TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Regina Mossotti: The company of wolves

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Tiffany Chen, Translator

Claudia Pravat, Reviewer

They you? Thank you. Actually, you know what? Before I satrt, I want to ask you a question. Raise your hand if you have ever seen a mivoe or read a story that has a big bad wolf in it. Raise your hand. All of us. Right? When we're kids, it's Little Red Riding Hood, Three Little Pigs. Even films like fezorn and Beauty and the Beast. As we age, we see scary wloeewrf movies or hear presahs like Witch kill me when I hear them a wolf in sheep's clothing or torhwn to the wolves. These constant cutaulrl igames in our lveis portray the wolf as something to be feared. And if we fear something, we don't want to save it. But I sattred to seuscpt from a young age that what I was hearing about wolves wasn't right. You see, I grew up in Missouri's woods, playing in streams, climbing teres, fishing with my dad. I was always out exploring nturae. I felt safe there and my time in the woods. I actually kind of fell in love with animals that others tended to shy away from or even fear. Snakes, frogs, spiders, you name it. The underdogs of the natural wlrod. I don't know why I ended up falling in love with these types of animals. I was drwan to them, and the only thing I can think of is that I was a bit of an outcast myself when I was yneogur. Shall I give you an example? I remember vividly in sixth grdae when our class was tasked with the asgnmenist to present on what we wanted to be when we grew up. I saw dreams of becoming future doctors, teachers, firfigrethes, blaelt danecrs, astronauts. Not me. I brought my five foot long pet bcalk snake to school and talked about how I wanted to become a herpetologist. Needless to say, my teraches who were Irish Catholic nuns, were not too thrilled with my presentation. You know, but my time in the woods observing our nrtuaal world, it gave me an empathy for wiildfle. I got to see them through a new lens. I appreciated their uniqueness, their beauty, their role in our environment versus listening to what society told me to feel about them. I’ve kept this love of the misunderstood my entire life. As I grew, the wolf stood out to me more and more as a quintessentially misunderstood anamil. And now, and my almost 20 year career of working with wolves, I have seen first hand, sadly, how this pushed to view the wolf and their wndiless as a symbol of villainy in our cuutlre has led to species once found throughout the United States becoming persecuted and endangered and becoming endangered for this animal is a big deal because wolves are a ksotenye species. A keystone species menas that they’re vital to keeping our eesctmysos balanced and healthy, and a htealhy envmrionent keeps us healthy. But for me, while what they do to keep us healthy is fnitanscaig and it’s obviously inatmorpt. It was their behavior that hooked me. I got to see that wolves are the opposite of what you see on TV or read about in fairy tales. My firaotve thing about wolves actually is obvsrnieg their families together. That's so much fun. wlveos have a family suurcrtte just like us. Two parents you might have heard them referred to as the alphas, but really they’re the bnvleeneot leaders of their family crnaig for their young. They work to tecah them skills like how to protect themselves, how to find food, how to rasie young, how to keep a home. We don't often see the side of wolves. Think about it. On extreme animal shows, we're mostly shown images of wolves eating right, covered in boold, teteh bared, snarling, spanping at each other with the idea that alphas eat first and eat best. In the back of our brains from all those cultural misconceptions. But this exaggerated image of the wolf to gain clicks and views is just another example of how our culture perpetuates the image of a scary being. Wolves eating around an elk that they hunted together is no different than us sitting around a dinner table for a family meal. But just like us, when your siblings mhsvibeae, like, I don't know, they throw spaghetti at you or try and steal your food. Totally