My Messy Media Center and Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom

My media center, also known as my computer room, was a terrible mess. 3 big boxes of books, the excess spilling over, were up against 1 wall, blocking a closet door. The other side of the room had all kinds of crap piled all over the place–an accumulation of over a decade’s worth of junk. I finally got tired of looking at it and decided to straighten it up. The real impetus was a book I recently read but couldn’t find. I was also looking for some tax forms. I spent hours cleaning the room and discovered a plumbing disaster. The carpet underneath the junk was wet, and I determined it was from a leaky sink drainage pipe on the other side of the wall, leading to a $1000 repair. After the repair the carpet dried and I purchased a $60 bookshelf from Amazon to get the boxes off the floor and suffered through more aggravation. It was a cheap piece of shit made in Vietnam, and I could not put it together. The top part of the bookshelf was supposed to connect with the bottom part using small plastic pegs that wouldn’t line up. Moreover, the shelves were supposed to rest on ridiculously tiny pegs, and the whole thing fell apart every time I barely touched it. I devised an alternative construction using wooden blocks and a shitload of wood glue. My concept worked, but I became really angry with my own stupidity. After installing the first shelf I went looking for the other 2 and realized I’d forgotten that I’d put them on the bottom of the case to get them out of the way. I’d glued the blocks underneath the first shelf on top of the other 2. I felt like the 3 Stooges wrapped in 1 person. I fixed the snafu by sawing extra wood from the frame of the original bookcase I didn’t use, and those served as the additional shelves. Below are before and after photos of my media center.

Boxes of overflowing books blocked my closet door.

I discovered a plumbing disaster under this mess. If I hired a maid, she would probably take one look at it, quit and cry.

Now, I can at least get into my closet without dragging hundred-pound boxes of books out of the way.

I built this bookshelf using the leftover frame of another bookcase that I could not put together with wooden blocks and a shitload of wood glue.

I did find the book I was looking for, but I never found the tax forms. I also found a box of film noir and Wild Kingdom DVDs. I’d completely forgotten about the latter and probably hadn’t watched them in over 20 years. Wild Kingdom was my favorite show when I was a little kid. I remember crying in 1968 when our family had just 1 television, and my father chose to watch The Ed Sullivan Show instead of Wild Kingdom. This long running nature series was the successor to Zoo Parade, a series that ran from 1952-1957, and it was also hosted by Marlin Perkins. He convinced the Mutual of Omaha insurance company to sponsor the next version of the show in 1962, and new episodes have been produced off and on ever since. The original Wild Kingdom aired on NBC and syndication from 1963-1988 with Marlin Perkins hosting it until shortly before his death from skin cancer in 1986. The show was revived in 2002 and again in 2011. It was a YouTube series from 2013-2018, and since 2022 it has been part of NBC’s Saturday morning line up of shows for kids.

Marlin Perkins wrestling a giant anaconda. He said, “a bite from an anaconda could be very painful.” His statements of the obvious were often fodder for late night comedians.

Wild Kingdom is 1 of the greatest nature shows of all time and was especially educational for children. Each episode often features many different species of animals interacting with each other. For example in an episode about the Okefenokee Swamp they showed alligators, alligator snapping turtles, common snapping turtles, water moccasins, egrets, mallard ducks, barred owls, red-shouldered hawks, black bears, raccoons, bobcats, gray foxes, striped skunks, and fox squirrels. A bobcat hunting the ducks and squirrels became prey for an alligator. Some episodes feature conservation projects that show game managers or scientists capturing wild animals to study them or to relocate problem individuals. (They’ve been accused of unnecessarily handling animals for the camera. I think that is true in some cases.) Other episodes follow individual animals and are narrated in story form. Below is a link to Wild Kingdom’s YouTube channel where hundreds of episodes are available.

https://www.youtube.com/@wildkingdom

Cougars Kill California Condors

The California condor (Gymnogyps californiana) was the first species listed as endangered after the Endangered Species Preservation Act passed, and 40 years ago, there were so few, biologists captured the entire population, so they could be bred in captivity. Since then, wildlife officials have been releasing some back into the wild, and their numbers are slowly increasing. They still face a number of serious threats. When they scavenge animals killed by hunters using lead shot, they get lead poisoning. They also are poisoned when they consume rodents that died after eating poisoned baits. Windmills slaughter birds of all kinds. One year (2010), scientists found 3 condors killed by cougars (Puma concolor). Apparently, the condors were roosting in trees near a carcass they’d been feeding upon, and the cougars climbed into the trees and killed them in their sleep.

Scientists found 3 California condors killed by cougars in New Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge. Map from the below referenced journal article.

Evidence a cougar killed a condor. From the below reference.

The entire population of California condors was captured 40 years ago. Captive breeding brought them back from the edge of extinction but they still face some serious threats.

California condors released back into the wild may be naive to the threat of natural predators. Andean condors (Vultur gryphis) co-exist with cougars in South America, but there are few or no known cases of cougars preying upon them. Cougars benefit Andean condors because the birds scavenge upon llamas and deer killed by cougars. Flocks of condors may even drive cougars from their kills. (They are very large birds.)

