Awesome Lunch Break

Today is a perfect example of how you can have an adventure just by sitting at your desk and eating your lunch.

I work for a land conservancy nonprofit called Red-tail Land Conservancy.  Recently my boss, Barry, told me of a live-stream video of a red-tail hawk nest at Cornell University.  Its something I can leave up on the browser and every time I need a break I can simply click over and watch the birds and their chicks. Today I decided to watch them while I ate my lunch (some wonderful shrimp corn chowder) and wow am I glad I did.

You see, today at 12 pm the third and final egg in the brood decided to hatch.  All of us watching were lucky enough that the mom, Big Red, decided to stand up, giving us the perfect view of the chick as it hatched.  I feel very lucky to witness such an event.  I also feel lucky to get to see the other two chicks, who hatched on Monday, interact with their parents, each other, and the third egg. The pictures here are from the live-stream and feature the first 2 chicks with the egg and the top picture is of the dad, Ezra.

Elephants and Ivory

In this post I want to touch on elephants and the ivory trade. Ivory was banned in 1979 after a decade of fighting between conservationists and poachers. The war for the elephants was hard and long, but necessary if we wanted to save the elephants from going extinct. When the ban was approved and ivory made illegal everyone heaved a sigh of relief. However, in recent years the elephants have once again dipped into the danger zone as another country rises in power.

The rising economic power in China, and the lifting of the ivory ban there, has once again caused the price of ivory to go through the roof.  Ivory, seen as a sign of economic power and prosperity, was once only held by the wealthy since they were the only ones who could afford it.  Now, as the middle class becomes more wealthy they are demanding more ivory. In China, a country that is steeped in centuries of tradition, it is unlikely they will change their attitudes towards ivory.

All of this means that poaching has once again become a severe problem for the elephants. In recent years we have seen a rise in poachers and a fall in elephant populations.  More and more death sites are being discovered, and although conservationists are back on the warpath, the killing will not stop until the ivory demand is gone.

So how do you help? Well, you can donate to programs like Save the Elephants and help spread the word about how bad ivory is. Everyone has a voice, and it is up to you to make sure yours is heard.

The below video is from PBS and is about elephant poaching and the ivory trade. Warning: there are some disturbing images in this video.

Watch Full Episode on PBS. See more from Battle for the Elephants.

Built for Speed

So I thought I'd share a really cool video about my favorite animal, the cheetah.  National Geographic in conjunction with the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens recently made a series of videos about the fastest animal alive. In this video you hear two experts' examination of the video. They also name the top three evolutionary adaptations that make the cheetah the best at what it does.

First is the spine. A cheetah's spine is the longest and most flexible of any cat species.  When the cheetah runs the spin works like a spring to propel the cat forward. Its flexibility also allows for compression of the spine without damage.

The skull of the cheetah is also unique. Cheetahs have shorter, lighter skulls which allow them to keep their heads steady as they run.  This allows the cheetah to always keep their eyes on their prey.  Their skulls also allow for larger nasal passages.  This is important because cheetahs, like most big cats, kill their prey by suffocation. With larger nasal passages the cheetah is able to catch its breath much quicker while still maintaining its bite.

The third main evolutionary adaptation cheetahs have is the muscles in their legs, and the ratios of different types. Cheetahs have unique muscle type ratios that allow for a quick and immediate burst of speed.  The cat's can't keep the speed up, but this burst is usually all it takes for the the cheetah to get where it needs to be.

It is clear cheetahs are made for speed.  They may be the low predator on the totem pole (with lions, hyenas, and leopards bullying them around), but they sure can outrun anything. Enjoy the video by national Geographic and the Cinncinatti Zoo by clicking here.