ARKive – IMAGES OF LIFE ON EARTH.

This article provides information on the ARKive initiative which is currently changing the situation of motion picture preservation and is leading the virtual conservation effort in Great Britain, as of November 2004. Launched in May 2003, ARKive was the realization of a vision first conceived nearly 20 years ago, long before the technology was available to even attempt making such a project reality. ARKive is an initiative of Wildscreen, an educational charity which also organizes the biennial Wildscreen Festival, the largest and most prestigious wildlife and environmental film festival in the world, founded by Christopher Parsons and Peter Scott in 1982 to reward and encourage excellence in wildlife filmmaking and related media. Initial work on project design centered on the building of taxonomies and the idea of creating a species record. The information is arranged in two chapters. Chapter one is dedicated to British animals, plants and fungi--from the familiar to the rare and obscure. Chapter two, for globally endangered species, is only just beginning but currently covers 250 representative examples from the Red Lists of the World Conservation Union. Each portrait comprises video footage and stills photographs, backed by authenticated fact-files about the lifestyle, habitat, reproduction, survival strategies, threats of the life form and more.