The Awesome Cheetah.



Photograph by Chris Johns

 I could look at this picture for hours. Such a magnificent creature. I love all animals, but there is something magical about the big cats. They are so regal. I think it's the eyes.

Cheetah.

Even the name is cool. That's why Disney has the "Cheetah Girls" instead of the "Naked Mole Rat Girls". Cheetah is even listed in the Urban Dictionary: "A cougar in training. A sexy woman too old to be a kitten and too young to be a cougar. They are known to move extremely fast."

Now, for the sad facts. Cheetahs are at the top of the list of all endangered big cats. Their habitats are dwindling and so are their numbers.

That's what Animal Tails are all about. Organic clothing for our children with a message. Hopefully, when your child wears one of the Animal Tails tees, they will be encouraged to learn about our endangered species and help made their world better. To learn more about the cheetah, go to http://www.cheetah.org/. It's a great website.

We're featuring the boys Cheetah shirt at http://www.rubij.com/ as our "Special of the Day". Like the cheetah, it's cool.

Grandson Cole is cool, too.

The Riverine Rabbit

When Animal Tails added the Riverine Rabbit to their collection of endangered species, my first thought was "how adorable". Then, my second thought was "I can't imagine any rabbit being endangered". I, of course, was limited in my history of rabbits living in the middle of America. ("Pesky rabbits!")

Then I read about the Riverine Rabbit's plight.

They only live in one place in the whole world; Cape Province of South Africa. Would you believe there are only about 250 left in the wild? That puts them in the critically endangered group.
As with so many other endangered animals, one of the main reasons for their dwindling numbers is lost of habitat. So much of the dense marshes by the rivers are being converted to agriculture. Another reason, unlike most rabbits, these little guys only have 1 to 2 offspring a year; nothing like our home grown.

So, my hat's off to Animal Tails for bringing the Riverine Rabbit into the spotlight. And another tip of the hat to the South Africa's farmers that are using conservation practices on their land to help enable these beautiful little animals to survive. Thank you.

Check out the Riverine Rabbit design at http://www.rubij.com/. They're on the rompers, blankets, hats and t-shirts. The rompers and t-shirts are the current "Special of the Day".

Happy Anniversary, Jane. Thank you for your passion.

This year is the 50th year anniversary of one of my hero's life long passions that changed science forever. What was really amazing, Jane Goodall was not a scientist, just a young woman with a passion. Fifty years ago Jane, her mother and a couple of guides set off in Africa to study chimpanzees. Unless you live on another panet, you surely have heard of Jane Goodall. She has devoted her life to study of this fabulous creature.

But her story is more than the knowledge we have learned about this primate and but also about our disillusions of mankind. We now know so much more, thanks to Jane.

But, I think the story is the more about the power of passion. She wanted to learn; she had no concerte ideas as to what she might discover. She only wanted to learn.

Awesome!!!!

She changed the scientific world with passion alone.

Read about her journey at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/10/jane-goodall/quammen-text/1. Do yourself a favor and read her story.

Maybe you will find your "passion". And, maybe, just maybe, you will also learn one person can change the world.

Let the wild horses roam!

I research all the wild life featured on our beautiful "Animal Tails" organic baby and children clothes.

This week: the Przewalski's Horse.

What I know: It's endangered. Not a lot of brain power; all the Animal Tails wildlife are endangered. That's our mission; to spread the word using the world of fashion and safe clothing for our children.

What I didn't know: Everything else.

First, how to pronouce Przewalski. (He's the Russian explorer who discovered them.) There's three acceptable ways: "psheh-VAL-skee", "per-zhuh-VAL-skee" or "PREZ-val-skee". Guess what? I still don't know how to pronounce it. Phonics was never my subject.

Let's move on.

This is the last remaining species of wild horses on the earth. They were extinct in the wild until a few years ago when a world wide program started to enter them back into the wild in the Mongolian steppes. Here's where I was wrong again, thinking the Mustangs in the Southwest are still roaming and wild. Mustangs are actually feral horses, tamed becoming wild. The Przewalski's horse has never been tamed - ever.

