Fox Campaign

They did it. Maha Khalil and the Bio Club went ahead and started the fox campaign. Now, many beautiful posters are distributed throughout campus that show foxes as they appear in the wild. I hope this triggers discussions, and helps to lessen fears.
The photos above were taken by Lois Main. The foxes on the left photo are bat-eared foxes photographed in Masai Mara National Park in Kenya. The two photos on the right were taken in Connecticut and show a gray fox. It is Dr. Andrew Main, the father of our Department of Biology, who is holding the fox on the right. Hard to imagine when seeing these photos that foxes should be suitable for horror stories. If left in peace they are not particularly afraid of humans, and if they are not left in peace by us - well, they just run away. Please, folks! Don't lose all your respect of wild creatures and chase after the next fox to hold him!
We made sure that the visitor last month did not feel welcome. I wish we could make the stray dogs understand that too! Over the last months since we moved out to New Campus the number of dogs in the area has increased, they roam around in packs of 5-8, and I have seen individual ones here on campus. Oddly enough, I haven't heard any concerns about those :-(
I hope the Bio Club will soon share their fox research with us; Maha I am waiting for your blog!

Citrus Gardens and purple cows

I like wandering into the orchard for a few minutes when I need a break. Nothing seemed to be happening on the mangoes. The citrus trees however, had a few individual flowers (see left) and small fruits. What a surprise when I discovered clusters of flower buds on several branches this evening! Can hardly wait to see them bloom.
I wonder how many people noticed these flowers and saw the fruits hanging in the trees? How many of us city-kids would recognize the plants from which our food comes, or know whether it grows on a big tree or in a shrub lying on the ground? Who would ever have thought that one could technically be in Cairo or in the desert and could observe trees grow! Ok, ok, I won't burden you with more of my New Age marvels today but talk whatsaliveoncampus.
I must confess that I too needed to search in the trees until I found the fruit, to know which citrus fruit they are. The suspense must be killing you, I am sure. But regardless of the bio-instructor (that would be me) not being able to resist the temptation of NOT saying what something is - it is just plain beautiful.

The story of purple cows must wait until some other day.

Good to be here

Whenever I walk on campus, I discover new views. The New Campus is so beautiful that I can't seem to concentrate on photographing details of animals & plants. So, for the time being I will continue to look, enjoy, photograph and present here, even if it doesn't quite fit the title of the blog.
It is soothing to be at New Campus, to see beautiful things all around. I hear the familiar voices of frustration over many issues. Sadly enough, many are, or were, justified. Is that why I feel a bit defensive about reporting the things I find so amazing?
I need to find better angles though, from which I can look (& photograph) without seeing a fence, or a white-painted trunk of a tree in the photo - and to learn more about photography - and more about what I am seeing - and - so much to learn...

A Fox on Campus

We had a fox on campus (1). A real, live, red fox visited us. A beautiful creature many of us think, how exciting, and what a privilege to be this close! Somehow a lot of people seem to believe that foxes are dangerous. Hey Bio-Club, Environmental Club! City people happen to often be fearful of "wild creatures", too many fairy tales and monster stories surround them You should start an awareness campaign!

AUC New Cairo Campus

We received an amazing, incredible, beautiful present. A brand-new campus. We, that is all of us at AUC - The American University in Cairo, Egypt.

But... do we even know what we have on campus?? I am not talking about "facilities" or "programs" or "resources", not about people or things. Do we know what is alive on campus?

The Desert Development Center of AUC (DDC) made a tremendous effort to create gardens and orchards throughout the campus. How many of us stop to notice and appreciate what there is? How many of us know what these plants are? In between the planted ones we find naturally growing plants, whose seeds blew in by the wind or were carried in by animals.
What do we know about those animals? Insects that will pollinate our plants, little desert mice, soaring kestrels and even a fox (the Caravan reported) live with and around us. What a difference to downtown Cairo!
We would like to share with you what we see, and what we learn about the life around us. I don't know yet in which order or priority. Wild animals, plants in bloom and in fruit, cultivated and wild, in the air or on the ground ... ... life is everywhere.