Frogs: A Species in Peril

Amphibians are the most endangered group of animals on our plant and for the last 15 years, their numbers have been declining at an alarming rate.

Nearly one-third of the 6,485 species are now on the brink of extinction. Since 1979, close to 200 species have disappeared forever, victims of an amphibious assault that continues to decimate entire populations and ecosystems.

Habitat destruction, invasive species, pathogens, climate change, over-harvesting for the pet and food trade, and pollution and pesticides are all contributing factors. However, a fungus called chytrid seems to be a major cause and to date, scientists have been unable to stop it from spreading.

Amphibians are both vital predators and prey in the structure of many ecosystems. Due to their position in the middle of the food chain, their decline affects both the species that depend on them for food, and the insect populations they control.

Entire ecosystems are slowly unraveling as frog calls are replaced by silence, and the species who depend on them begin to disappear too.

In May 2008, SAVE THE FROGS! was founded by Ecologist, Dr. Kerry Kriger. Comprised of a team of international scientists, educators, policymakers, and naturalists, STF is America’s only nonprofit organization dedicated to amphibian conservation.

Their goal is to prevent extinction of the world’s frogs, toads, newts, salamanders, and caecilians through environmental education, legal defense, land acquisitions, lobbying for necessary environmental protections that currently do not exist, and conducting and funding scientific research.

You can connect with them via their website or Facebook page. Their website is a great resource of facts, photos, contests, and ways you can help. While you’re there, sign up for their free newsletter and stop by The FrogBlog for frequent updates on all things amphibious.

The 2009 50-minute PBS Documentary, Frogs: The Thin Green Line, takes a candid look at what’s being called “the greatest mass extinction since the dinosaurs.” In a web-exclusive video, filmmaker, Allison Argo discusses the making of the documentary and calls the disappearance of the worlds frogs, “probably the most important environmental story of our time.”

According to the film, “frogs may seem small and insignificant, but their bodies may hold the key to future medical miracles” particularly as it relates to pain management, the prevention of infections, and HIV treatments.

Medical miracles or no, a world without frogs will be a much smaller, sterile, and silent place.

My name is Forrest and I approved this message

“Many people ask ‘what does it matter if we lose a species?’ Only one species, Homo sapiens, has the capacity to eliminate other species on the planet. Unique among the animal world, we are accountable for our actions and future generations will hold us responsible. The question we should be asking ourselves is: “how can we justify eliminating even a single species from this planet?” -Dr. Jean-Marc Hero

Deer Befriends Mother Goose

Photo by CNN

“There is in all animals a sense of duty that man condescends to call instinct.” -Robert Brault

A different kind of Mother’s Day story is playing out in a Buffalo, NY cemetery. A female Canada goose who apparently lost her lifelong mate, has chosen to build her nest in one of the cemetery’s empty urns. With no mate to assist in guarding the nest or providing protection, both mother and eggs are more vulnerable to predators.

Enter an unlikely hero; an adult deer who has befriended the mother-to-be and assumed the role of protector. The deer spends its days grazing near the nest and putting itself between the incubating brood and any possible danger.

Much is being made of this unusual interspecies friendship. The newscasters call it highly unusual because “there’s no known way that deer and geese can communicate.” Yet they have clearly formed a close-knit bond that goes beyond instinct or mutual need. Does the deer sense her vulnerability and through empathy, take measures to protect her?

Science will likely say I’m anthropomorphizing by “attributing human personality to things not human” yet what benefit does the deer derive from its protective behavior towards the goose?

Henry David Thoreau said: “The language of friendship is not words but meanings.” True friendship isn’t measured by verbal communication. Our truest and most trusted friends are those who choose to be present in moments when words are meaningless; to share our pain through presence, offer solace and support in silence, and accept our moments of unknowing and powerlessness.

Christine Dell’Amore, senior writer for National Geographic Magazine has written a book titled Unlikely Friendships: 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom, featured in an article Weird & Wild Q&A: Unlikely Animal Friendships. While the book contains 47 stories, she says she was initially pursuing between 80-90. Many didn’t make the final cut due to the unavailability of photographs or other logistical issues that couldn’t be resolved prior to deadline.

