tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24399308993646873092012-02-16T17:45:06.818-08:00MaryEllennoreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439930899364687309.post-51587272944679381812011-09-21T15:11:00.000-07:002011-09-21T15:11:08.070-07:00

MaryEllennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439930899364687309.post-65231516969226776602010-06-15T18:10:00.000-07:002010-06-15T18:33:14.276-07:00

It's been a year now since I last posted here, a very busy year indeed. We survived a forest fire, I became VP of a wildlife rehab non-profit, and many injured and orphaned animals have made their way through my care and back into the wild. I did have one animal who was not releasable. Yogibear the raccoon was, from the moment I got him, 'slow'. He was slow to hit his basic developmental

MaryEllennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439930899364687309.post-14053171914169370872009-06-04T19:45:00.000-07:002009-06-04T19:51:44.541-07:00

We often classify animals according to what they eat, as a sort of shorthand for describing what kind of animal they are. The three basic classifications we use are herbivore (plant eating), carnivore (meat eating), and omnivore (will eat both plants and meats). With each category are sub-categories that are more specific: for example, within the herbivore category are the frugivores, which eat

MaryEllennoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439930899364687309.post-31888493358212781052009-05-20T16:59:00.000-07:002009-05-20T19:47:08.175-07:00

One of the wonderful effects of our ever-increasing technological know-how is that we can now explore worlds that we have never been able to visit before. No, I don’t mean distant planets, but worlds that exist right here on Earth – isolated mountaintops and valleys, the canopies of the cloud forests, and inhospitable regions previously inaccessible. But perhaps the most amazing new universe we

MaryEllennoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439930899364687309.post-2475308950558991892009-05-14T18:23:00.000-07:002009-05-14T18:25:34.443-07:00

In honor of Endangered Species Day, May 15, I have reposted two of my previous articles that address this critically important issue. (Don't worry, I don't make a habit of reposting, and we will have new content next Thursday, as always.)

MaryEllennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439930899364687309.post-38068177516930698802009-05-14T18:22:00.000-07:002009-05-16T19:31:42.396-07:00

Orange Band was a Dusky Seaside Sparrow, a small and somewhat drab bird that lived in the Florida wetlands. He was named for the orange identification band on his leg, and he lived to be very old for a sparrow – he was at least eight years (the amount of time he had been in captivity) and possibly as old as twelve. Either way, an ancient age for a sparrow. Perhaps Orange Band knew, somewhere deep

MaryEllennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439930899364687309.post-48565339690385725902009-05-14T18:15:00.000-07:002009-05-14T18:22:03.949-07:00

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) is the international scientific body that tracks the statistics relating to endangered species. At the end of each year, the IUCN compiles all the data for that year and compiles the “Red List”, a listing of endangered and critically endangered animals. The list also contains comparisons to prior years, so that the progress of each animal

MaryEllennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439930899364687309.post-38613907607969179552009-05-13T20:05:00.000-07:002009-05-13T20:11:56.682-07:00

Bats are fascinating, and beautiful, animals. Even leaving aside the total coolness of flying, they also have some amazing hardware. A bat, using echolocation, can detect something as fine as a human hair from 50 feet away. And all those stories about bats getting caught in people's hair - either not true or an isolated horrible accident. Bats that eat insects fall roughly into two groups -

MaryEllennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439930899364687309.post-37321892781394364802009-05-05T22:15:00.000-07:002009-05-08T16:54:09.366-07:00

It is often the case, with books on wildlife, that one can either get a book with wonderful photos, but not much in the way of content, or a densely written book with possibly a few nice photos. “Birds in Flight”, by Carrol L. Henderson, is one of the few that successfully combines both. This is a really lovely and fascinating book.The subtitle of the book is “the art and science of how birds

MaryEllennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439930899364687309.post-25427492142453618182009-05-01T16:29:00.000-07:002009-05-08T16:08:18.509-07:00

In Alfred Hitchcock’s film “The Birds”, actress Tippi Hedren tries desperately to escape from wildlife run amok, in the form of killer birds. In her real life, wildlife comes to her, escaping from human greed and short-sightedness. Ms. Hedren is the founder and driving force behind Shambala, a sanctuary in the California desert that is home to some 80 exotic cats, all of them rescued from

MaryEllennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439930899364687309.post-62085638163202735902009-05-01T16:18:00.000-07:002009-05-08T16:51:36.414-07:00

When Travis the chimp viciously attacked a woman outside his home earlier this year, the entire country was transfixed by the story. There was an immediate public outcry about private ownership of primates, and the state of Connecticut moved aggressively to ban primate ownership in the wake of the tragedy. A federal bill to ban primate ownership by private individuals is now before the Senate.

MaryEllennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2439930899364687309.post-74245252208639964192009-04-29T19:43:00.000-07:002009-05-08T16:23:55.445-07:00

We’ve all felt the urge. Even if we deny it, there have been times when we’ve looked at the incredibly cute tiger or lion cub and thought “Ooh, I want that!” For most people, it’s a passing thought, not a serious consideration. But imagine if you were leaving the mall and someone in the parking lot offered you an adorable lion cub, for less than the cost of a purebred dog. Would you do it? What

MaryEllennoreply@blogger.com1