Experiencing Life

Life is a television special created by Discovery and BBC showing the daily life and adaptations of living creatures. The special is separated into 11 episodes each with its own focus. For example the first episode is titled "Challenges of Life" and was a preview of the future episodes and topics. The show is amazing vivid and displays video footage that is ground breaking and a once in a lifetime experience. This you would expect from the follow-up to the award winning Planet Earth series.

Personally I wish Sigourney Weaver was still narrating the show, but Oprah Winfrey does a good job too. If you would like to witness amazing creatures we share are planet with then I highly recommend checking out Life on The Discovery Channel. It is especially amazing in HD. despite what they say: you can learn from television. I think shows like these are definitely a plus for the animal community. There's nothing like cute little critters to turn people into activists.

You can watch Life on The Discovery Channel Sundays at 8pm and 9pm e/p. For more information check out their site Here.

Year of the TIGER.

  In my last post I mentioned the year of the tiger and WWF's project to double the current estimated number of wild tigers in Asia. The estimated population of wild tigers left on Earth is though to be 3,200 or less. I wanted to explain more on the current plight of wild tigers and the steps organizations like WWF are doing to help improve it.
  The project's goal is to double the current wild population of 3,200 to 6,400 tigers by the next year of the tiger in 2022. The sad part is that an estimated 3,000 captive tigers are located in Texas alone, which means we soon may only have captive tigers left on Earth. I for one have never had the privilege to see a wild tiger, which is something I've dreamed of since I was a kid. Personally I don't want to live in a world without wild tigers. Hopefully this project called Tx2 will not only double but quadruple the population.
  According to the WWF website many governments are signed on to more strongly protect the tigers and their habitats. They say that currently tigers only inhabit 7% of their historic habitat, which sounds sadly incredible to me. I once read a story about a Tigris who traveled 100 miles to find food because of habitat loss. If I was to put that in human terms it would mean I would have to drive for over an hour from my central Kentucky home to another city before I could find food. To me that sounds awful especially if i had to walk the whole way there and back.
  If you would like more information on the Tx2 project then follow the link bellow. I encourage you to learn more about the plight of the tigers and find ways to get involved and help. Help make our world a better place fo r us and the other animals we share it with.
  Visit Here
- Austin

Conservation Discovery pt 2

  In the second installment of "Into The Wild" the spotlight turns to World Wildlife Fund(WWF)'s website. This site has been a favorite of mine for a long time. The company has been around since the early 60's and is a large worldwide organization. You've probably seen there logo, a panda with the letter WWF underneath, on people's shirts sometime in recent history. Their United States(USA) site has a vast repository of information ranging from their history to the projects they sponser worldwide.
  Compared to The Nature Conservancy WWF is more well known. They also have a more animal centered program where the nature conservancy deals more with people and places. one of their programs is called "earth hour" where people and famous landmarks like mnt Rushmore turn off their lights for an hour at a predetermined time to fight climate change. This project is three years going and they hope to see participation from all 50 states this year. They also are very organized and employ very easy ways for people to learn, donate, and impact the world from the comfort of their own home. they have the power of their brand behind them which means they have more power behind their projects and more media coverage of their projects.
  I highly recommend you visit WWf's site and discovering ways you can help. Even more incentive for me to visit their site is that now it is more tiger centric now that the Chinese calendar has fallen on the "year of the tiger". For someone who's been in love with tigers his whole life WWF's goal of doubling the tiger population(avg. 3,200) by the time the Chinese calendar falls on the year of the tiger again in 2022, which is an amazing project and i hope we'll see it true. Another great feature of the site is the store where you can "adopt' a species, which you donate an amount of money to the animal of your choice and receive a plush of that animal. This is a great way to help out the animals of the world along with the other projects sponsored by WWF. Check them out today!
click on the photo below to visit the site.
-Austin

Conservation Discovery pt 1

   Today I wanted to write about the online resources available to you on Conservation. I'm sure there are many more sites out there that specialized in many different types and aspects of conservation, but I wanted to share a few that I know and enjoy. Most of them have a "Membership" program with which you can donate money to their conservation efforts. I will do this in a "series" format, with the first included in this post.
   The first site I'm going to talk about is one i very recently discovered in my search for content for this blog. It is for a company by the name of The Nature Conservancy. This is a really fantastic site devoted to conserving land and wildlife habitat since 1951. You can become a member of the site by donating anywhere from $50 to $10,000+, but whats great about becoming a member is you can save precious habitat and receive The Nature Conservancy's magazine and invitations to Field trips! The site also has a fantastic blog and awesome photos and videos. You also get your own "Nature Page" where you can earn badges and upload your own nature photos.

   Overall I think there is some great information and fun to be found on the site. I hope you will click on the photo below(from The nature Conservancy) and head to the site. I also hope you'll gleam some way you can help the worlds wildlife and the beautiful places we have left. There are always ways to help no mater who

you are or what you do or don't spend.

-Austin

My Story

    For as long as i can remember I have been in love with tigers. My whole life I've always tried to integrate them in everything i do.  When I went through high school I learned a lot about the tigers and how so few of them are with us today. This really brought to light that I wanted to do something for these creatures. We share our planet with many amazing animals, but they're helpless against us and our overpopulation. Coupled with my love of Biology I decided that no matter what I would become a Wildlife Biologist and save this world from being a desolate wasteland. 

[picture] Amur(Siberian) tiger the largest cat in the world

    In this blog I plan on teaching people about the plight of the animals on our planet, and what people are doing about it. Discussing vocabulary and what it is Wildlife managers do everyday. I also plan to cover updates on endangered species and new techniques and people on the conservation scene.   

-Austin

Back Row Writing

Today is January eleventh, and I am sitting in my first English 101 of the semester. This blog is an ongoing writing assignment. At the moment I don't know what topic I'll be writing on, but I want it to involve endangered species or wildlife management.

-Austin Wilder