According to Utah’s Deseret News,  Bat Conservation International (BCI) can be credited with shedding light on this mammal and its contribution to ecosystems.  Few mammals are as misunderstood as bats, which help humans by consuming vast quantities of insects that can be harmful, such as agricultural pests and even West Nile carrying mosquitoes.  Bats are also sensitive to high pollution and pesticide levels, and thus are useful as a warning sign to potential environmental problems, explains Bat Conservation International.  BCI has decreased bat persecution through education and encouragement of projects such as ‘bat houses’ which have become increasingly popular devices at private residences.

Bat houses are boxes set in high places (poles, trees) that act as homes for bat populations, whose natural roosts are in danger due to human activity.  Successful bat houses require patience, and a realization of basic facts including that most bats prefer to eat moths rather than mosquitos.  Really, the two main reasons for putting up a bat house are to help conservation and because it’s cool to have a bat house.

If you decide to house these helpful mammals, you’ll benefit by avoiding the commercially marketed bat houses sold at malls and instead, making one yourself.  Bat Conservation International explains that the odds of attracting bats are very good for well-built bat houses that have proper insulation.  However, perseverance and a willingness to experiment are musts when creating prime bat real estate, as it may take several seasons to attract permanent tenants.  With the right design, a little patience and the willingness to learn, you too can play a pivotal role in helping bats flourish.

The Oracle Education Foundation’s ThinkQuest has six online animal quizzes, with one for each continent.  They’re egalitarian – they all have 10 questions each.  Your scores on them, however, may not be so equal!

The North American quiz addresses a range of subjects from the type of habitat bobcats prefer, to what type of North American animal has a social structure like that of humans.

The South American one tests your knowledge of what sounds a Collared Peccary makes, how an Anaconda kills its prey, and other questions.

The European version involves lemming migrations, one of Europe’s most famous animal phenomenons.  In fact, six of the ten questions center around lemmings.  If you’d like to play with a quiz that tests your knowledge of more European animals, check out Animal Corner.

Animal Corner is a British website features both their native and international wildlife.  Their animal sections have color photos that act as links to information about each animal.  It’s an online version of the wildlife encyclopedias that absorbed many of my reading hours when I was a child.  It has a 10 question online quiz that tests your knowledge of 10 different British animals.

The Australian ThinkQuest animal quiz features six animals, including the well known Platypus, Bandicoot, and Brown Kiwi, the not so well known Greater Bilbie, and a mystery animal.

The African animal one asks about an Okapi’s relatives, how deep a meerkat’s burrow is, and for other knowledge.

The Asian quiz actually tests your knowledge about ten different animals, including the Siberian and the Bengal tigers.  I scored my best score on this one tied with the South American quiz.  I guess those hours of reading animal encyclopedias paid off!

If by any chance the ThinkQuest games are too easy for you, there’s a more difficult animal quiz that even includes technical terms such as vernal pools and spongioforms.  It’s produced by the Massachusetts Envirothon,  a statewide environmental education program for high school aged teenagers and their advisors.  My score was both sadly funny and a suggestion that I might want to find those wildlife encyclopedias and read them again!

If you double click on the map, an ecoregion box springs up that shows you the ecoregion’s name and the number of mammal species it has.  In my case, I learned that the Guianan Highlands Moist Forest in north eastern South America has 237 mammal species.

Wow! 237 mammal species.  How many could an average person name or even recognize?

A moment later, I clicked on a new map type and learned that the area has 613 bird species.  Then, 123 snake and lizard species.  All working together to keep the ecosystem healthy.

I have only seen the online version.  However, you can order your own copy of the full Atlas through the Nature Conservancy’s marketplace.  It costs $44.95 (US Dollars), and has 272 pages, 229 color illustrations, 6 b/w photographs, 40 line illustrations, and 79 maps.

Meanwhile, like so many zoos this time of year, the Bronx Zoo is having a Name Three Lion Cubs contest.  The over 10,000 name submissions so far include Chippy and Sangria, according to NY Daily News.com .

