobos and chimpanzees are different…but we also noted that they are alike. They split into separate species 2 million years ago, but in the grand scheme of things, that’s fairly recent! Here are the many ways bonobos and chimpanzees are alike:
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