No, Steve Urwin didn't conduct 'meaningful research', but did more to bring conservation, particularly of much maligned species such as snakes, to the general public than most researchers do in a lifetime. Yes, he was over the top and at times even i disagreed with his excessive handling of animals on camera...but compare that to what we as researchers do all the time in the name of 'meaningful research'...at the lower end of the scale - trapping animals, pit-tagging, handling and measuring, captive experiments....etc...without even mentioning behavioural experiments which go way beyond this. He did film animals in their natural environment - when he died he was out with an Australian research team working on box jellyfish and also filming a segment for his daughters tv show on rays in the wild on the barrier reef. Steve also used all the money he gained from his tv shows to buy up areas of land to keep from developers and use for conservation - given the amount of money he must have amassed, this is no small amount of land. Australia Zoo (although i am generally against zoo's) also runs important captive breeding programs for Australian species. i agree it is sad that kids learn about the natural world from tv, but that is the world we live in.
Jo Dr. Joanne L. Isaac Post-Doctoral Research Associate Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change School of Marine and Tropical Biology James Cook University Townsville QLD Australia Tel:(+61) 07 47815552 Fax:(+61) 07 47251570 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature." Tom Robbins
