Ruth Bratcher
California, USA

   I am Ruth Bratcher, and I am currently a psychology student.  I recently completed my Bachelor's degree, and I will begin my Master's degree in school psychology at Humboldt State University in the fall of 2006.  Some of my hobbies include playing the flute and piano, needlepoint, and stamp collecting.

   I have always loved animals.  When I was little I was often found watching various insects at recess, rather than playing on the playground.  My first pet was a mouse, and I have owned many other rodents, including rats, hamsters, rabbits, and guinea pigs.  Now I have a 13-year-old dachshund, a cat, and many goldfish and frogs that live in my pond.  Right now, I am writing cat breed profiles, and I plan to write profiles for other animals in the future.

Jasmine Brough
California, USA

   My name is Jasmine Brough and I am 23 years old. I recently received a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and am currently working in my field in Bakersfield, CA.

   I have been around with Animal-World since it was formed in 1997. I started working at Exotic Tropicals pet store - the precursor to the Animal-World website in 1994 - because I really enjoyed raising and owning small animals as pets as a child.

   I started working part-time on the website in the summer of 2003 doing simple research and documentation on different animals. Recently I picked up maintaining and editing the featured pets section of the website as well as doing other small jobs. I thoroughly enjoy it!

Justin Brough
California, USA

   My name is Justin Brough and I work on the Animal-World website. Prior to this I worked for about 10 years (since I was nine years old) at Exotic Tropicals, our local pet store. Currently I attend Cal Poly Pomona where I’am about to begin my fourth year majoring in Finance, Real Estate, and Law, with a minor in Political Science. My plans are to pursue a law degree after receiving my bachelor’s degree.

   I've always had a great interest in animals, since the first dog and cat that my family owned, up to the exotic toucan that we now have.  First and foremost however, I love felines of all shapes, sizes and colors. Cats are my favorite animal for a few reasons; they are clean, small, elegant, and above all… very, very CUTE!

Ken Childs
Tennessee, USA

   Let me tell you a bit about myself. I worked for an importer in Los Angeles for 22 years and recently retired from the fish business to setup a horse training and retirement facility in Tennessee. The horse business is really my wife's but she needs someone to keep the place in good condition.

   I do know a bit about keeping fish but really my years in the import business gave me the inside scoop on where the fish come from and how they are raised or collected.It also gave me access to a lot of cool fish and animals. Instead of keeping them as pets myself, I was content to take shots of the best stuff so I have an extensive collection of pictures.

Cheryl Galloway
North Carolina, USA

   All I wanted was a dog bone* Twenty years ago I stopped at a pet store to purchase dog bones and this big white feathered creature leaned over my shoulder and said "Home". What could I do but take him home, name him Sam and find out he was a Mollucan.  I did purchase a stand and left the store with Sam tucked under my right arm and held the stand with my left hand.   Sam ate breakfast lunch and dinner with me and I felt that it was a balanced diet and after all the pet store did not say to purchase seed or a cage and I never thought of it. After all I never purchased a cage for my other pets.  I did purchase a cage for Sam several months later when he ate all four of the 6 x 6 inch pillars in the dining room.

   Sam was very well behaved and the three dogs and five cats were terrified of this very large white bird, especially when he spread his wings, bobbed his head and screamed.  Somehow they all managed to get along sleeping on my bed though.  If I had to go to work, I always left Sam lunch and he thrived, learned to talk and was very affectionate.  The intelligence of this feathered being amazed me so much that I went and purchased another bird, then another and another and another.
   More birds joined our home.  Blue  and Golds, Scarlets, Greenwings, Camelot's, Verdi's, Red Fronts, Buffon's, Black Palms, Toucan's Queens, caiques and a little Panama Amazon that was two days old and I named him Peppy.  Peppy is now 24 and still runs the home.  He flies in my room and gets in my bed and yells "Wake up Ma"  **till I get up.  Of course then I have to brush his "teeth" and put a little makeup on him.  Then we go eat breakfast.
   I never liked any animal to be by themselves, so I always bought a second one as a friend for each.  You don't spay birds and so then you start having baby birds.  That led to Gems of the Sky, a move to five acres, incubators and licenses and inspections.
   Then I purchased Muntjac deer, fox, wallabies, smaller birds, monkey's and miniature horses.  My children begged me to please not tell anyone. That was the beginning of Gem's of the Sky and it was created to raise, breed, and sell exotic animals and I firmly believed those little feathered friends would never bite anyone.  They were raised individually with stuffed animals, music boxes, sleeping in the beds and carried to various stores. My family wound up raising over 160 parrots from a very young age, setting them up to breed and then feeding their babies.  No one has ever been bit. Our feathered friends do not go to the bathroom in the house.  They frequently crawl in bed with us and play tricks.  We have had our problems. For example, Samurai learned how to break out of any cage and then he would break out of the home walking the block to the bus stop to meet the kids coming home from school.
   I still have never gotten over or come to grips with the intelligence of these creatures.  Their companionship has provided me with years of pleasure and laughter.  Their love is unselfish and forgiving.  You just have to learn that you are trainable and listen and do what they tell you.
   Prior to that I had the normal job and ran a computer company which I sold in 1987 and retired. I have a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics from Lycoming College and a Bachelors in Psychology from the University of Florida.

