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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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082189
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08218900.043
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1990-09-19
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FROM THE PUBLISHER, Page 15
The man at the right may look like he's only feeding a giraffe,
but he's actually lunching with a source. Acacia branches in hand,
Los Angeles correspondent James Willwerth befriended Kito for this
week's Living story on the renaissance of the American zoo. Over
the course of eight weeks Willwerth petted a walrus in Tacoma,
walked ankle deep in freezing snow in the company of several
hundred penguins in San Diego and held (gingerly) a tarantula in
Cincinnati.
As he talked to the human beings who run the zoos, Willwerth
was especially impressed by the dedication that curators feel to
their quite modestly paid jobs. He was also drawn into the
difficult issues of animal management. Says Willwerth: "Listening
to complex discussions of gene pools, habitat destruction, medical
problems, immersion landscapes and zoo politics is surprisingly
compelling."
Willwerth became a lover of wildlife when he watched a Walt
Disney film about South America's big jungle cats at the local
movie house in his hometown of Grand Rapids. Since then he has
visited the Tiger Tops resort, in Nepal's Royal Chitwan National
Park, and game preserves in East Africa as well as the penguin
protectorates located on the South Australian coast. "This
assignment brought out both the conservationist and the kid in me,"
he says.
His most memorable moment came when he strolled with the
penguins at San Diego's Sea World. The emperor and king penguins
occasionally proved less than hospitable to their new companion.
Standing hip high, with beaks the size of small kitchen knives, the
penguins repeatedly tried to jab Willwerth's legs. Fortunately, the
Sea World curator managed to rescue TIME's roving correspondent
before any damage was done. As for feeding Kito, Willwerth cannot
remember another source that ate quite so quickly. His only
challenge remains how to list an acacia tree on his expense
account.