The Endangered Species Coalition (ESC) has an interesting ongoing contest to give endangered species  more outreach-friendly and interesting monikers.  Its supposed to be a humorous perspective, and I can see the appeal.  For instance, instead of the Delta Smelt, the “Yummy-Tasty Fish”. 

I’ve been really interested in the whole concept of names and wildlife lately.  I regularly encounter people who use the names of popular characters for wildlife.  Ocellaris clownfish become Nemo.  Atlantic bottlenose dolphin are Flipper.  Emperor penguins are Happy Feet.  Hippo surgeonfish are Dory.  Loggerhead sea turtles are Crush or Squirt.  California sea lions are Andre.  Sea stars with any tinge of pink become Patrick.  And it goes on.

It makes me wonder if there is any danger in connecting to wildlife through this lens of imaginative stories. 

I suppose if we only see these animals as the real world embodiment of the characters, then we’re sacrificing a greater appreciation for what they truly are… wild animals!  It seems to be so easy to succumb to the convention that any animal portrayed in a cartoon narrative would be as friendly as they appear on the screen.  I still cringe when I see people along the IRL system get excited about bottlenose dolphin pods and make fanciful statements that they would like to feed them and swim with them.  These are wild animals.. predators that weigh in anywhere from 600 - 700 lbs and hunt cooperatively inside their social pods.  It is a mistake to think - for even a second - that wild animals will always be as docile as they are often portrayed in literature and film. 

But the other edge of the saw is that creating likeable characters from the framework of a species that is imperiled can raise the awareness of the species.  I wrote a few days ago about the story of a real Hawaiian monk seal, Penelope, whose story helped to highlight the complications of monk seal pups and their propensity for entangling in abandoned fishing gear along Hawaii’s coast line.  She isnt the only ambassador of this kind.

When I was little a wayward manatee named Chessie decided to migrate from the warm waters of Florida all the way up to the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays.  He was “rescued”, rehabilitated for a short interval by SeaWorld Orlando, and released back to Florida’s habitats.  But instead of remaining in Florida’s waters, he lived to remake the same migration along the eastern coastline of the United States several more times.  Chessie’s story inspired many people in my generation, that lived in the Northeast, to get interested in endangered manatees. 

Perhaps its just a fine line we walk when we attempt to pull on the heart strings of our community and our children by targeting them through characters instead of appealing to them with hard data and scientific papers.  There are strengths and weaknesses in each approach of course, but I fear for the people who do not have the opportunity to interact with wildlife and who only know them through such characters.  Artistic license being what it is, this can lead to some very skewed perceptions about the real animals. 

And sadly, that isnt just a fear of mine, its a reality that I tend to confront every day as a person in environmental education and outreach.  I would wager at least half of my job is spent guiding people through their perceptions and dispeling their misconceptions about wild animals.  No penguins don’t dance.  No we won’t see polar bears living with penguins.  Clownfish are actually hermaphrodites and after Nemo’s mom died his father Marlin would have become the new female.  (Yikes!)  Flipper isnt always friendly and docile out in the ocean.  Crush and Squirt would probably have never met out in the ocean on the EAC (because sea turtles don’t have any parental care).   

Its not going to go away any time soon either.  People have incorporated animals into their culture since the beginning and have wavered from demonizing to deifying them (or is that the same thing) for most of human history.  The question is, how do we connect people to the reality of the natural world without resorting to these constructions?  Or, perhaps even better, is there any harm in continuing to see animals through the lens of art instead of the lens of reality?

 

The latest issue of Orion magazine (one of my favorites) takes aim at various climate concerns through several articles.  The overall sense of the issue is one of anxiety-stricken urgency.  And perhaps its needed in the wider sense of the world, but I have a hard time believing that regular readers of Orion need yet another call to action. 

Audrey Schulman encourages us to overcome the Bystander Effect while Mike Tidwell tells us to “snap into action” and do something, anything for climate change.  Anything at all, according to each of these writers, will have a cummulative effect on the currect situation.

Personally, I’m starting to fear a different social “effect” than the infamous Bystander one.  That would be fatigue.  We live in a culture of obsessions and fads and fashions.  Things, ideals, and exercise programs are adopted for a short period of time until their novelty wears out and are summarily dropped without much more than a slight and nagging feeling of remorse. 