That leads to the third wrong assumption I had; that these were the horses Genghis Khan rode in the 13th century. That's went I discovered Genghis Khan rode the "true" Appaloosa horse; which I, of course, thought orginated from the Americas. I'm now starting to weary of my inaccuraties. (I have always prided myself as a know-it-all.)

But, enough about me and my shortcomings, the important thing is these beautiful animals have always been wild and should be given their birth right. There are about 1,500 in captivity and a world wide foundation for breeding to keep the species pure is working to release more and more back to their home where they are meant to be; free.

As many of us know, there are special bonds between a girl and her horse. It's one of the reasons the Przewalski's Horse is on the girl's romper and t-shirt in the Animal Tails collection. The romper and girl's t-shirt are currently 40% off at http://www.rubij.com/. A perfect baby or Chirstmas gift.

Sharks are cool.

Sure; not the prettiest face in the animal kingdom, but they are cool.

The Mako Shark is one of the featured wildlife species in Animal Tails product line. This shark is the fastest of all and came jump out of the water up to 20 feet. Cool.

Another interesting fact: They apparently taste good; the main reason the Mako Shark is now endangered. They have been overfished. Their fins are a delicacy. You've heard of "shark fin soup". There has even been reports of fisherman, after catching a Mako Shark, cutting the fins off and throwing it back in the ocean to die. That was hard for me to take; needless suffering.

Animal Tails has two different designs for the Mako Shark. Here they are on the baby items:

Sweet and cuddly for your baby boy.

But as our boys get older, they want cool, not sweet and cuddly. That's why sharks are cool. There wouldn't be much drama in West Side Story if the "Jets" (instead of fighting the "Sharks") were going to rumble with the "Tuna's"or "Guppies". Just doesn't work. And how about the many cool characters you have seen on the big and little screen named "Sharkie" or "Al, the Shark". If you lived in a tough neighborhood, what would you whether to be called: "Shark" or "Fishhead"?

I rest my case. Sharks are cool.

The boys short-sleeved Mako Shark is our current "Special of the Day". For a limited time only, it's half off of retail. Check it out at http://www.rubij.com/.

I love this shade of blue. That's another thing you'll discovered with these organic clothes. The colors stay washing after washing.

The Large Blue Butterfly

Animal Tails has introduced 5 new endangered species to their line of organic clothing. I always like to research each wildlife a little further. The large blue butterfly has an interesting story.

Its habitat is across Europe, but was declared extinct in England in the 1970's. Scientists at first thought it was because of butterfly collectors. But then (this is the interesting part) Professor Jeremy Thomas made an unusal discovery. The large blue can only survive if there is a certain species of red ants living in the habitat. Who would have thought? Obviously, Professor Thomas is smarter than most of us.

When in the caterpillar stage, it hatches on thyme buds. The ants then carries it back to their nest and there it feeds on ant grubs until it becomes a beautiful butterfly. Climate change in England made the ants go away, thence also the large blue butterfly.

Now to the happy ending. Habitats were restored on 50 former sites to bring back the ants. Then the butterflies were brought in from Sweden. Success!!!

There is still lots of work to be done; but isn't it a thrill that we can reverse the damage done.

The Large Blue Butterfly is featured on Animal Tails' girls t-shirts, rompers, hats and blankets. See them all at http://www.rubij.com/

New "Animal Tails" are here!!!

I had to show all of you a sneak preview of the new Animal Tails products Rubi J just got in. New animals, new lines and new prices. I ordered early for a super discount, and I will be passing this savings on to you.

We're all busy adding them to the website and they should be ready by this weekend to showcase. We'll have bigger sizes in the rompers and we're adding baby blankets and beanies. See, we've been listening to you.

The grandkids love when I get new products in. You wouldn't believe how big Cole's eyes got when he saw the Cheetah. "YES." Cole is into speed (I see trouble ahead with that); so it was no wonder he picked the fastest land animal on earth.