Russ Gurley
Minnesota, USA

   Russ Gurley was a founding member of the American Federation of Herpetoculturists and worked as its Art Director in the early days. He has kept and bred a wide range of herps including snakes, geckos, skinks, and other lizards, and now devotes most of his time to keeping and breeding turtles and tortoises.

   Russ is an author and director of the Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group, a group of turtle and tortoise breeders dedicated to producing the world's rarest species. The TTPG hosts TURTLE NIGHT at the National Reptile Breeders Expo each summer. Russ travels extensively photographing turtles and enclosures and digs deep into captive breeding programs around the world to gain new ideas and methods for the best way to keep and breed turtles. Russ's personal turtle breeding programs have an emphasis on species from South America, Africa, and Madagascar. The TTPG breeders cover all the bases with some keepers specializing in North American species, others in Asian and Southeast Asian species, and more.

   Russ is the author of a dozen books including Keeping and Breeding Freshwater Turtles, Baby Turtles, Turtles in Captivity, SULCATAS and Other Popular Tortoise species, and The African Spurred Tortoise in Captivity.

Martin Kandilas
Australia

   Born in Sydney, Australia in 1950, I reside near Cronulla Beach, a southern suburb.  I have always been interested in photography, as my father was a very accomplished photographer and I learned at a young age to develop B/W prints in his friends' small home darkroom.  Over many years, with trials and many errors I slowly learned about capturing and working with that elusive light that we all need to make a nice picture.  For several years I did part time wedding photography and after some years in the Police Force I became a private investigator.  I use a camera nearly every day to photograph accident / incident scenes and also undertake some photogrammetry.

   I started scuba diving in the late 1960's and by the late 1970's I had an underwater housing and a Nikon F2.  Then came various strobes and other gear.  I was lucky to be able to travel through the South Pacific for many years capturing thousands of images, both above and below the surface. It was a wonderful journey.

   I was fortunate to be a judge for several years of the prestigious Australasian Underwater Photographer of the Year Awards, and in 1981 was awarded an Honorable Mention, and in 1986 was awarded Third Place (I didn't judge those years!). Over nearly three decades I acquired a succession of Nikon cameras and various lenses and have gradually adapted to the use of big telephotos.   I don't dive as much these days as my kids take up a lot of my time, but can now concentrate more on land photography.

   Having always been an outdoor person, and with the amazing and unique wildlife and bird life in Australia I've had a new lease of life in starting to capture images of these wonderful creatures.  I particularly love bird photography and in our backyard we often have eight or nine different species. I started using digital about 12 months ago, and this was another big learning curve.

Sandra Lloyd
California, USA

   I am Sandra Lloyd, a photographer for Animal-World. I attend a wide variety of animal shows and have taken many pictures, especially dog and cat pictures.  I am a native of Ridgecrest, CA and lived there for my entire childhood.  I moved down south to attend the University of California, Irvine and where I am about to begin my fourth year as Neurobiology major.

   Back when I was in Ridgecrest I was involved in a plethora of activities, some of which are volleyball, drama, singing, and horseback riding.  I owned my own horse for a while and got very involved with the local Pony Club, an organization for young riders who want to learn English riding and jumping.  This led me to my current career goal to become an equine veterinarian because I love being outside and working with horses. I am very excited about this and I have been volunteering with an equine veterinarian in Ridgecrest and am employed with a small-animal clinic in Irvine. I am fun and maybe too energetic at times, easily excitable, and love to eat food.

