Let us develop respect for all living things. Let us try to replace violence and intolerance with understanding and compassion. And love.

I am living in the Africa I have always longed for, always felt stirring in my blood.

I do not want to discuss evolution in such depth, however, only touch on it from my own perspective: from the moment when I stood on the Serengeti plains holding the fossilized bones of ancient creatures in my hands to the moment when, staring into the eyes of a chimpanzee, I saw a thinking, reasoning personality looking back. You may not believe in evolution, and that is all right. How we humans came to be the way we are is far less important than how we should act now to get out of the mess we have made for ourselves.

When you borrow you plan to pay back. We're stealing from our children - so many people have no intention of paying back.

We are unique. Chimpanzees are unique. Dogs are unique. But we humans are just not as different as we used to think.

Just remember--if you are really and truly determined to work with animals, somehow, either now or later, you will find a way to do it. But you have to want it desperately, work hard, take advantage of an opportunity--and never give up.

However much you know giraffes, to see one in the wild for the first time feels prehistoric.