speaking from experience, your parents in their own way snarl and snap disciplining in that moment. Right? It's the same here for wolves. They have to teach her young mnraens, like how to protect themselves, how to work together. The reason for this, I believe rydraud Kipling said it best. The sgenrtth of the pack is the wolf. But the strength of the wolf is the pack. Wolves are stronger together just like us. What wolves are really like. Their true behavior lies on one of the most innovative conservation tools ever created to help save an endangered seepcis. I want to share this story with you so you have a chance to hear a real stroy, a true story about wolves, The aecamrin Red Wolf cvnsioeatron Program working to save the most endangered wolf and the entire world needed to develop a tool to help save this unique species. And time was running out, so they needed something that would work. Scientists realizing that wolves are actually very caring and nnriuurtg. Seeing the similarity to our own strong urge to care for our young realized that we might be able to take wolf pups born at zoos and sneak them into wild. Litters. With the goal to help increase the genetic hletah and diversity, as well as the size of this critically edeaernngd population. Think about that for a second. This is why I love science. It is such a creative field because you imagine being that first bsoioilgt based solely on your observations. He was like, You know what we should do? We should take teney, tiny, helpless puppies from one litter and sneak them into a wild wolf den and hope mom adopts him. It probably seemed bannaas and wow, did it take a lot of cuogare? But it worked. It worked because just like us, when we have a baby, Wolf, mothers have snotrg maaerntl hrmenoos flowing through them that help them bond with their young. That urge is so strong, so focused on caring for babies. She accepted the newborn pups as her own, feeding them, cleaning them, caring for them was amazing. So we've now been able to take this ivoatnnvie, creative conservation tool and apply it to other endangered animals like the Mexican wolf that was nvaite to the southwestern utneid States. I'm part of the team that helped found the Mexican Wolf PUP Foster program. And let me tell you, it has been nerve wracking, clnhagileng, but also incredibly rewarding. And just a few years ago, I was lucky enough to see the successes of our foster efforts firsthand. I and my team had a litter of Mexican wolf pups born at our sinat Louis institution, whose timing matched perfectly with when a wild litter of Mexican wolf pups was born. So they'd be about the same age and the same size. We went in to retrieve a few of the pups, leaving several for mom and choosing just a few for a chance at a life in the wild. One of the little ones that was cehson for this journey we named Max. I don't know if it gets cuter than that, right? Max and his brothers and srsteis were only about two weeks old at the time of the foster efforts. Eyes closed, ears closed, tiny and hllepses. We cared for the pups, feeding them and keeping them warm during the entire journey from Saint Louis to the rcrevoey area that straddles the border of Arizona and New Mexico. Once we arrived, we had to travel a bit further into the recovery area, and then we hekid to the den along with our field partners. The pups safe and secure with us and seizeiplacd backpacks the whole way. We could find the den because the GPS collar that the mother was wearing led us to it. As we approached, she took off. I just want to pause for a second. That is a great example of real wolf behavior. Wolves are shy. They want nothing to do with people. They run away from us. So because of that, we ndeeed to work quickly. Once we got to the den, we gave each of the pups a health exam. We gave each of them a small microchip like your dog or cat would get to help us keep track of them throughout their lives. Then we took. Each puppy and made them smell like each other by taking dirt from the den and unire from the pups and rbniubg it on all of them to hide any scent that might make them seem a little different. Then we gently placed Max and the rest of