International Wildlife articles from May 1997

International Wildlife archives from May 1997

Last look at paradise? The primordial world of the Galapagos is under siege from people.
May 1, 1997... Last year, like 50,000 other tourists, I walked in the footsteps of Charles Darwin on the islands where he formulated much of the evolutionary theory that changed forever our view of humanity's place in nature. I ambled among herds of sea lions...

The great escape: sometimes the most mysterious events in nature take place right before our eyes. (hatching of eggs)
May 1, 1997... Floating in a nest in a North Dakota laboratory, an egg turns cool, and embryologist Gary Nuechterlein listens to the eared grebe embryo whistling within. In related work, embryologist Wendy Hill discovers in Oregon that the bigger the grebe's...

Can time heal Zambia's elephants? Though illegal slaughter for ivory has all but ended, young elephants are still paying a biological toll.
May 1, 1997... Swaying rhythmically across the African plains, like a tall gray ship sailing a grass-green sea, the young female elephant we call Gift strolled into our research camp on the Lubonga River in Zambia's North Luangwa National Park. Her trunk swept...

To ban or not to ban? That will be the question for nations meeting in June to decide whether to modify a prohibition on selling elephant parts.(Ivory Trade)
May 1, 1997... When representatives of the 134 nations that have signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meet this June in Zimbabwe, they will decide whether to modify a worldwide ban on the sale of...

New Zealand's bizarre un-bird. (kiwi)
May 1, 1997... Once it was regarded as a scientific hoax--now it's merely an "honorary mam- mal" On a windless night with no moon, I wait patiently in a mossy recess of one of the wildest places I have ever known--the primal forest of New Zealand. The...

Savoring summer in the Svalbards: a naturalist revels in the annual explosion of life in Norway's northernmost lands. (Svalbard Islands)(Cover Story)
May 1, 1997... The sun is warm on my face as I rest on a cushion of tundra on a July day, contemplating my surroundings in this High Arctic oasis of life. Not a breath of wind stirs the air, and the only noises are the hushed "munch-munch" and hoof-clicks of...

Thoughts from Gandhi. (Mahatma Gandhi's thoughts on nature)
May 1, 1997... On Consumption and Happiness The earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed. A certain degree of physical harmony and comfort is necessary, but above a certain level it becomes hindrance instead of help....