Somehow, I fell in love with museum travel. Perhaps because I grew up watching Animal World, my first trip abroad was in Kenya, East Africa, where the city became less attractive after witnessing the spectacular scenes of the Great Migration of East African animals.
Although "any praiseworthy beauty is not as good as the first time you see it with your own eyes", after all, travel is not something you can walk. Fortunately, there are still many books on museum travel to read. Follow the world's true explorers and naturalists, wandering the world's biodiversity hotspots, exploring the past, present and future of countless amazing creatures, and feeling like a sponge full of water. Of course, if one day you can really step into those dream destinations, there is definitely a sense of excitement of "going to the road and dying at night".
Zhao Jinhai Charles, Master of Veterinary Medicine, Wild Rescue Volunteer, Wild Go To Naturalist. As the man behind Dr. Aten, Mr. Zhao has witnessed a series of natural wildernesses, including Kenya in East Africa, Christmas Island in Australia, Galapagos, Madagascar and other places, and has also led the team to the "No Out of Shanghai" bird watching/night exploration and nature museum activities many times, full of reverence and curiosity about biodiversity.
If you are also a natural history enthusiast, you may wish to follow the books recommended by Mr. Zhao to learn about the wild stories of those famous natural scholars, or follow the natural museum itinerary of the wild to have a wonderful natural exploration trip!
I. "With the Beast" -
A field expedition note by a naturalist
Author: George Schaller
This is a collection of essays published in 1992 and has since been reprinted many times, indicating that many friends are still interested in the experience of this famous field biologist. The book is a collection of 19 stories of George Schaller's field work from 1952 to the present, all about wildlife, of course.
Rather than focusing on a single species or protected area, the book condenses Georges Schaller's research experience around the globe. For example, he followed the Great Migration of Reindeer in the Alaskan Wilderness; spent a thrilling night with jaguars in Pantanal; advanced the Mountain Gorilla Project at Mount Virunga; focused on the behavior of lions in the Serengeti; tracked Bengal tigers in India; and studied giant pandas, antelopes and Tibetan antelopes in the mountains and plateaus of western China.
George Schaller was fortunate that professional researchers were able to stay in the wild longer and get closer to these animals. In his own words, since 1952, he has roamed the wild around the world, observing all kinds of wild animals with his own pleasure, which is his life and ideal.
I have been to the Tangjiahe and Wolong Nature Reserves in China, and although I have not seen wild pandas, it is also a very rewarding experience to be able to visit the reserves with a senior ranger (Mr. Ma Wenhu) who has worked with George Scharler.
Someone once asked George Schaller: Since the nature of this world is suffering unprecedented damage, scarred everywhere, and you are full of pessimism, why don't you just give up? His answer was: Nature conservation is my life and I must keep hope!
SECOND, "The Beak of the Bird" ——
Expedition to the Galapagos Islands
Author: Jonathan Wino
Every biology enthusiast yearns for the Galapagos, and every visitor to the Galapagos wants to learn the story of evolution.
Since the advent of Darwin's "Origin of Species", although people have accepted the concept of the evolution of life, the process of evolution is still vague, and this change of millions of years is still nothing less than a miracle in the face of human life expectancy of decades. And this "Bird's Beak" is to break such miracles.
The Darwin finches, named after Darwin, live on the various islands of the Galapagos, and as a tourist you won't want to miss this common but famous bird. But if you don't read Bird Beaks, you won't know exactly what kind of cruel natural selection they have undergone to differentiate into these dozen species.
The authors document the study of The Darwin finch in the Galapagos Islands by Professor Grant and his wife in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University, where over a period of several decades, even on a small island, a species of finch could differentiate into several species. Natural selection plays with the size and survival of the birds in different years. Crucially, observing this change doesn't require you to live tens of thousands of years, too.
I've been to the Galapagos twice, and it's a blessing in my life as a biology enthusiast. Of course, if you don't read some of these professional works, your attention is likely to be attracted by giant turtles, sea iguanas, blue-footed, and ignore this biologically changing bird!
III. Investigation into the Natural Sciences of the Malay Islands
Author: Alfred Russell Wallace
When it comes to the natural evolution theory of natural selection, everyone will undoubtedly think of Darwin, but it is easy to ignore Wallace, a scientific giant who made almost the same contribution. This "Natural Science Expedition to the Malay Islands" is a book that has an important influence in the history of biological evolution.
