ARKive e-news, December 2008

ARKive has achieved significant success since its launch, with numerous awards and accolades, fantastic visitor rates, and an impressive line-up of partners and strategic alliances. However, it is crucial to continue the onwards momentum of the project, and build substantially on the successes to date. In order to effectively communicate ARKive's unique mission and project goals to potential supporters, we have produced a brand new ARKive promotional video. As always, our thanks go to the many ARKive media donors who have provided footage and images for this new promotional video and the growing ARKive project. www.arkive.org/promo

MyARKive is a rapidly growing interactive area of the ARKive website that adds so much more to the ARKive experience.

MyScrapbooks - Make, personalise and share your own ARKive image and video collections.

Ever wished that there was a simple way to gather together all your favourite images and clips from ARKive? Well now there is. Whether for a school project, picture research or just to share with your friends, the new multi-scrapbook function in MyARKive is a great way to create and share your own collections of images and film clips from ARKive.

Check out some example scrapbooks made by the ARKive team -

Turtles scrapbook
Blue scrapbook
Galapagos scrapbook

MyDownloads - ARKive themed goodies for MyARKive members.

Your first download is a screensaver containing 14 amazing ARKive images.

To start making your own scrapbook collections or to download your free ARKive screensaver visit MyARKive today!

MyARKive log-in page	MyARKive scrapbook with share button

The prestigious Wildscreen Festival took place in Bristol this October, still holding true to its founding aim to celebrate and promote excellence within the wildlife media industry, thereby increasing the global public's awareness and understanding of the natural world and the urgent need for its conservation.

This year, as ever, the Festival had a great line up of speakers, sessions, film screenings, workshops and networking events. Highlights included: Too Little, Too Late?, which brought together Sir David Attenborough, Dr James Lovelock, John Hanke (Google Earth) and HRH Prince Carlos of the Netherlands, to discuss at length the world's most pressing environmental issues; and the prestigious keynote Sir Peter Scott Debate, which discussed the complex issues that surround conserving human livelihoods and biological diversity. The debate was chaired by Cristian Samper, Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and included input from Valmik Thapar, renowned tiger conservationist; Will Travers, Born Free Foundation; Mary Mavanza, Jane Goodall Institute and Prof Bill Adams, Cambridge University.

At a glittering ceremony, actress and comedienne Joanna Lumley and wildlife television presenter Steve Leonard presented this year's Wildscreen Panda Awards to the world's best wildlife and environmental filmmakers. The Awards, which have been running for 26 years, are firmly established as the most prestigious in the natural history filmmaking calendar. 440 entries were received this year, with 22 prizes awarded. At the Awards, Joanna Lumley said, "It's very heartening to see so many films with a strong environmental focus - it seems at last the environment is going mainstream, and is on everyone's agenda."

The top award, the Golden Panda, was awarded to Life in Cold Blood - Armoured Giants, a BBC Natural History Unit production, with Sir David Attenborough joining colleagues from the Natural History Unit to collect the award.

View the full list of winners on the Wildscreen Festival website , and and keep an eye on the brand new Wildscreen Festival YouTube site for extracts and clips of Festival content.

The Royal Geographical Society, London was again the venue for this year's WildPhotos , the UK's largest nature photography symposium. The event, held over two days at the end of October, brought together the world's finest natural history photographers, who took to the stage to inspire an audience of over 350 delegates. The programme was a packed combination of presentations, discussion and debate, chaired by wildlife TV presenter and photographer, Chris Packham. Sessions ranged from story-telling and conservation photography, to more practical photo techniques - from time-lapse to camera-traps, wide-angle to macro. Delegates included students and keen amateurs, as well as widely published and acclaimed professionals and industry experts. Highlights included: the key-note presentation from Jim Brandenburg, an intimate and moving description of how his home and way of life have influenced his work and photographic philosophy; and the stories behind the 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year winning shots. A number of the world-class photographers who spoke at WildPhotos this year contribute their photographs to ARKive, and a sample of their stunning images can be seen by visiting the WildPhotos scrapbook in MyARKive. WildPhotos will be back in October 2009, visit www.wildphotos.org.uk for more information.

The Quick Step	Paso Doble
Renowned for their pronking behaviour, springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) fit the requirements of the quick step where the performers should look like they are dancing on hot coals.	The dramatic aggressive display of the male forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) would make it ideally suited to the role of the bullfighter, on which the paso doble is based.
The American Smooth	Tango
Seen as a symbol of fidelity, the Japanese crane (Grus japonensis) performs a mesmerising synchronised courtship dance with an elegant posture which is integral to the American smooth.	The visually spectacular courtship display of the lesser flamingo (Phoenicopterus minor) involves groups of birds, numbering from a few to several hundred, gathering to march back and forth, all going in the same direction in a staccato style with sharp head turns.
The Jive	Samba - The Waggle Dance
Southern cassowaries (Casuarius casuarius) fight by kicking out their legs, a skill needed for the perfect execution of the jive.	The samba, known as the party dance requires lots of bounce and hip wiggling. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) perform a 'waggle dance' in order to announce the discovery of a good foraging location to other members of the colony.
Viennese Waltz	Salsa
Like the Viennese waltz, the elaborate courtship ritual of the waved albatross (Phoebastria irrorata) involves a graceful routine with a precise sequence of moves, lots of rotation and a tall posture.	Salsa means 'sauce' where dancers depict a very hot and spicy interaction. Emperor scorpions (Pandinus imperator) engage in an elaborate dance where the male grasps the female's pincers and moves around attempting to find a suitable location to deposit his spermatophore whilst trying not to get attacked.

We are always open to suggestions of threatened species that should be included in ARKive. If you have media, or know of its existence, for a threatened species that we have not yet covered, or can add to the collections already in ARKive, then please do let us know. You can contact the ARKive media team on: arkive@wildscreen.org.uk. To find out which species the ARKive media research team are currently working on or to view our most wanted species, please visit the ARKive species lists.