World Rhino Day

As a nature photographer I have had the great fortune to photograph many places that most only experience on TV, books or the web. Of the locations I have visited, none are more special than my travels to Tanzania in 2008 and Kenya in 2010. During each of these visits I felt as if I had stepped into the past... experiencing both the birth of humanity and a glimpse at the mega-fauna that was once the norm rather than the exception.

Today is "World Rhino Day." It is an opportunity to speak out in support of something other than ourselves. This place, East Africa, where humans began their journey as Australopithecus is also one of the last refugium of mammalian history. Home to rhinoceros, elephants, buffalo and the big cats, this place where humanity had its start is also where the last giants are being eradicated by senseless and uncontrolled poaching. Join me by signing the NRDC Petition to put issues like the conservation of the rhinoceros at the front of political and social discourse.

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Did You Know (36)?

A giraffe’s neck has only seven cervical vertebrae. Surprisingly, this is the same number of vertebral bones in most mammalian necks. The 1.8 meter (6 feet) climb from shoulder to head requires an unusually powerful heart muscle. Weighing in at 11 kilogram (25 pound) the massive heart relies on a series of one-way arterial valves to propel the blood uphill. This tallest of all living land mammals has extreme metabolic requisites that has led to the evolution of a lung capacity that can capture 55 liters (12 gallons) of air. 

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Did You Know (33)?

The only land mammals larger than rhinoceros are the African and Indian elephants. Restricted to Asia and Africa, the five remaining rhinoceros species are among the most critically endangered mammals on the planet. A 2013 population census counted fewer than 30,000 wild individuals. A sub-species of the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) has the dubious distinction of having the fewest living representatives. The remaining 6 northern white rhino’s is heavily protected, some of which have had their horns filed down. As a species, the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) has the largest global population of all rhinos, however their horn continues to be a tempting lure for poachers. While Africa’s combined rhino population consists of nearly 26,000 animals, Asia now has less than 3500. The Sumatran rhinoceros population is believed to be consist of nearly 100 individuals, while the Javan rhino is approaching global extinction with its meager population of 35-45 animals. 

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Did You Know (26)?

While the sun near the horizon might seem to be larger than when overhead, its distance and size never changes as it moves across the sky. One hypothesis suggests that the atmosphere acts to magnify the rising sun along the horizon, but data actually suggests that the atmosphere makes the celestial body about 1.5% smaller. What we see is an illusion of the mind. The specifics behind the illusion continue to be up for debate, but make no mistake, your perceptions about the setting sun is not reality.  

"Why Does the Moon Look so Much Bigger near the Horizon?" HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.

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Did You Know (22)?

The meal you ate today is outside the body even while it is traveling through your body. The alimentary canal is the pathway your food moves as it makes its way through the digestive system. That apple you placed in your mouth, chewed and swallowed, is technically outside the body even as it passes from mouth to esophagus, into the stomach, and through the intestine. Because the oral and anal ends interact directly with the environment, the canal itself is out rather than in. This quirk of anatomy explains why an animal, like the hippopotamus, is capable of living and swimming in its excrement. Often congregating in muddy pools and bays along lakes or rivers, the famed gaping mouth can be seen swallowing what appears to be the feces of its neighbor. No worries, as the hippo has a robust immune system, and is simply passing the contents from the outside, through its body that is anatomically not considered the inside.

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Did You Know (14)?

It takes energy for a cat to extend its claws. A retracted claw is a relaxed state in which the claw is withdrawn into the paw. When pursuing prey, muscles in the feet cause the claw to protract and thus be exposed. This anatomical adaptation serves to protect the claw from damage or being worn down. The African cheetah and South Asian fishing cat are notable exceptions to this form of claw morphology typically found in cat species. In direct contrast to the foot of a lion or leopard, a cheetah’s claw is non-retractable, and results in a paw with a more “dog-like” appearance.

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Did You Know (7)?

The gestation period of a female elephant is about 22 months. At the time of birth, a newborn weighs 77 to 113 kg (170 to 249 lbs) and drinks up to 11.4 liters (3.4 gallons) of milk per day. The high fat diet lasts for two or more years and allows a baby elephant to initially gain 13.6 kg (30 lbs) per week. With a lifespan of seventy plus years, the typical parental commitment lasts for about 16… sound familiar?

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Did You Know (5)?

