Called by the Spirit Bear

I wasn’t thinking about changing anything major in my life on the night in August 2011 when a spirit bear grabbed me and started leading me on a journey from the least wild place in North America to the wildest. I wasn’t looking for a vision quest, I was looking for a burger. Navigating the chaos of New York’s JFK Airport, in a mad dash to get onto a six-hour flight back to Seattle, the heat and humidity, the screaming cabs at the curb, the body scans, liquids police, laptop X-ray all behind me, it was time to debate whether I had time for a meal. And if so where?

I’d just wrapped up a weeklong visit with my family in Connecticut that reminded me anew how disconnected I felt from my past. I was going back to the life I had created in Seattle that didn’t seem altogether real to me anymore either. I love my city, but I don’t love my life, was the uncomfortable thought I kept suppressing. Once I’m back home, I’ll have some time to think, I breathed to myself. Meantime, did I have time for a meal before the flight?

Instead of a restaurant, my eyes fell upon a Hudson News stand. Well, perhaps a magazine? I picked my way through the hordes on the same “flight reading” mission, scanning the magazine rows for something. . . .

Q&A: Wildlife Photographer Suzi Eszterhas

Wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas spends months in far-flung locations, documenting the family life of endangered animals. Her children’s book series, Eye on the Wild (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books) inspired a Sierra magazine slideshow. Sierra recently chatted with the California-based photographer about how long it takes to get a great photograph of a cheetah hunt, the mountain gorilla’s chances of survival, and how it feels to be slapped by a chimp.  

Do you ever get tired of looking at adorable baby animals?

I don’t. I get tired of some of the travel and some of the physical strain, depending on where I’m working, or the mental [strain]. But I don’t get tired or bored of the wildlife itself. For example, I spent five and a half months at a jackal den. Every day, all day, I sat there in front of the den, from sunrise to sunset. And for most people, five and a half months of that seems quite boring, but for me—of course there’s down time and there’s slow times—but I never felt unhappy or miserably bored. Sure, there were times when it was like, “OK guys, wake up,” but I never felt like, “Oh my god, I need to end this project because I’m bored.”

What’s the most difficult animal to photograph?

I think chimpanzees, by far, have been my most difficult, but they’re not in this series [Eye on the Wild]. So out of this series, I would say probably cheetahs, because the behavior that I captured is not easy to get. For instance, the hunting shot of the mom—the sprint after the gazelle—it took 17 days to get that photo, and it was like 17 days of nothing. There are a lot of failed hunts. And then sometimes they run the gazelle in an area where you can’t follow: a rocky area or a super-bushy area. Other times they run them in a different direction than you think they’re going to run them. For me, gorillas are the easiest by far, because they’re such incredible photo subjects. And we have an amazing opportunity to sit with these animals because of what researchers have done in habituating them.

5 Endangered Species You Could Hold in Your Hand

Picture an endangered species in your head. Is it a tiger? Panda? Wolf? Regardless of what it is, it's probably bigger than a breadbox. Large, majestic animals catch the headlines, and are certainly worthy of attention, but the vast majority of species on Earth are itty-bitty. And while they may be small in stature, little animals have a big impact, forming the base of the food chain that supports all other life. Many of these palm-size-or-smaller beasties are just as endangered as tigers and pandas, and are much more likely to be hanging on in small parcels of protected land.

So let's have a round of applause for the little guys, and enjoy this sampler of endangered species you could hold in your hand.

Note: Please do not actually pick up endangered species, or any wild animal, for their safety and yours. The hands in these pictures are those of trained scientists and field researchers.

A Misty Hike Up Ireland's Mount Brandon

In the summer of 2010 my family and I traveled to Ireland to spend some quality time together away from our hectic lives. On a meandering tour of the western coast I insisted on one departure from our strict itinerary. My sister and I were in a pub just outside Ireland’s westernmost point, the storm-swept Dingle Peninsula, working through thick pints of Guinness when we learned that we were walking distance from Ireland’s westernmost peak (the tallest outside of Macgillycuddy’s Reeks, a range way to the north). Mount Brandon, named for Saint Brendan (Bréanainn) the Navigator, is a local treasure few tourists might know to visit. 

So after buying wool hats and scarves, my sister and I set out across a farmer’s pasture on the one path that led up the mountain. It was worn deep into the earth by centuries of foot traffic. Sour sheep eyed us from the hills above and below.

As we climbed on, the air thinned and the wind stiffened. Rocks turned into boulders and boulders into cliffs.  Around a bend we plunged into an icy mist.  Here was the Ireland of legends! Fierce greens met deep blacks as mountain grass ran into high altitude lakes. I could hear mournful pipes in my head.  Still a few inimical sheep clung to the slopes. 

7 Animals in the Waiting Room

Don't you just hate waiting for paperwork to be processed? Well, believe it or not, some endangered species might know how you feel.

The Endangered Species Act only gives protections to species that are officially listed as "endangered." But when the Marine Fisheries Service or the Fish and Wildlife Service have other priorities, not all species that need protection make it on the list. These species are put on what is called the "candidate list," a list of species that are recognized by everyone to desperately need help, but which have no legal protections. Species that are declining can wait for years on the candidate list before becoming official. Over forty species have even gone extinct while waiting around.

Man, and you thought that waiting at the doctor's office was bad!

Here is a sample of just some of the 320 species of wildlife that are stuck in a bureaucratic mire:

Sea Otter Awareness Week

Whatever your busy schedule may look like, we suspect that after taking one look at this adorable photo, you'll want to squeeze in time to participate in the awesomeness that is Sea Otter Awareness Week.

