Calling For Nemo in Redlands and Loma Linda, but Maybe He Can't Hear Me

My son loves all things Disney.

He loves the movies “Cars,” “Toy Story,” “Monster’s Inc,” Wall-E” and “Finding Nemo.”

We have toys of Nemo and Dori. I’m looking for a Crush or Squirt turtle to add to a pile of Lightning McQueens and Buzz Lightyears in his room. I check around the Redlands Target and Colton WalMart for Disney stuff all the time. By the way, forget looking for Wall-E stuff. Everytime I’m in the Redlands Target I FIND NO WALL-E (hint, hint.)

Today, when I read the headlines announcing the Nemo fish going deaf, all sort of funny comments popped into my, until I clicked on the story.

According to a May 30 story by BBC writer Richard Black, the Clownfish, which is the kind of fish Nemo and his father Marlin are in the film, seem to be losing their hearing in water which is slightly more acidic than normal.

How is it I only saw this story now?

“At levels of acidity that may be common by the end of the century, the fish did not respond to the sounds of predators,” Black writes. “The oceans are becoming more acidic because they absorb much of the CO2 that humanity puts into the atmosphere.”

Black based his story on the writings by scientists write in the journal Biology Letters. According to study, the failure to hear predators could hurt the fish's survival.

There is much more to Black’s story. But it struck a cord with me because for a while now, I keep hearing all sorts of bad news about the animals we watch in these Disney and DreamWorks films.

My son enjoys the Penguins of Madagascar. All sorts of penguin movies were made while the news was reported that the animals were losing their frozen habitat.

Then we have the panda, called the peaceful bear by conservationists. If the bears really knew Kung Fu, maybe the destruction of their habitat would have stopped a long time ago.

And as for DreamWorks' “Bee Movie” … you got it, climate change (and a few other factors) is affecting them. On a tour of a farm in Indio last year, I learned that there are beekeepers that travel from farm to farm with their bees to help pollinate some of the crops.

But that some keepers were having troubles with some of their hives.

It just seems insane. As I read the article, all I could think is, “I hope that pictures and animated films featuring are them are not the only way my son will have to know these animals.”