Alligators to the Rescue- the Dangers of Extinction

Although I love all my cats as if they're my own children, my favorite animals have always been crocodiles and alligators.  I can lie and point to their resiliency, slyness, toughness, and adaptability as an excuse to like these prehistoric creatures so, but the truth is that I just find crocodiles and alligators adorable.  What an animal encyclopedia described as a "menacing grin," I find irresistibly cute.

My nuclear family, who had to deal with my stuffed crocodiles Alvin and Albert and with my heart melting whenever I saw a crocodile or alligator on television or at a zoo, accepted my peculiar love for crocodiles and alligators. During happier times, my wife once won a five-foot stuffed crocodile at Hershey Park and then refused all offers made there for it, having my stepdaughter's then-boyfriend carry it all around the park (I hope that wasn't why he and she broke up...), just to be able to present it to me (I named him Alfonso).  Even during our most emotional disagreements, my wife still showed a soft spot and encouraged me to realize my oft-articulated dream of going into a swamp in the South or to a water hole in Africa and give a real-life alligator or crocodile a hug.  All husbands should be fortunate to have enjoyed such a wife's love.

Because of my love for these adorable reptiles, any news story involving them may pique my interest.  One day, while on the Internet, I came across a feature on a study involving a potential medical advancement involving alligators.  Scientists in Louisiana had observed that alligators, who typically suffer severe cuts while clashing with each other over mates and territory in bacteria-infested swamps, rarely died of infections.  The scientists believed that peptides, fragments of proteins found in alligator blood, helped defend the alligators from infections.

With this hypothesis, the scientists created an alligator serum from the peptides and exposed both it and a human serum to 23 strains of bacteria.  The human serum destroyed eight strains of bacteria.  The alligator serum destroyed all 23 strains, including MRSA, a strain highly-resistant to drugs.  The alligator serum even killed a good part of the HIV virus.

Based on the study, the researchers believed that pills and creams containing these peptides could eventually be marketed.  The products, the story asserted, "would be a boon to patients that need extra help preventing infections, such as diabetes patients with foot ulcers, burn victims, and people suffering from auto-immune diseases."  So, what's the hold up with this wonder drug?  Some typical bureaucratic FDA roadblocks, perhaps? Well, not exactly.  Actually, the alligator serum created is thus far too toxic for human cells.

So, why did I bore you, dear reader, with a self-indulgent tale of my love for crocodiles that spiraled into an optimistic study, leading only to naught?  Because THAT'S HOW SCIENCE ADVANCES! A scientist makes an observation that, in hindsight, seems obvious and develops a hypothesis from it and, through trial-and-error, hints at a panacea that can improve our lives. Eventually, we will learn how to harness the potency of these alligator peptides for practical use.

And, thank God, we have the crocodiles around to make these elementary observations on, but what about the animals and plants now extinct?  The Dodo, Thylacin, Emperor Rat, Chinese River Dolphin, the English Wolf, the Caspian and Javan Tigers, Stellar's Sea Cow, the Quagga- they're all gone.  Last year, the Japanese River Otter became extinct, a development that, in retrospect, will be far more significant than the trivial news items we fuss over.

In 1998, there were 854 animals and 909 plants on the Endangered Species List.  In 2012, those numbers jumped to 2129 and 1821, respectively.  Isn't it conceivable that the habits of animals on this list, such as the Angel Shark, the Javan Rhino, the Geometric Tortoise, and especially the Hainan Gibbon (part of the primate family), can be observed in such a manner as to lead to a medical breakthrough?  More to the point, isn't it conceivable that at least one of the plants on this list may contain a medicinal property that can lead to a cure for cancer, ALS, and other diseases?  Since extinct animals and plants benefit no one, isn't it in our self-interest to keep these creatures around "just-in-case"? *See answers below

So, get involved!  There are many wonderful charitable organizations to which I belong dedicated to promoting conservation efforts and animal welfare, such as the World Wildlife Fund, the National Wildlife Federation, the Nature Conservancy, the Waterkeeper Alliance, and so forth.  If you don't wish to become a member, that's fine, but take the time to at least visit one of their websites and learn about their work.  You will be better for it.

* Yes, Yes, Yes

My Favorite Monkee Davy Jones

It's been over a year, but I still cannot believe that Monkee Davy Jones is dead. I had first learned of his premature passing on that terrible February 29th last year via a Facebook post, and cried for a good while. As I watched episodes of the Monkees reruns and listened to my Monkees music collection as the days passed, I realized that, although I was not even alive during the height of his popularity, no celebrity will ever mean more to me than Davy Jones.

During summer vacation in Maine in 1979, I was playing billiards with my cousin Peter in his basement. Peter put on his turntable a record by a group I had never before heard, the Monkees' eponymous 1966 debut album. To my musically unsophisticated nine-year old ears, I liked what I was hearing, and also liked the other Monkees album he had, the Monkees' second LP More of the Monkees. Always on the prowl for the obscure to like, I taped both LPs on cassette, and wanted to learn more about the group.