I picked a bigger size for him because we all know about growing spurts and his mother would like to see a couple of years of use and she knows how well these organic tees wash and wash. Cole's Golden Eagle t-shirt is one of his favorites and he wears it as soon as it comes out of the laundry.

Keep watching at http://www.rubij.com/.

Which zebra is endangered?

The first thing I learned about the zebra was there are three different kinds of zebras. Didn't know that. There's the plains and mountain zebras. Then there is the endangered Grevy's zebra. It's featured on Animal Tails organic cotton short sleeved t-shirt; and it is a favorite of little girls. Here's what the hang tag say:

"Hello Darlings! I'm the high fashion queen of the African plains. I am also the tallest of  all the wild equines worldwide - as you'd expect from one with such great model credentials. I live in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, where I graze all day on delicious grass. My stripes are closer together and thinner than the Plains zebra. They act as good camouflage as the stripes help break up the outline of me when viewed through the bushes. I am named after President Grevy who received one of my relatives as a gift in the 1800's from Abyssinia.

It hasn't been good to be at the height of fashion, as I was hunted almost to extinction. Having such thin stripes compared to other zebras, hunters got more stripes per inch. My relatives have been turned into handbags, slippers, purses and rugs. Although hunting is now banned, we are still endangered because of loss of our habitat to arable farming domestic herds."

So, there you have it. Because of fashion wants, the Grevy's zebra's numbers in the wild went from 15,000 a few decades ago to fewer than 2,500 today. According the African Wildlife Foundation, the greatest threat today is loss of habitat to agricultural use. The AWF has made considerable progress in bringing back the numbers, and; hopefully, someday they will be removed from the endangered list.

This cool shirt is our current "Special". Visit http://www.rubij.com/ to see this and our other Animal Tails.

The Snow Leopard

Photo by Aaron Logan [http://www.lightmatter.net/ source

Did you know there are two different snow leopards in our world? There is the beautiful big cat of Central Asia. Secondly, most Apple computer users know the Snow Leopard as the newest Mac Operating System. I'm not worried about Apple's future. They seemed to be very secure. The living Snow Leopard, however, is endangered. For more information go to http://www.snowleopard.org/.

Look at this glorious animal. That it could be lost in the wild forever is heartbreaking.

The Snow Leopard comes on one of the Animal Tails girl's long sleeved t-shirts. It's our current "Special" at http://www.rubij.com/. Here's what the hang tag says:

"I love to roam in the high, wide open and very cold snowy mountains of Central Asia. But you will have to look hard to spot me as my coat is perfect for camouflaging me in the snowy rocky terrain. My stunning extra long tail provides extra balance as I leap gracefully from one mountainous point to another, it also works beautifully as a very stylish scarf to keep my nose warm on really cold nights! My large paws are like snowshoes, to help me walk on snow.

My beauty has been the reason we are so endangered, people keep hunting us to put our furry coats on cat walks! Despite a worldwide ban on hunting, we now find traditional medicine makers are after us for our bones, and on top of all that, our habitat is now under threat from domestic herds, things are really getting very tricky for me, but I am too shy to make much of a scene about it."

I hope some people searching for answers about their Mac's OS will stumble across some websites informing about these Snow Leopards' plight.

The Ring-tailed Lemur

What do you think: "Way too cute" or "Far too spooky"? I'm going with the cute vote.

The Ring-tailed Lemur organic girls' t-shirt is a favorite at Rubi J's. A lot of little girls have had stuffed lemur toys.

But, sorry to say, they are endangered. Man is continuing to remove their habitat.

Hear the Lemur's story on their hang tag that comes with each shirt.

"Lemur, means "ghost" in Madagascar, probably because we look rather spooky. We're really sociable, hanging out in groups of about 30 swinging from trees, partying and looking for food.

Our tails look so special because they have a lot of uses, we raise them high in the air like flags to tell each other "follow me!" when we show off for our females, we rub our tails with a stinky perfume which we secrete from glands in our wrists, it's our equivalent to aftershave. Once soaked with it, we raise our tails over our heads and point them at each other, flinging the perfume around to show who makes more scents. The stinkiest one wins the lady!