Climate concerns are novel at the moment.  Heck, its en vogue to wear shirts that feature Charlie Brown pointing to a recycling emblem or tees that say “Green is the new Black!” or to proudly strut around with organic produce packed into a reuseable Publix bag.  The idealist is me is beaming with pride but my cynical side is afraid that these behaviors and practices are simply another slogan.  I’m afraid that the current buzz around green living and sustainability will remain only buzz.  Or worse, that it will become the sort of white noise and static that pervades the background of our culture but fails to truly mean anything.   

We need much more than slogans.  And we need more than people calling for a “sea” change.  We need to go beyond the rectangular thinking that any PR department can dream up.  Altering our situation shouldn’t be about projecting an image along the way.  Peer pressure shouldn’t have a place in addressing climate concerns in the same way that brain washing shouldn’t be apart of the dilemma, or the solution. 

We need to treat people as people and not a mob of ignorants that need to be converted or led to a higher plane of consciousness.  We need to realize that everyone in the United States cannot - cannot - simply give up their vehicles and their access to milk, bacon, and avocados flown in from California.  We need outreach, and we need the kind of outreach that touches people’s true sense of the moment and their strictest sense of commitment to themselves, their children, their communities and through each of these connections, to the wider world. 

Hawaiian monk seals are currently the second most endangered marine mammal in the world.  Have you ever even heard about them?  Chances are, you haven’t.  The population hovers at just 1300 animals (some reports say 1200).  To give you an idea of just how bad this is: practically everyone knows that West Indian Manatees are an endangered species and there are currently 2,817 in the state of Florida. 

How is it that some animals that are so critically endangered get so little press and awareness about their situation remains low?  In some cases, its the cute factor.  But at least Hawaiian monk seals are cute. 

Let’s review the facts.  Hawaiian monk seals are endemic to Hawaii and are found nowhere else.  Like nearly all true seals they are not strongly social animals and seek out quiet undeveloped refuges and beaches to give birth and raise young and for use as haul out areas for resting in between foraging trips for fish, squid, lobster, and other ocean delicacies. 

Now take a moment and consider the modern Hawaiian coastline. Its full of development and people are everywhere.  In fact in the main Hawaiian islands the population of monk seals is thought to be just one hundred animals.  The remainder of the 1200 have been pushed out of their habitat to the more remote islands, atolls, and reefs towards the northwestern corner of the volcanic island chain. 

Loss of habitat is considered one of the primary concerns from this critically endangered population but entanglement is a rising problem.  Monk seals - like nearly all true seals - nurse their young for a relatively short time of six to eight weeks.  The young are then rather vulnerable to making naive and lethal mistakes when encountering gill nets, crab pots, ghost nets, and other sources of entanglement around the islands.  They also eat marine debris and are easily targeted by predators such as Galapagos sharks. 

In fact, part of the Recovery Plan issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in late 2007 lists an effort to decrease shark predation near monk seal habitat by culling the sharks that took seals.  Faced with all the concerns we have in shark conservation, this seems completely unthinkable.  But in the light of a rapidly contracting population of critically endangered animals, extreme measures are sometimes all we have left. 

I am a big believer in the power of photography to inspire people, its part of the reason I contribute what I can to the Marine Photobank project led by the folks at SeaWeb.  Their photos of a little Hawaiian monk seal named Penelope really drive the plight of this species home.

Penelope’s birth on Oahu in 2006 was the first birth on a main island in eight years.  Volunteers watched over her and limited contact from the public in order to encourage her mother to properly raise the pup.  After she was weaned, she was moved by NOAA officials to an offshore spot that offered more protection.  Unfortunately the little seal swam back to Oahu where she drowned in a gill net.

Penelope’s story helped to inspire support from Hawaiians for a ban on the use of monofilament-based gill nets near their typical habitat, a ban which still has not yet gone into full effect.  There is still a great deal of mystery surrounding this species.  We are not sure how far their foraging trips take them, we’re not sure whether or not there are diseases present in the population that might cause catastrophic losses in the future, we’re not sure where they stand on the point of genetic diversity and viability.  And if Hawaii cannot get a handle on habitat protection and sources of entanglement, we may never know before these gorgeous animals go extinct. 

I’m starting to think that - like Christmas - Earth Day just isn’t Earth Day without kids to celebrate it with.  Which is why I happily sacrificed a few hours of studying to participate today. We did a wildflower walk, donated caterpillars to classrooms (zebra wings!), a trash pickup, and ate cupcakes made from organic ingredients.  And we were able to talk about green ideas.  Talking and asking kids questions is always my favorite part.  They need just a few leads and suddenly they’re running with crazy and often insightful out-of-the-box ideas and thinking.  

Me:  How can we keep wildlife safe in the state of Florida?