Back then, both music and biographical information about the Monkees was hard to come by. I treasured my first Monkees 45 (a reissue featuring the Monkees Theme/Last Train to Clarksville). I distinctly recall my first-ever purchase of a Monkees LP, the Monkees Greatest Hits, and remember asking for and getting the Monkees Greatest Hits, Volume 2 one Christmas. I remembered being thrilled to see the Monkees featured in a segment on an ABC summer replacement series titled "Whatever Became Of?" and enjoyed Davy Jones' appearances on Scooby Doo and on the Brady Bunch. I pronouced myself a Monkees fan, which caused me no small amount of ridicule from my peers on the basis of their name alone.

The dearth of accessible Monkees-related output started to change when Rhino Records reissued Monkees' LPs. I saw a Rhino cassette of More of the Monkees in Sam Goody's, and asked my mother to buy it for me. 1985 saw the release of the Monkees Tale by Eric Lefcowitz, the first serious biography ever penned about the group.

1986 was the big comeback year for the Monkees, when a 20th anniversary reunion tour coincided with MTV running a weekend marathon of their innovative series, sparking an immediate Monkees revival. Suddenly, the Rhino album reissues were charting, and everyone knew the Monkees. And LOVED the Monkees. I felt vindicated.

As the Monkees' popularity increased, a strange internal dichotomy appeared. Although I prided myself on being different and, although it would have been more hip to declare the witty extrovert Micky Dolenz, the most musically-authentic Peter Tork, or the principled Mike Nesmith my favorite Monkee, Davy Jones, the most popular member and one of the biggest teen idols in pop-rock history, was still the one I liked the most.

I liked Davy because he was as authentic as a teen idol could be. Although Davy began to write songs only after the critical backlash the Monkees faced in 1967 for not playing on their first two albums, he understood that he was an actor and an entertainer more than an ambitious "aritist." Rather than yearning to direct, as the other Monkees did during the original series run, Davy unpretentiously admitted, "I'm best directed." Although as popular as any celebrity during the Monkees heyday, Davy had no public meltdowns, never succumbed to the trappings of rock stardom, never embraced the excesses of that era, and carried himself with a simple dignity that reflected his working-class English roots.

I saw Davy in concert on four separate occasions, and found him to be the most accessible celebrity I ever met. The first occasion was a solo appearance at a free concert at Smith Point Beach, NY (aborted by a driving rainstorm), the second a Monkees 1997 concert appearance at the Westbury Music Fair in Westbury, NY (a show where I simply marked out after Davy replicated a signature shuffle first seen during the Monkees 1967 video clip of Daydream Believer). I met Davy for the first time in 2001 after a Monkees concert in Portland, Maine. After the show, Davy came out to greet all the fans who waited, signing anything (including my then-girlfriend's chest!), and posing for pictures with anyone who wanted one, a gesture he repeated when I saw him for the fourth and last time during a solo appearance in Wilmington, DE in 2005, as gracious and friendly to everyone as ever.
More than any celebrity that I'm aware of, Davy appreciated his legions of loyal fans, understood their importance in his life (and he in their lives), and, without any fanfare, gave FAR MORE than someone of his status needed to, regardless of the locale. "You can't ever forget your reponsibility to your fans," wrote Davy. (For an exemplar of the wonderfulness of Davy's heart, please read the following link: http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/music/articles/20120313davy-jones-monkees-rhonda-cook-phoenix-cave-creek.html).

Davy was quite underrated as a performer. The 58 episodes from the two-year run of the Monkees television series, which feature Davy's versatility and comic talent, are as fresh, innovative, and effervescent today as they appeared when the comedy premiered back in 1966. The Monkees' only motion picture, Head (1968), is one of the greatest rock movies ever released and, unlike most features in that genre, can withstand repeated viewings. Surprisingly (given the critical reception during their heyday), the Monkees' music holds up just about as well as any music released during that era. While no LP in the Monkees catalog is entirely unassailable (Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones (1967) and the Head soundtrack (1968) come the closest, in this writer's opinion), each release has several stand-out moments and are warmly recommended. Among Davy's shining moments on vinyl include gritty pop (Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow), She Hangs Out, Valleri, and the unreleased Love to Love), comedy (This Just Doesn't Seem to be My Day, Laugh), Tin Pan Alley (the Nilsson tunes Cuddly Toy and Daddy's Song- for the latter, the movie version is superior to the track released on LP), self-penned tunes (the underrated the Poster, the rocker You and I (featuring one Neil Young on guitar), the unreleased Changes), Someday Man, and the song for which Davy will forever be linked, Daydream Believer. 

Thank you, David Thomas Jones, for being a great entertainer, a great father to your daughters, and, forever, My Favorite Monkee.