Los rinocerontes son recuerdos vivientes de la megafauna prehistórica que una vez abundaba sobre la Tierra. La amenaza de la extinción se cierne sobre ellos.
La cacería furtiva, el comercio de los cuernos y la destrucción de hábitat son los principales culpables de que estos grandes mamíferos estén al borde de la desaparición.
Una especie ya se ha extinguido en 2010, el rinoceronte de Vietnam. Sólo quedan cinco especies de rinocerontes y una de ellas, el rhinoceronte de Borneo ha sido reducido a 30 ejemplares y de los rinocerontes blancos norteños de Africa hay 7 ejemplares.
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Si Ud. desea saber más y colaborar en la conservación de los rinocerontes, por favor visite la siguiente página. Hacer click AQUI.
"Childhood pneumonia, college mononucleosis --those were nothing compared to
this... I spiral into a deep darkness... I cannot come back up; I cannot reach
my body". With those words, and an experience familiar to those who suffer from
chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), Elisabeth Tova Bailey's The Sound of a Wild
Snail Eating begins.
Bailey's poetic prose is more than an account of illness, it is also the
remarkable natural history of a individual snail. It is an account of change,
of survival, and of adaptation. When a friend brings her a snail from the
woodlands nearby, the small gift opens a novel world -- and a mysterious life --
that before went unnoticed. Confined to her bed, Bailey observes the snail as it
explores, seeks shelter, gives birth, and relates to its miniature world. Within
its flower pot or terrarium, the snail becomes a companion and a catalyst for
new questions and exploration.
The author compiles
a rich body of knowledge about snails, blending scientific knowledge with
literary accounts. The snail's world, though often unnoticed, is rich and
fascinating. For instance, a snail's brain has between 50,000 and 100,000 giant
neurons. Snails find their way through their world much like Helen Keller,
relying on smell and touch. They use their slime as a Teflon highway, a surface
to enable effortless and silent locomotion. The snail's world, though foreign,
is amazingly intricate and unique.
After experiencing years of full life of working, gardening, sailing, and
hiking, the author's new life with chronic fatigue syndrome was as undesired as
it was foreign. She describes life with CFS vividly. Orthostatic intolerance
limits movement and isolates: "Offices, stores, galleries, libraries and movie
theaters are not made for horizontal people". Post-exertional costs are incurred
for routine activities once taken for granted. She writes that "holding and
reading a book for any length of time involved levels of strength and
concentration that were beyond me".
Realizing her snail is similarly confined, the author takes interest in the
environment that she provides for it. A woodland terrarium is prepared for the
snail, a place for the snail to explore and live comfortably. Yet, a reader
wonders: Is a bed, a table, some white walls, and a water pitcher a stimulating
environment for a human? The author herself speaks of being "trapped inside a
stark, white box", unable to fully enjoy a window, hear pleasing sounds, or
enjoy sunlight. Just as the snail requires stimulation in its environment, so,
too, does she.
Before she was ill, Bailey was not very aware of what a snail's world was
like; it seemed small and inconsequential. CFS is equally inconspicuous to
the healthy public. The author recalls those who found her "disappearance from
work and social circles inexplicable." Like snails in the woodlands, she also
becomes invisible: "I was simply homebound, like a snail pulled into its
shell. But being homebound in the human world is a sort of vanishing."
Snails lack many senses. Their vision is poor, and they cannot hear. As if
to make up for the missing senses, snails develop other senses, such as an acute
sense of smell. As CFS creates severe physical and mental exhaustion, the mind
seeks imagination and contemplation. The author remarks, "When the body is
rendered useless, the mind still runs like a bloodhound along well-worn trails".
The mind creates new trails as well. As authentic proof of those trails,
chronic fatigue syndrome has produced its share of skilled authors. Hillary
Johnson's Osler's Web and Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit are
substantiation of this lineage of powerful pens. In my home, both these books
sit on a bookshelf. When I see these books, I am reminded of courage, of
survival, and of the human spirit. Elisabeth Tova Bailey's The Sound of a
Wild Snail Eating now rests beside their works, in a growing corner -- my a
Hall of Fame of CFS authors.
Bailey speaks of survival as spurred by a "specific focus.. a hope balanced
on the edge of possibility". Possibility and hope are fuels that help those with
chronic fatigue syndrome survive. Possibility and hope also conspire to create
powerful prose. And Elisabeth Tova Bailey's book is powerful prose, a
masterpiece of natural history that cuts through disease, environmental
concerns, and sociological questions to find a uniquely beautiful voice.
Sound of a Wild Snail Eating can be purchased from Amazon.com.
The author compiles
a rich body of knowledge about snails, blending scientific knowledge with
literary accounts. The snail's world, though often unnoticed, is rich and
fascinating. For instance, a snail's brain has between 50,000 and 100,000 giant
neurons. Snails find their way through their world much like Helen Keller,
relying on smell and touch. They use their slime as a Teflon highway, a surface
to enable effortless and silent locomotion. The snail's world, though foreign,
is amazingly intricate and unique. 