Deforestation for human inhabitation is seriously threatening our survival."

Huh. Interesting way to attact the female.  We human girls don't usually learn about the guys' stinking ways til after the ceremony.

Check out the Ring-tailed Lemur tee at http://www.rubij.com/. It's our current "Special of the Day".

Seahorses

At http://www.rubij.com/, the current special is the Animal Tails girls long-sleeved organic tee with the Seahorse original design.

Here's what the hang tag that comes with the t-shirt says:
"People ask 'what is love?' Well seahorses have the answer: we are ultra romantic. Every morning we start the day with a dance. We change into different colours to keep the romance alive. The dance lasts ten minutes, then we separate for the rest of the day so as not to risk getting on each others nerves. We remain partners for life.

What's great about being a female seahorse is we don't have the babies, ha ha yes the men have them not one or two, but about 1000 a year. That may sound a lot but we are now endangered. We like to hang out in the same place, so when fishermen find us we are an easy catch. We are too pretty for our own good as we look fabulous in aquariums. We are also caught in large numbers for use in herbal medicines for fertility treatment"

I don't know about you, but the male seahorse seems like my kind of man. Monogamous, mate for life, takes you dancing every day, doesn't get under foot for the rest of your time and has your babies for you. What more could a woman want?

On a more serious note, several species of these magical creatures are endangered. How sad.

(Photograph by George Grall)

Fly like an eagle.

The golden eagle is another one of Animal Tails endangered species organic t-shirts. Here's what the hang tag says that accompany each tee:
"I am call a Golden Eagle because I have a striking golden crown and nape. I'm sacred in some cultures and my feathers are central to many religious and spiritual customs, expecially amongst Native Americans. Mexico even made me their national bird.
There are only 420 pairs of us in Great Britain. We like mountains so live in the Scottish Highlands. A pair of Golden Eagles remains together for life. Our nests are eyries and we build a few in our territory, which can be up to 160 sq miles. I need this space for hunting. I have very good eye sight and can spot prey from a long distance. I swoop down and kill my dinner with my talons. I can kill a fox outright. My population is getting smaller because I sometimes eat livestock, so people poison and shoot me, but I'm only being a hungry Golden Eagle."

In America the main diet are rodents, rabbits, birds and reptiles. But in the 1950's ranchers perceived the eagle as a threat to their livestock. An estimated 50,000 eagles were destroyed by them. Thank heaven the Golden Eagle has been protected since 1963. The bald eagle has returned to enough numbers to remove them from the endangered list, although they are still protected. Hopefully, the Golden will have the same successful route.

It's no wonder there are many, many legends and lore about the eagle. There is something magical about all birds of prey.

The Golden Eagle is our current "Special" at http://www.rubij.com/.

The Polar Bear

The week at http://www.rubij.com/ the Special of the Day is the Polar Bear long sleeve organic cotton t-shirt from our "Animal Tails" collection. It's currently 40% off retail.

Let's talk about the polar bear. Everyone recognizes this wonder of the northern ice. I wonder how many kids have had a stuffed polar bear to sleep with at night. And for sure, the polar bear has become the symbol of global warning. Here's what the hang tag says on each of the tees and rompers about the Polar Bear:

"Now a few facts, I'm a brilliant swinner, 60 miles non-stop is OK for me. In fact I love water so much I will spend as much time in the water as on the ice, perhaps that's why I have the Latin name Ursus Maritimus, meaning Sea Bear. I also have partially webbed paws which help me along. As well as that, my paws are an impressive 30 cms across. With paws that big you would expect me to be pretty big too, well I am - actually I'm the largest land carnivore in the world. But despite my impressive statistics, I'm in serious trouble. Climate change and pollution is ruining my food supplies.
What can you do to help? Going organic is a great start to slowing down the pollution problem - you can't do better than an Animal Tails T-shirt with my picture on it! Another great idea is to get your parents to turn down the heating and start wearing a thermal vest - discover the the joys of wearing your own insulation just like me!!
Thank you."

