Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Inventions

We are living in the most comfortable time in human history, but destroying the planet slowly in the name of comfort and convenience.  How are we going to save ourselves?


It would be nice to think that we will find a way to work together to be less wasteful, less greedy, eat less meat etc, but it's hard to see this happening.


What we really need is a super genius (like you) to make an amazing new invention to help the world in some way.  In your next post, please tell us about your amazing new machine or technology,   what it looks like, what it can do, and how it works.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

A Creature I Will Miss

It's well known that many creatures are going to become extinct over the next few decades.  Unless humans become less greedy, selfish, and obsessed about money, large numbers of creatures will disappear.  Which creature will you miss when it's gone?  What do you know about its habits/ behavior?  Please write about it in your next post.

In my case, I'm fond of orangutans (and some other creatures).  Of all the great apes, they are the ones that most enjoy spending a long time in trees. Their hair is reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of chimpanzees and gorillas, and they sometimes look a little bald, like me. Orangutans are the most solitary of the great apes, with social bonds occurring primarily between mothers and their dependent offspring, who stay together for the first two years. Fruit is the most important part of an orangutan's diet, however, they  also eat vegetation, bark, honey, insects and even bird eggs. They can live for over 30 years.

Orangutans are among the most intelligent primates; they use a variety of sophisticated tools and construct elaborate sleeping nests each night from branches and foliage. The apes have been extensively studied for their learning abilities.  I had an interesting meeting with one in an animal sanctuary when I was on holiday in Malaysia .  Maybe it wanted to learn English from me, because it tried to climb up and sit on my knee.  It was too big though, so the staff took it away.