Animals & Insects

Paleontologist Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago. He recently unearthing Jobaria (Joe-BAR-ee-ah) and Suchomimus (sue-coe- MIME-us) -- two new rivals to Tyrannosaurus Rex in West Africa. They're two of the newest additions to the dinosaur family.

Birder and naturalist Scott Weidensaul author of "Living on the Wind" (North Point Press) discusses the habits of migratory birds, what makes them do what they do, and how they're able to do it.

Craig Stanford studies chimpanzees and gorillas in Uganda. In early March, Hutu rebels kidnapped 14 westerners including his field assistant. 8 of the hostages were killed. Stanford had left the region before the attack. Stanford talks about the political situation and its impact on the wildlife there. He is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Southern California. He is the author of "The Hunting Apes," and "Chimpanzee and Red Colobus."

William Karesh is a wildlife veterinarian in some of the world's most remote areas. He's written about his experiences in "Appointment at the Ends of the World: Memoirs of a Wildlife Veterinarian." (Warner Books) Karesh heads the International Field Veterinary Program for the Wildlife Conservation Society, located at the Bronx Zoo,in New York.

Journalist Burkhand Bilger. He's currently working on a new book about clandestine Southern traditions (to be published by Scribner's). For now, his article "Enter the Chicken" appears in Harper's Magazine (March 1999). It's about cockfighting in Louisiana, where it's legal, but still secret.

Reknowned naturalist and film maker Sir David Attenborough. His new book and (upcoming PBS special is "The Life of Birds" (Princeton University Press). He examines birds from rainforests to desert, to cities and isolated wildernesses, the flying and the flightless, the seed eaters and the meat-eaters. The series was broadcast on the BBC last fall and will be presented on PBS sometime this year. The book is currently available.

Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio are the authors of "Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects" (A Material World Book/Ten Speed Press). The book is a pictorial guide to how insects are made delectable throughout the world.

The truth about vultures, with Wayne Grady and Mike Wallace. Grady's new book, "Vulture: Ghastly Gourmet," (Sierra Club Books) describes in words and photographs the life of the vulture. Wallace is the Los Angeles Zoo's vulture specialist. He is the Curator of Conservation and Science at the zoo, as well as being the Condor Species Survival Program Coordinator for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.

Dr. Fritz H. Bach is a professor of surgery at Harvard University. He is a specialist in Animal-human transplant operations. Last month, he and six other public health experts and bioethicists called upon the U.S. government to issue a moratorium on Animal-Human transplants. Bach says there is a risk that an animal virus could genetically mutate in a human recipient and spread among the general population.

Jeff Getty is an animal-human transplant recipient who advocates continued research in this field. Getty, who has AIDS, recieved bone marrow from a baboon in an effort to jump-start his immune system. Getty vehemently opposes proposed moratorium on animal-human transplant research.