If the Polar Bear is in trouble, so are many other of the smaller carnivores of the Artic. They scavenge the remains of the polar bear's kill for their survival. I know it's fairly unlikely any of us will ever see a polar bear in the wild, but I like to think of them always running free up north.

Oh look, a puppy!!!!

We all love puppies, don't we. The one in this picture, however, will never be in a pet shop window. These are African Wild Dogs, one of the endangered species on Rubi J's Animal Tails organic t-shirts.

I've been reading about them and, boy, have they ever been given a bum rap.  Sure, they're carnivores; but so are most of us. Not as magnificent looking as the lion or other big cats; they don't get equal press on the nature shows.

Here's what the hang tag that comes with each tee reads:

"Your domestic dogs are related to me. We're found only in Africa, especially in scrub savanna and other lightly wooded areas. Our coats are bespoke design as no two individuals have the same markings.

We hunt in packs and give a mean chase, catching 85% of our prey, poor deers! We look vicious so you would have thought that we howl like wolves, but in fact we chirp like birds when communicating. After a succussful hunt we go home and regurgitate meat for those who stayed behind.

The current estimate for remaining Wild Dogs is approximately 3000. Of these the majority live in the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania.

Part of the profits of the T-shirt go towards AfriCat, who campaign for our protection."

Encourage your children to learn more about the African Wild Dog and why they are important to the eco-system. The African Wildlife Foundation has a great website: http://www.awf.org/. Also, read more about the Africat Foundation at http://www.africat.org/.

You can see why grandson Cole thinks they're "awesome".

Rubi J's current special is 40% off the African Wild Dog tee. Have a look: http://www.rubij.com/.

Spotlight on elephants

Who doesn't love elephants? They've always been one of my favorites. I love watching them on Discovery or Animal Planet. I've even envision riding on one. I know that will never happen. I love horses, too, but I'm scaried silly every time I'm actually riding on one.

The Asian Elephant is on one of our endangered species t-shirts. The hang tag which comes with each shirt states:

"The difference between me and the African elephant is I have smaller ears, a rounder back, 19 ribs instead of 21, but most of all I am much more friendly. If you ever see an elephant at the circus, it will without doubt be an Asian elephant as we're easily domesticated, and form loving bonds with humans.

The matriarch elephant in a herd is responsible for remembering who is a friend and the traditional migration routes, hence the expression 'an elephant never forgets'. This is one of the reasons for our decline in the wild, if humans have built houses on our migration route we'll trample through their house, rather than go round, which tends to annoy then, so they kill us. We are also heavily hunted for our tusks and now there are only about 32,000 of us left."

Pretty sad, isn't it. Go to the Wildlife Conservation Society at http://www.wcg.org/ to learn more about these amazing animals and the projects ongoing to help support conservation of the Asian elephant.

As you can see kids of all ages and gender love elephants.

We currently have the Asian Elephant as our "Special of the Day".  Take a look at http://www.rubij.com/ for savings of 40% off.

Another "Animal Tail"

I've been reading about dermochelys coriacea. That's right, dermochelys coriacea. I'm talking about the Leatherback Sea Turtle, and, of course, I didn't know it either. I can't even pronounce it.

I've been on a personal mission to learn more about the endangered species on our "Animal Tails" t-shirts. It has been equally enlivening and heartbreaking.

According to the National Geographic, the leatherbacks are the only remaining representatives of turtles that traces back more than 100 million years. So how can it be possible, after all this time, they are now designated as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act? Here's their story from the hang tag attached to each tee:

"I am the largest reptile in the world. I'm about 2m (7ft) long and weigh almost 2000lbs. I have huge flippers which propel me around the world. My favourite place though is the Caribbean, that's where I nest. I always return to the same beach to bury my eggs in the sand. The problem is each time I go back there are more and more humans. The amount of times my eggs have got squashed by some kid playing volley ball or parking their deck chair on top of them! But my family have nested there for centuries so I don't see why I should move.

