Jurassic Plants - Cycads for Canada

Cycads as house plants.

Cycad cyanotypes, Dioon spinulosum with Ginkgo biloba, Cycas sexseminifera, and Dioon edule. Originals, on 140 # watercolor paper, made by me, frameable in standard 8x10 frames, only $25 each + shipping at cost. Will make to order, each one unique. Other species coming soon.

🚨 URGENT UPDATE: Something is wrong with Happy. 🚨 Based on our monitoring of the Bronx Zoo elephant exhibit, it’s our understanding that Happy, an elephant held alone in captivity at the Bronx Zoo by the Wildlife Conservation Society, hasn’t been outside at all in at least a week, likely longer. Elephant behavior is never normal in captivity, but this development is especially abnormal. During past years in the summer months, Happy was seen outside almost daily.

We’re greatly concerned about why Happy has been confined to the zoo’s elephant barn and why she hasn’t been seen in the exhibit’s main yard. Possible reasons she isn’t outside include:

1) She’s physically unable to leave the barn.
2) She’s under great psychological distress due to her prolonged isolation in an impoverished environment and is refusing to leave the barn.
3) She’s being denied access to the main yard.

We fear that the physical and psychological distress Happy has suffered from for decades has reached a point of crisis. As we saw in our litigation that sought to to an elephant sanctuary, the Bronx Zoo and WCS have a history of not telling the full story about Happy’s life at the zoo. For example, they claim that she doesn’t get along with other elephants when she in fact had a close elephant companion named Grumpy who was fatally attacked at the zoo.

To bring urgent attention to Happy, we’ve filed a complaint on her behalf with the USDA, which has the authority to investigate animal welfare concerns. Happy has a right to bodily liberty and should have been sent to a sanctuary long ago, but a 5-2 majority of the New York Court of Appeals declined to grant Happy her freedom. We filed this complaint now because it’s in Happy's interest for us to appeal to the USDA to, at a minimum, investigate and enforce the barebones standards of the Animal Welfare Act. They also need to get Happy out of the Bronx Zoo and to an accredited elephant sanctuary before it’s too late.

You can help by sharing this post and tagging U.S. Department of Agriculture asking them to immediately investigate. Thank you for helping raise the alarm for Happy.

New leaves on Zamia fischeri

I spy with my little eye, two new cones on the Zamia vasquezii!

The toll that last winter took on one of my 2 Wollemia nobilis, but it is springing back with new growth on the lower parts of the tree.

Some of my cycads are in this conservatory, possibly this one.

The Tropical Pyramid will be closed today (Wednesday, November 17) from 1:00-2:30pm for a private function.

They are talking about a cycad species endemic to Guam, Cycas micronesica.

Guam risks losing cultural heritage with loss of endangered species On Endangered Species Day, biologist spotlights Guam's fadang tree and fanihi, or Mariana fruit bat

Date palm grown from 2000-year-old seed. Amazing!

How Scientists Are “Resurrecting” Extinct Plants to Study Their Evolution NYU researchers sequence the genome of extinct date palms germinated from 2,000-year-old seeds

Jeff Chemnick's garden is FABULOUS!

Through the Looking Glass at Aloes in Wonderland - Come take a virtual tour of this well-known Santa Barbara garden’s namesake, the aloes! Though his life’s botanical passion has been the cycads, the name “Aloes in Wonderland” came to him in a dream some 15 years ago and changed … Read more