A tiny “horse” might hold the explanation for why zebras have stripes. The conventional hypothesis suggests that stripes are a type of disruptive camouflage that make it difficult for large predators to distinguish their zebra prey from the tall grass habitat. However, recent studies now link the evolution of zebra stripes to the horseflies that relentlessly attack their hide. Data suggest that there is a strong correlation between striping and the presence of tabanid biting flies. For a yet to be understood reason, it appears that horseflies avoid striped patterns where the banding approaches the widths observed in zebras. 

"Scientists Solve the Riddle of Zebras' Stripes :: UC Davis News & Information." UC Davis News & Information. UC Davis, 1 Apr. 2014. Web. 13 Jan. 2015.

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Did You Know (3)?

Originally thought to be related to guinea pigs, the diminutive rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) of Africa and the Middle East, shares its evolutionary history with elephants and sea cows (manatees). The evidence collected from a 40 million year old fossil bed, anatomical studies and mitochondrial DNA all support the hypothesis that the hyrax and elephant are derived from a common ancestor.

©2000-2015 BTLeventhal.com / Bruce & Tamy Leventhal. All rights reserved. No image on this site may be used without permission.

Loss

Depending on the source, there are 5 to 7 stages of mourning and grief. For the sake of simplicity, I will focus on the five most oft quoted stages as a way to convey the loss that Apple Inc. has imposed on me, again. First, it is necessary to lay out a very brief background. In 2010 I was faced with a huge decision regarding the management of my photographic library. Specifically, which software package should I purchase and learn… Adobe Lightroom 3.0 or Apple Aperture 3.0? At the time, the decision was not difficult. Aperture 3.0 appeared to be a refined product that was designed to specifically operate within the Mac OS “ecosystem.” The decision to choose one product over the other was not a trivial one. By investing in a file management software application, I was committing myself to learning one set of algorithms and designing a filing system based on the software’s architecture. Four years later, over 100,000 images have been imported into various Aperture 3.5 libraries that are now organized into indexed albums with pictures that have been tagged with stars and flags. Furthermore, Aperture 3.5 has been my raw file processor of choice, and now stores instructions for outputting more than 10,000 images that I deem worthy of publication. The decision I made in 2010 now has huge implications for June 2014 and beyond.

The Loss… On June 27th, Apple Inc. announced the following, “With the introduction of the new Photos app and iCloud Photo Library, …, there will be no new development of Aperture.” 

Enter the 5 Stages of Grieving

1. Denial… “There is no F’n way that Apple Inc. will terminate the development of Aperture. Sure they screwed me when they dumped AppleWorks for Pages and old Pages for the new lame Pages, but there is no way they would walk away from the professional photographic community!” …Denial, an intrinsic defense mechanism for buffering the shock of a loss. 
2. Anger… “WTF!” They say this is natural and that it will eventually fade. While the anger is dissipating, I’m not sure that my trust will be so easily earned in the future.
3. Bargaining… “Maybe Apple Inc. will rethink the decision to terminate Aperture. Better yet, is it possible that the new software will be better than the predecessor?” Here, bargaining is an attempt to regain control… [As a side note, Apple’s new Photo’s program promises to be an improvement on iPhoto, but Apple has clearly stated that its overall functionality will not be as sophisticated as the current Aperture 3.5 program.)
4. Depression… Been there! This has been a depressing few days dealing with the reality that my investment in Aperture 3.x now seems to have been a futile waste of time and energy. The termination of Aperture will require that I learn a new software package, and rebuild a filing structure for my photo libraries. This loss will translate into a giant time suck and reduction in productivity. While I’m not ready to move back to the world of slide film, the simplicity of those days now looms large in my head.
5. Acceptance… Well I am now climbing this mountain. I have subscribed to Adobe’s Creative Cloud for Photographers , and have been watching a KelbyOne training on “Making the Switch from Aperture to Lightroom”… good for Scott Kelby and his company to capitalize on my (and many other’s) loss. The linked Kelby training is two hours long, explains Lightroom basics, and discusses ways to move Aperture files with EXIF data intact. What’s more, this training session is FREE! Small gestures like this will make me a KelbyOne subscriber in the future.

Call it a reflective rant, but the loss of Aperture is a Big Deal to me. The posted image has been archived and processed through Apple’s Aperture software package, a process that is now as intuitive to me as using my cameras or driving a car. When companies abandon loyal customers in this manner, it tends to have a lasting impact when making future purchasing decisions…

©2000-2014 BTLeventhal.com / Bruce & Tamy Leventhal. All rights reserved. No image on this site may be used without permission.