There is a major problem in our oceans. Once seemingly inexhaustible in number, the fish in our seas are somehow vanishing. It sounds crazy, but it’s true. Once giant schools of mackerel and sardine, shoals of tuna, magnificent sailfish and marlin, even sharks; all of these and more are disappearing fast. What could have such […]
Thanks to the glut of candy that appears on the shelves of every large retail chain this time of year, there is no better time than now to discuss the problem of palm oil. Palm oil, like corn syrup, has become a bit of a dirty word and coincidentally, both tend to pop up regularly […]
Remember the Trapper Keeper? If you had or were a child in the 80’s or 90’s you almost certainly do. That’s when the Trapper Keeper was in its prime. I’m told the stylish plastic binders still exist but if so, they’re a bit lost amid the million interchangeable items in your local stores Back to […]
The Safari West Monarch Butterfly Conservation Garden may be young but it has already become an amazing addition to our landscape and conservation work. When Safari West (with the invaluable help of Merle Reuser, our local monarch expert) first established the garden, our goal was simple. We wanted to help these beautiful and important insects […]
Killer bees. Kudzu. Glassy-winged sharpshooters. Zebra mussels. White-nose syndrome. Lionfish. Medusahead grass. This laundry-list of organisms is one small sample of a long and ever-growing compilation titled “invasive species”. It’s an ominous sounding term and for good reason. Invasive species can wreak havoc on an ecosystem, causing widespread disruption and even the extinction of other […]
High in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and just outside my backdoor, there is a trailhead. With a few steps through my backyard, I can set out on a looping route that winds lazily through a pine forest and around a busy beaver pond. Once I step onto the dusty path, the trail takes me north, […]
Safari West is home to nearly one hundred individual species, each one sporting its own unique set of adaptations. Our cheetahs depend on fleet-footed prey to survive and have adapted to this challenge by becoming the fastest runners alive. Likewise, our many flying birds have adapted to life in the air with rigid feathers, lightweight […]
The goal of conservation is the preservation of wilderness at risk and almost, as a rule, this is achieved by conserving certain places and certain species. This system has worked beautifully with populations that don’t move around much but has largely failed when it comes to protecting migrants. Put simply, migratory populations are those that […]
The monarch butterfly is a delicate and ethereal seeming creature that nonetheless manages the longest and most grueling migration in the insect world. During the spring season, these famously beautiful orange and black Lepidoptera can be found throughout the lower 48 states and even as far north as southern Canada. Monarchs are vulnerable to cold […]
Of the many endangered species represented in the collection at Safari West, only one has the dubious distinction of carrying the label “Extinct in the Wild”. Most of our visitors are familiar with the idea of endangerment and understand that when we point out an animal as being “critically endangered” they are looking at a […]
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