Happiness Tree

How to Be Happy - The Quick Start Guide

I know from experience that the last thing an unhappy person is likely to do is read a book or a lengthy article on how to find happiness. That is why I decided to cover the major points here, so you can get on with the business of living, rather than just reading about it.

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So here we go.

Here are the major key areas of your life that need to be maintained and functioning well in order for happiness to grow.

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Love 

A. Self Love - This is more important than familial or romantic love. You must stop focusing on what you believe others think of you, or what you have been told in the past, as often, those judgements arise from the speaker's self loathing. Spend time alone, steeped in an activity like walking or gardening (something that allows the mind to wander) and talk to yourself. That's right! Have a conversation about what makes you unique and special (trust me, there is something) and learn to love and cultivate that. Love is contagious. When you love yourself, others will also find you more interesting and attractive. 

B. Optimize your Relationships - Having lots of friends, whether on Facebook or in the flesh sounds great, but it is of little real importance. Having one or two friends you can trust and that truly love you is priceless. Weed out the part time, "fair weather" friends and focus on strengthening those connections that are truly worth saving. 

When it comes to family, it becomes a little harder. Just because you're related doesn't mean you like each other or are compatible. Parents, siblings, spouses, even children can drain our life energy through manipulation, interference, meddling, jealously and anger. To find true happiness, you must distance yourself physically and emotionally from these individuals. It may not be easy, but not doing so perpetuates the bad behavior. When you finally put up that wall, those family members who mistreat you will find someone else upon whom to focus their vitriol. And you will find a new "Freedom" and peace of mind that rests on courage and self-determination.

Health 

A. Physical Health - Being in the best possible physical health is essential preparation for happiness to flourish. For each person, this may mean something different. Many of us struggle with chronic diseases such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. Sometimes, it is our behavior that causes these maladies to arise and take hold. When that is the case, doing what is needed to eliminate these dis-ease, factors from our lives will make more energy available to improve or just live our lives. 

Work on reducing excess weight, improve sleep habits, learn about and practice wholesome eating habits, reduce stress at work and home by changing jobs if necessary and establishing good lifestyle habits. 

B. Emotional Health -  It is not an overstatement to say that most of us have emotional health issues. Some hold us back and limit our joy and others can be serious, life threatening patterns. Many of these emotional patterns arise in childhood. Left unchecked, they follow us into adulthood, interfering in our self esteem, relationships and with achieving success. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, spend time alone, reading, listening to videos and podcasts on various aspects of human emotions. Your inner mind (subconscious) knows where healing is needed. By strolling through a bookstore, surfing videos and other resources on human emotions, you will find yourself attracted to certain subjects and areas of study. Follow those and be led instinctively toward healing from the inside out. The progress will be slow, but eventually permanent and life altering. Invest time in your Emotional Life and reap the dividends of a clear mind, at peace.

Freedom

Freedom and Purpose are less tangible components of your happiness strategy, but no less important. It is this "mysterious quality" that keeps people from understanding or working on these areas of their lives. Don't let that be you. 

Freedom is the absence of restraints by internal or external forces. Forces which might otherwise seek to keep you from reaching your full potential. Sadly and all too often our own limits are merely imagined. But when we imagine those limits long enough, they harden into beliefs and then become self-imposed barriers to success.

Examples of how this insidious and common dysfunction manifests in our lives are: lack of confidence, or fear of failure; choosing to stay in relationships that do not serve you and that drain your personal power.

Another big problem is laziness - not overcoming inertia. But laziness is usually something else in disguise. More often than not:Fear. Overcome the fear and the energy to address challenges will be easily ignited. 

Other Freedom robbers are the expectations of others. "You must marry this or that kind of person". "You must finish school and begin your career as (fill in the blank)". "You must run the family business or take care of your brother". Whatever. You catch my drift. It may be counterintuitive, but most barriers to our freedom, involve us not choosing to be free.

It may not be easy, it may feel selfish and cruel, but in reality, by holding yourself back, you are encouraging those who oppress you to remain stuck in their dysfunctional patterns too. If you choose freedom of thought, freedom of love, freedom of passion, those who depend on your failure, will need to find alternative means of meeting their needs. That very action may also lead to their growth and personal empowerment. This is how self care benefits you and everyone around you. Even your detractors. 

