Elephants, Lions, and ....trophies. Oh my!

Here are the facts.

There were over 3 million African elephants in 1930. Today that has decreased to just about 3,000 due to poaching and habitat loss.

Elephants, the symbol of the GOP,  are the largest land animal on the planet and can live up to 70 years. They are highly intelligent and, like us, self-aware. That means that when they look at themselves in a mirror they know they are seeing themselves. This is rare among wildlife. Even our beloved dogs are not self-aware. They have even been shown to solve problems and create tools

      You can read more about their cognition in my BEASTLY BRAINS: Exploring How Animals Think, Talk, and Feel.

      In addition to their strong cognitive abilities, elephants live in highly organized social structures. They take care of their young and grieve the deaths of those around them.

      These fascinating creatures are endangered and at tremendous risk from habitat loss and poaching.

      China and the UK have banned ivory and trophies brought into their countries. The United States had also banned bringing in trophies, but now that is being reversed.

      This week Safari Club International announced that this ban would be changed to allow trophies in the US on a case by case basis.

Now, let's step back from this for a minute. This important federal policy was not announced by our government, but by a private organization that supports big game trophy hunting. This is concerning. How was the decision made and by whom? What are the guidelines?

Hunting endangered species is illegal in the United States. A hunter who might shoot a deer cannot go hunting for bald eagles or California condors.  Is our government now saying that it is ok for Americans to hunt endangered species in other parts of the world?

There are a lot of ways we can help save endangered species in our country and around the world. One very easy thing that everyone can do is to make your voice heard! Contact Congress by calling 1-800-344-WILD and press "0" to speak to your representative.

Write an editorial. Tweet to your friends and followers.
Speak up and contact the Fish and Wildlife Service!

We can all make a difference and together we can do amazing things.




Here are some other ways:    

Happy World Sea Turtle Day

Last year I spent time with sea turtles in the Galapagos, Florida Keyes, and Australia. What a treat!

One of the most amazing places I visited was the
Turtle Hospital in the Florida Keys. This nonprofit organization rescues turtles that suffer from impactions, caused from eating things like balloons, boat strikes, and illnesses. I was so impressed with this organization that I donated a portion of my Authors for Earth Day April school visit proceeds to The Turtle Hospital to further their efforts.


Even though there are conservationists, veterinarians, marine biologists, and volunteers working at this place and others on behalf of the world's sea turtles, they are still under threat.

One major threat is gill net fishing. The long, near-invisible nets used with this method of fishing threaten many marine animals. They are used to catch swordfish, but they also trap whales, dolphins, and sea turtles. These creatures become by-catch and most often die without being released.

Proposed regulations would ban these nets for a period of up to two years, but the current administration is tossing out these regulations. That marks a serious blow for sea turtles and other marine life.

On this World Sea Turtle Day let's do something to help protect sea turtles around the world. Donate to sea turtle conservation, contact your officials, or learn about their species and plight.

Here are three favorite sea turtle reads to inform and enjoy on this World Sea Turtle Day!

Follow the Moon book and song by Sarah Weeks

Mission: Sea Turtle Rescue by Karen Romano Young & Daniel Raven-Ellison

Sea Turtle Scientist by Stephen R. Swinburne

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Eco-Fiction Friday! Interview with Eliot Schrefer

I had the opportunity to meet and speak with author Eliot Schrefer at the Red Hook Book Festival. His book, Endangered, was a National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature. It also garnered a starred review in Publishers Weekly and praise from Kirkus, ALA, NPR and a host of others. All well-deserved!  

Endangered is a compelling story set in war-torn Congo. Please share with us your experiences researching this story in such a dangerous place?

First, I want to say thanks for having me! It’s a treat to visit your blog. To answer your question, I traveled to a sanctuary for orphaned bonobos, called Lola ya Bonobo (“Bonobo Paradise” in the local language, Lingala), in order to research the book. Though I was visiting Congo, I think of it as “Congo Lite.” They picked me up from the airport, I stayed on the sanctuary grounds for two weeks, and then they drove me back. It’s a beautiful, well-run place. Each morning I would spend time with the orphans, then I would write in the afternoons. It was great to be able to spend extended time with them—what changed most during my research were the physical details, what bonobos feel like or even smell like.


What inspired you to write about bonobos?

A pair of pants! I bought a pair of Bonobos brand khakis, and thought it was a nonsense word. Then I looked them up and learned about this fourth great ape that I’d never heard about before. Once I knew their connection to us (98.7% DNA overlap) and their plight (struggling to survive in central Congo) I realized there was enough thematic information to write a novel.

You’ve managed to weave in so much information about the science of bonobos and their status in this novel without any “information dumps”. What challenges did you experience in doing this?

I always hate in a movie when the main character happens to walk by a college lecture hall, and pauses for a minute to hear whatever the academic is lecturing about—which is, of course, always germane to the movie’s events. Books have a little more leeway, I think, because there’s a chance to hear a character’s internal thoughts. But all the same, as you say, info dumps are a real problem. Most of the research that I was able to work into the book was about their physical lives—how they nest, how they fight, the texture of their hair, etc.—because those were things Sophie was observing, herself. I tried to minimize times where I’d go “Sophie remembered reading that...”. All the same, I think readers love feeling like their gaining new information. It just has to be presented inconspicuously.

Your next book, Threatened, focuses on another primate. Can you share the differences you encountered with your research on this book?

Threatened is about chimpanzees, and anyone who’s read Endangered knows they come off as villains there. But what helped me come around to them immensely were the memoirs of Jane Goodall. She writes about generations of the Gombe chimps she studied in Tanzania, and their stories are totally gripping. Her writing really encouraged me to look at chimp behavior as family stories above all. One chimp’s welfare has everything to do with how it was raised.

*Starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly

What’s next for your readers?

I’m hard at work on the next ape novel! The orangutan book will be out fall 2015. It’s about an orang who’s been raised in the states alongside a human boy. I’m also writing an installment of the Spirit Animals series of books—mine will be out in January 2015.

I’m sure readers will be interested in learning more about the plight of these extraordinary primates. Can you point them to any organizations for more information?

Absolutely. There are two main organizations that work on bonobo welfare. One is Friends of Bonobos (www.friendsofbonobos.org <http://www.friendsofbonobos.org> ), which helps run the sanctuary where I stayed in Congo. Another is the Bonobo Conservation Initiative (www.bonobo.org <http://www.bonobo.org> ), which works on keeping the wild bonobos alive and well. Both very worthy organizations.


Thanks again for having me, Nancy!

It's been a pleasure, Eliot!  For more information about Eliot and his books check out his website.