Day Twenty-Four

Conservation (Part Two)

Population is, I hope, self explanatory. With seven billion people on this planet, we are increasing at a rapid rate. I find this cartoon very accurate.

Copyright to Denise Quinn

Overharvesting is another simple one, I hope. The Center is home to many endangered species - lions and tigers to name a couple.

Why are they endangered? The stripes of a tiger and the thick, lush mane of a lion is highly lucrative. Species like elephants and rhinoceros have tusks and horns that are very desirable because of their uses in medicine and ivory.

As a result, we now have 3,200 tigers in the wild. 80% of the non-captive lion population have vanished. There is about half a million African elephants and 35 to 40 thousand Asian elephants roaming the wilds.

Rhinos... that's a sad story. The Javan and Sumatran sub-species are classified as Critically Endangered. A subspecies of the Javan rhino was declared extinct in Vietnam in 2011. A small population of Javan rhinos live on the island of Java. The Indian rhino is currently classified as Vulnerable after having its status changed from Endangered.

Southern white rhinos, in Africa, were thought to be extinct but now live in sanctuaries and preserves and is considered Near Threatened. The Northern white rhino, however, is extinct in the wild and only a few are left in a sanctuary.

Commercial fishing has left the size of our fish for consumption to be considerably smaller than in the past. I found this article to be fascinating. It is worth the read. Catching Larger Fish Leaves You With Smaller Fish to Catch

Overharvesting does not only impact animals, but trees and plants as well. Everyone has heard the sad story of the South American rainforest. Its area has declined due to deforestation. This has led to many, many undiscovered, endangered species going extinct. As a result, our biodiversity is declining.

What can I do to help?
Well, I'm glad you asked! There are some efficient ways that one can help with the conservation effort from home. Here are some helpful links.
100 Ways to Conserve Water
How You Can Help Promote Sustainability
Wildlife Conservation: 10 Ways You Can Help
101+ Ways to Make a Difference (for the folks living near water)

Please be sure to check the recycling regulations in your area. For example, where I went to college in Rochester, we had to crush bottles (soda, milk, etc) and take off the caps. Boxes had to be collapsed, and so forth. It's not as simple as rinsing out a bottle and tossing it in the recycling box anymore.

If you don't need air conditioning, turn it off and open the windows. Keep your showers short. Fill up your sink with soapy water to wash dishes if you don't have a dishwasher. It saves more water than having the water run while washing dishes. It's the little things that help. Do your research and support the organizations that do the hard work.

Day Twenty-Three

Conservation (Part One)

As indicated by the name, the Conservators' Center has a presence in conservation. There is so much you can do with it - you can conserve by "going green" or by setting up breeding programs for endangered species, or raising awareness. It is very important to be aware.

Our planet has almost 7.1 billion people. There is almost 316 million in the United States alone. The only places that are left relatively untouched in our country are national parks. Even then, barricades have been erected and trails made. There is a strong human presence in some of these parks. There are almost no places in the world that are still untouched by humans.

We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction in the last half billion years. This current mass extinction is experiencing some of the worst die-off of species since the dinosaurs were wiped out sixty-five million years ago. The difference with this one is that this extinction was caused by humans. This was a big thing that we discussed in my Tropical Ecology course during the winter. There is a list (which is also an acronym) that list the five largest threats to biodiversity (very important!) in no particular order.

I present the HIPPO model.

Habitat destruction
Invasive species
Pollution
Population
Overharvesting

Habitat destruction is self-explanatory. It is when animals and plants lose their homes due to deforestation, dredging, plowing, and so forth. Take the recent news of what happened in Greensboro. A bear cub somehow wandered onto the campus of the North Carolina A&T State University. This university is in downtown Greensboro, nowhere near a suitable bear habitat. Something similar happened almost three years ago at my college, Rochester Institute of Technology. A bear cub ended up on campus near the dorms. State wildlife officers tranquilized the bear and took it to a park. Just a few months later, the bear, now infamously the "RIT Bear," wandered onto a road and was hit and killed by an oncoming car.

Why did this happen? Again, similar to what happened in Greensboro, RIT is in western Henrietta, New York (and it's called Rochester Institute of Technology.... I know). This is an urban area. What are bears doing here?