Held during the last week of September, this worldwide annual tradition is celebrating its 10th year of acknowledging the essential role that sea otters play in the nearshore ecosystem. Take a moment to brush up on your sea-otter facts.

Why are sea otters important?

Sea otters are a keystone species — that is, they play a major role in the maintenance of the marine ecosystem in which other species are dependent upon for survival. Because they do not have any insulating body fat, they must eat massive amounts to stay warm, making them the top predator in their ecosystem. This, in turn, regulates other species from thinning kelp forests, which thousands of organisms rely on for support. As for us humans, we not only enjoy watching them frolic playfully in the water, but they also serve as an indicator species for biologists: their health reflects the conditions of their environment as a whole.

What issues are sea otters facing?

Bear Rescue Mission

We already brought you some good news about bears last week, but this story was too cute to leave out. In the video below, three baby bears are stuck in a dumpster. A woman standing in the bed of a pickup truck places a ladder into the dumpster so the cubs can climb out to safety. In the meantime, a distraught mama bear watches from behind a tree. Let's hear it for some human courage. The woman never got out of the truck, but she did get frighteningly close to some emotionally compromised bears.

Although it's still unclear why that dumpster was in the middle of the woods in the first place.

--by Krislyn Placide / image by iStock/ PaulTessier

READ MORE:

5 Real-Life Deep-Sea Monsters

Kayakers Encounter Great White Sharks

Injured Florida Panther Kitten in Rehab

6 Species with Celebrity Names

Earlier this month, a Caribbean blood-sucking parasite made headlines when given the name Gnathia marleyi, after late singer Bob Marley. The new species could help scientists figure out how diseases are spread through fish in the Caribbean, but it doesn't really bear much resemblance to the famous reggae singer. Except, of course, that "this species is uniquely Caribbean as was Marley," explained Paul Sikkel, the field marine biologist at Arkansas State University who discovered Marleyi.

Gnathia marleyi isn't the first species given a name of fame. Here are five more species with celebrity titles: 

1. Eristalis gatesi, named after the great Microsoft giant Bill Gates. Also known as the Bill Gates Flower Fly. 

2. Agra schwarzeneggeri, a species of beetle named after "governator" Arnold Schwarzenegger. Why? The bulging biceps look uncannily alike.

3. Crikey steveirwini. Yep, you guessed it. This rare tree snail species in Australia was named after the beloved Aussie "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin and his catch-phrase. Only found in three places in Queensland, Crikey's shell is a swirl of khaki-like color reminiscent of The Crocodile Hunter's own khaki garb. 

4. Scaptia (plinthina) beyonceae. With a golden rear end, this is a house fly too "bootylicious" to be called by any other name than Beyonce.

5. And of course, we can't leave out John Muir. The Sierra Club founder has quite a few species named after him, namely a butterfly he collected in the Sierras called the Thecla muirii. 

READ MORE:

5 Real-life Deep-Sea Monsters

PHOTO GALLERY: Cute Arctic Animals

Zombie Species Roundup

--image by istockphoto/Vah

--Allison Montroy is an editorial intern for Sierra and a journalism student at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. 

Good News Bears

It's easy to find bad news about bears. We seem to have decided that koala bears (who aren't quite bears at all) and panda bears (who are mostly if not totally herbivorous) are "good" but nearly every other type of bear is inherently "bad" or dangerous. Why is that? Because they're masterful, resourceful omnivores much like us?

In June, a black bear was euthanized for scavenging and eating the decomposing body of convicted murderer Rory Wagner. One might ask why the bear was given an immediate death sentence for eating the flesh of a man who was already dead, when the man himself had only received a short prison sentence and life on parole for his own crime. Officials said that the bear would've posed a threat because bears remember food sources. Although, it's questionable whether this bear's food choices are any less ethical than ours. 

No beast is truly one-dimensional, so in honor of all "good" bears, we'd like to open up the floor for the cute bear videos, the funny news, and the photos of the mother and the baby bear in the middle of a cuddle session. If you weren't sure they existed, here are a few of our favorite bear moments.

Can't Bear the Heat

A mother with two cubs cooled off in a pool earlier this month after they wandered into a backyard in Kinneloa Mesa, CA, in search of a temperature change. The black bears dipped their toes in for about ten minutes before they were on their merry way. Animal deputies arrived to watch the bears. No animal, human or non-, was harmed during this mid-day swim.

Bear for Mayor

Kayakers Encounter Great White Sharks

Dun-dun. . . dun-dun. . . . Last weekend, a Cape Cod kayaker had a thrilling experience when he turned around to see a 10-foot great white shark trailing a little too close to his kayak. While the man — and his kayak — made it out of the water fine, another kayaker in Santa Cruz, California wasn't so lucky. 

Don't worry! The west-coaster was totally fine too. His kayak, on the other hand, may need a little TLC after this curious great white got a taste of its plastic underside, leaving a few bite mark souvenirs. 

These aren't the only times a shark has gone after a kayak; back in May near Cambria, California, a man was knocked out of his kayak by a great white that left a 20-inch bite in the side of the boat. 

Why so many shark sightings? Some say it's because of the booming seal population (they're now a protected species). Or maybe sharks are just making a comeback. In any case, all of these recent shark encounters have left the kayakers with a great story to share and a happy ending. 

--image by istockphoto/demarfa

--Allison Montroy is an editorial intern for Sierra and a journalism student at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. 

READ MORE:

5 Real-Life Deep-Sea Monsters

Stand-up Paddle Surfing

Follow that Turtle: 3 Tools to Track Marine Life