Audubon of Florida to Bring the Everglades to the American Museum of Natural History
For Immediate Release
Contacts: Dr. Shawn Liston, sliston@audubon.org, 239-354-4469
Megan Tinsley, mtinsley@audubon.org, 786-295-4954
June 10, 2010, New York, NY—Audubon of Florida experts will bring the Everglades alive for children and families at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City on Sunday June 13 with interactive presentations about one of America’s most unique ecosystems.
Shawn Liston, Ph.D., Florida Audubon’s Research Manager for the Southwest Region, and Megan Tinsley, Audubon’s Everglades Policy Associate, will be featured in the Museum’s Milstein Science Sundays: Restoring the Everglades. The program will be held between 12 noon and 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 13th in the Museum’s Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024. (Visit amnh.org for directions and additional information). Shawn and Megan will be accompanied by Dr. William Loftus, an ecologist who has worked in the Everglades for more than 30 years, and Jarod Miller, a zoologist and television personality.
Children will learn about the Everglades through the story of two raindrops as they travel southward through the Everglades, along the way learning about this unique natural system and the birds and other wildlife that depend on a healthy ecosystem to survive. Many important plant and animal species will be introduced throughout this journey, including Everglades Snail Kites in the Lake Okeechobee watershed, wading birds, such as the White Ibis, and alligators in the River of Grass, the Florida panther and Wood Stork in the Big Cypress Swamp, and the charismatic Roseate Spoonbill in Florida Bay.
As the raindrops travel through the Everglades, the audience will see some of the current threats to this fragile ecosystem, including increased development and human demand for water and flood protection, poor water quality, spread of non-native species, and climate change. They’ll learn about the incredible efforts being made to protect this invaluable environmental resource and how they can help to make a difference.
Hands-on activities will allow children to make frogs from recycled corks, color images of various Everglades animals and habitats, and ‘forage’ like wading birds to learn the importance of concentrated prey. Young people will also meet several live animals found in the Everglades, including an alligator, a Burmese python and a young Florida panther, and see aquariums of native and non-native Everglades fish.
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