Purpose

This is what everything else leads up to. This is the rarefied air at the top of the summit, the frosting on the cake, the meaning of life, whatever metaphor seems to fit.

When you have organized and optimized the preceding branches of your Happiness Tree, you will have the space, time and energy in your life to discover and follow your passion. This is a human birthright that few ever get the opportunity to exploit. Henry David Theoreau said: "Most [people] lead lives of quiet desperation and die with their song still inside them".

Whether by Nature, the Universe or God, fate intends for us to find our purpose and leave our world a better place.

The truth is, having structure in our lives, a driving passion, a reason to get up in the morning, gives our life meaning. It makes the journey more interesting and satisfying. It gets us engaged in the world around us, puts us in contact with like-minded people, expands our mind, improves our health and ultimately, makes us happier. If we do end up leaving the world a better place, great! 

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That's it! You've completed the Quick Start Guide to Happiness. How does it feel? 

Whether you know it or not, you are now more empowered to go out and make your life better. 

Now, I challenge you to re-evaluate these 4 areas of your life: Love, Health, Freedom and Purpose and do all you can to optimize them. I guarantee you that this process will result in a better life and greater overall satisfaction. 

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For more resources please avail yourself of these other great resources:

• SEMathias.com
• The Happiness Tree book
• Wonderlust.com
• Mind Cultivation.com
• The Art of Wellbeing

-Shane Eric Mathias

Find me on Facebook and Twitter. Or email me for questions or comments.

Remake Your Life Through Creativity

A reader asks: "How Can I Focus on Staying in the Present?"

The Answer is:

Creativity - The very fact that we exist is a statement of Creativity. All of Nature and the Universe is in a constant cycle of breaking down and rebuilding. This is not some “New Age” notion, it is a scientific fact. Therefore, to be in the flow of the cosmos around you, you must view and engage with your life from a perspective of Creation. This will help you to see that you have greater control over your relationships, your work, your destiny than you previously imagined. From that point on, life becomes a kind of ongoing and intriguing experiment: Trying different things, or combinations of things, to discover what produces the best result.

How to develop the Creative Mindset  
Anything you learn requires exposure and repetition to weave it into the fabric of your life. Creativity is no different. You must start simply to understand the “Process of Making Art” and then later, endeavor to view your life as an ongoing art project.

First, scour your past inspirations to discover what intrigued or intrigues you in the creative realm. Might it be music, painting, working with fabric, ceramics, or gardening? Be courageous and begin by buying some rudimentary tools to involve your hands in your chosen creative endeavor. Or, in the case of music, sing along with the radio or recorded music, listen to the nuances and what makes it sound the way it does. Can you emulate those vocal modulations? Could you imagine one day singing those lyrics at a Karaoke club? That might be a good goal to shoot for.

In my case, I bought some cheap mounted canvases from a local art store, some brushes and a few acrylic paint colors and started experimenting with some abstract shapes. Using more or less water and moving the paint around on the surface to get different effects. The time passed so quickly and by the time I finished, I was already imagining my next piece.

How the Creative Process Grounds You in the Moment? When you are engaged in art, singing or working with your hands, it becomes a kind of meditation. Many areas of your brain get in on the game and play their part in helping you participate in and refine the process. Suddenly, you realize, you haven’t thought about problems, insecurities, work or relationships, you have been totally focused on the task(s) at hand. Most likely, you will find that you can no longer go even a day without involving yourself in some aspect of your project(s), because of how it makes you feel. How it transports you to a heightened sense of awareness, a new found clarity and sense of purpose.

Slowly, You Will Begin to See that Life Itself Can Be a Form of Self Expression. Yes, the way you carry yourself, the way you speak and interact with others, even how you handle the paperwork on your desk at work can be a form of self expression. Eventually, every action, every word, every movement, even every thought arises from the “inner artist” evolving inside you. Each element of your life begins to have value, consequences, a deeper meaning.

You begin to see that even as you shape your own experience, it shapes you in turn. When you observe that little tweaks to the way you engage with the people, places and things in your world, alters the connection and the outcome, you’ll be hooked.

