About Cathy Schieffelin

Hi, my name is Cathy Schieffelin and I live in New Orleans, LA with my family. I am an avid naturalist with a love for travel. I have 3 young children who are my inspiration for finding cool things in nature. I met my husband while working as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Comoros Islands (off the coast of East Africa). In the tiny island archipelago, I learned about Livingstone bats (largest bat species), ringed tailed lemurs, green sea turtles and Seychelles fruit bats.

I saw the everyday challenges that Comorians faced in feeding their large families, in an economically depressed country. I realized then that conservation isn’t just about preserving habitat for the animals. It’s about working with people who live in these areas to come up with solutions to overpopulation and resource management. That is what wildlife preservation and conservation is to me.

Wild Times Education Programs is designed to help bring the wild into the classroom through fun and interactive activities. I will provide a brief slide show and then engage the children in some hands-on learning activities. I am so excited to come and talk about the amazing things nature has to teach us. Did you know that elephants live in matrilineal societies? That’s right – the females rule the herd.  And in a herd, young elephants are kept in line by older siblings and aunties. This is how a strong herd survives – working together. I personally feel a special bond to elephants. I admire their family values.

As a mother I feel a responsibility for helping to preserve our planet for future generations. I would like for my children to be able to see a polar bear in the wild or to witness a sea turtle laying her eggs or to look into the eyes of a mountain gorilla. There are many extraordinary examples of animals working together to help each other. And one need not travel to the ends of the earth to experience that. I’d like to bring the wild to the classroom and to share my experiences and stories. That is the ultimate goal of Wild Times Education Programs – bringing the wild to you.

Over the past 20 years I have lived, worked and traveled to many different places; Colombia, Guatemala, Kenya, Alaska, South Africa, Uganda, Russia, Appalachia, etc. Most recently I spent time up in Manitoba, Canada learning about polar bears. This trip challenged me in ways I never imagined. The Arctic is a fragile and threatened land. But the animals that inhabit this harsh and desolate environment have so much to teach us. I want to share with children and adults alike, what we can do to help preserve wildlife and its habitat.

I do not profess to be an expert on wildlife or a scientist. But I have access to the most up to date information on the topics I’ll be covering. My goal is to create a presentation that makes children want to learn more about wildlife and how we can all protect it. I use visual aids and artifacts as much as possible and give participants and their teachers further reading materials, film and website recommendations.

Click here to view a list of presentations that I am able to do as of January/February 2011.  More presentations will be available soon.  If you have a suggestion or would like me to present on a certain topic, please let me know and I’ll see what I can put together.

---