San Diego Global Wildlife Conservancy--Nabire's Death

View the heartbreaking email I received from San Diego Zoo 3 days ago:
 

The link to "Yes, I'll Save Rhinos!" https://secure3.convio.net/sdzoo/site/Donation2?df_id=7180&7180.donation=form1

A Species One Step Closer to Extinction

For those of you who don't know, one of the species most closest to extinction is the African Northern White Rhino. There were only 5 left on this planet. Were. Now there are only 4.

Recently, three days ago, I received a heartbreaking email from San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy informing me that a female African white rhino by the name of Nabíre passed away on July 27, 2015 due to medical complications. She was 31 years old.

Nabíre walks around happily in her enclosure. 

Nabíre's death poses an even greater threat to the African White Rhino's existence. There are scattered around the world with only one male left, and the male is getting old. If a species is about to go extinct, what can we do to stop it? Reproduce, of course! Producing more young is the first automatic answer that we all think of. Theoretically, it's possible. Realistically, it's not.

Sudan, the only male left, has had his horns stripped off to not tempt poachers

3 of the now 4 remaining white rhinos live in Kenya, where they are heavily protected by armed guards 24/7 to prevent people from possibly poaching them. The last male left, Sudan, has had his horns stripped off so that poachers wouldn't be tempted to poach him. The other two females also live in Kenya in the same conservation as Sudan, Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Their names are Najin and Fatu. The depressing part? Neither of them are able to naturally carry offspring. Najin is too old to bear the weight of a giant rhino baby, and Fatu has a uterine condition. The other female, Nola, lives at the San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy. She, sadly, is well past her reproductive age as well.

Two females, Najin and Fatu, live in Kenya with Sudan.

Scientists are now desperately trying out an alternative to produce more offspring. They are hoping to extract eggs and semen from a male and female and have the egg transferred into an African southern white rhino. Although the job seems easy, since there are still 3 females left, eggs are actually what scientists are lacking. Since the females only ovulate once a month, scientists need find the exact, precise timing to complete the job.

Sudan is heavily armed 24/7 by guards to make sure the last male African Northern White Rhino stays alive as long as possible.

As Premsyl Rabas, director of the Dvur Kralove Zoo, stated in The Huffington Post's "There Are Now Only 4 Northern White Rhinos Left on Earth," "'Nabiré was the kindest rhino ever bred in our zoo. It is not just that we were very fond of her. Her death is a symbol of the catastrophic decline of rhinos due to a senseless human greed. Her species is on the very brink of extinction.'"

The horror of rhino poaching, which many Asian cultures demand for medicinal purposes.

Sources: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/northern-white-rhino-population_55b7d1b9e4b0a13f9d1a83bb
http://news.discovery.com/animals/endangered-species/northern-white-rhino-dies-only-four-left-on-earth-150729.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/16/africa/kenya-northern-white-rhino/

Travel Special: Be Careful What You Buy!

The promised Travel Special post is here!

Place: Washington, D.C. (United States of America)

For those who don't know, I took a trip via train to Washington, D.C. about two weeks ago. I live in California, the West Coast. Washington, D.C. is on the East Coast. So basically I travelled all the way across the country, a whopping 2,794 miles! Thank you, Amtrak! (Just maybe make the top bunk a little lower next time, so a person as short as me can actually sit up in it.) 

Unfortunately the amount of animals I saw was very little, because the loud train probably scared all the animals away. Then, once I stepped off the train into Washington DC, the city had been turned so modern there was only the occasional squirrel or bird to look at. Oh yeah, and also the mosquitoes. Our nation's capital is definitely not missing out in mosquitoes. (My bites are still visible and itchy!)

So I have decided to share with you guys something else.

Upon walking down a regular street in a neighboring little town, I saw a poster taped to a gift shop window that caught my eye. Here it is:

In the picture, you can see what seems like a baggage claim in an airport....but instead of luggage, it is packed with dead animals. What?????

This is actually a kind of creepy and depressing way to show that animals are endangered...but that's exactly what we should be aware of. Sometimes, we as humans feel somehow "superior" to other animals and don't think twice before we acquire possessions we ask for. We get what we want, but the animals have to pay the price.

Here is an excellent example: ivory. There are so many ivory products out there! On Craiglist, in jewelry stores, etc. Uncle Bob comes home and you set up some tea and bread for him on the ivory coffee table. At least one majestic elephant from Asia or Africa had to die for that. An elephant for a ivory coffee table. Think about how many people have ivory coffee tables in the world. Probably a 100,000 or much, much more! This means that at least 100,000 elephants were slaughtered just so Uncle Bob has a nice coffee table for him to drink tea at.

Or think about the leopard print coats you buy. How many leopards had to die at the hand of a pistol for that to happen?