Liz Lukan
Pennsylvania, USA

   I am a woman who wears many hats. I am a stay-at-home Mom with two kids which, of course, comes with it's own collection of hats to wear. Along with my partner, I run High Aspirations, Inc. www.highaspirationsinc.com, a web design business.

   Pets have always surrounded me. As a kid we had cats, dogs, hamsters, a rabbit, parakeets, canaries, cockatiels, a turtle, a lizard, frogs, and tadpoles. My brother and I even kept spiders we caught around the neighboring yards. Finally, and last but not least, a 10-gallon tropical fish tank. I can still picture it in my head - neons, mollies, swordtails, kissing fish (my Mom loved those guys), and two of the biggest, fattest goldfish I've ever seen. I know, goldfish in a tropical tank, what were my parents thinking? What did they know at the time, what did any of us know back in the 70's about fish keeping - things sure have changed.

   My brother got me hooked on saltwater sometime in the 90's. The reef tank had to have a trickle filter but no skimmer. That was the way things were done then. Doesn't matter, I was hooked. I moved my goldfish from my 55 gallon to a 20 gallon and converted that 55-gallon into a reef tank. I read everything I could, researched new purchases, problems, and how-to's online, joined newsgroups, mailing lists, and more.

   I publish Fish 'N' Chips (http://www.marinefiends.com/), a free monthly marine newsletter for reef and fish-only saltwater hobbyists. I discovered that there wasn't much information available that would come to me - I had to search it out, piece it together, and go from there. At that point I thought, if I'm doing this for myself already why not put it all together so I can help others in similar situations? So, with my husband Daniel's help as editor, advisor, sounding board and all-round encourager, Fish 'N' Chips was born with its first newsletter published in November 1998. It's been around ever since, and like that saltwater tank, I was hooked.

Carrie McBirney
Nevada, USA

   I am 36, lived in NE Ohio until I was 30 and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2000.  I have always loved the animal world in general and was glued to the TV for every episode of that weekly animal show "Wild Kingdom".... it was sponsored by Mutual of Omaha...ring a bell?

   We have had our own wild kingdom growing up to the point my brother would answer the phone "Dunbar Zoo"!  That was when we had a cat, fish, a lizard and 2 hamsters.  Not a zoo by other people's view, but it was in my mom's eyes!  She was such a sport!  I have always loved cats, bred long haired hamsters for a short time...I mean LONG haired baby, as in front to back!  I have not seen one like those since the late 80's!

   I have always had freshwater tanks from about 7th grade up on and off through the years.  I started into a Marine tank in April of '05 after a TON of research!  Only mistake was adding crushed coral!  After watching a poor peanut worm die (a hitchhiker on my LR) I switched over to sand.  I try to not make mistakes with purchases and I have done a LOT of reading re: fish compatibility coral/fish, coral/coral, well, you get the idea.

   I do more research on one type of fish or coral than most people did on their entire tank full of fish.  Just because I am nuts!  No really, I am!  Once I start learning about a creature I will take in everything I can and read anything, talk to people who have had one, just to really understand the creature I have chose to keep for my enjoyment and their welfare.  Okay, I am not a fanatic, taking them where ever I go in a fishy tote, and I will not cancel an appointment because I forgot to feed them one morning, nor will I write them in my will, although I will be devoted to their care and be darned if I stand there and let some moron in a LFS tell someone that a 5" maroon clown is a mellow fish just to make a sale!

   My husband and I will be married 19 years on July 11 this year.  We have discovered off roading and this discovery (well, before he chopped the top off) is currently being featured in 2 national off roading magazines!  4 wheeling and off road I think they are called. We have 10 and 14 year old daughters (the 14 year old is graduating high school this year!)  I got her started on developing a freshwater-planted tank. She loves her blenny, fire-belly newt, and African frog. The 10 year old, we are hoping can keep just one betta for now!  She loves it, and we are starting her off slow!

Gary Miller
Arizona, USA

   I was born June 17, 1945 in Cincinnati, Ohio. We lived in a small town called Cheviot, Ohio. In 1957 my folks transplanted us to Phoenix, AZ, which has been home ever since. In 1957 while at the Railway Express office with my father, I noticed an injured feral pigeon. While my dad was in the office, I caught the bird and hid it in my jacket and took it home. When I arrived home I made a makeshift cage and thus the beginning of my pigeon keeping.

