Author: Sarah Ruiz

Warner Bros. Pictures just recently released their own version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ famous story, Tarzan of the Apes. The film tells the action-packed story of Tarzan who, after 10 years of living in civilized society, returns to Africa with his wife Jane. Tarzan’s story was a big inspiration for Dr. Goodall when she was a young girl. There was no blockbuster movie for Jane to watch when she was little, so she read the books. In the books, Tarzan is the Lord of the Jungle. The son of English noble parents who were marooned on the west coast of…

With the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species preparing for its 17th annual Conference of Parties, the United States has taken the opportunity to strengthen its own commitment to protecting endangered species. The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently instituted a near-total ban on domestic commercial ivory trading. This ban seriously limits imports, exports and sales of elephant ivory across state lines. For years, the legal ivory trade has provided a cover for wildlife traffickers selling illegal ivory since, once the illegal ivory enters the market, it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish, limiting the effectiveness of law enforcement to…

11 year old, Iris Rosenhagen, saw a problem in her community and set out to do something about it. In February, Iris founded the Community for Animal Respect and Education (C.A.R.E.), an organization created to educate people about the challenges animals face in today’s world, and inspire them to help. Under Iris’s leadership C.A.R.E. recently completed a campaign with a Roots & Shoots mini-grant to help the monarch butterfly populations in New York by planting milkweed plants. Now, Iris shares how she collaborated with her community to ensure her campaign’s success. Coming Up With an Idea The first and most…

On July 1, 2015, an American dentist shot and killed a lion named Cecil on his quest for a trophy to bring back from Africa. Cecil wasn’t just any lion, however. He was a very beautiful and very beloved lion, who just so happened to be part of a decade-long Oxford University study. The event sparked global public outrage and condemnation of the hunter. While his death was a tragic loss, both for science and for the species, it brought serious attention to the practice of trophy hunting. In response to public uproar, many government agencies have been forced to…

On July 14, 2015 , the Jane Goodall Institute and people all over the globe celebrated the 55th anniversary of groundbreaking research at Gombe National Park in Tanzania. Gombe is where Dr. Jane Goodall’s legacy began, and is the place where we began to learn just how intelligent and complex chimpanzees really are. The work that Dr. Goodall started at Gombe still continues, and as we approach the beginning of the 56th year of research at Gombe National Park, JGI would like to share with you just a few of the studies to recently emerge from the incredible amount of…

How does an organism that can’t move spread out across a continent? Plants have struggled with that dilemma since their evolution. Some let the wind or water carry their pollen and seeds out into the world. Others prefer to get a little help from their animal neighbors. That’s where pollinators come in. Pollinators are a crucial part of nearly every ecosystem. Most pollinators are beneficial insects — butterflies, bees, wasps, beetles, moths, etc. — that pick up pollen grains when they land on a flower in search of nectar and transport it to the next flower they visit. In fact,…

Can killing an animal help preserve its species? Proponents of trophy hunting certainly seem to think so. The argument goes a little something like this: trophy hunters pay a lot of money to go on these hunts, and that money goes towards conserving the species and ensuring that the populations remain stable. Or at least stable enough to keep the hunters hunting. If it seems a bit counterintuitive, that’s because it is. It’s an argument that is frequently tossed around by hunters, governments and safari clubs, but with little evidence to support it. Now, almost a year after the death…

People are strongest when they stand together. Today the White House begins its two-day United State of Women Summit, which aims to inspire all people, but especially women and girls, to stand together against gender inequality. Focusing on the issue areas of economic empowerment, violence against women, educational opportunity, health and wellness, entrepreneurship and innovation, and leadership and civic engagement, the summit will feature conferences, speeches and presentations lead by inspiring women leaders. From CEOs and entrepreneurs to actresses, activists and even the First Lady herself, the summit is packed with strong women looking to make a difference in their…

Calamity arrived at Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in 1991, when she was just four years old. She was transferred to Tchimpounga from Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, along with Cristophe, Jo, Flo and Jim. These five chimps were Tchimpounga’s first. Now, Calamity and her cohort are almost thirty years old and have grown into full adults. Calamity is has formed many close relationships with her peers and, contrary to her name, her presence often provides a sense of stability in the group. She is also a role model figure for many of her fellow chimpanzees,…

Conversations surrounding climate change all too often revolve solely around its devastating environmental impacts. Documentary filmmaker Charles Ferguson is trying to change that conversation into one that acknowledges the challenges without overlooking the solutions that are already available to us. His new film, Time to Choose, aims to educate audiences on the problems and solutions surrounding climate change, and to inspire them to choose a more sustainable future. Executive Producers of the film, Tom Dinwoodie and Jeff Horowitz, shared this hopeful outlook and said that hope is what differentiates Time to Choose from other films about climate change. “Time to…