Are unusual animal alliances really all that unusual? Might this behavior seem out of the ordinary because it’s rarely captured in photos and videos? Perhaps the wonder is to be found in our gift as witness. The magnificence of life lies not in the known or explainable, but rather the mysterious and miraculous moments which defy it.

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mythical concept of animals … We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not breathren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.” -Henry Beston

Misadventures of a Porch Possum

An opportunist is defined as “one who adapts his actions to take advantage of opportunities or circumstances.” I didn’t have this word in mind when I named our nightly visitor Opie, but in hindsight the name seems appropriate.

Numerous wild creatures find their way to our yard and front porch to share in the feral cat buffet served daily. Opie was a scrawny, emaciated, worse-for-wear possum on his first visit, but a nightly diet of Meow Mix and left-over fruit and veggies courtesy of the bird in residence, has expanded his girth and done wonders for his demeanor.

He no longer walks, he waddles – a distinct side to side sashay worthy of any catwalk. There’s no hissing, showing of teeth, or displays of aggression. His innate shyness toward humans disappeared with his ribs as they vanished beneath layers of insulating fat.

He now fancies himself part of the cat family and they seem to accept him as one of their own. If he arrives to find the buffet empty, he’ll sit or stand in front of the storm door, curiously peering inside and patiently waiting. His imploring Oliver Twist look clearly says: “Please sir, I want some more.”

One cold night in February, he arrived in complete disarray. He’d clearly had a run-in with something larger and hungrier than himself. His face was covered in lacerations and a third of his tail missing, although he seemed unaware of his injuries. A bloody path marked his progress from porch steps to food bowl as he settled in for his nightly bout of fine dining.

On closer inspection, I wondered if this might be his last meal with us. But he continued to return night after night and each visit showed marked signs of healing and improvement.

Possums are not only hardy and resourceful, they’re apparently talented athletes as well. Ratatouille of Liberty Mountain Resort in Carroll Valley, PA is considered the world’s greatest snowboarding opossum. He regularly wows visitors with his skill on the slopes and even has his own lift pass.

If Opie wants a Burton Riglet snowboard and a chance to be king of the mountain, he’s clearly going to have to get off the porch and into the gym.

Do you have any unusual animal visitors that bring a smile to your day? If so, please share their stories in the comments section.

What Floats Your Boat?

I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t inherit my Mom’s shopping gene. Trips to the store are to get the needed items on a list. Then get out.

Experience tells me this is a good thing because the last time I went shopping with no real purpose, this is what I came home with:

Well, part of it.

The other part(s) included a Yakima roof rack, paddles, life vest, and other essentials no kayaker wants to be on the water without.

After months surfing the web, drooling over high-dollar composite kayaks that were clearly out of my budget, I thought I was safe.

Then I walked into a local outdoor shop and was blown away by Hurricane’s new thermo-form models that look and perform like composites, at half the price.

Instant love. Impulse buy. One happy kayak salesman.

Happy kayak salesmen are nothing if not helpful. They install the roof rack on your car, remove and lug the boat from its lofty perch, and secure it to the car for the trip home. What happens when you get there can be a problem and I clearly had one.

Home, at the time, was a 1-bedroom, 730 square-foot apartment, already short on living space. The width of the breezeway and the angle needed to maneuver a 14’ kayak through a small door, had clearly not been taken into consideration during construction. Don’t you just love super-size, easy-opening, boat-friendly windows? That was my thought, too.

Banana boat was simply going to have to pull double duty; as both flotation device and hanging wall art. With no storage options save the living room wall, it morphed into The Great Wall of Kayak. It’s close proximity to the super-size, easy-opening windows provided a great entry/exit point on paddling day, however odd it may have looked to the neighbors.

Having previously owned a 17’ roto molded sea kayak that weighed a hefty 68 pounds, the Hurricane’s 45 pounds placed it squarely in the lightweight category. Until I tried to load it unassisted, onto the roof of my car. Forty-five pounds spread over a 14’ span is heavier than 45 pounds. New math?

Since my move, banana boat has more spacious garage accommodations. I’m also closer to several large bodies of water and a favored site is Lake Mackintosh, with it’s flooded quarry and 100-mile shoreline. On a good weekday, you can paddle for hours without seeing another human soul, especially on the large, pristine sections where motor boats are prohibited.