You’ll awaken each day, feeling empowered to make a positive difference for yourself and others. Life will become less of a chore and more of a playful experiment. You’ll understand intuitively that each day progresses more smoothly and pleasurably when you are fully present and in control of your own actions. From that point on, being present will be an automatic condition. Because you wouldn't want to be anywhere else!

-Shane Eric Mathias

 

Are There Reasons To Be Positive About America's Future?

YES!

In my 40+ years as an adult, I cannot recall a presidential campaign between two more unpopular and divisive candidates. Nor could their views have been more diametrically opposed about which direction the country should or will go.

But now, that this embarrassing and vitriolic charade is finally over, we have to get down to the business of dealing with the negatives, (which are sure to come) and begin hoping for some positives to emerge from this morass.

To be honest, I don’t believe very many voters were passionately in favor of either candidate. Most people voted to keep “the other candidate” from stepping into the White House. That hardly represents a mandate. In fact, it would appear that Hilary won the popular vote, but that Trump gained more electors, thanks to the Electoral College system. Should that be abolished? That will be a discussion for another day.

As a self described moderate, I can see positives and negative in both platforms.

Let’s set partisan politics aside for a minute and take a pragmatic and realistic look at the positions of each candidate. Perhaps a little hope might emerge from that process.

HILLARY

Raise up the middle class - Easier said than done. Honestly, there are many factors which are effecting the declining living standard of the average American. The reality is, Americans have an appetite for cheap goods and they cannot be produced in the U.S,. with labor costs being so high. Those jobs are not coming back. Additionally, farming and manufacturing jobs have diminished due to the consolidation of the farming industry into large conglomerates and the automation of many manufacturing jobs, which requires far fewer workers. CONCLUSION: How she would have actually done that is unclear.

Keep Obama Care - As much as I recognize there needs to be a reform of our healthcare system, I am not sure that Obama Care (The Affordable Care Act), is or has been the answer. I agree with the Republican stance that it undermines individual rights by forcing people to buy health insurance or fining them if they don’t. That is regulation run amok. Furthermore, the anticipated number of young, healthy inductees have not signed up, opting instead to pay the fine, rather than to pay the exorbitant and rising rates in the system. This has caused the cost of insurance to remain high, due to the disproportionate number of older sick people who have signed up. Also, not everyone qualifies for subsidy. So an unfair, tiered system remains in place. CONCLUSION: Obama Care is not the answer.

Maintaining our NATO alliances - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has served our European brethren well, but has not been such a great deal for America. Smaller countries have relied on the organization to come to their aid in a crisis, rather than footing the expense to build and maintain their own military. Furthermore, they have not maintained their obligation to pay into the system, falling back on an article written into the charter that obligates the U.S. to come to their defense regardless of their financial participation in the system. This is not right. CONCLUSION: Our participation in NATO needs to be maintained, but other nations need to do more to build up their own defenses and maintain their financial commitment to the system.

TRUMP

Build a Wall Along the Mexican Border - This is an ill-conceived and knee jerk reaction to changes in our demographics and economy. However, as has been proven over and over throughout history, established citizens are inclined to point to one particular immigrant group and blame them for a perceived change or decline in their standard of living. This is not a phenomenon unique to the United States. This “Nationalist” ideology is surging all over the world and causing people, (whose ancestors most likely were immigrants themselves) to reject and protest against those fleeing economic or security challenges in their own countries. CONCLUSION: Mexicans are not responsible for the decline in our standard of living. Other factors such as manufacturing jobs leaving for China and Indonesia as well as the aging of our population and industrial automation have a much greater impact.

I predict the wall will not get built, because it was just a ploy to get poorly educated, disgruntled white men to align with the Trump message. Immigration will continue and ultimately, our economy will be better for it. Who will replace the aging workforce if white families are not producing a sufficient number of new workers? You’ve got it. Immigrants from Mexico and the Middle East.

Have you ever eaten Mediterranean food? Delicious!

Reduce government regulation - In our city and probably many cities throughout the U.S. there are nerds sitting at computers, searching the internet and looking for people making a few dollars selling their vegetables or hand made goods. These nerds then set up a “sting”, posing as customers and offering to buy a box of artichokes or a pair of knitted gloves. Once the transaction has been made, the seller is then arrested and convicted of tax evasion and engaging in business without a local business license and then threatened with a prison term, a fine or both. This type of government over-regulation that has become a toxic cancer on our society. CONCLUSION: Government regulation is necessary, when it protects the innocent and reigns in the excesses of corporations, profiting from the deception and manipulation of consumers. But when average citizens begin to fear prosecution by their own government for attempting to pay their bills through grass roots creativity and neighborhood enterprise, this is a system that seeks to justify its existence by punishing those who it is charged with serving and protecting.

