Gray wolf

And not our beloved friends at Graywolf this time. This photo was taken at the New York State Zoo in Watertown, NY and is a part of Joel Sartore's dazzling book "Rare: Portraits of America's Endangered Species".

I thought of this book the other night while watching birds in Louisiana covered in toxic goop. The effects of BP's spill will not be known for years. But we know this: it ain't good for the animals. Sartores' book does an interesting thing in that the photos are listed in terms of total population. There are categories for >10,000, 10,000-1,000, <1,000, ? and On The Rise. So the reader gets to both see and feel population sizes. The gray wolf is in the last category and is doing very well. In large part in MN in particular. But what about the Whooping Crane and the Mississippi Sandhill Crane(only about 155 of those left) and the Eastern Indigo Snake? These are animals that are in some trouble and they need protection in order to rebound or simply continue to exist. At his website Sartore has some great video about the making of the book and links to organizations whose missions are to sustain and aid the preservation of animal lives and habitat.