the pups into the wild den so Mom could come home and care for them. About a year later, after placing Max into that wild den, I was assisting field biologist with the annual Mexican Wolf Population Survey. With a pioaoltupn that's critically endangered, it only takes a few weeks to get a count because there's only a few hundred miecxan wolves left in the wild. I wanna put that in perspective for a second. There are three times as many of you in this audience today. And there are Mexican wolves left in the wild. So this count is important. It helps us to make sure that the population is stable, healthy, hopefully growing, so that we know if our conservation efforts are working. Yep. Sometimes during this cunot, we're putting collars on the wolves. The wolf just woerkd to dart a wolf from each pack, let them fall asleep, and then place those riado collars on them. The collars are important. They help us to keep track of the wolves, to learn more about them, and to help aid conservation like the fostering efforts. Sometimes we're replacing collars that are old and the battery is about to die and sometimes, which I think is super exciting. We're placing a collar on a new wolf for the very first time. One of the wolves that came in didn't have a collar. I was speur excited and I knew it was a long shot, but I checked for a microchip just in case it happened to be one of the pups from from the litters that we'd fostered over the years. It's the only pups from those litters have the microchips. We all held our baerth as I snanecd. Then the reader beeepd. It had found a microchip. We checked the number. And it was Max. (Clapping) Here. Lying in front of me was a full grown, healthy and handsome wolf. The last time I had seen Max, he was the size of a large paotto. Not only did he survive, but he was thriving. An exceptionally yonug age. He had already found a famlee appear. The little Casanova. He was hunitng elk. He was staying away from pleope. It was all of the right things. His adopted penarts had done it. They had successfully shared their knowledge of how to survive in the wild so that someday he could have his own fialmy. It was one of the most minvog moments in my ceerar. So many people had come together, working together to save an endangered species. They were making a difference using what nature taught us, not what our culture swohed us. We saw that wolves are caring and family oriented, working hard to make sure that their children grow up to be safe, successful, secure, just like we do for our own kids. I want so badly. Turn the story here to leave you with the image of Max rnuinng free in the wilderness with his family. But saldy, a few mnhtos after seeing Max, I received the news that he had been shot and killed. Someone saw Max as something to be feared. Imagine what we could save if we could see wildlife dfitrleenfy. Every single pup we foster is vaitl. And the Biology wkros. So I have hope. I have hope because other pups that we have fostered to the wild have made it. As of today, we have fostered close to a hundred wolf pups into the wild. (Clapping) And we have festreod from over ten different zoos across the country, again, working together. And the coolest part is that about 20% of Mexican wolf packs in the wild are now led by a foster or their ofifnsprg who have survived grown up and become their own leaders. (Clapping) The biology works, but this goes beyond the biology. Now it's up to us to change the story so that this fairy tale has a hppay ending. Max is rmeiendr to us of what our cultural steoeeyrtps can do. They might seem harmless, but the fear that these stereotypes instills may cause damage. We need to take a step back. No matter what living creature we're talking about. We need to put ourselves in their shoes. And think that maybe what we think we know about them might not be right. So we are each tasked with becoming sdrawets for wildlife. First seeing them through a new lens with ueatnsrnnddig that liinvg with wildlife benefits us, with being a voice for them. Be a voice for the bees, for the fish, for the owls, for bison, for all wildlife, including wolves. Just like Max. (cpalnipg) (Clapping)