While paddling solo may not be the recommended route, those are the routes I have a habit of taking. A large assortment of safety gear (air horn, flares, whistle, compass, boat pump, paddle float, and cell phone) stay on board in case of emergency.

There’s something about miles of uninhabited water that call to me like a siren song. Being on the water alone with only the resident wildlife in attendance is unsurpassed, uninhibited joy.

Until something bumps the bottom of the boat and this comes to mind:

Turtle, I tell myself.

It’s just a turtle, a submerged log, or a really shallow stretch of water?

Be still my heart.

Just paddle fast …

Like you hear banjo music!

While paddling large lakes is joyous, my ultimate destination is the ocean. It’s what the boat was designed for and what was uppermost in mind when I purchased it. Her maiden voyage awaits, somewhere on a not so distant shore. Let’s hope this isn’t waiting too:

Photo by Thomas Peschak

Mental Note: Add shark repellent, Charmin, and a change of clothes fore and aft.

My ultimate sea kayaking adventure looks more like this:

It’s this vision I choose to hold onto and embrace.

“It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end.” -Ursula K. LeGuin

Is there an activity you enjoy that takes you away from it all? I’d love to hear about your favorite adventures in the comments section!

TSO Photography: Camera as Canvas

Photo of El Teide by Christine McIntosh / Flickr

Every artist has a medium: for Mozart, it was music; for Rembrandt, paint; and for Hemingway, words. For Terje Sorgierd of TSO Photography in Norway, that medium is a camera.

His time-lapse nature footage is both awe-inspiring and breathtaking, and has been published by some of the most well-known media outlets in the world including CNN, NBC, USA Today, The Discovery Channel, and NatGeo, to name a few.

The Mountain was filmed between April 4th and April 11, 2011 on El Teide, Spain’s highest mountain and home to the world renowned Teide Observatories. His goal was to capture the Milky Way galaxy along with the mountain El Teide, one of the premier locations in the world to film the stars.

During the 5-hr sequence his camera was set to capture images, a large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert. In the words of Terje, “my camera managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds. The Milky Way was shining through the clouds, making the stars sparkle in an interesting way. So if you ever wondered how the Milky Way would look through a Sahara sandstorm, look at 00:32.”

The Aurora was filmed during a week spent in the area of Kirkenes and Pas National Park on the border of Russia, in temperatures of -25 Celsius. It contains some of the most spectacular images ever captured of the amazing lights of the Aurora Borealis.

Terje Sorgierd is spending the next 2 years traveling the world shooting footage for his first movie, and I, for one, can’t wait to see it.

For more videos or information on Terje Sorgjerd and TSO Photography, visit his YouTube channel, Vimeo Page, Facebook Page, or follow him on Twitter.

Is there an artist who inspires you and what is their medium? I’d love to hear about them in the comments section.

Don’t Hurry, Be Happy

Photo by bokkema / Flickr

Do you sometimes feel life is moving in fast forward? Is it difficult to accomplish the day-to-day necessities of living, let alone find time to enjoy the simple things that make life so meaningful? Perhaps Charles Bruxton said it best: “You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”

One of nature’s best teachers for learning to adopt a slower pace is the zen-like sloth; an arboreal mammal native to the rain forests of Central and South America. These placid, slow-moving tree dwellers remind us that a life of contentment doesn’t require constant activity and motion.

With a maximum ground speed of 6.5 feet per minute, sloth reminds us to slow down the pace of our life so as not to miss that which is most important. You’ll eventually reach your destination, but the journey will be richer, deeper, and more meaningful for having chosen the steady approach of taking life one conscious, deliberate, measured step at a time.

The Sloth Sanctuary is a 300-acre reserve located in Limon, Costa Rica. Their mission is “to rescue, research, and rehabilitate sloths and provide sanctuary for those that are unable to return to the wild.” If you’d like to learn more about the sanctuary, apply to volunteer, take a tour, or adopt a sloth, visit their website at The Sloth Sanctuary.

Is your daily life filled with the chaos of constant activity? What actions, if any, have you taken to reduce the pace, and what added richness has it brought to your life?