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My Life is Crap

One Carnivore at a Time

1/10/2014

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My mission statement, of sorts, is I am a professional student saving the planet one carnivore at a time and a scientific review published today in Science (Volume 343) does a pretty good job of explaining why.  Carnivores are really cool but the importance of keeping these species’ populations healthy is more important than because they’re badass. 

Most of the members of the order Carnivora are at the top of the food chain in their ecosystem making them an integral part of the health and well-being of that ecosystem.  And, since carnivores exist in almost every habitat on Earth, declines in these species can be seriously detrimental to the condition of our plant.  Carnivores play an important role in regulating ecosystem function.  Other species, both flora and fauna, rely on carnivores hunting, scavenging, leaving prey remains, etc. whether directly or indirectly.  A decline in carnivores has some fairly unexpected effects including changes in biodiversity, disease, and even stream morphology.   

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Ripple et al (2014)
Natural ecosystem balance has ebb and flow, but in recent ecological history the ebb is beating out the flow in regards to many carnivore populations.  Factors such as human-animal conflict, habitat loss and depletion of prey due to over hunting are changing our planet’s carnivore populations and declines are causing declines in other essential species and increases in destructive ones.   This review focused on seven of the 31 large mammalian species of Carnivora (above) which have documented trophic cascades (meaning the predator is responsible for the alteration traits of their prey within a food web – ie the Circle of Life) reporting on the effects each carnivore has on its individual ecosystem.  Their conclusions, humans cannot replace carnivores in their role of preserving ecosystem balance and conservation efforts need to be made to prevent further loss or even extinction of such important biodiversity and ecosystem function maintenance species.
  • W. J. Ripple, J. A. et al (2014) Status and Ecological Effects of the World's Largest Carnivores. Science, 2014; 343 (6167): 1241484 DOI: 10.1126/science.1241484
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It's not "world famous" for nothing!

7/29/2012

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Friday, after 5 years of volunteering at the San Diego Zoo’s Panda Research Station, I handed in my keys for the last time.  Since 2007, between the Zoo, Park and Institute, I have given approximately 1350 hours of my time.  As a research, interpretive and information volunteer I have had a hand in programs that are making a difference in the world of conservation.  Whether I was entertaining visitors while teaching them about the Pleistocene epoch, getting to the zoo hours before any visitor to watch the pandas, trying to keep warm at 4am waiting for an elephant to give birth or walking baby flamingos for exercise, I have enjoyed every minute!   Being a volunteer has been such a rewarding experience, not only for those memorable moments, but because of the friendships I have gained with people I don’t just admire, but idolize.


The San Diego Zoological Society isn’t going to get rid of me that easy though.  Once I am settled in in Texas I will be signing in a few times a month to man the various animal cams available for your internet viewing pleasure.  (SDZ Videos) Hundreds of miles won’t keep me from this brilliant organization!

Huge News!

While I was saying my goodbyes on Friday, Megan, a conservation program specialist in the Applied Animal Ecology division, gave me the best news -- Bai Yun was officially pregnant!  I say “was” because at 2:10pm today Bai Yun gave birth to her 6th cub.  She was only 1 day away from being the oldest panda on record to ever give birth!  During my time working at pandas I was around for the birth of two cubs, Zhen Zhen and Yun Zi, and had the pleasure of witnessing the most successful panda mother in the Northern Hemisphere do what she does best.  We are so proud of our Bai and I am going to miss her so much.  She is such a wonderful mother and such a character.  I will definitely be coming back to get a peek at the newest bundle of joy when I am back in San Diego for Christmas.
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Home Sweet Home

6/29/2012

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The last week has been quite a life changing adventure.  My parents and I traveled out to College Station/Bryan, Texas in search of my first home and… WE FOUND IT!  Currently we are going through the post inspection negotiations but everything has been going quite smoothly thus far.

During our whirlwind, 3 day home finding process we saw everything from gorgeous remodels to a Property Brother’s dream home to a litterbox disguised as a house (the smell was seriously disgusting).  It was after the major disappointment of finding out the home I wanted to put an offer on had gone under contract while we were making our way back to the office to someone paying cash and closing in 11 days (I mean, come one, I can’t compete with that!) that my wonderful real estate team rushed into action to find me another perfect home.  It turned out be one of their own listings whose price was just reduced into my price range.  And, I knew it was going to be perfect when I walked in to leopard print wallpaper in the foyer!  A lot of the homes we looked at were more space than I would ever need but this 1585 sq ft, open concept 3 br/2 bath house on 0.2 acres is going to be perfect for Paughey and me with plenty of room for all of you visitors! 

Now… to decorate!!! 
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Michael Kors Knows His Animals!

4/19/2012

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The “cheetah vs. leopard print” debacle has stuck again!  I went to Michael’s today just to pick up a few supplies to finish a current art project I am working on and, as always, I decided to browse a little; possibly spark some inspiration.  In the framing department they had a display of adorable mini-frames, a few of which were on clearance.  I was joyed to see that the metallic leopard print frames were on sale for $1.99 (50% off their regular price) so I grabbed 6 and made my way to the register.  I thought they would be cute to use for one of CCF SoCal’s many upcoming events!  Now, at the register they rang up as “cheetah” (which was not on clearance).  I explained to the cashier that this frame WAS leopard print and that there were NO frames with cheetah print but there were zebra and tiger.  When she called for assistance, I told them if they could tell me which of the three frames they were trying to pull off as being leopard, when, in fact, the ones I brought up WERE leopard, I would purchase them because I just wanted African themed.  But, alas, they could not and they would not honor the clearance price despite their mistake.  The prices posted labeled the three frames as Cheetah, Leopard and Zebra.  1 out of 3 is an "F" Michael’s.  Someone doesn’t know their animals and by not knowing your animals, you’re FALSE ADVERTISING!

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National Geographic - Photograph by Beverly Joubert
Cheetah?                                                                 Leopard?
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National Geographic - Photograph by Anup and Manoj Shah
If I were to give the average person a picture of a cheetah AND a picture of a leopard, the odds are pretty good they might be able to tell me which is which.  If I were to give them a picture of a cheetah OR a leopard, the odds would go down.   Now, if I were to present them with a picture of their coat….all bets are off!  Michael’s is not the only culprit.  The fashion industry has been getting this wrong since animal print made its way to textiles.  This has bothered me for a LONG time.  On March 10, 2008, I wrote on myspace:

“It's a common mistake which is SO easy to correct but people…never take the effort to correct themselves [to] not look like idiots…because they are only idiots if everyone realized they were, [so] by not correcting their mistake people don't learn [and] no wrong was made based on sheer ignorance of the seer received by the ignorance of the doer.”

So here’s your fashion animal prints lesson:


Cheetahs have SPOTS.  Leopards have ROSETTES.  That unbelievably trendy animal print that everyone has been about raving for years…that’s LEOPARD!  Spots are solid.  Rosettes are not.
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SPOTS
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ROSETTES
At this moment I would like to give a shout out to Michael Kors.  Not only is he an amazing designer who I LOVE but this man holds a special place in my heart because he knows his animal print!
One-Shoulder Dress, Leopard Print
2012 Safari Chic Collection
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One-Shoulder Dress, Cheetah Print
I bought this dress in 2010.
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    Caitlin Curry

    I am a biologist and my life is crap!

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