Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As most of you will know I have been obsessed with wildlife my whole life.  This is pretty much the reason I drag my wife Amber halfway round the globe every year to visit a rainforest; the reason I have a PhD in Zoology; the reason I have kept pretty much every exotic pet you could imagine; the reason I have been a long-term donor to the WWF's orangutan campaign; and the reason I now work as an Ecologist.

Many of you will also have noticed that I have an awful lot of hair on my head - the result of two years growth.  Anyway, I have decided to kick off 2013 by raising some money for a great cause: the Asian elephant.  I am shaving my hair off in support of the wonderful work being carried out by Elephant Family, a fantastic charity devoted to helping the Asian elephant, whose numbers have dropped by 80-90% over the last 100 years. 

I will be getting the hair removed professionally, so that it can be cut off in ponytails and donated to make wigs for cancer/alopecia sufferers, thereby doing a little something for people too.

Why elephants?  Well, Amber and I recently returned from honeymooning in Sri Lanka, where we were incredibly fortunate to have some wonderful elephant experiences: firstly with rescued elephants at the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage and secondly with wild elephants in the Yala National Park.  It would be fair to say that the elephants stole our hearts.  They are truly majestic, which is why it is so distressing to think that the future of Asian elephants in the wild is in jeopardy.

Elephant Family put the case forward pretty well on their website:

"This year the human population has reached seven billion. Accompanying this growth is the spread of human settlements, farming, mining and railways, all of which are carving up the forest homes of the Asian elephant, marooning wildlife in pockets of forest too small to support them. Deprived of their habitat, starving and stressed herds raid crops and trample villages – causing deaths on both sides. 

The long-term survival of the Asian elephant depends on diffusing such conflict and securing their corridors; ancient migratory routes that link one forest fragment to another. It’s an almighty challenge – but one we’re determined to meet."

Government conservation action so often focuses on creating national parks all over the place without giving any thought to connecting these pocket of habitat to one another.  Charities like Elephant Family really understand the importance of creating wildlife corridors to allow gene flow between populations that would otherwise be isolated and at risk from the negative effects of inbreeding.  I really love Elephant Family's approach to conservation andd the fact that the wildlife corridors they are creating help not just elephants, but a vast array of other species that use the corridors too.  Everyone wins.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

The big cut will take place at the end of January (date TBC), so please donate what you can and lets make a difference together.