If you like looking at baby animals, check out www.zooborns.com.  They bill themselves as featuring the “newest and cutest exotic baby animals from zoos and aquariums around the world”.  The photos and stories include a Eurasian lynx cub, and a Baird’s tapir calf named Noah – two of Nashville’s “storm babies” that were born during the recent extreme rainfall and flooding.

The website is also showing the video about the mother bear rescuing her cub that was stuck at the top of a small tree. You may have already seen this video – it went viral amongst TV news networks the other day.

You’ll also find links to older postings and a well organized list of baby animals by animal type (Aardvarks, addaxes, agoutis, etc.)

Enjoy Spring!

Rabbits, and eggs, are fertility symbols from ancient days.  Rabbits and hares are prolific breeders, and females can conceive a second litter (”kit”) while pregnant with the first.  Thus, the expressions “breed like bunnies” and “multiply like rabbits”.

This breeding capacity is partly what makes rabbits such a problem as an invasive species.   WWF Australia reports that destruction by rabbits decimated the grey-headed albatross population in Australia’s Macquarie Island, the only place they were known to be in Australia.  Although they’re not the only threat: grey-headed albatross also get impacted by the long line fishing industry.

However, this is the Friday File, and for those of you hoping for a game, I aim to not disappoint you!  There are several bunny games online, and my favorite so far is a simple little time waster called Grabbit Rabbit: The Guarded Guardian (click here).   Enjoy, and Happy Easter!

All most of the games require is some basic skills, such as hand/eye coordination.  Trying to get the Seagull to poop at the right time so it lands on the evil fishermen and saves the fish takes a certain talent!  I enjoyed it, even though I confess that my first game’s score was just 12.  We get better at this game apparently, because the highest score is around 6,700!

If you are or ever have been a Tetris fan, you will most likely enjoy Bycatch Bonanza, and successfully avoid catching the good sealife when you’re trying to catch just fish.

The Earth Hour Game matched my “The Seagull Strikes Back” game in being simple fun.  It’s entertaining making the little character run along, turning out lights along the way.  Be careful you don’t make him fall off the planet!

Toxic Blaster was fun once I caught on how to play it (Hint: the spacebar helps!).

Rescue the Russian Leopard and Poacher Peril both need to be downloaded, which I haven’t yet done - the online games are keeping me happy enough.

Basic conservation messages are embedded in the games, such as when fishing people should just catch what they’re trying to, and avoid bycatch.  As with most things that WWF do, these games although simple are both fun and high quality.

Happy Friday!

Hello from Vancouver, home to the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.  BC Hydro is using their role as the Official Supplier of Electricity to the Games as a platform to promote a message of conservation, Simi Heer explained to me.  Simi is BC Hydro’s Power Smart Media Representative.

BC Hydro provides electricity to 94% of British Columbians, and is the third-largest electric utility in Canada.  Their Power Smart program has been delivering a sustainability message for years, encouraging British Columbians to consume less electricity.

It was fun to dance on the electricity-generating floor at Club Energy, and watch as the colored lights beneath the floor turned on and flashed with my dancing speed.  The floor is also part of BC Hydro’s message of how we impact and are tied to energy.  According to Simi, 1.1 million watts of electricity were generated the first two days from people dancing on the floor.  She told me that the floor has generated around six kilowatt hours of electricity in just over a week, enough for six loads of laundry.  That’s a lot of dancing.  “The message we’re trying to show is that it’s hard to generate electricity, so we should be wise in how we use it,” Simi commented.  Electricity doesn’t excite everyone, so the dance floor “makes it more interesting.”

Also at the Power Smart Village pavilion is a short film that draws parallels between athletes using their bodies efficiently and people using energy wisely.  Sometimes people need to be trained in conservation messages, just like athletes require training to become skilled in their sport.  Lack of knowledge can be a major stumbling block in getting people to live more sustainably.

Another onsite display is the Home of the Future, which is made of two recycled shipping containers.  The outside is made of B.C. cedar board siding and pine beetle wood.  Inside, a Smart Washer & Dryer and Smart Refrigerator monitor energy levels and do their most intensive work when the energy demand is low.  Part of BC Hydro’s Olympics effort is to recruit British Columbians to become members of Power Smart, and reduce their energy consumption by 10%, reports Simi.  It’s one step along the road to living sustainably.