It is very possible that only corporate America will benefit from a reduction in regulation. That has certainly been proven to be the case in previous Republican administrations. But Trump is not a typical Republican or Conservative. Let’s be hopeful.

Withdraw from Iraq - At this point, I can see this as the only logical position. Thousand of American lives have been lost and the civil war continues. ISIS, is an ideology as much as it is a military force. And whether on the battle field or in cyber space it will continue to be a black hole drawing in disenfranchised and disgruntled men and women to become fodder in their futile vision of a Caliphate in the Middle East.

CONCLUSION: Through our involvement in Iraq and Syria, we only embolden and inspire extremists to point their evil attacks against Western values of freedom and the pursuit of happiness. I support our retreat from the Middle East.

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I have covered only a few of the many issues our country and world will need to grapple with over the coming 4 years of the Trump administration. But I hope you can see that neither the Republican or Democratic platform is either all good or all bad.

MY BEST HOPE FOR A WAY FORWARD

Many of us, (myself included), had high hopes for an Obama presidency. And I think he has done as good of a job as he could, considering the hateful opposition he has encountered from his Republican rivals in Congress. But as with our economy, the state of our healthcare system, the immigration question, the continuation of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are still many areas of our local, national and global society that are in crisis.

Right or wrong, our electorate has spoken and we have a new leader. We have no choice now but to hope for the best, continue to talk about and work on the issues that matter and most of all, to shore up the safety, security and prosperity of our own lives and those of our family and friends.

“May the wind be at our back”

Why Electric Cars May Never Ignite Our Passions

The Tesla Model S

Beautiful, powerful, fun to drive, 0-60 mph in 3 seconds. So why aren't they rolling off the showroom floor like the old internal combustion engine models? In April of this year, the L.A. Times wrote an article stating that all electric vehicles comprised only .4 percent of total car sales. When you add in hybrid models (gas & electric), the ratio only increases to 2.9 percent. Energy Post stated that the all electric car will do well to achieve 10% of the global markets by 2050, due in large part to the cost of batteries, the need to install a home charging station and the short driving range. This is even adjusted for anticipated advances in battery technology. 

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The Practical Reasons - They are expensive; they have a limited range (60-120 miles, some up to 300 miles per charge); still very few charging stations nationwide, potentially leaving a driver stranded; a charge can take up to 8 hours; the batteries add significant weight and may need to be replaced once or twice during the car's lifetime, at significant cost.

The Real Reasons - If people loved the experience of driving an electric car, the practical and technological limitations would be irrelevant. The truth is, taming the electron is not nearly as sexy as taming fire! True, the electric car is actually far simpler in it's construction and function than it's internal combustion predecessor, but that is also what makes it, well..... a little boring.

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For those who are unfamiliar with what an incredible innovation the internal combustion engine, (ICE) was and is, and how magically it tames the explosive power of fuel, let's review:

How an Internal Combustion Engine Works (see the video here)

A starter cranks the motor to life, where upon cylinders begin reciprocating up and down, creating a vacuum inside the bore or cylinder chamber. That vacuum sucks in an air fuel mixture that has been created through the simultaneous and finely tuned collaboration of a fuel pump, carburetor or fuel injection system, and an air intake system. Too much air or fuel and the engine will either die or drown from excess fuel.

This fuel mixture enters the bore and is compressed by the rising cylinder. At the exact instant that its maximum compression is reached, a spark from the spark plug (or glow plug in the case of diesel motors) ignites the mixture, causing a explosion. That explosion drives the cylinder back down, where upon, that force turns the crankshaft. The rotating motion of the crankshaft is sent to the wheels via the transmission and differential, thereby moving the car forward. 

All these explosions and the movement of tightly bound metal parts of course create tremendous friction and heat, requiring the use of high viscosity lubricants and a reliable cooling system to keep the entire machine from succumbing to a catastrophic meltdown. 