Kids:  “Don’t leave your fishing line at the dock!” “Don’t run them over!”  (Boy that is a good one.)  “Dont smoke cigarettes because birds eat the butts!”  (A+!)  “Don’t sprinkle your lawn with pepper!”  (Um, okay, we’ll go with that.)  “Dont feed baby gators because then they’ll eat baby ducks.”  (Alrighty then.)  “Don’t chase squirrels and don’t let your cat outside at night.”  (This was actually genius.. cats eat a lot of wildlife.)

Me:  All these b-e-a-uuuuutiful plants are native to Florida.  If you were born in Florida, you’re a native too.  The awesome thing about native plants is that they don’t need a lot of water.  Why should we worry about water in Florida?

Kids:  “Because we’re on a peninsula and there’s lots of saltwater.”  “Animals need water so we can’t use too much or they won’t have a place to live.”  (Beautiful answer.)  “There’s only so much water and we have droughts.” 

Me:  Alright, so if there are lots of people in Florida, and only so much freshwater, perhaps we should conserve it or find ways to use less of it.  Any ideas?

Kids:  “Take showers not baths.”  “Catch rain water in bottles in the yard and use that to brush your teeth with.”  (Ummmm.)  “Use water from the goldfish to water plants.”  “Use the waterless dog wash so you dont have to shower.”  (Hahahahaha.)  “Make more hurricanes come so we will have more rain.”  (Interesting.)  “Only drink soda!”  (Had to have a little explanatory chat on that one.)  “Wear your clothes more than once.”  (Sounds a little smelly.) 

Keep in mind these are third and fourth graders.  I was wildly impressed.  Rather like last year’s Earth Day when a third grader responded to “What does wild mean?” with: “Wild means everyone owns it, and no one does.”  I don’t know any adults who could’ve put it so elegantly!

And I love that their understanding goes beyond slogans and rudimentary use less / recycle / watch your trash.  Plus its hard not to love kids on field trips.  A chorus of ”Thank you Miss Sarah” goes a long way. 

 Ahh the sea slugs.  I’ve known about nudibranchs and their incredibly diverse life history patterns and appearances since early on in high school marine invertebrate class.  I always thought they were pretty cute.

About two years ago I discovered Elysia subornata (photo abvoe from seaslugforum.net) in my aquarium tanks that had come in with a large shipment of Caulerpa prolifera.  Most of the Elysia species members specialize in feeding upon just one or two species of Caulerpa and perhaps a few other species of green alga like Ulva or Chaetomorpha or Derbesia.  In fact for several months, whenever someone reported an unlucky outbreak of Caulerpa in their reefs, I was prone to suggesting they track down an Elysia nudi to stage an attack.

Unfortunately, Elysia species like to carpet surf or take spin cycle rides down overflows and into sumps and eventually find themselves macerated into chunks when they inevitably fall prey to the powerhead impeller blades.  Their use as Caulerpa control in reefs is patchy at best and more lucky break than a valuable method of control. 

But the genus, and the entire group of sea slugs, have the most eccentric and fantastic stories attached to them.  Several are kleptoplastic… they literally steal chloroplasts from the tissues of macroalgae (or seaweeds) that they feed upon.  If the nudibranch is on the edge of starvation they can use the chloroplasts to help them fight off death.  Feeding ecology and the overall impact this neat adaptation truly poses is still being studied.. but I find it so intriguing. 

Plus, their method of feeding sounds like something out of a horror film.  Elysia aren’t just your tame little chew and chew and chew herbivores.  They use radular teeth to rasp the surface of the algae and then peirce the cell walls and suck the cell sap out!  They’re mini green vampires!  In fact, if you ever read Goosebumps as a kid, they seriously remind me of the story of Bunnicula.. the vampire rabbit that would suck the life out of carrots and other vegetables. 

Little did I know that these green vampires don’t always prey upon macroalgae!  My seagrass-nerd-friend Howard from ReefCentral clued me into a review on sacoglassan nudibranch feeding and I discovered something rather shocking in the text.  There are two Elysia species that eat seagrasses!!

Chalk this up to learning something new everyday.  Little Elysia serca feeds on my beloved shoal grass, manatee grass, turtle grass, and star grass (Halodule, Halophila, Syringodium, and Thalassia) while its northern counterpart Elysia calutus likes to munch on eel grass (Zostera marina). 

Its a good thing these guys apparently don’t come out in plagues or we’d have even more issues to combat with seagrass management.  And just think.. we couldnt even use salt to get rid of these slugs!