   While in the Boy Scouts, they offered a Pigeon Keeping Merit Badge and an elderly gentleman provided Racing Homer pairs for those that were interested. I jumped at the chance. I still didn't know a whole lot about pigeons other than they were neat birds. An older boy really conned me and traded 8 feral pigeons for my 4 Racing Homers. I thought I was really getting a deal. I met Mr. E. S. McSweeny, who I had heard of and finally got to meet. He helped me get rid of all of my feral pigeons and introduced me to the world of Fancy Pigeons. Mac became my mentor.

   As a promise to Mac, I was to learn all I could about pigeons and become an all breeds pigeon judge. Becoming an all breeds pigeon judge is a never-ending learning experience as standards change constantly. I have raised many breeds of fancy pigeons over the years. At present I raise Old German Owls, Old Dutch Capuchines, Brunner Pouters, and Racing Homers. In 1983 I got started racing Racing Homers and have ever since.

   I belong to many clubs and hold offices in many of them. I am Race Secretary for the Phoenix Racing Pigeon Club as well as their Secretary/Treasurer. I am the President of the West Valley Combine racing pigeon organization, past Vice President of the Old German Owl Club, Secretary/Treasurer of The American Friends of the Brunner Cropper club, Past President of the North American Capuchine Club, Past Show Secretary and now current President of the Arizona Pigeon Club. I am also the Superintendent of the Pigeon Exhibit for the Arizona State Fair and have been since 1990. I also belong to the International Federation of Racing Pigeon Fanciers, the Arizona Federation of Racing Pigeon Fanciers and the National Pigeon Association.  My favorite color in pigeons is Andalusian (spread Indigo). I have that color in every breed of pigeon that I raise and have recently introduced that color in Old German Owls. I have been employed by the U.S. Postal Service since Oct. of 1970 and have been eligible to retire since June 17, 2000. I haven't as yet decided to give it up. I married my childhood sweetheart, Carol, in 1971. We have 3 children:  James, Timothy, and Corrine and now 7 Grandchildren.

   My goal for the future is that I can make the Arizona Pigeon Club a very reputable club that could be the forefront of all pigeon organizations. I want children to know that pigeon raising is a good hobby, keep the juniors showing pigeons and even racing them, and help juniors learn pigeon raising is a fun and educational experience.

Monica Rearick
Virginia, USA

   My name is Monica and I live in good 'ol Virginia.  I'm seventeen and haven't moved once in my life, which is probably the only reason mom's allowed me to have so many animals.  I work in a local mom and pop pet store and have been there for about a year and a half now.  I have a large enough collection of animals to start charging admission, or at least to have them help me feed the gerbils, haha.

   I breed parakeets, cockatiels, leopard geckos, and gerbils, and will start breeding poison dart frogs in May and corn snakes when they mature (probably not for another two years or so).  I have tons of other animals, naturally, but my room is only so big! 

   I hope to go for a biology or zoology major and I hope to find sponsors for my exotic animal shelter in the Tidewater area. I opened it because none of the shelters locally will accept any exotics and they are thus either released into the wild or euthanized.  I hope to be able to make a difference, even if it’s only in my area.

aising is a fun and educational experience.

Todd Richardson
Montana, USA

   It's not so much the animals that drove me to work on Animal-World, but more the technical aspect.  Don't get me wrong, animals are fascinating and my pet piranha, Hubert, was the greatest.  But when you have thousands of unique pages with thousands more being served up.  Well, nerds get excited at the possibilities.
    I started this computer career before there was an internet.  When the closest thing to file sharing was to bring a  stack of punch cards or ribbons to your friends house on your bike.  Fortunately these darkened days of old are passed and in only a hundredths of a second anyone can find themselves connected to the rest of the world.
    Animals have tons of information that is just waiting to be discovered, evaluated, and eventually understood.  As vast as the information is at Animal-World, there are always more animals waiting to be discovered.  That is why I am involved in the project.

  "Todd's the guy who goes the mile, always bearing his winning smile, and as we know that's just his style."

Greg Rothschild
California, USA

   Greg grew up in Southern California in the 60's and 70's. His family took vacations once a year to places like Yosemite or the Sequoias and that's where his love for nature started. While working as a sound technician for television and movie production his passion for the outdoors was fueled by taking trips every spring, summer and fall to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, southern Utah and northern Arizona, the Colorado Rockies, the Oregon coast and many of the lesser known wild places in the western U.S.