Wallace explored the flora and fauna of the Malay Islands over an eight-year period from 1854 to 1862. At the same time, he sent his research paper to Darwin, and the conclusion of "survival of the fittest" also prompted Darwin to publish his epoch-making book "The Origin of Species" as soon as possible, which objectively promoted the completion of evolutionary theory.
Of course, Wallace's contribution did not stop there, he discovered a geographical dividing line named after him that distinguished animal germlines through several expeditions to the Malay Archipelago, the "Wallace Line". So Wallace himself is also known as the "father of biogeography".
I traveled to Sabah, Malaysia in 2019 and saw many of the unique creatures here, including orangutans, proboscis monkeys, pygmy elephants, hornbills, paradise goldenrod snakes and more.
Thinking of the description of the orangutan by The Chinese Leice in the Natural Sciences of the Malay Archipelago, this feeling is like traveling through time and space. At that time, the rainforests of Borneo had not yet been destroyed, and Wallace could easily see or catch them. Now, orangutans have become endangered, and it's hard to even see them in the wild. We can't blame scientists from more than 100 years ago, because they didn't think that animals that were once everywhere would one day become endangered or even extinct!
IV. The Age of Mass Extinction ——
A perverse natural history
Author: Elizabeth Colbert
In 2019, the Yangtze River white sturgeon became extinct; in 2018, the "Sultan" died, and the northern white rhino became functionally extinct; in 2012, "Lone george" died, and the giant turtle on The Island of Galapagos Pinta became extinct; in 2000, the South China tiger went extinct in the wild....
In recent years, we have heard more and more frequent news of the extinction of certain animals, which are still of great concern, and the humble amphibians and invertebrates may have gone extinct even before they were discovered.
According to scientists, the current average rate of global species extinction is hundreds of times the rate of extinction in the natural context, and we humans are the culprits of this mass extinction.
The author reviews five mass extinctions in natural history and analyzes several typical animals that have gone extinct since humans left Africa, such as mastodons, great auks, dodos, Panamanian golden frogs, and even our close relative Neanderthals, whose extinction is no accident, it is the consequence of our Homo sapiens spread around the world, which is the sixth mass extinction - human extinction.
After the Industrial Revolution, a series of problems such as climate change, environmental pollution, and habitat loss caused by human activities have accelerated the extinction of species. Perhaps human beings themselves did not think that the way of living of their own people has greatly changed the ecological landscape of the earth, and this change has even threatened our own survival.
The Shanghai Museum of Natural History once held a temporary exhibition with the theme of "extinction", in which most of the creatures on display were extinct as a result of human activities. Seeing the end, the board gives a question, extinction: is it the end, or the beginning? There's a metaphor that I find particularly apt: On an evolutionary tree, humans are busy sawing off the branch they inhabit.
V. The Autobiography of David Attenborough
（Life on Air）
Author: David Attenborough
Probably many of my friends feel the same way, Sir David Attenborough, one of my most admired people! Because his nature documentary has enlightened generations of children, countless natural scientists, nature photographers, nature lovers have grown up watching his documentary, those erudite knowledge, timeless voice, exquisite pictures are forever engraved in our hearts, it is he who let us feel the magic and magnificence of nature without leaving home!
This Autobiography of David Attenborough chronicles a series of anecdotes about field shooting that Attenborough experienced during his more than 60-year career from joining the BBC television division in 1952 until 2014, when 3D technology was widely used in the field of natural documentaries.
From the early days of Zoo Explorers, to the famous "Evolution of Life", to the retrospective "60 Years of Wild Exploration", the launch of each nature documentary has been accompanied by the footsteps of Attenborough's global exploration, although sometimes breathless, but always full of passion!
There is a sentence in the book that best speaks to the hearts of every nature lover, And Lord Ai said: "The most fundamental reason why I have spent my life in this way and do not want to stop making the show is that I do not know that there is a deeper joy in this world than to gaze at nature and try to understand her." ”
I have been to several biodiversity hotspots in the world, such as the East African steppes, the Galapagos Islands, Madagascar, Komodo, etc., and some places I decided to go after watching The Lord's documentary.
Although it is unlikely that I will travel the world all my life like an old man, watching and recording various animals, it is David Attenborough and his documentary that keeps me with a child's heart. No matter where we are, nature is all around us, wild animals share a planet with us, we should be kind to the earth, be kind to wild animals!
Welcome to the wild nature travel information public number (yetravel2014) to learn more about nature stories.