During the Pleistocene California condors occurred all across North America, and fossil specimens have been found in New York and Florida. Following the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna, the range of the California condor shrunk to the Pacific coast where they survived by feeding upon whale carcasses. At first they benefitted from the arrival of Europeans because they scavenged all the dead livestock on the range. But lead poisoning from hunters’ shotgun shells soon began to take their toll.

Reference:

Branney, A.; J. Brandt, J. Felch, J. Lombardi

“Observations of a Puma Predation on Endangered California Condors: Implications for Species Recovery”

Ecosphere 16 (6) June 2025

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.70255

Vulture Archaeology

Bearded vultures (Gypaetus barbatus) nest on cliffs, often inside caves and rock shelters where over many years they accumulate much organic debris, some of it man made. The dry high-altitude climate preserves these artifacts and specimens for centuries. Between 2008-2014 scientists studied 12 vulture nests found in the mountains of southern Spain. They catalogued all the items they found and carbon-dated them. They counted 2,117 bones, 86 hooves, 43 eggshells, 23 items constructed by people from esparto grass, 72 pieces of leather, 1 crossbow bolt, 1 wooden lance, slingshots, rope, and basket fragments. Some of these items dated to the Middle Ages and were 600 years old. People in this area made shoes from esparto grass and whole shoes were found in nests. The vultures used these items to line their nests and keep eggs and nestlings warm. The crossbow bolt and wooden lance were likely from carcasses of scavenged animals.

Bearded vulture and old vulture nest. From the below referenced study.

Bearded vulture range map.

Bearded vultures drop bones, tortoises, and small animals from great altitudes to break them for easier consumption.

Unlike most species of vultures, bearded vultures have feathers on their neck because they consume a cleaner diet of just bone and not rotting flesh.

Some manmade items found in bearded vulture nests excavated in southern Spain where the species has been extirpated for at least 70 years.

Bearded vultures are huge birds weighing up to 17 lbs. Unlike other species of vultures, they have feathered necks and actively hunt prey for a significant part of their diet, making them quite unique. Bones make up 70%-90% of their diet–also different from other vultures that primarily eat flesh. This explains why they have feathers on their neck. They don’t have to stick their heads in rotting flesh. They carry bones to great heights and drop them, so the bone will break, exposing the nutrient rich marrow. They do the same thing to living prey, including tortoises, hyraxes, marmots, hares, and even monitor lizards. (That must be terrifying for these small animals. Nature is monstrous.) They are known to knock ibex and goats off cliffs–another way they actively hunt prey.

Bearded vultures no longer occur in southern Spain. They were extirpated there over 70 years ago. Today, they live in the Himalayas and parts of Africa, and they have been reintroduced to the Alps.

Reference:

Margalida, A. et. al.

“The Bearded Vulture as an Accumulator of Historical Remains: Insight for Future Ecological Biocultural Studies”

The Scientific Naturalist September 2025

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.70191

Phinizy Swamp February 2025

Phinizy Swamp is an extensive protected wetland located about a 15-minute drive from my house in Augusta, Georgia. It’s used to filter the city’s sewer effluent. I visited the park last Friday and identified 8 species of birds and 2 species of reptiles in about an hour. I encountered a cardinal, a mallard duck, a flock of coots, cormorants, thrushes, purple gallinules, a great blue heron, a Eurasian ring-collared dove, a green anole, and 2 alligators. I saw at least 2 other species of birds, but they wouldn’t stay still for my camera, and I couldn’t identify them. I didn’t see any migratory ducks–maybe they already returned north. The soil in this wetland is very fertile from the sewage run-off, and heavy nitrogen-feeding plants such as bamboo cane and cattail are common. Cypress festooned with Spanish moss is 1 of the more abundant tree species here.

Bamboo cane and cattails thrive in nitrogen-enriched soils, and they are the most common aquatic plants in the park.

Spanish moss, a relative of pineapple, hangs from bald cypress trees.

Another view of bald cypress. This redwood relative is deciduous–unusual for a coniferous tree.

This mallard duck was still sleeping when we returned 30 minutes later.

I think this is either a hermit thrush or a wood thrush. They look similar, are closely related, and belong to the same genus-Hylocichla. I saw quite a few. It’s probably a wood thrush. Wood thrushes are year round residents and are also known as swamp thrushes. Hermit thrushes are migratory and spend summers in Canada and a few regions south of the Canadian border. They are known to return north early.

Crested cormorants drying their wings. They swim underwater and eat fish.

Purple gallinule.

We saw a pair of alligators. It was hard to see in my camera because of the sun’s glare. I estimate these are a 4-footer and a 6-footer. The 6-footer was much bulkier and older.

A photo of the larger alligator sunning itself. It was an unusually warm day for February even in Augusta. Thermometer in the shade hit 78 degrees F.