   It was on a fall day in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado that his interest in photography started. "I'd hiked out to the edge of a mountain and was enjoying one of the most magnificent sunsets I'd ever seen-- a 14,000 foot snow-capped mountain covered with golden aspens, a flaming red sky behind... and a point and shoot camera that wouldn't work! Right at that moment I decided to buy a good camera and learn how to use it."

   In the mid-90's Greg got his first saltwater aquarium. The hobby turned into a passion just as great as his love for the outdoors and photographing the tanks inhabitants was a natural thing to do. "Now I had subjects to photograph right in my own living room - no need to fly (or drive) a thousand miles to take pictures!” Nowadays Greg moderates the photography forum on Reef Central, the world's biggest bulletin board for saltwater aquaria and his photos are used throughout the saltwater aquarium industry.

Julia Stepro
California, USA

Hiroyuki Tanaka
Japan

   I was born in Miyazaki in July, 1954. Today I am a medical doctor, practitioner, and director of my own clinic in Miyazaki City. I have a strong interest in marine aquarium fishes, including angelfishes, butterflyfishes, damselfishes, wrasses, and more. My other strong interests include tropical and sub-tropical fruits (especially in custard apples) and standard music

   I have photographed many marine aquarium fishes both in homes and at retailers. At present my stock of photos is some 3000 in total and some of these have been shown on several websites in the USA and in Germany. I have contributed to several recent marine fish books with my own photos, knowledge, and experience.

   My first marine fish book Angelfishes was published by Helmut Debelius, Hiroyuki Tanaka & Rudie Kuiter in 2003.   I have written over 70 marine fish articles that have been contributed to Tropical Fish Hobbyist (USA), Fish Magazine / Marine Aquarist / Tropical Marine Aquarium, Salt&Sea (Japan),  and AQUA (Thailand).

   I have been keeping marine fishes for more than 32 years and now am concentrating on keeping and studying fairy & flasher wrasses.  One of the present dreams is to publish a book on Cirrhilabrus, Conniella & Paracheilinus. I have produced a CD on them but the book is still in progress.

   My first scientific paper on marine fish species (as a second author) described a new dottyback Pholidochromis cerasina, with Dr. Antony C. Gill.   Another dottyback Lubbockichthys tanakai Gill & Senou (Tanaka's Dottyback) was named after my family name.  Now I am preparing several papers on new species with some ichthyologists.

Denise Taormina
Michigan, USA

   Hello, my name is Denise Taormina. My husband Joe and I have been breeding birds off and on for about 15 years. We live in Clinton Township, Michigan, where we have a small home based aviary.  We have 3 human kids, Anthony 22, Sam 20, and Sandra 17, and many FIDS – “furred & feathered kids”. We currently breed Parrotlets, Lineolated Parakeets (Linnies), and Canaries. Our web site has been very successful and we are very proud of the work we have done with it, www.affaviary.com.

   I am happy to be associated with a quality site like animal world, and proud to be part of the writing staff.

Mike Thorpe
Utah, USA

   I live in Salt Lake City, Utah with my wife Reba and our two kids Rachael (7) and James (3).  Other members of the family include Bo (our Yorkshire Terrier), Cookie (she's a Maltese-poodle mix), and our two frogs who watch us eat from their bowl on our kitchen table.

   When I'm not contributing graphics to Animal -World (a site my family and I love to visit) I'm usually having fun with the kids, playing video games, or spending time at my job where I work to provide services to people with disabilities.

"Yvonne"
Utah, USA

   My introduction to the world of animals was far from exceptional; I colored in their outlines during preschool and covered my things with their neon and sparkly cartoon stickers.

   My contact with real animals would come not long after, because I begged for a pet. But, deprived of all things furry, terrified of the dinosaur descendants, intimidated by the avians, I was left with fish. The first tank I could call my own was the typical two goldfish ten gallon.

   Fast forward to today, and I find myself with three established tropical freshwater tanks, that have seen years worth of fish and ever changing jungles of aquarium plants. I’ve also gotten the status every fish keeper dreams of: becoming one of the regulars at my local fish store.

   Like everyone, I’m still learning, but over the years I’ve seen a lot, so I definitely have some stories to tell