From an engineering standpoint this is the ultimate Rube Goldberg contraption that carries a very high likelihood of not working. And yet it does. And unlike the almost inaudible whine of an electric motor, the sound and vibration of thousand of explosions rocketing us forward is spellbinding. The experience is also captivating on a gut level, causing us to feel that we and this wild, fire breathing beast are joined in the battle against inertia. 

But there is more going on here than just a nostalgic pang for the sound, smell and feeling of a vintage motor. Mankind has had a fundamental relationship to fire since descending from the trees and taking up shelter on land. Fire has kept us warm, cooked our meats, smelted our metal for tools and weapons, cleared forests for the progression of agriculture, been the force behind projectile arms, such as pistols and rifles. Even today, fireplaces and gas stoves are mainstays of hearth and home. Sales for candles, which give off a soothing, organic light continue to be robust, in spite of the fact that there are many more effective and efficient choices to generate light in the home and office. We even light a ritual candle in remembrance of a loved on who has passed.

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We build bonfires, campfires, we have fire pits in our yards, we celebrate special occasions with fireworks. And I am sure you can think of many more ways that fire brightens and warms our lives. 

Yes, electricity is more efficient. it's probably better for the environment and may indeed be the wave of the future. But for me and maybe many other closet lovers of the internal combustion engine, I will continue to regard hearing and feeling my marvelous, mechanically impossible magical motor roaring under the hood of my car as one of the most enduring and perpetually pleasurable experience of my life. It is a tradition passed onto me through my father, when I assumed ownership of his 1964 Buick, Riviera, which had a ridiculously powerful 465 cubic inch Wildcat Engine. I blew the doors off of Corvettes with that thing.

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Yes, the Tesla Roadster and Model S can outperform even today's most expensive and powerful sports cars in the 1/4 mile. It is indeed impressive to watch. But it would be far less exciting if it weren't competing against the a fire-breathing dragon, with the acrid smell of exhaust and burning rubber and the thought of all those individual parts moving in a kind of mechanical poetry to generate the exhilarating equivalent of 700 horses running at full speed. 

One day, probably not in my lifetime, global warming and fuel shortages will force drivers to accept self driving, electric cars. The unstoppable march of technology makes that an almost undeniable reality. But when that day comes, it will be one more primal human experience that that will have been relegated to the junk heap of progress. 

-Shane Eric Mathias

 

Giraffe - Gentle Giants of the Wild

THE PLIGHT OF GIRAFFE AND THE CONSERVATIONISTS DEDICATED TO SAVING THEM 

A recent episode of the PBS', (Public Broadcasting Service) iconic program on everything wild "Nature", focused exclusively on giraffe. I was so enlightened and fascinated by this strangely majestic creature and the family that has devoted their lives to bringing the plight of giraffe into our consciousness, in a desperate effort to save them from the brink of extinction. 

Take this journey with me now, as I introduce you to these intrepid conservationists that make their home in Namibia, on the continent of Africa and who have chosen to make it their personal commitment to preserve these massive, beautiful, graceful and gentle giants for future generations to enjoy and cherish, as they do. 

As the program begins, we meet Dr. Julian Fennessy. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Dr. Fennessy studied at the University of Sydney and gained his Ph.D, writing his thesis on the ecology and conservation of giraffe. Julian, together with his wife, Stephanie have lived in Namibia for over 15 years. They are raising their children here and everyone in the family is keenly involved in every aspect of giraffe conservation. 


Julian and his wife Stephanie founded and run the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, (the first giraffe charity in the world), from their home in the capital city of Windhoek, Namibia.

Dr Fennessy has discovered that there is a silent extinction of giraffe going on while the conservation community has been focusing on other species under pressure, such as the African elephant. In an effort to better understand this bizarre and beautiful animal and what the reason is for this alarming attrition, he travels from Namibia to the dangerous border of Ethiopia and South Sudan and on into Uganda. He will eventually devise a daring and brilliant plan to save the most endangered population of giraffe, in an unprecedented rescue mission that will test the limits of human ingenuity and endurance.

In spite of the fact that everyone loves these cuddly giants, it is only recently that humanity has learned anything about them. And the little we have discovered is extraordinary. Under our noses giraffe have gone extinct in at least 7 countries in Africa. Let's peek into the mysterious world of the giraffe to learn more about them.