Open Cloze

Tiffany Chen, Translator

Claudia Pravat, Reviewer

They you? Thank you. Actually, you know what? Before I _____, I want to ask you a question. Raise your hand if you have ever seen a _____ or read a story that has a big bad wolf in it. Raise your hand. All of us. Right? When we're kids, it's Little Red Riding Hood, Three Little Pigs. Even films like ______ and Beauty and the Beast. As we age, we see scary ________ movies or hear _______ like Witch kill me when I hear them a wolf in sheep's clothing or ______ to the wolves. These constant ________ ______ in our _____ portray the wolf as something to be feared. And if we fear something, we don't want to save it. But I _______ to _______ from a young age that what I was hearing about wolves wasn't right. You see, I grew up in Missouri's woods, playing in streams, climbing _____, fishing with my dad. I was always out exploring ______. I felt safe there and my time in the woods. I actually kind of fell in love with animals that others tended to shy away from or even fear. Snakes, frogs, spiders, you name it. The underdogs of the natural _____. I don't know why I ended up falling in love with these types of animals. I was _____ to them, and the only thing I can think of is that I was a bit of an outcast myself when I was _______. Shall I give you an example? I remember vividly in sixth _____ when our class was tasked with the __________ to present on what we wanted to be when we grew up. I saw dreams of becoming future doctors, teachers, ____________, ______ _______, astronauts. Not me. I brought my five foot long pet _____ snake to school and talked about how I wanted to become a herpetologist. Needless to say, my ________ who were Irish Catholic nuns, were not too thrilled with my presentation. You know, but my time in the woods observing our _______ world, it gave me an empathy for ________. I got to see them through a new lens. I appreciated their uniqueness, their beauty, their role in our environment versus listening to what society told me to feel about them. I’ve kept this love of the misunderstood my entire life. As I grew, the wolf stood out to me more and more as a quintessentially misunderstood ______. And now, and my almost 20 year career of working with wolves, I have seen first hand, sadly, how this pushed to view the wolf and their ________ as a symbol of villainy in our _______ has led to species once found throughout the United States becoming persecuted and endangered and becoming endangered for this animal is a big deal because wolves are a ________ species. A keystone species _____ that they’re vital to keeping our __________ balanced and healthy, and a _______ ___________ keeps us healthy. But for me, while what they do to keep us healthy is ___________ and it’s obviously _________. It was their behavior that hooked me. I got to see that wolves are the opposite of what you see on TV or read about in fairy tales. My ________ thing about wolves actually is _________ their families together. That's so much fun. ______ have a family _________ just like us. Two parents you might have heard them referred to as the alphas, but really they’re the __________ leaders of their family ______ for their young. They work to _____ them skills like how to protect themselves, how to find food, how to _____ young, how to keep a home. We don't often see the side of wolves. Think about it. On extreme animal shows, we're mostly shown images of wolves eating right, covered in _____, _____ bared, snarling, ________ at each other with the idea that alphas eat first and eat best. In the back of our brains from all those cultural misconceptions. But this exaggerated image of the wolf to gain clicks and views is just another example of how our culture perpetuates the image of a scary being. Wolves eating around an elk that they hunted together is no different than us sitting around a dinner table for a family meal. But just like us, when your siblings _________, like, I don't know, they throw spaghetti at you or try and steal your food. Totally speaking from experience, your parents in their own way snarl and snap disciplining in that moment. Right? It's the same here for wolves. They have to teach her young _______, like how to protect themselves, how to work together. The reason for this, I believe _______ Kipling said it best. The ________ of the pack is the wolf. But the strength of the wolf is the pack. Wolves are stronger together just like us. What wolves are really like. Their true behavior lies on one of the most innovative conservation tools ever created to help save an endangered _______. I want to share this story with you so you have a chance to hear a real _____, a true story about wolves, The ________ Red Wolf ____________ Program working to save the most endangered wolf and the entire world needed to develop a tool to help save this unique species. And time was running out, so they needed something that would work. Scientists realizing that wolves are actually very caring and _________. Seeing the similarity to our own strong urge to care for our young realized that we might be able to take wolf pups born at zoos and sneak them into wild. Litters. With the goal to help increase the genetic ______ and diversity, as well as the size of this critically __________ population. Think about that for a second. This is why I love science. It is such a creative field because you imagine being that first _________ based solely on your observations. He was like, You know what we should do? We should take _____, tiny, helpless puppies from one litter and sneak them into a wild wolf den and hope mom adopts him. It probably seemed _______ and wow, did it take a lot of _______? But it worked. It worked because just like us, when we have a baby, Wolf, mothers have ______ ________ ________ flowing through them that help them bond with their young. That urge is so strong, so focused on caring for babies. She accepted the newborn pups as her own, feeding them, cleaning them, caring for them was amazing. So we've now been able to take this __________, creative conservation tool and apply it to other endangered animals like the Mexican wolf that was ______ to the southwestern ______ States. I'm part of the team that helped found the Mexican Wolf PUP Foster program. And let me tell you, it has been nerve wracking, ___________, but also incredibly rewarding. And just a few years ago, I was lucky enough to see the successes of our foster efforts firsthand. I and my team had a litter of Mexican wolf pups born at our _____ Louis institution, whose timing matched perfectly with when a wild litter of Mexican wolf pups was born. So they'd be about the same age and the same size. We went in to retrieve a few of the pups, leaving several for mom and choosing just a few for a chance at a life in the wild. One of the little ones that was ______ for this journey we named Max. I don't know if it gets cuter than that, right? Max and his brothers and _______ were only about two weeks old at the time of the foster efforts. Eyes closed, ears closed, tiny and ________. We cared for the pups, feeding them and keeping them warm during the entire journey from Saint Louis to the ________ area that straddles the border of Arizona and New Mexico. Once we arrived, we had to travel a bit further into the recovery area, and then we _____ to the den along with our field partners. The pups safe and secure with us and ___________ backpacks the whole way. We could find the den because the GPS collar that the mother was wearing led us to it. As we approached, she took off. I just want to pause for a second. That is a great example of real wolf behavior. Wolves are shy. They want nothing to do with people. They run away from us. So because of that, we ______ to work quickly. Once we got to the den, we gave each of the pups a health exam. We gave each of them a small microchip like your dog or cat would get to help us keep track of them throughout their lives. Then we took. Each puppy and made them smell like each other by taking dirt from the den and _____ from the pups and _______ it on all of them to hide any scent that might make them seem a little different. Then we gently placed Max and the rest of the pups into the wild den so Mom could come home and care for them. About a year later, after placing Max into that wild den, I was assisting field biologist with the annual Mexican Wolf Population Survey. With a __________ that's critically endangered, it only takes a few weeks to get a count because there's only a few hundred _______ wolves left in the wild. I wanna put that in perspective for a second. There are three times as many of you in this audience today. And there are Mexican wolves left in the wild. So this count is important. It helps us to make sure that the population is stable, healthy, hopefully growing, so that we know if our conservation efforts are working. Yep. Sometimes during this _____, we're putting collars on the wolves. The wolf just ______ to dart a wolf from each pack, let them fall asleep, and then place those _____ collars on them. The collars are important. They help us to keep track of the wolves, to learn more about them, and to help aid conservation like the fostering efforts. Sometimes we're replacing collars that are old and the battery is about to die and sometimes, which I think is super exciting. We're placing a collar on a new wolf for the very first time. One of the wolves that came in didn't have a collar. I was _____ excited and I knew it was a long shot, but I checked for a microchip just in case it happened to be one of the pups from from the litters that we'd fostered over the years. It's the only pups from those litters have the microchips. We all held our ______ as I _______. Then the reader ______. It had found a microchip. We checked the number. And it was Max. (Clapping) Here. Lying in front of me was a full grown, healthy and handsome wolf. The last time I had seen Max, he was the size of a large ______. Not only did he survive, but he was thriving. An exceptionally _____ age. He had already found a ______ appear. The little Casanova. He was _______ elk. He was staying away from ______. It was all of the right things. His adopted _______ had done it. They had successfully shared their knowledge of how to survive in the wild so that someday he could have his own ______. It was one of the most ______ moments in my ______. So many people had come together, working together to save an endangered species. They were making a difference using what nature taught us, not what our culture ______ us. We saw that wolves are caring and family oriented, working hard to make sure that their children grow up to be safe, successful, secure, just like we do for our own kids. I want so badly. Turn the story here to leave you with the image of Max _______ free in the wilderness with his family. But _____, a few ______ after seeing Max, I received the news that he had been shot and killed. Someone saw Max as something to be feared. Imagine what we could save if we could see wildlife ___________. Every single pup we foster is _____. And the Biology _____. So I have hope. I have hope because other pups that we have fostered to the wild have made it. As of today, we have fostered close to a hundred wolf pups into the wild. (Clapping) And we have ________ from over ten different zoos across the country, again, working together. And the coolest part is that about 20% of Mexican wolf packs in the wild are now led by a foster or their _________ who have survived grown up and become their own leaders. (Clapping) The biology works, but this goes beyond the biology. Now it's up to us to change the story so that this fairy tale has a _____ ending. Max is ________ to us of what our cultural ___________ can do. They might seem harmless, but the fear that these stereotypes instills may cause damage. We need to take a step back. No matter what living creature we're talking about. We need to put ourselves in their shoes. And think that maybe what we think we know about them might not be right. So we are each tasked with becoming ________ for wildlife. First seeing them through a new lens with _____________ that ______ with wildlife benefits us, with being a voice for them. Be a voice for the bees, for the fish, for the owls, for bison, for all wildlife, including wolves. Just like Max. (________) (Clapping)