So, for the sake of all the animals that could die in exchange for a few dollar bills, be careful of what you buy. 
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Do you want to help end the extinction of elephants in Tanzania and beyond? Don't worry, you don't have to pay. Wildlife Conservation Society claims that even though the sale of ivory is banned, Craigslist is not enforcing the rule. Thousands of ivory products are posted and sold on Craigslist each day. With just a click of a mouse, you could save an elephant's life. Follow the instructions below (thank you to Wildlife Conservation Society who sent this email to me) and spread the knowledge of "animal-made" souvenirs!

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/

Follow this link for more information on ivory sales:

http://e.wcs.org/site/MessageViewer?dlv_id=68222&em_id=47221.0

Wildlife Conservation Society: (be sure to check them out for more ways to help!)

http://www.wcs.org/

Africa: The Great Migration

This post is long overdue! Despite the horrible internet connection on the train that prevented me from making any progress on this post, I have some very interesting things I observed on my trip to share with you on the "Travel Special" post, which will also be out VERY soon. Enough with the talk, let's get started!
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Since the African Migration is a very broad topic, the whole entire first African themed post will be just devoted to a clear introduction of what the Migration is.

The Great African Migration is the cycle that African wildebeest (about 2 million!) follow each year to find better food and water resources. The weather affects which areas of grass are more fertile, and as the weather moves along, so do the animals.

Most many people believe that the Great Migration only occurs once during the year (most widely accepted as summertime) but in fact, the Migration is a year-round event and the animals are active at any time of the year (except during the winter, where it is slightly different). After all, this is an endless cycle we are talking about!

Here is a map outlining the route(s) animals take:

Picture from The Safari Co

This map is only based on the data collected from the previous few years. According to The Safari Co, the exact path the wildebeests take each year fluctuate, but will still somewhat look like this. Notice how they don't really leave the Tanzania and Kenya area. (mostly mid-Eastern Africa)

Probably the most common animal you'll hear and see active during the Great Migration is the zebra. (My favorite animal in the whole entire world, yay!) I'll go into the specifics for this beautiful animal in another post. Bison and gazelles are also fairly common, as you may see some of these animals of each herd temporarily "mingling" and mixing together a bit especially when crossing wide rivers. (They generally follow the same path)

Since I said this event is year round, here is a summary of what you may see during each quarter of the year:

January~March

This is around mating season for the animals, and as The Safari Co puts it, "drops their young." It is a great chance to watch and closely observe the characteristics of different types of animals' "mating calls" and behavior. The animals are all in the Ndutu Plains area.

It's also when the animals produce young and add new animals to their herd! Watch the miracle of life among animals and young gazelles, zebra,s etc. prance around the plains in their childlike way.

Soon, the baby animals are getting stronger from the fertile grass brought by January and February rains. They, along with their herd, are preparing for their next movement northwards. Their herd numbers become noticeably larger (as more young are born and smaller herds merge together)

April~June

The herds will start heading towards southern Serengeti as the rains stop falling. When the rain has completely stopped they will head back up north into central Serengeti. They generally stay in the central Serengeti area where the grass has become very fertile. There is honestly not much activity around this time, since all they will do is graze. The most excitement you may see is a lion, cheetah, or some big cat or carnivore occasionally in action, hunting their prey. (Good chance to see a cheetah at full speed, though)

July~September

The animals start spreading out and their are extremely large amounts of wildebeest, zebras, elephants, and many other animals spread all throughout the Serengeti. This is an excellent chance to see different types of animals interact each other, such as a wildebeest protecting its young and elephants at their angriest. This is around the farthest they go, and in a few weeks, all the animals will head back down south, where the grass their has become greener again.

October~December

On their journey back, wildebeest cross the Mara River which are full of crocodiles. This is an incredible (but alarming) thing to watch, as wildebeest attempt to cross the river without getting their legs chomped off by crocodiles at every turn.

Assuming the rains came at a consistent time, the animals will be back by the end of the year, where the Ndutu Plains are once again rich with grass, water, and food.

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I hope you enjoyed this first African Migration Post! There was a lot to say. Next week, I will cover my favorite animal of all time--the zebra! Zebra are one of the most widely seen animals during the Migration, and they look just beautiful as a herd, a bunch of black and white stripes in the tall grass. Oh, and I'll get that Travel Special post up soon as well, as soon as my pictures on my phone can be backed up onto my computer. :) Until the next post, here are some great Migration videos for you guys to enjoy:

A brief summary of the Migration:

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/wildebeest_migration

Crocodiles and Wildebeest in action:

This video is from National Geographic Education: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/media/wildebeest-migration/

Post Updates

Hi everyone,

I'm finally back from my trip! I know I said I would keep blogging while I was gone, but I was on a train for most of the time, meaning there was pretty much no service the whole entire time, and the internet speed was never high enough for upload new posts. This means I have 1 regular post and 1 "travel special" overdue, still hidden bvackstage ready to be finalized and uploaded. I might be able to have the travel special up by tonight since it is shorter, and my goal is to finish editing my regular post by tomorrow night........so it can be uploaded tomorrow or the day after. And knowing me, the post will probably be a bit late, but that is a new goal of mine--to be able to meet my deadlines!

See you in the next post,
Cheri