Emeril, The Gourmet Chicken

Emeril is not just the name of a famous gourmet chef, but also the name of a famous endangered green junglefowl, an Asian rainforest chicken who put on daily shows at the North Carolina Zoo. When we first laid eyes on this beautiful iridescent green and blue bird, we all agreed he looked too fancy to remain nameless. Then, he strutted right out onto the aviary walkway among a group of visitors not five minutes into his first moments on exhibit. He just walked right out to stand between myself and my fellow keepers. He cocked his head, puffed up his chest, and vocalized. I felt sure he was telling everyone how fabulous he was.

Then, his bright pink and purple crest fell lopsided over one eye like a French cap and someone said, “Bam! It’s Emeril, the gourmet chicken.” Bam! The name stuck. Emeril became our aviary emissary for teaching the public why it’s important to protect the rainforests. He was not at all shy, and loved to strut his stuff around the walkways even when the place was crawling with visitors. Most birds keep to the planters and the trees, but not Emeril. Much like his namesake, he wanted to be the center of attention, which made visitor education and interactions easy for us.

The staff decided it would be great to put together talking points around all the things we had in the exhibit that people used every day that originated or still came from rainforests and begin the conversation around Emeril whenever he chose to strut his stuff. What really surprised me was how much that little guy taught me through the educational programming we wrote. Until I started to research Junglefowl, I had no idea that all of the domesticated poultry we use today originated in the rainforest with these birds. Not only poultry, but most domesticated livestock including cattle originated in the rainforests. Of course, I knew that most of the fruits we eat like bananas, mangos, pineapples, all came from the tropical forests, but I didn’t realize that so too do most of our staple foods like corn, wheat, potatoes, and rice.

And let’s not forget the greatest unofficial food group, caffeine. Coffee is still grown in the rainforest because the steady climate is the best for producing the most beans. In fact, one who is interested in helping to stop some deforestation can easily purchase shade grown varieties of coffee from their local Starbucks or the grocery store. This means the plants are grown by companies who no longer clear cut the forest to plant their crops, but grow them under the canopy, which actually grows better beans. Tea is also a rainforest product discovered in Asia. But, the greatest of this food group is the Cacao bean from Central and South America, the very one that makes all things chocolate. Interestingly, this bean is also the oldest recorded form of human currency, once used by indigenous people to trade for gold and other valuables.

Speaking of gold, we come to one of the many reasons the rainforests are still disappearing at an alarming rate. Many of the gems, chemical compounds, and minerals we rely on today are mined in the rainforest, including gold, sliver, iron, diamonds, emeralds, and amethysts. The compounds found in abundance in these forests make every day items like plastics, computer chips, and cell phones. Rubber comes from the resin of a certain type of tree, as does chicle for making gum, copal for making varnish and printing ink, and dammar for making lacquer. I look around my office and I am astounded by how much I use from the rainforest every day, right down to the antique wooden desk where I sit, the aluminum can I drink from, and the computer I use to type this article. Even the Peace Lilly and the Christmas Cactus I have to brighten up the space are both rainforest plants.

It is perhaps the plants which are the most important reason for protecting these resourceful areas. The medical industry still relies heavily on plants from these forests to treat many of the world's most deadly and aggressive diseases. For instance, the only effective treatment for Malaria comes from the Quinine plant. Although several synthetic drugs have been created, all of these have lost their potency over time, and the industry has had to return to the plant time and time again to treat this disease. Ironically, mosquitoes originally lived only in the high canopies of the forest, and had we humans not cut the trees down, these Malaria infested pests may never have moved to our level, and we may never have needed the Quinine plant in the first place.

Regardless, Malaria is not the only disease doctors treat from rainforest plants. The National Cancer Institute says seventy percent of all plants used in cancer treatments come from the rainforest, and new plants with amazing properties are still discovered every year. The Aglaia leptantha of Malaysia has been found to effectively kill twenty types of cancer cells in laboratory tests, including those that cause breast cancer, brain cancer, and melanomas. The WWF says, in the last twenty years 422 new species of plants were discovered in Borneo alone, and most have yet to be tested for their medicinal properties.

Now, if these things don’t make us want to place a higher importance on protecting the rainforests, let’s look at some really important basics for the survival of the human race.

The rainforest is home to fifty percent of the plants on earth. We all know that plants create the very Oxygen we need to breathe. If the rainforests continue to disappear at the current reported rate of an area the size of a football field every second, or 31 million football fields a year, will there still be enough Oxygen to sustain us all? The rainforest also acts as the world’s thermostat by regulating its temperature and weather patterns. Perhaps all of the strange weather and catastrophic storms we have been witnessing have something to do with the clear cutting of huge areas of said thermostat.

But, things grow fast in the jungle, right? Won’t it all just grow back? Unfortunately, the soil is very thin in these areas and the amount of rain produced is astounding. For an example, one fifth of the fresh water of the world is found in the Amazon Basin alone, and that water comes from the rains. So, clear cut forest equals vulnerable soil that is washed away very quickly leaving nothing but barren rocks. It seems absolutely plausible that if we continue to destroy the rainforests without any thought for the future, we may just find ourselves on the same endangered list with Emeril and his Junglefowl family.

So thanks, Emeril, for strutting into my life and teaching me about all the things I get from the rainforests, gourmet chickens included. It has motivated me to be more thoughtful about what I use, purchase, and indulge in. Though, I am not perfect, and I still overuse rainforest items, I am also doing what I can to minimize my eco foot print, and I give back a portion of everything I make to environmental causes. One of those causes is the Jane Goodall Institute, who not only help save and protect endangered species, but work to better human health, and seek to empower future generations to protect the forests and wild places through the “Roots and Shoots” program.

I hope the lessons Emeril inspired me to share here will come home to roost with some of you. Perhaps, next time you see a chicken or indulge in eating their meat or eggs, you will think about Emeril and the rainforests and consider what you might do, no matter how small, to reduce your carbon footprints and make some small changes in even just one of the ways you may overindulge in rainforest products. Every act of kindness counts. Bam!