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NOVA News Minutes
Animal Census
(running time 01:39)
Transcript
June 21, 2003
NARRATOR: It's a place unlike anywhere in the world...the Seychelles. As shown on PBS's NOVA, these remote islands in the Indian Ocean are home to many creatures isolated from the African mainland for millions of years and found nowhere else on Earth—a great place to spend your vacation. But entomologist Brian Fisher is heading there to work. As part of the "All Species Foundation," currently based at the California Academy of Sciences, Fisher wants to see all the animals and plants on the Seychelles and everywhere else on the planet inventoried, described, and classified.
BRIAN FISHER (California Academy of Sciences): Humans seem more interested in discovering life on Mars than we are on this planet. Yet understanding life on this planet is critical. It's astonishing to realize that we know almost nothing about even the animals and plants in North America.
NARRATOR: Madagascar, another island off the coast of Africa, is also home to many unique creatures, including, Fisher estimates, more than a thousand species of ants. He's spent the last ten years getting to know them. Scientists have studied only about ten percent of the world's species. Yet understanding the life we share the planet with is crucial for its survival and our own future. That's why Fisher and his colleagues are working toward the ambitious goal of a global inventory of the world's species.
BRIAN FISHER (California Academy of Sciences): Every decision made by a city—where to put a road, where to put a farm, where to build a school, how to decide between preserving something or turning it over to development—is a decision requiring this information. So the sooner we have it, the more efficient and the better we'll be at protecting and using the world.
NARRATOR: And it's always good to know your neighbors. I'm Brad Kloza.
Seychelles Through Time |
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Build an Island
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