NewsTrust - Animals - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

Werner Herzog Enters 'The Cave Of Forgotten Dreams'

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

NPR - By Terri Gross, Werner Herzog - Apr. 25 (Interview) - In 1994, three French cave explorers discovered hundreds of prehistoric paintings and engravings on the walls of the Chauvet Cave in southern France. Carbon dating has since shown that the depictions of rhinoceroses, lions, cave bears, horses, bison, mammoths and other animals are between 30,000 and 32,000 years old. That doesn't mean the ancient drawings are any less sophisticated than what artists create today, says filmmaker Werner Herzog. "Art ... as it bursts on the scene 32,000 years ago, is fully accomplished. It doesn't start with 'primitive scribblings' and first attempts like children would make drawings," Herzog says. "It's absolutely and fully accomplished." The acclaimed German director, who has produced, written and directed more than 40 films, gained exclusive access to the Chauvet caves. He tells their story and the story of the world's oldest cave paintings in The Cave of Forgotten Dreams, a 3-D documentary film. "Since early adolescence, I have been fascinated by cave paintings," Herzog tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "It actually was my personal intellectual awakening ... and shook me to the core — seeing an image of a horse [from the] prehistoric Stone Age. I couldn't believe it." Part of Herzog's interest in the paintings, he says, is the knowledge that tens of thousands of years ago, humans had the instinct to make art in order to represent the world around them.

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Video: Giant panda cub gets clean bill of health

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - Dec. 03 - A newborn giant panda cub is examined by veterinarians during a health checkup at Atlanta zoo in the United States

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Hooking the high seas' fishing 'pirates'

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

BBC News - By Karen Sack - Jun. 08 (Opinion) - It's time to close the net on fishing pirates who threaten to undermine vital marine ecosystems. Highlighting the scale of the problem of illegal fishing and calls on the international community to act.

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Divide and Diminish

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Olivia Judson - Mar. 17 (Opinion) - The human impulse to parcel nature into smaller and smaller plots is a danger to biodiversity.

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Fishing in troubled waters

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Sylvia Earle, Susan Lieberman - Mar. 14 (Opinion) - Fish populations once thought to be inexhaustible now face the prospect of extinction if policy changes are not made soon It has been said that if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, though if you teach a man to fish you feed him for life. But times have changed. Now we know that only if you save species of fish from overexploitation will there be hope of providing food for a lifetime, let alone for generations that follow. Fish and other sea creatures historically valued solely as commodities are critically important to healthy ocean ecosystems, which in turn provide benefits to humankind. Yet the ocean is in deep trouble. Fish populations once thought to be inexhaustible now face the prospect of becoming extinct for any ...

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Polar bear listing no threat to development

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Anchorage Daily News - By Geoffrey L. Haskett - Dec. 26 (Opinion) - The simple fact is that development and the protection of threatened and endangered species can and do coexist in Alaska, precisely because of these cooperative efforts and in concert with the careful and prudent application of the Endangered Species Act.

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