Solution

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Original Text

Tiffany Chen, Translator

Claudia Pravat, Reviewer

They you? Thank you. Actually, you know what? Before I start, I want to ask you a question. Raise your hand if you have ever seen a movie or read a story that has a big bad wolf in it. Raise your hand. All of us. Right? When we're kids, it's Little Red Riding Hood, Three Little Pigs. Even films like Frozen and Beauty and the Beast. As we age, we see scary werewolf movies or hear phrases like Witch kill me when I hear them a wolf in sheep's clothing or thrown to the wolves. These constant cultural images in our lives portray the wolf as something to be feared. And if we fear something, we don't want to save it. But I started to suspect from a young age that what I was hearing about wolves wasn't right. You see, I grew up in Missouri's woods, playing in streams, climbing trees, fishing with my dad. I was always out exploring nature. I felt safe there and my time in the woods. I actually kind of fell in love with animals that others tended to shy away from or even fear. Snakes, frogs, spiders, you name it. The underdogs of the natural world. I don't know why I ended up falling in love with these types of animals. I was drawn to them, and the only thing I can think of is that I was a bit of an outcast myself when I was younger. Shall I give you an example? I remember vividly in sixth grade when our class was tasked with the assignment to present on what we wanted to be when we grew up. I saw dreams of becoming future doctors, teachers, firefighters, ballet dancers, astronauts. Not me. I brought my five foot long pet black snake to school and talked about how I wanted to become a herpetologist. Needless to say, my teachers who were Irish Catholic nuns, were not too thrilled with my presentation. You know, but my time in the woods observing our natural world, it gave me an empathy for wildlife. I got to see them through a new lens. I appreciated their uniqueness, their beauty, their role in our environment versus listening to what society told me to feel about them. I’ve kept this love of the misunderstood my entire life. As I grew, the wolf stood out to me more and more as a quintessentially misunderstood animal. And now, and my almost 20 year career of working with wolves, I have seen first hand, sadly, how this pushed to view the wolf and their wildness as a symbol of villainy in our culture has led to species once found throughout the United States becoming persecuted and endangered and becoming endangered for this animal is a big deal because wolves are a keystone species. A keystone species means that they’re vital to keeping our ecosystems balanced and healthy, and a healthy environment keeps us healthy. But for me, while what they do to keep us healthy is fascinating and it’s obviously important. It was their behavior that hooked me. I got to see that wolves are the opposite of what you see on TV or read about in fairy tales. My favorite thing about wolves actually is observing their families together. That's so much fun. Wolves have a family structure just like us. Two parents you might have heard them referred to as the alphas, but really they’re the benevolent leaders of their family caring for their young. They work to teach them skills like how to protect themselves, how to find food, how to raise young, how to keep a home. We don't often see the side of wolves. Think about it. On extreme animal shows, we're mostly shown images of wolves eating right, covered in blood, teeth bared, snarling, snapping at each other with the idea that alphas eat first and eat best. In the back of our brains from all those cultural misconceptions. But this exaggerated image of the wolf to gain clicks and views is just another example of how our culture perpetuates the image of a scary being. Wolves eating around an elk that they hunted together is no different than us sitting around a dinner table for a family meal. But just like us, when your siblings misbehave, like, I don't know, they throw spaghetti at you or try and steal your food. Totally speaking from experience, your parents in their own way snarl and snap disciplining in that moment. Right? It's the same here for wolves. They have to teach her young manners, like how to protect themselves, how to work together. The reason for this, I believe Rudyard Kipling said it best. The strength of the pack is the wolf. But the strength of the wolf is the pack. Wolves are stronger together just like us. What wolves are really like. Their true behavior lies on one of the most innovative conservation tools ever created to help save an endangered species. I want to share this story with you so you have a chance to hear a real story, a true story about wolves, The American Red Wolf Conservation Program working to save the most endangered wolf and the entire world needed to develop a tool to help save this unique species. And time was running out, so they needed something that would work. Scientists realizing that wolves are actually very caring and nurturing. Seeing the similarity to our own strong urge to care for our young realized that we might be able to take wolf pups born at zoos and sneak them into wild. Litters. With the goal to help increase the genetic health and diversity, as well as the size of this critically endangered population. Think about that for a second. This is why I love science. It is such a creative field because you imagine being that first biologist based solely on your observations. He was like, You know what we should do? We should take teeny, tiny, helpless puppies from one litter and sneak them into a wild wolf den and hope mom adopts him. It probably seemed bananas and wow, did it take a lot of courage? But it worked. It worked because just like us, when we have a baby, Wolf, mothers have strong maternal hormones flowing through them that help them bond with their young. That urge is so strong, so focused on caring for babies. She accepted the newborn pups as her own, feeding them, cleaning them, caring for them was amazing. So we've now been able to take this innovative, creative conservation tool and apply it to other endangered animals like the Mexican wolf that was native to the southwestern United States. I'm part of the team that helped found the Mexican Wolf PUP Foster