| | |
Sir David Attenborough, chronicling the natural world for posterity
| | | | | | | | | | | | | The blue whale is the largest animal to have ever lived, almost as big as a Boeing 737 , and even larger than the biggest dinosaurs .
| | | | | | USEFUL LINKS | | | | | |
The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content of external websites
| | | | | | | | The snow leopard has many adaptations for its cold habitat long body hair and thick, woolly belly fur, large paws and a well-developed chest and enlarged nasal cavity that warms the cold air as it is breathed in
| | | | | | | | The giant panda is universally admired for its appealing markings and seemingly gentle demeanour
| | | | | | | | Eastern gorilla: the largest of the living apes, the gorilla has a characteristically heavy body shape and shaggy dark coat
| | | | | | | | Described as the "Noah's Ark for the internet era", the creators of the ambitious ARKive project hope it will become a worldwide resource, providing an audio-visual record of the planet's natural wildlife.
The ability to watch and listen to video and audio on the internet has developed in leaps and bounds over recent years. ARKive aims to display around 10 minutes of moving footage and up to 10 stills pictures and sound recordings of each species documented on the website.
"For years and years natural history film-makers and scientists have been accumulating images, sounds and facts, and yet it's always been disorganised", Sir David told Today. "And now, for the very first time, all these will be brought together under the same roof. Animals on the verge of extinction ... their vital statistics will be preserved forever."
Harriet Nimmo, ARKive's project manager, says the technology simply wasn't sophisticated enough to realise the website before now.
"The Wildscreen Trust first had the idea more than 10 years ago ... but at that time the project just wasn't technically possible", she said. "Since the mid-1990s with the advent of digital technology, all of a sudden you could store this material, you could make it accessible over the internet."
CLICK HERE to visit ARKive, and click on the link in the right-hand column to hear Sir David Attenborough and Harriet Nimmo speaking to Sarah Montague about the project
Back to Reports Homepage
| | | | |
| | | | | |
| |
| |
|