A new relationship with animals, nature and each other.

Posts by Michael Mountain

  • Introducing the Whale Sanctuary Project

    This blog is taking a break for the next few months so that I can devote my energies to the Whale Sanctuary Project. Here's why.

  • Is the Sloth Sanctuary a Zoo?

    The Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica was the first of its kind for these wonderfully engaging animals, and it was a model for others that followed. But questions have arisen. And…

  • Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary

    Tafi Atome looks like a typical forest in Ghana. The monkeys have been revered in this village for two centuries. But being “sacred” is no guarantee of survival.

  • The Great Irony of Animal “Rights”

    The great irony of the animal rights movement is there is still only one species that has any rights at all: humans. But the Nonhuman Rights Project is setting out to change that.

  • Why Mass Extinction Is Part of Human Nature

    Why would a supposedly “intelligent” species behave in a way that’s bringing about a mass extinction – one that will likely take us down along with so many other animals?

    Is the Stock Market a Global Ponzi Scheme?
    Sacred Activism in the Service of Animals
    Of Humans and Persons

    How Americans Think About Animals

    With a new tool from Google, you can discover almost anything to do with cultural changes in our attitudes to animals – and indeed anything else. I looked into our changing relationship with pets, and the result was quite eye-opening

    Punxsutawney Phil’s Alter Ego

    Do groundhogs really like being held up to crowds of people with flashing cameras? A group of students decide to try their hand at an electronic version of the famous weather forecaster. Just as accurate, but not as cute!

    World’s Greatest Squirrel

    “A squirrel managed to get into our indoor-outdoor den while we were away,” writes renowned blogger Zennie Abraham. The squirrel hadn’t survived, so Zennie decided that the least he could do would be to give her a good funeral

    A Whale of a Rescue

    It took almost a month, but an expert team of whale biologists have finally freed a North Atlantic right whale who was tangled up in fishing lines and ropes and wire mesh off the coast of Florida

    Yosemite in Winter

    A park webcam captures light and shade on El Capitan, the great granitic monolith at left, and on Half Dome at center, two of the world’s best known rock formations

    Polar Bear’s Longest Swim

    A polar bear swims 426 miles non-stop for nine consecutive days in search of food – a record beyond anything ever seen or imagined. Why won’t the federal government list polar bears as endangered?

    Jaguars in Brazil – Must-see TV

    You can go in search of jaguars for months without seeing one. But leading big cat expert Alan Rabinowitz gets lucky when he takes a team from 60 Minutes to Brazil to show us all the beauty of these elusive and highly endangered cats

    Shakespeare and the Aflockalypse

    We now know what really happened in at least one of the recent mystery bird deaths. They were killed by our government. The whole story begins with something Shakespeare wrote in Henry IV and that his fans in New York City did more than a century ago