ARKive e-News, March 2007

Launched at the start of 2007 our new search allows users to quickly and easily search through all ARKive content. Whether the search is for species, movies, images, media donor or habitat, all results are simply displayed using thumbnail images and quick links take users straight to the information.

Powered by Google Mini, this new way of exploring the ARKive collection has also enabled us to create thousands of 'related species' links throughout the site. Now you can follow an incredible trail of related species, by family, habitat and conservation status, discovering some amazing new species on your virtual safari.

This is the first of many planned new features and designs for the ARKive website, start searching now and let us know what you think by emailing us at arkivesearch@wildscreen.org.uk.

ARKive is supporting the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Top 50 Plants Campaign to help save plant species that face a high risk of extinction. The first of the Top 50 series highlights a selection of the most threatened Mediterranean island plants, helping raise awareness of the current threats, conservation issues and actions needed.

Example species:
www.arkive.org/species/GES/plants_and_algae/Anchusa_crispa/

For information on the Top 50 Mediterranean Island Plants, please see:
www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/our_work/plants/mediterranean_top50.htm

ARKive has produced two exclusive screensavers, highlighting some of the world's most endangered species. The ARKive moving image screensaver features over one minute of stunning video footage from the likes of ABC, BBC, Granada, National Geographic and NHNZ, whilst Animals Animals, Ardea, Auscape, FLPA, NaturePL, and NHPA have all provided some of their very best wildlife photos for the ARKive still image screensaver.

The ARKive screensavers are only available to members of MyARKive , which lets you create and manage your own interactive scrapbook of photographs and movies, saving them for return visits and allowing you to share them with friends, colleagues or class mates.

Signing up to MyARKive is simple, just enter your email address and a memorable password and you're ready to start! Once registered you will receive a confirmation email, which contains details of how to download your exclusive ARKive screensavers.

This month's Donor Dossier features the contributions of the award-winning photographer Kevin Schafer.

For more than twenty years Kevin Schafer has worked on location all over the world, documenting wildlife and wild places. His work has appeared in all of the most important nature and science magazines worldwide, including The Smithsonian, Natural History, National Geographic and BBC Wildlife. He is the author of several books, including Penguin Planet, which received the 2000 National Outdoor Book Award, and in January this year, Kevin was presented with the Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year Award at the NANPA Annual Summit. Committed to putting his images to work for conservation, Kevin spent two years documenting threatened eco-regions around the world for WWF and is a founding Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers .

"I strongly support ARKive's mission and am delighted to be able to contribute to its vital image collection. As a wildlife photographer, I have the good fortune to visit some remote parts of the world, and photograph many of our most endangered species. I feel a keen responsibility to put those images to work and ARKive is a key vehicle for getting them seen and used to promote biodiversity conservation and education."

As always, we are extremely grateful to all our media donors for their support and enthusiasm. To see a selection of some of our favourite Kevin Schafer images, please see: www.arkive.org/MyARKive/Kevin_Schafer

Kevin can be contacted at:

Kevin Schafer Photography
2148 Halleck Ave SW, Seattle, WA, 98116, USA
Tel: +01 (206) 933-1668
Fax: +01 (206) 933-1659
Email: kevin@kevinschafer.com
Website: www.kevinschafer.com

Following the success of the 2006 WildPhotos Symposium, organisers Wildscreen are planning a larger event at the Royal Geographical Society in London on the 26th & 27th October 2007. Once again to be held in partnership with Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the event is aimed at professional photographers, editors, photo agents and passionate amateurs with an interest in wildlife imagery. The event will include photographic presentations by the world's premier wildlife photographers; workshops and top tips from leading industry professionals; a review of the very latest digital technology and a look at wildlife photography as a conservation tool. You can register your interest for WildPhotos at www.wildphotos.org.uk and we will keep you informed of the latest news.

As an affiliate member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) and keen supporter of the ICLP mission, ARKive were pleased to be invited to attend the 2nd International Conservation Photography Symposium in Lindau, Germany, this January.

Attended by many of the world's leading nature photographers, editors, photo agents and conservationists this two day event focused on the work and achievements of ILCP and the important role of photography in conservation. Held in conjunction with the 1st Wunder Welten Festival , speakers included: Art Wolfe, Tui de Roy, Cristina Mittermeier, Patricio Robles Gil, Staffan Widstrand, Florian Schulz, Niall Benvie and Florian Mollers among others.

Calling all chelonian experts! Keen to keep ARKive accurate and up to date, we are always on the look out for relevant scientific experts to verify and authenticate our species information.

With so many tortoise and freshwater turtle species now endangered worldwide, ARKive has been inundated with fabulous media, and now urgently needs your help in authenticating the information written on these species.

If you know your tortoises and freshwater turtles, and would like to help, please contact: arkive@wildscreen.org.uk

We are always open to suggestions of endangered species that should be included in ARKive. If you have media, or know of its existence, for an endangered species that we have not yet covered, or can add to the collections already in ARKive, then please do let us know. You can contact the ARKive media team on: arkive@wildscreen.org.uk To find out which species the ARKive media research team are currently working on or to view our most wanted species, please visit the ARKive species lists .