Leading conservationist and Animal Planet host Jeff Corwin spoke to a packed Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium last night about the importance of preserving endangered species.
Although Corwin did not bring live animals, he related personal anecdotes, including his experience with elephants, to demonstrate how animals and humans share many characteristics.
Elephant families aren't very different from human families
he said, adding that many elephants continue living with their mothers and siblings throughout their lives.
A few years ago, Corwin was taking care of young elephants orphaned by the ivory trade. At first, many of the calves died. Corwin said he and the other veterinarians did not know what caused these deaths and assumed they were not feeding the elephants the proper milk. They later discovered that the calves really needed tactility ' to sleep next to something warm.
After he slept next to a calf and calmed it down during a nightmare, Corwin said the elephant started to twist a lock of his hair with its trunk. He said he didn't think too much of this until his daughter did the same thing while he was comforting her after she had fallen down.
Corwin was also scheduled to speak with a biological sciences class, but it was cancelled after a scheduling conflict. He did, however, meet with Ohio University President Roderick McDavis and several students at a reception before the lecture.
I thought it was really great said Rachel Ackerman, a freshman studying life sciences education, who attended the reception. He talked about stuff that I think is relevant to my life and what I'm studying.
Corwin has been working toward the conservation of endangered species and ecosystems since he was a teenager. His nature show, The Jeff Corwin Experience, which premiered in 2001, is one of the most popular shows on cable television, reaching over 13 million viewers in the United States, according to his biography on Animal Planet's Web site.
In 2004 Corwin won an Emmy for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for Jeff Corwin Unleashed, which he began hosting in 2003, according to the Internet Movie Database.
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Jeff Corwin speaks to a full-capacity crowd at Med Aud tonight as part of the Kennedy Lecture Series. The star of a popular Animal Planet TV show and an Emmy winner, Corwin spoke about the similarities between animals and humans and stressed the importanc
Animal Planet star shares experiences, elephant anecdotes, with full house