They had no home. These bears were hungry and ended up somewhere they shouldn't have, and put themselves (and others' lives) at risk. One bear died unnecessarily because he was probably hungry.

Invasive species is a whole other story. They are species that are not native to the ecosystem but fit into a niche (how an organism makes a living in its ecosystem) and then its population booms. Since they are not native, they often have no natural predators. Take into consideration the zebra mussel of the Great Lakes. It is native to Russia, but was brought over into North America (they were found in the Canadian side of Lake Huron). They are theorized to have been in the ballast water of ships. These mussels are now everywhere in the Great Lakes, growing so densely that they are now attached to docks, the underside of boats, and the substrate. They cause damage to plumbing and are believed to have caused avian botulism that has killed thousands of birds in the Great Lakes area. They are also responsible for the near extinction of many species in the area.

Other examples of invasive species include lampreys, European starlings, fire ants, Dutch elm disease, and ambrosia beetles.

Pollution is self explanatory. There are many avenues of pollution including, but not limited to, noise, air, and earth. Think about the ozone layer - there's a  hole in it. The hole has been shrinking in recent years, but it's still there. This is due to increased carbon dioxide from fuel emissions and other sources. We experience acid rain due to power plants that burn fossil fuels. When acid rain ends up in the lakes and streams, the organisms living in these sources are hit hard. Many organisms such as salamanders and frogs have a hard time living in acidic conditions. Eggs won't hatch and trees end up with damaged leaves.

Climate change, AKA global warming, occurs due to pollution. The atmosphere traps "greenhouse gases" and the planet is slowly heating up even though we're technically still in an Ice Age. Due to global warming, the polar ice caps are melting and the sea levels are also rising.

To be continued...

Day Twenty-Two

After the somberness of my previous post, I thought this would be neat to write about!

Sounds of the Conservators' Center to a Deaf Person

I know, right. Fun posts are fun to write about! If you're interested, turn on the sound!

Tigers Chuffing

Tigers and snow leopards (of which we don't have) make a sound that Wikipedia calls prusten. It means to sneeze or snort. These large cats will often use it as a greeting to keepers, and to each other on neutral territory. Courting pairs will often chuff to each other.

Obviously, I cannot hear it as it is very breathy. I can tell when they do it, however, especially when they are laying down. Their rib cages push out as if they are letting out a couple of hard breaths.

Lions Oofing

Lions roaring (or "oofing") is a completely different story! It starts a little soft then quickly builds to a crescendo and then lets off into a series of groans. If I'm close enough I can actually hear the loudest part. The first time I remember experiencing an "oofing chorus," I was helping put a chain link ceiling on the new addition of Gryffindor and Pacino's enclosure. I was standing on their wooden den when I started feeling a rumble. It steadily got louder, which nixed my initial thought that a power tool was being used. When I looked around, I could see the lions in their enclosures oofing. They apparently "oof" when a fight breaks out and the animals involved will often do it as well, forgetting why they were fighting, among many other circumstances. They use it as a greeting or a way of communication.

In fact, once while I was kneeling and stabbing meat with a stick to feed Mufasa (under Janine's supervision, of course). Mufasa was right in front of me, Ugmo next to him, and Kiara behind me in the other shift. A squabble started over in the mixed pride.

All of a sudden, I feel a rumble. Then Mufasa and Ugmo opened their mouths. Remember - these lions can oof quite loudly. My ears were ringing and I could feel their rumblings in my chest. It was simultaneously the most terrifying and exhilarating thing I've experienced, staring into their mouths and feeling warm air blow past my face.

Some other animal videos are featured below. I cannot hear any of these, nor feel them. The best description would be to watch the videos with the sound off to get the "deaf experience."

As for servals, I can tell when they hiss, because they open their mouths and bare their teeth. That's pretty much it. Hissing is one of their main modes of communication and often doesn't mean they're angry or being insolent - they're "talking."

I recently learned that binturongs actually do make noise. They have a wide range of vocalizations when they're angry. If you're at the Center at the right time, you can hear Oliver fussing at Cole or the dogs to leave his kittens alone.

The Twilight Tour is a perfect time to hear the animals making noise! If you're interested, you can contact the Conservators' Center and make an appointment for a tour!