Fact: Giraffe are the tallest land animals in existence. 

Fact: They can weigh almost to 2 tons

Fact: The heart of the giraffe can weigh up to 25 pounds.

Fact: They have the greatest range of vision of any animal on land

Fact: Giraffes are vital pollinators and seed spreaders. Without their assistance, Africa would change dramatically for the worse. 

Fact: They receive 70% of their water from the leaves they eat. When they do come in contact with fresh water, they will drink if it is safe. They must spread their front legs to get their head and neck in the right position, which puts them in danger if lions, hyena or leopards are in the vicinity.

Fact: They feed exclusively on plants and mostly in the morning and at night, when the temperatures are cooler. During the heat of the day, they can be found resting where there is shelter from he sun. 

Fact: Giraffes are known to eat up to 60 different species of plants, though they most often eat from acacia trees. 

Fact: The trees they most often browse from (Acacia), have long, sharp thorns and poisonous leaves.



Fact: Some trees have recruited ants to fight the giraffe off. In response, the giraffe have a thick skin, they can sniff our the poisonous leaves and pluck the softer, moister ones with their giant, sunproof tongues.

Fact: The large protrusions on a giraffe’s head are not horns or antlers but are called “Ossicones”. They are composed of cartilage, like what is found in our ears. The male’s ossicones are much larger and grow increasingly massive over their lives.
 

Fact: In spite of their incredibly long neck, it’s composed of only 7 vertebrae, like those of all mammals, including humans. 

Fact: The giraffes found in and around Namibia are called Angolan giraffes. They are currently defined as one of nine different sub-species spread across Africa. 

Fact: A pregnant female giraffe has a gestation period of 15 months, after which she gives birth to a single offspring, which will already stand over 6’ tall. 

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It is a 2 day drive from Julian’s home to the Hoanib River, where he has been studying giraffes for almost 20 years. This desert is protected and allows giraffe to roam safely, giving Julian and Stephanie an opportunity to study wild, undisturbed behavior.

One male giraffe in particular that Julian has been studying is over 20 years old. Which would make him the world’s oldest recorded wild giraffe.

Facts like how many giraffe are now living and how far they roam have been sorely missing from our understanding of these magical creatures.

But Julian has recently discovered that some male giraffe in Namibia travel more than 11,000 square kilometers per year, in search of females to mate with. 

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Using technology only recently available, Julian is now observing giraffe at night and has noted that they are surprisingly active, even when it’s so dark Julian cannot see his hand in front of his face. And he also discovered something else incredible:

Giraffe actually sleep, in the open, in areas where predators roam. But it appears they do so in pairs, allowing one to sleep, while the other keeps vigil for looming threats such as lions or hyena nearby. It would appear that they are communicating and if so, how?

This underscores how little we know about these massive creatures. If or how they communicate, how they sleep, etc. They were thought to be mute, until sounds they produced at night in a zoo, were recently recorded. The sounds resemble descending, low frequency groans. Sounds that might be capable of  being heard miles away in the right conditions.

Discoveries like these, about how giraffe live together, may provide vital information that will help Julian save them. 

Sadly, one of his most depressing discoveries is that the numbers of giraffe across Africa have dropped by almost 40% over the last 30 years.

To put this in perspective, it is known that the numbers of African elephants, for example, are dwindling. Now standing around 450,000. But giraffe are in much greater peril, with only 100,000 left in the wild.

 

Easy targets for poachers, they are killed for their meat and their habitats are being destroyed. But to better understand how, where and why their numbers have declined so dramatically, more has to be known about them.

For example, scientists have divided giraffe into numerous subspecies. But are the various populations around Africa actually more diverse than once thought?  Are they actually distinct species? And if so, how might this impact their collective survival?

Julian has a theory that there may indeed be as many as 4 or 5 unique species with different characteristics, each requiring a specialized approach to save them. 

To support this theory, he has begun to retrieve skin samples, using a specialized dart that captures small plugs of skin that carry an individual’s DNA. He has collected these samples from almost every wild giraffe population in Africa. But one group has eluded him until now.


A sub-species called Nubian Giraffe. The reason they are so hard to find is that there may be as few as 650 individuals in the wild. But they live far from Namibia, right on the war torn border of Ethiopia and South Sudan, in one of Africa’s most remote national parks “Gambella”. 

