The Ark In Space

Fix and Release: Helping Canada’s Freshwater Turtles

Thursday, 19 July 2018

For two hundred million years they did their own thing. Then we came along. Dr Sue Cartsairs runs a small turtle trauma center in Ontario. Often the turtles have been run over by vehicles and it is the job of her center to try and even the odds for survival for the turtles in this day and age. In other words, to fix and release them. As Dr Carstairs points out many of these turtles are over a hundred years old and as such deserve the chance to get back to the water and continue living their long, long lives. As well as a great insight in to practical not to mention pragmatic conservation, Fix and Release (by Scott Dobson) is visually very beautiful.

For me the most amazing part of the film was seeing the eggs being taken out of a turtle which had not survived its injuries. Once extracted the eggs were placed very carefully in a box and then left to incubate and hatch. Then they are released in to the wild (turtles are born independent). Amazing. If you would like to find out more about how to help Ontario’s fresh turtles then click here.

The Kermode Bear: Spirit Bear of British Columbia

Saturday, 11 March 2017

This is not a polar bear which has decided to migrate to warmer climes.

This is a remarkable sub-species of the North American Black Bear. It is the Kermode Bearr - also known as the spirit bear.

Living along the shorelines and central interior of British Columbia on the west coast of Canada, around ten percent of Kermode bears have white or creamy coats. They are revered among the native peoples of the province.

Pronounced kerr-MOH-dee, the lighter Kermode bears are not albinos. They appear much brighter than most of the population because of recessive alleles.

This rare genetic trait doesn’t hold them back either – the paler bears are better fishers than their brown counterparts. It is thought this is because the fish cannot perceive the threat from above due to their coloring. A brown bear might stand out more against the clouds – that much is true.

Whale Haven: Where Whales find Sanctuary

Sunday, 6 September 2015

Off the shore of Campania Island in Canada’s British Columbia is a place where whales of many species find sanctuary. Northern resident killer whales, the fish-eaters, come together to form superpods.

On some days more than fifty individuals follow the salmon migration into the mainland fjords of the Great Bear Rainforest. The transient killer whales, the marine-mammal eaters, are forever travelling between seal and sea lion haul-outs, teaching the young how to hunt.

Yet there is trouble in this resplendent, tranquil ocean paradise. This short film by Pacific Wild shows us what the future may hold in store for these magnificent creatures. Click on the HD symbol at the bottom right of the video for its full awesomeness (if your device will take it!).

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