program. And let me tell you, it has been nerve wracking, challenging, but also incredibly rewarding. And just a few years ago, I was lucky enough to see the successes of our foster efforts firsthand. I and my team had a litter of Mexican wolf pups born at our Saint Louis institution, whose timing matched perfectly with when a wild litter of Mexican wolf pups was born. So they'd be about the same age and the same size. We went in to retrieve a few of the pups, leaving several for mom and choosing just a few for a chance at a life in the wild. One of the little ones that was chosen for this journey we named Max. I don't know if it gets cuter than that, right? Max and his brothers and sisters were only about two weeks old at the time of the foster efforts. Eyes closed, ears closed, tiny and helpless. We cared for the pups, feeding them and keeping them warm during the entire journey from Saint Louis to the recovery area that straddles the border of Arizona and New Mexico. Once we arrived, we had to travel a bit further into the recovery area, and then we hiked to the den along with our field partners. The pups safe and secure with us and specialized backpacks the whole way. We could find the den because the GPS collar that the mother was wearing led us to it. As we approached, she took off. I just want to pause for a second. That is a great example of real wolf behavior. Wolves are shy. They want nothing to do with people. They run away from us. So because of that, we needed to work quickly. Once we got to the den, we gave each of the pups a health exam. We gave each of them a small microchip like your dog or cat would get to help us keep track of them throughout their lives. Then we took. Each puppy and made them smell like each other by taking dirt from the den and urine from the pups and rubbing it on all of them to hide any scent that might make them seem a little different. Then we gently placed Max and the rest of the pups into the wild den so Mom could come home and care for them. About a year later, after placing Max into that wild den, I was assisting field biologist with the annual Mexican Wolf Population Survey. With a population that's critically endangered, it only takes a few weeks to get a count because there's only a few hundred Mexican wolves left in the wild. I wanna put that in perspective for a second. There are three times as many of you in this audience today. And there are Mexican wolves left in the wild. So this count is important. It helps us to make sure that the population is stable, healthy, hopefully growing, so that we know if our conservation efforts are working. Yep. Sometimes during this count, we're putting collars on the wolves. The wolf just worked to dart a wolf from each pack, let them fall asleep, and then place those radio collars on them. The collars are important. They help us to keep track of the wolves, to learn more about them, and to help aid conservation like the fostering efforts. Sometimes we're replacing collars that are old and the battery is about to die and sometimes, which I think is super exciting. We're placing a collar on a new wolf for the very first time. One of the wolves that came in didn't have a collar. I was super excited and I knew it was a long shot, but I checked for a microchip just in case it happened to be one of the pups from from the litters that we'd fostered over the years. It's the only pups from those litters have the microchips. We all held our breath as I scanned. Then the reader beeped. It had found a microchip. We checked the number. And it was Max. (Clapping) Here. Lying in front of me was a full grown, healthy and handsome wolf. The last time I had seen Max, he was the size of a large potato. Not only did he survive, but he was thriving. An exceptionally young age. He had already found a female appear. The little Casanova. He was hunting elk. He was staying away from people. It was all of the right things. His adopted parents had done it. They had successfully shared their knowledge of how to survive in the wild so that someday he could have his own family. It was one of the most moving moments in my career. So many people had come together, working together to save an endangered species. They were making a difference using what nature taught us, not what our culture showed us. We saw that wolves are caring and family oriented, working hard to make sure that their children grow up to be safe, successful, secure, just like we do for our own kids. I want so badly. Turn the story here to leave you with the image of Max running free in the wilderness with his family. But sadly, a few months after seeing Max, I received the news that he had been shot and killed. Someone saw Max as something to be feared. Imagine what we could save if we could see wildlife differently. Every single pup we foster is vital. And the Biology works. So I have hope. I have hope because other pups that we have fostered to the wild have made it. As of today, we have fostered close to a hundred wolf pups into the wild. (Clapping) And we have fostered from over ten different zoos across the country, again, working together. And the coolest part is that about 20% of Mexican wolf packs in the wild are now led by a foster or their offspring who have survived grown up and become their own leaders. (Clapping) The biology works, but this goes beyond the biology. Now it's up to us to change the story so that this fairy tale has a happy ending. Max is reminder to us of what our cultural stereotypes can do. They might seem harmless, but the fear that these stereotypes instills may cause damage. We need to take a step back. No matter what living creature we're talking about. We need to put ourselves in their shoes. And think that maybe what we think we know about them might not be right. So we are each tasked with becoming stewards for wildlife. First seeing them through a new lens with understanding that living with wildlife benefits us, with being a voice for them. Be a voice for the bees, for the fish, for the owls, for bison, for all wildlife, including wolves. Just like Max. (Clapping) (Clapping)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
mexican wolf	6
wolf pups	4
young age	2
united states	2
keystone species	2
wolves eating	2
endangered species	2
pups born	2
foster efforts	2
saint louis	2
mexican wolves	2
wolves left	2