My favourite food is jellyfish, but I mistake plastic bags in the sea for them and that is the main reason for us being endangered. If I eat one it will know kill  me. Please ensure that none of your plastic ends up floating in the sea, it will be the death of me."

So, we are the problem. There is an organization dedicated to saving the leatherback turtle. Larry McKenna's book Almost Gone details their plight. To learn more, go to http://www.saveourleatherbacks.org/.

We can become part of the solution.

That's my grandneice,Julianna, at the zoo.

Saving the Blue Whale

Animal Tails is a line of organic infants' and children's clothes Rubi J is extremely proud to offer in the States. Manufactured in Great Britain, Rubi J is one of only two outlets in the U.S. Their line is certified GOTS organic cotton like all our products. But it's a lot more. Their rompers and tees have beautiful original artwork of endangered species. Each garment comes with a hang tag from the animal depicted explaining their plight. Here's the tag for the blue whale:

"I am the largest animal in the world ever to have existed! I weigh about 200 tons; have a heart the size of Volkswagen Beetle, and a human child could crawl through my main artery.

I would be great to hire for large parties as I could inflate about 2000 balloons in one breath. But my appetite is hard to satisfy as I eat 3,600 kg of krill a day.

Sadly there are only about 15,000 of us left due to hunting and climate change affecting our food supplies. Thank goodness for the 1960s, that's when hunting was banned, we were on the verge of extinction. But dating can be tough with so few of us left. Our mating sounds can be heard for 100's of miles. Unfortunately increases in ocean noise due to shipping and seismic surveys conducted by the oil industry are reducing the distances at which they can be heard."

Hopefully, this will inspire your children to research the blue whale and learn about how magnifient this animal that share our universe is.

What would Alex and Cole look like with an 'Animal Tail'?

Since Mom was busy fighting with some screen printing issues today, of which I am no help, I offered to be her substitute blogger for the day.

As many of you know, we've added 'Animal Tails' to the Rubi J line. Finally my kids will get to do a little modeling on this blog. (C'mon Mom, Lucy and Cliff made their debuts before Alex and Cole?) Anyway, these t-shirts are sublime! Not only are they soft, adorable, ethically-made, but they also teach our children about endangered species. Each t-shirt comes with a message from the animal. Cole received a note from a gentle (yes, gentle) Siamese Crocodile and Alex heard from a wonderfully 'memorable' Asian Elephant.

I'm so excited about this business venture. While it will take some time to build an inventory of products that Mom and I believe in, we are enjoying the mission. Never did we realize how much reward there would be in finding products that increase the social consciousness of our consumers, especially the children. How many of you sit down with your children after a day of shopping to discuss the global impact of your purchases? Well, when I sat down with Alex and Cole to read our 'Animal Tails' cards, I explained how a portion of the proceeds will go to the Africat Foundation. Their wondrous reactions sent a warmth through my spine and reminded me how important little lessons can be to the development of our posterity.

Animal Tails

On one of Stef's and my brainstorming sessions about products for Rubi J; we came up with the idea of t-shirts screen-printed with endangered species. We thought it would be a way to educate through fashion (two of our favorite things). We made a list of endangered animals and started our research. At the same time, I was looking for organic t-shirts for the screen printing.

I was guided from above.

I have found the perfect company for our vision. In fact, our vision and philosophy are the same: organic cotton, trade ethically and improve all livelihoods. Animal Tails is are our new partners in this venture. Their children's t-shirts are better than we could have ever produced. The graphic design of the animals are so imaginative. This company is amazing. A portion of all sales are donated to their favorite charity, The AfriCat Foundation. Please read more about this foundation. http://www.africat.org/

We are the earth's caretakers; we must take responsibility.

On a personal note, I have the added bonus on finding a new friend. Although many miles apart, the president of Animal Tails, Annette, and I have formed a bond. We are both mothers - a wonderful and tight knit organization - and we want to make a different. Life is good.