Audubon articles from May 2009

Audubon archives from May 2009

Fencing match.(UPDATE ...)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... Part of the nearly 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexican border may never be built. The 70-mile section would run through critical habitat, including the Sabal Palm Sanctuary, cutting off wildlife from the Rio Grande (see "NoMan's Land,"...

Aquaman.(Q&A: PHILIPPE COUSTEAU JR.)(Interview)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Underwater explorers Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his son Philippe captivated audiences with their pioneering documentaries on marine life. Philippe Jr., 29, is filling his predecessors' flippers as co-host of the...

Mob scene.(DISCOVERIES)(locusts' production of serotonin)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When our brains release serotonin, we feel relaxed. When locusts gather in groups, it triggers serotonin production, which within hours can turn these usually solitary insects into crop-destroying swarms. Scientists...

Let them eat crab.(DISCOVERIES)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you can't beat them, eat them. British researchers are trying to slow the Chinese mitten crab's invasion of North American and European waters by whetting people's appetite for the palm-size crustacean. The crab,...

Clean cut.(giving elephants a vasectomy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] How do you give an elephant a vasectomy? Veterinarian Mark Stetter wasn't joking when he asked that in 2001. With funds and jumbo laparoscopic tools from Disney's Animal Programs he pioneered a method for clipping...

The conservation front.(BIRDS)
May 1, 2009... Others on duty in Iraq might choose to linger in their bunks on their day off, but Major Randel Rogers is up by sunrise, binoculars in hand, searching for blue-cheeked bee-eaters. At Al Asad Air Base in western Iraq, Rogers has spied a wealth...

Pockets full of change.(GOOD NEWS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... It's time to gather all those loose coins in your drawers and under your sofa cushions. Audubon and Toyota are calling on kids to join Pennies for the Planet, an annual campaign that raises funds for environmental causes. This year's donations,...

Go fish.(AGRICULTURE)(organic certification of aquaculture industry)
May 1, 2009... There's organic ice cream, dog food, and even vodka. But no organic fish--yet. After years of debate over which seafood should receive USDA organic certification, the National Organic Standards Board has approved draft regulations for fish...

On guard.(on sheep dogs)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When farmer Alan Marsh heard that foxes were decimating a fairy penguin colony on Australia's Middle Island, he knew what to do: call in the sheepdogs. For years Marsh has protected his chickens with Maremmas, an...

Scents and sensitivity.(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Your great-grandmother's roses really might have smelled sweeter. University of Virginia atmospheric scientist Jose Fuentes and colleagues have shown in a computer simulation that through chemical reactions,...

Green guru: advice for the eco-minded.
May 1, 2009... Are all jellyfish poisonous? What should I do if I get stung by one? Jane McMahon, Fort Lauderdale, FL Those gelatinous, undulating creatures we call jellyfish all produce at least some toxin, but not every species is dangerous to humans....

Meet me at the Oasis: in the face of forces destroying other parts of Mexico, the Sierra Gorda reserve holds its own--a miraculous, biological melting pot unmatched on the North American continent. Black bears mingle with jaguars and macaws, and stands of tropical trees, draped with orchids, abut hills dotted with cactus.(GREEN TRAVEL)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We look out over the vast emptiness below our feet--past the mountainside, its flanks cloaked in gnarled, moss-hung oaks; past huge gray-green agaves and blankets of wildflowers; past the...

Made in the glades: a patch of small, rocky outcrops in Hissouri's Ozarks is home to one of the nation's rarest natural communities, including cacti and lizards usually found in deserts. After decades of neglect, a band of locals rallied together to transform a dumping ground into a destination.(AUDUBON CENTER)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE WORD "GLADES" TAKES ON MANY MEANINGS. IT SOMETIMES refers to marshy areas, as Florida's Everglades. Or it may define a grassy opening in a grove of old hardwoods. But in Missouri it describes a place where the...

The least among us: one photographer hopes that his portraits of imperiled species could help sharpen the public's focus on populations struggling to survive.(PHOTO GALLERY)(Joel Sartore)
May 1, 2009... IN A MAKESHIFT STUDIO, a flower-loving fly with enormous green eyes and hairy orange legs lay on a table, anesthetized by carbon dioxide. A federally permitted fly handler stood over the insect--one of only a few hundred of its kind left in the...

Clearing the air: the near-disaster in New York City earlier this year highlighted the danger birds can pose to airliners. Happily, a combination of common sense and cutting-edge technology is helping keep birds and people aloft.(SOLUTIONS)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THOSE WHO WORK IN THE SPECIALIZED field of birdstrike avoidance have spoken out for years about the rising hazard of airplanes hitting birds. "The numbers keep going up, and the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration]...

Aububon directory.(Directory)
May 1, 2009... Your quick guide to the National Audubon Society BOARD OF DIRECTORS B. HOLT THRASHER Chair of the Board LLOYD SEMPLE ALAN WILSON Vice-Chairs ALLEN J. MODEL Treasurer MARGOT ERNST Secretary ...

Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 1, 2009... Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness By Lisa M. Hamilton Counterpoint, 304 pages, $25 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Large, industrialized farms are ubiquitous and seemingly entrenched in America, and for...

Ivory's Ghosts: The White Gold of History and the Fate of Elephants.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 1, 2009... Ivory's Ghosts: The White Gold of History and the Fate of Elephants By John Frederick Walker Grove/Atlantic, 304 pages, $25 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] John Frederick Walker's history of ivory opens on Kilimanjaro's misty slopes...

The endless race: a new biography explores the remarkable accomplishments of Phoebe Snetsinger, the first birder to list 8,000 species.(ESSAY)(Book review)
May 1, 2009... Life List: A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds By Olivia Gentile Bloomsbury USA, 362 pages, $26 LIFE BEGINS AT 50--under a sentence of death. This is the thread, and the message, of one of those curious life...

Art of the wild.(African Air by George Steinmetz)(Brief article)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PHOTO CAPTION: African Air (Abrams, $40) takes photography to breathtaking heights--literally. Nearly every page unfolds to a panoramic vista of the continent's majestic landscape, shot aerially by National...

Living Off the Grid: A Simple Guide to Creating and Maintaining a Self-Reliant Supply of Energy, Water, Shelter, and More.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 1, 2009... Living Off the Grid: A Simple Guide to Creating and Maintaining a Self-Reliant Supply of Energy, Water, Shelter, and More By Dave Black Skyhorse Publishing, 300 pages, $12.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Like a mob boss going to...

See-through.(One Picture)(glass frogs)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] You are looking at a female glass frog from the Venezuelan cloudforest with a belly full of eggs. Like this diminutive amphibian's green bones, its organs are in plain view. Some scientists speculate that glass frogs...