Why did you consider that you want to– Marlin was one of the people that might be called one of the original type zoo directors. And I don’t wanna say old type zoo directors, but Marlin was very dedicated. He was a very… Not only was he dedicated, but I… Read More
I think Marlin was very good. He had suffered, I think a little bit by being too identifiable to the public. He was very recognizable and been a household name. And when that happens, you see some things happening. Of course, nowadays with some of the Hollywood stars it’s pretty… Read More
But Marlin was very good at that. And he… Personally, he worked very closely with people. He was good with people. But let me give you a compliment about Marlin. I was around the world with Marlin and some very adverse situation. I mean, things like elephants chasing us in… Read More
As a person who knows the value to human beings of these forests as they stand, how do you compete with something about that?… Read More
Or how can you have an effect on it?… Read More
It’s really frightening. But that’s a whole nother subject, but anyway at least they’re working on it. And also the nature conservancy and others have worked in Guyana trying to save these, put these big forest into national parks. The trouble is (chuckles) not to get into politics, but the… Read More
What was your impression of Marlin?… Read More
Well, I just talked to one of the guys who has been very involved in what’s happening and now it’s called Guyana. And it’s frightening because in the big mountains, they’re called the Conoco mountains and they’re near a town called Lethem, L-E-T-H-E-M. And that’s up on the Takatu River,… Read More
It’s not unusual to see a jaguar lying on the rocks near the river totally unafraid of you. They’ve never seen a human before. And that’s how wild it is. Well, the Chinese now there’ve been a couple of different countries and logging groups that have been trying to make… Read More
It’s now called the Conservation– (indistinct) Conservation, yeah. Well, they’re down in Guyana as we speak ’cause they too are really trying to do something to keep the Chinese from coming in, and harvesting some of this totally remote Virgin rainforest where I was working with eagles. And I just… Read More
And he told me quite a bit about British Guiana. And that’s why I decided to go to British Guiana. And he introduced me. There was a gentleman who was director of the Natural History Museum in Georgetown, British Guiana. By the way, that’s a sleepy town that’s, you know,… Read More
But so when I first went down there, I went over to the museum and met him and got some ideas on where harpy eagles might be?… Read More
I did a lot of research. So I have to credit two people, O’Neil at the Field Museum in Chicago, but also Dean Amidon who was curator of ornithology at the American Museum. And he’s the one that really encouraged me to go ahead and do this down in Guyana. Read More
How have things changed for the harpy eagle from when you did your original research to today in that area?… Read More
What was it like when you were studying these animals in their natural habitats?… Read More
Well, first of all, I think that I have to go back to that old saying in Earlham College, when I graduated from a Liberal Arts College, nobody told me what I couldn’t do. I didn’t know that I didn’t think that it would be that difficult. I have learned… Read More
And Africa was sort of a jumping point when I came back from Africa and started doing The Today Show and had all the animals and things like that. It gave me the self-esteem to think that I could go to the Amazon, even though I never knew much about… Read More
Why did you choose the harpy?… Read More
Well, the harpy was… Actually, I had seen a harpy eagle, I think it was in the national zoo. It was a crippled harpy eagle that had only one eye. And if you ever see harpy, you never forget it. They’re very spectacular. The biggest eagles in the world. And… Read More
So that’s how I got fascinated by the harpy being in the attraction, the Birds of Prey attraction in Florida and working with the one there. And there were only… By the way, there were only like two, maybe three harpy eagles in zoos in America when I decided to… Read More