Gambella National Park was once pristine and full of wild animals. Today, it is a becoming a wasteland, full of fires and subsistence cattle grazing. The human population in Ethiopia is growing by 2,000,000 people a year as refugees flee the fighting in South Sudan. 

To understand how these events are effecting the local Giraffe population, Julian was part of a team to help place GPS tracking devices on a range of different animals in the park, including giraffe.

But just finding the giraffe in this vast park will be a massive challenge. The only way is to use a helicopter. Finally, after days of being aloft and seeing not even one individual, he spots a herd of 30. A vet on his team shoots a tranquilizer dart from the helicopter. Because of the giraffe’s size, massive doses of the chemical are needed to bring them down, but then an antidote needs to be administered as soon as possible to prevent serious consequences.

So they must land immediately after a successful shot, to begin reversing the effects of the tranquilizer, making haste to collect DNA samples and fit the tracking collar.

Julian must sit on the Giraffe’s neck to keep her from getting up. They cover her eyes to keep her calm as she awakens from the drug. Now they will be able to track her movements to see if she crosses the border into South Sudan 

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If you look closely, you can see that the patterns on giraffe skin appear different in various regions across the continent. Julian's unique and ground-breaking research will determine, once and for all, through these DNA samples whether these differences are more than just skin deep.  

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On the last day of sample collection and collaring, their trip is cut short. Their helicopter is shot at by militants or poachers, underscoring the dangers of doing any conservation work in a war zone. Within the last year, a helicopter was shot down by poachers in Tanzania. In the last decade, it is estimated that more than 1,000 conservation rangers have been killed in an ongoing war with poachers, increasingly funded by organized crime.

When the samples do come back from analysis, the results are stunning and significant: there is not just one, but perhaps four or five unique species of giraffe. And the Nubian giraffes in Ethiopia should be reclassified as one of the rarest sub-species on Earth. The only other significant population of this species lives in Uganda and was called “Rothschilds” and thought to be a different subspecies, but in fact. they are the same. This means that in total, there are just 2150 individuals of this potentially new species left in the wild.
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A Modern Day Ark

Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda is the oldest and largest conservation area for giraffe, where over 1000 of the Rothschild’s giraffe live, their last great stronghold.

Rothschild's giraffe are very distinctive, with lighter coats, white stockinged legs and not just 3, but 5 ossicones. 

In the ground beneath their feet lies 3/4 of Uganda’s oil deposits and plans to drill are underway. Now the mission of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation is to ensure the safety of this precious population. But how? Julian and the Uganda Wildlife Authority, have a unique plan to to save these giraffe for generations. 

Their plan is not unlike a sort of Ark, that will essentially ferry a new starter population of giraffes from the North side of the Nile River, (a barrier the giraffe cannot physically cross), to the other side, where they will be safe from drilling activities.

This will require a team of passionate experts to pull off this unprecedented group transport of the world’s largest land animal across a river. But none of them have the necessary skills to capture, load and transport a two-ton, twenty foot tall creature across such a barrier. The task seems daunting and potentially injurious or deadly to the caretakers and or their charges.

And that is why Julian has brought along his secret weapon, Dr. Pete Morkel. Catching and transporting a wild giraffe is difficult and dangerous. Pete has done it hundreds of times. They have two weeks to capture and transport 20 giraffes. They want to establish a breeding herd of young from mostly healthy females and just 3 or 4 males. 

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There is so much more to this exciting story. But rather than spoiling it for you, why don't you watch the adventure unfold for yourself? Here is the link where you can watch "Giraffe. Nature's Gentle Giants" for free. Please click HERE to enjoy and share with your friends, family and followers.

If the above link fails, please copy and paste this web address into your browser.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/giraffes-africas-gentle-giants-full-episode/14675/

To learn more about the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and the important work they are doing, please visit them HERE

Home page: https://giraffeconservation.org 

To continue their difficult and important work, the Giraffe Conservation Foundation needs your help. Please become part of the movement to save these majestic creatures and their critically endangered environment by contributing to the effort HERE 

If the above link fails, please copy and paste this web address into your browser.

https://giraffeconservation.org/donate/

-Shane Eric Mathias

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