Photos courtesy of explore.org and Grace Foundation
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There’s a Gorilla in Your Living Room LITA DOOLAN
With human activity becoming a threat to many species, opportunities to watch animals in their natural habitat are getting rarer. A smart device is the perfect tool to see wilderness close up without leaving a carbon footprint, so try out these exciting webcams to create a virtual safari.
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ebcams cut through time zones to bring the viewer closer to the natural world; see.cam hosts feeds from around the world including the Saguaro National Park with its nectar feeding bats whereas Houston Zoo’s webcam lets viewers zoom in close to watch giraffes nibbling lettuce (houstonzoo. org). Rural scenes are captured at Folly Farm to include goats jostling for food (folly-farm. co.uk), showing a good nature cam simulates a fun day out.
Twitter is a useful starting point to see the Big Five; follow @WildEarth tweets for an instant live safari. The footage gives the number of viewers also watching and this creates the sense of a shared event. Some of the explorations have commentary from local guides – check out the sunrise safaris. For informative Q&As about wilderness sustainability, look at explore.org which hosts close-ups with primates that share some of our DNA ancestry; this is seen on their Gorilla Forest Corridor feed. As well as insights into JULY 2020 OX MAGAZINE