A film of a spirit bear welcomes visitors to the BC Pavillion.  Later, Douglas Green at the Kla-howya told me that when the Aboriginals fish for salmon in the Chilcotin area of BC, they use smaller nets so they can check the sex of the salmon that are caught.  They keep the males but throw the females back, thereby maintaining a sustainable fishery.

This being the Friday File, let’s have some fun.  Have you noticed that the 2010 Olympics has 3 mascots, all based on animals?  They are called Sumi, Miga, and Quatchi.  There’s also a fourth mascot, Mukmuk, who is viewed by organizers as a mascot sidekick.

On the mascot’s website is the story of how the mascots became interested in the Games (the video is adorable, especially for children).

The website also describes what the 3 mascots are and how they are associated with local native legends of the Pacific West Coast.   Mukmuk is based on a Vancouver Island marmot.

Mukmuk has his own website, with a cute video about him.  There’s also a quiz that will tell you which mascot you’re most like!

It’s great to see animals taking such a central role in the exhibits and as the mascots for the Olympics and Paralympics.  Enjoy watching the Games, and good luck to the athletes of our world.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an agency of the US Department of Commerce.   NOAA’s goal is to enrich life through science, and to keep Americans informed about the changing environment around them from the sun’s surface to the ocean’s floor.  NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS) is the nation’s premier science agency for oceans and coasts.

The Educational Part:

NOS has a section on their website called Five Things You Should Know About Coral Reefs.  It is both nicely presented and educational.

Page One advises that coral reefs are the ocean’s version of land-based rainforests.  With rich biodiversity and thousands of creatures, coral is one of the largest living structures on earth.

Next, think about the number of people who depend upon reefs.  Do you think the number of people who are totally dependent on reefs is 5 million?  15 million?  20 million?  Or 30 million?  Then guess how much money is generated annually by coral ecosystems?  Both answers can be found on Page Two on the website.

Then NOS invites us to consider the sad news that around 20% of the world’s reefs are damaged beyond recovery, and about 50% are seriously at risk.  Both manmade and natural threats exist, from climate change to marine debris to invasive species.  Check out Page Three for more information.

Page Four mentions the activities of NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program.  The program also helps international reefs since, similar to other animals and plants, reefs don’t know what a border is.

Page Five wraps up the section with what you can do to help reefs. Awareness is step one, so check out this section and other parts of their website.  And managing your impact is important, so follow their invitation to check out their Coral Reef Conservation Program.

The Fun Part:

Check out NOS’s fun section.  In particular, The Migration Game is a fun way to learn about topics including shipping lanes, animal migrations, and other ocean facts.  The game has a few technical twists to learn, but soon you’ll be zipping around the board.

The Ocean Guardian Activity Book is fun for younger kids, while Nim’s Island teaches about special ocean places such as national marine sanctuaries.

If you like seeing storms, the Tornado section shows some fascinating photos.

And so on.  This website is worth poking around.  It is very multi-layered and one trail will lead to another.  Have fun checking it out!

As the website suggests, the Center for Biological Diversity works through science, law, and creative media to secure a future for all species on the brink of extinction.  They tend to focus on species in the United States, with some in Canada, the Far North and further south in the Americas.

The Center’s ringtones offer an international variety.  Their six categories of free, downloadable ringtones include the calls of rare and endangered frogs, mammals, owls, other birds, and some sea mammals.  Among my personal favorites are the Bald Eagle, Gunnison’s Prairie Dog, and the Mexican Gray Wolf.  A few of them, such as the Grizzly Bear and the More Spectacular-Sounding Wildlife selections may startle your fellow bus travelers!

Overall, many of the animals presented have calls that lend themselves well to ringtones.  Most readers are likely to find one that matches their own personality and just how much attention they want to receive every time their phone rings.

If you’re happy with your current ringtone and don’t want to change it, this website is still worth visiting.  A fun afternoon or evening can be spent listening to the different ringtones and learning what the animals sound like.  At the end of your fun, please remember that the Center is a nonprofit organization that needs support, and pay them something for the entertainment.