WILD Film Festival

The 10th annual New York WILD Film Festival took place last week at the Explorers Club. We saw five shorts and one feature-length documentary in a room on the club's 5-1/2 floor (yes, really). The surrounding memorabilia from club members --- including an array of taxidermized animals, a woolly mammoth tusk, and a rare specimen of double elephant tusks --- sometimes conflicted with the documentaries' environmentalist messages. Still, it was a day of science and nature at a building devoted to scientific exploration and expanding our understanding of the planet and all its biodiversity. 

On that note, perhaps the most amazing documentary we saw was devoted to parasites. Climate change may cause more than a third of the world's parasites to go extinct, with unfathomable ramifications. Every one of us plays host to parasites, but we may lose them before we fully understand what parasites do and --- hard as it might be to admit --- how they help. The Quest to Save Parasites is definitely worth a watch.    

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Explorers Club
46 East 70th, between Park and Madison Aves
see calendar for upcoming events