ngrams of length 3

collocation	frequency
wolf pups born	2
mexican wolf pups	2
mexican wolves left	2

Important Words

accepted
adopted
adopts
age
aid
alphas
amazing
american
animal
animals
annual
apply
appreciated
approached
area
arizona
arrived
asleep
assignment
assisting
astronauts
audience
babies
baby
backpacks
bad
badly
balanced
ballet
bananas
bared
based
battery
beast
beauty
beeped
bees
behavior
benefits
benevolent
big
biologist
biology
bison
bit
black
blood
bond
border
born
brains
breath
brothers
brought
care
cared
career
caring
casanova
case
cat
catholic
challenging
chance
change
checked
chen
children
choosing
chosen
clapping
class
claudia
cleaning
clicks
climbing
close
closed
clothing
collar
collars
conservation
constant
coolest
count
country
courage
covered
created
creative
creature
critically
cultural
culture
cuter
dad
damage
dancers
dart
deal
den
develop
die
difference
differently
dinner
dirt
disciplining
diversity
doctors
dog
drawn
dreams
ears
eat
eating
ecosystems
efforts
elk
empathy
endangered
ended
entire
environment
exaggerated
exam
exceptionally
excited
exciting
experience
exploring
extreme
eyes
fairy
fall
falling
families
family
fascinating
favorite
fear
feared
feeding
feel
fell
felt
female
field
films
find
firefighters
firsthand
fish
fishing
flowing
focused
food
foot
foster
fostered
fostering
free
frogs
front
frozen
full
fun
future
gain
gave
genetic
gently
give
goal
gps
grade
great
grew
grow
growing
grown
hand
handsome
happened
happy
hard
harmless
health
healthy
hear
heard
hearing
held
helped
helpless
helps
herpetologist
hide
hiked
home
hood
hooked
hope
hormones
hunted
hunting
idea
image
images
imagine
important
including
increase
incredibly
innovative
instills
institution
irish
journey
keeping
keystone
kids
kill
killed
kind
kipling
knew
knowledge
large
leaders
learn
leave
leaving
led
left
lens
lies
life
listening
litter
litters
lives
living
long
lot
louis
love
lucky
lying
making
manners
matched
maternal
matter
max
meal
means
mexican
mexico
microchip
microchips
misbehave
misconceptions
misunderstood
mom
moment
moments
months
mother
mothers
movie
movies
moving
named
native
natural
nature
needed
needless
nerve
newborn
news
number
nuns
nurturing
observations
observing
offspring
oriented
outcast
owls
pack
packs
parents
part
partners
pause
people
perfectly
perpetuates
persecuted
perspective
pet
phrases
pigs
place
placing
playing
population
portray
potato
pravat
present
presentation
program
protect
pup
puppies
puppy
pups
pushed
put
putting
question
quickly
quintessentially
radio
raise
read
reader
real
realized
realizing
reason
received
recovery
red
referred
remember
reminder
replacing
rest
retrieve
reviewer
rewarding
riding
role
rubbing
rudyard
run
running
sadly
safe
saint
save
scanned
scary
scent
school
science
scientists
secure
share
shared
shoes
shot
showed
shown
shows
shy
siblings
side
similarity
single
sisters
sitting
sixth
size
skills
small
smell
snake
snakes
snap
snapping
snarl
snarling
sneak
society
solely
southwestern
spaghetti
speaking
specialized
species
spiders
stable
start
started
states
staying
steal
step
stereotypes
stewards
stood
story
straddles
streams
strength
strong
stronger
structure
successes
successful
successfully
super
survey
survive
survived
suspect
symbol
table
takes
tale
tales
talked
talking
tasked
taught
teach
teachers
team
teeny
teeth
ten
tended
thrilled
thriving
throw
thrown
tiffany
time
times
timing
tiny
today
told
tool
tools
totally
track
translator
travel
trees
true
turn
tv
types
underdogs
understanding
unique
uniqueness
united
urge
urine
view
views
villainy
vital
vividly
voice
wanna
wanted
warm
wearing
weeks
werewolf
wild
wilderness
wildlife
wildness
witch
wolf
wolves
woods
work
worked
working
works
world
wow
wracking
year
years
yep
young
younger
zoos