Animal Ambassador Spotlight

Shining a light on the animals that inspire kids.

 

At Earth Rangers our Animal Ambassadors play a crucial role in getting our environmental message to kids.

 

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, one quarter of the world’s known species face extinction in 30 years.  It’s a frightening statistic that kids take very seriously.  In fact, a 2008 study conducted by Youth Beat, tweens (kids nine to 12) cited the endangerment of animals and their habitats as their number one environmental concern.

 

We believe that giving kids a chance to meet our Animal Ambassadors is a great way to help them understand the connection between the health of animals and the health of the planet.  Our Ambassadors consist of a broad range of species including Fantom, the black pine snake, Shriek, the red tailed hawk, and Pouncer the barn owl.  (Get to know all of our Animal Ambassadors here).

 

At Earth Rangers, we combine kids’ passion for animals and the environment with their love of entertainment.  As our environmental stewards, Earth Rangers’ Animal Ambassadors are the stars of our school shows, community events and other outreach initiatives. They are also featured prominently on our website and can even be found making virtual cameos in our flash games at EarthRangers.com.

 

Paul Woerner, Director of Earth Rangers’ Ambassador program sees the effect the Ambassadors have on kids:  “The kids become engaged the instant they see the Ambassadors, which gives our trainers a great opportunity to talk about the Ambassadors’ natural habitats and the environment.”



 

Each month in our Ranger Report, we’ll introduce you to one of our Animal Ambassadors and include a link to an organization working hard towards the conservation and protection of their species.

Ambassador profile: Meet Cosmo, our precocious Madagascan ring-tailed lemur. Cosmo was born in May of 2007.  He has an insatiable appetite for bananas and cranberries and is known for his zany antics.  In fact, he was named after the character on Seinfeld for that very reason.  When Cosmo isn’t at the Earth Rangers Center working with our trainers, he’s participating in our school shows, events and festivals.

 
Unfortunately, lemurs are listed on the IUCN’s Red List  of threatened species. The Tampola Forest Reserve a 1,700 acre Lemur reserve in Madagascar, is working hard to protect the lemur species.  Our Animal Ambassadors are vital to our mission at Earth Rangers. If you or your organization wants to ‘adopt’ one of our Animal Ambassadors, we want to hear from you.