After the hullabaloo kicked up by Steve Irwin's crocodile-and-baby stunt last month, any doubt of the influence of nature program hosts has been dispelled, even for those of us who are not regulars of the NGC, Discovery or Animal Planet television channels.
For many around the world, pop biologists like Irwin are a bridge between the urban world we inhabit, and the world of nature that exists "out there." They are educators, role models and magicians who bring us into a world, which, while relatively close in actual distance, is often millions of kilometers away from our daily experience.
For Jeff Corwin, who visited Taiwan earlier this week to promote his program The Jeff Corwin Experience and a two-hour Jeff Corwin Specials scheduled to premiere in late March, teaching people, especially children, to understand the animal world around them, is one of the most important aspects of his job.
His ability to get his message across depends to a large extent on his appeal as a show host, and Corwin shows little false modesty when pinpointing the appeal of his show. "What makes the show special, is -- well -- me," he said.
For all the showmanship, Corwin, who has a master's degree in wildlife and fisheries conservation, takes his role as nature's spokesman seriously. Since adolescence, Corwin has been the champion of the underdog -- and those uncharismatic animals such as reptiles and spiders.
Now, as a well-known TV host, his range has been greatly extended. He now hobnobs with the aristocracy of the animal kingdom and is a friend of lions and leopards. But it's all part of the same message.
"Now I am able to use this pop culture connection to make people identify more closely with the natural world," he said. As an example of how alienated we are from the "natural" world, Corwin says that 90 percent of African children have never seen an African lion. It's no wonder they don't care much about its fate.
The use of animals as a source of "herbal" medicines and as entertainment raises Corwin's ire, and he speaks passionately about animal parts sold in Cambodia and orangutans smoking cigarettes in the back alleys off Bangkok's Patpong Road.
A special program in the series will also deal with the trafficking of animals, which Corwin sees, in large part as the result of "negative folklore," that has people believing they can acquire the powers of various animals by ingesting or otherwise using parts of their bodies.
"We have a tendency to apply artificial values to the natural world," Corwin said, speaking of how we insist on applying human values to the animal kingdom. "We need to create a sense of empathy."
So far, Corwin and others such as Steve Irwin, Bruce George, David Attenborough and Mark O'Shea, are fighting the good fight to make us more appreciative of the incredible beauty, diversity and complexity of the natural world that we more often than not try to keep at arm's length.
Jeff Corwin Specials will air on Animal Planet on March 29 from 8pm to 10pm. It will include one hour of humorous outtakes and background to the making of the Jeff Corwin Experience and an hour of highlights from previous series.
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