ARKive is the Noah's Ark for the Internet era - a unique global initiative, gathering films, photographs and audio recordings of the world's species together into one centralised digital library.
ARKive is leading the 'virtual' conservation effort - finding, sorting, cataloguing and copying the key audio-visual records of the world's animals, plants and fungi, and building them into comprehensive multi-media digital profiles.
Using films, photographs and audio recordings, ARKive is creating a unique record of the world's biodiversity – complementing other species information datasets and making a key resource available for scientists, conservationists, educators and the general public.
Films and photographs are an emotive, powerful and effective means of building environmental awareness – they can show what a species looks like and why it is special. As such, they are a valuable educational resource and conservation tool.
Continued habitat destruction and the rise in extinction rates also mean that for many species, films, photographs and audio recordings may soon be all that remains. They are, therefore, important historical and scientific records of the species they depict.
This material is, however, scattered around the world, held in a variety of commercial, specialist and private collections, much of it inaccessible to the general public and unavailable for scientific and educational use. Like the wildlife they depict, the images of these rare species are themselves endangered, with no guarantee that they will survive for future generations. Many records have already been lost forever, with companies basing storage decisions on commercial, rather than scientific, cultural or historical values. Privately owned materials, sometimes of considerable significance, may also be lost or discarded following the death of their owner. ARKive is bringing these important records together in one place for safe-keeping.
ARKive is a not-for-profit initiative of Wildscreen (www.wildscreen.org.uk), a UK-based charity, whose mission is to promote conservation through wildlife imagery.
Wildscreen's principal initiatives are the Wildscreen Festival (www.wildscreenfestival.org), the world's largest and most prestigious wildlife and environmental film festival, WildPhotos (www.wildphotos.org.uk), the UK's leading nature photography symposium and WildFilmHistory (www.wildfilmhistory.org), an online guide to the pioneering people and landmark productions behind one hundred years of wildlife filmmaking.
The ARKive project is also supported by Wildscreen USA, Inc., a non-profit organisation based in Washington, DC.
Wildscreen USA is spearheading US efforts in support of the global ARKive project - coordinating work with leading media and environmental groups located in the US, developing strategic partnerships with US-based technology providers, and working to continue to grow ARKive's substantial US audience.
The visionary behind ARKive was the late Christopher Parsons OBE, founder of Wildscreen, former Head of the BBC Natural History Unit, IMAX film producer and creator of Wildwalk at-Bristol. Through the activities of the Wildscreen Festival, Chris realised the scientific and historical importance of creating a centralised collection of natural history films and images, preserved and maintained for future generations. The original feasibility study was undertaken in the early 1990s but it wasn't until ten years later, with the advent of digital technology and the UK lottery funding opportunities, that his idea could become a reality.
ARKive is supported by a wide range of organisations and individuals and this support takes a variety of different forms.
Major broadcasters, the biggest film and photo libraries, conservation organisations and leading academic institutions have all been quick to recognise the importance of ARKive and the value of creating a central safe-haven for their material. They have been generous in their co-operation and donation of their most important records.
For a full list of media donors please see: ARKive media donors.
The project is also being backed by a broad range of conservation organisations and natural history institutions, including: BirdLife International, Conservation International, Natural England, Fauna & Flora International, IUCN (The International Union for Conservation of Nature), Natural History Museum London, RSPB, Smithsonian Institution, World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), World Conservation Society, WWF, and the Zoological Society of London.
The project is also financially supported by a range of different sponsors.
To help set ARKive up initially Hewlett-Packard contributed $2 million of hardware, software, professional and technical services. The project continues to develop through the support and vision of a range of sponsors and supporters.
For a more detailed list of ARKive funders please see our sponsorship pages.
It is ARKive's current aim to compile audio-visual records, where such media exists, for the 16,000-plus species currently threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species. Work is well underway on this task, with more species being continually added to ARKive.
If you know of films or photographs of endangered species, or are a species expert willing to provide species information or can authenticate our species texts, or would like to discuss financial donations to the project, then we would very much like to hear from you.
Please see: ARKive contacts.
And please tell all your friends and colleagues about ARKive!
Back to topARKive's short-term aim is to compile audio-visual profiles, where such media exists, for the 16,000-plus animals, plants and fungi currently threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species. Long term, it is ARKive's aim to compile audio-visual records for every species that has been filmed or photographed.
Please see ARKive's most wanted lists.
If you wish to nominate a threatened species, for which you know films or photographs exist, we would be delighted to hear from you.
Please see: ARKive contacts.
Initial work on ARKive's British Chapter was carried out in collaboration with Natural England, the Government agency that champions the conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places in England. The first 360 species were taken from Natural England's Species Recovery Programme (SRP). The next group of species covered by ARKive included those listed as Priority Species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. Then, in order to produce a comprehensive audio-visual record of Britain's rich natural history heritage, a selection of more common and familiar species were also chosen, in consultation with relevant wildlife and conservation organisations and species experts.
The species fact-files have been researched and written in-house by a team of qualified biologists. Our aim is to have all species information authenticated by relevant species experts. This authentication information is published on the website.
We would also like to thank Natural England, who contributed a number of the species information texts in the British Chapter.
If you are a species expert and would like to help with the authentication of the ARKive species information, we would be pleased to hear from you. Authenticators are acknowledged on-screen, with links through to relevant web activities.
Please see: ARKive contacts.
ARKive has an Accessions Advisory Panel, made up of eminent scientists and biologists. They have helped set the recommendations for the quantity and type of images that should be selected for each ARKive species. For each species, our aim is to build up a complete audio-visual profile of its life-history – its appearance, habitat and characteristic behaviours. For some species there are huge amounts of material to catalogue and select from, whilst for others there may only be one or two images in existence.
Research, review and selection of the available media is undertaken in-house by a team of qualified biologists, with the highest quality media being sought for each species.
We are always open to suggestions of species that should be included in ARKive. If you have media, or know of some that exists, for an endangered species that we have not yet covered in ARKive, or can add to the collections already in ARKive, then please do contact us.
Please see: ARKive 'terms of use'.
In summary:
The ARKive website acts as a showcase for image providers, showing full copyright details on-screen, contact details and links to each media donor's own web activities.
For any commercial use of materials, please contact the copyright owners directly and tell them that you saw the image on ARKive.
Any requests for images received by ARKive will be redirected to the relevant copyright owner.
Back to topARKive Education has a number of interactive games designed to encourage children to learn about plants, animals and conservation in a fun way.
ARKive Education is a resource bank for teachers and other educators who are interested in helping children to become more aware of wildlife and conservation issues. Making use of the stunning imagery available on the main ARKive website, ARKive Education provides downloadable, ready-to-use modules on a wide range of curriculum topics, suitable for geography, biology, environmental education and citizenship lessons.
Visit ARKive Education at: www.arkiveeducation.org.
The images found on all of the ARKive sites remain the copyright of the owner, and cannot be published or used for commercial purposes without prior agreement by the relevant copyright owner. However, they are available for internal private educational use by educators and students (for example they may be used in lessons, presentations, school projects etc).
Please see: ARKive website 'terms and use'.
Back to topThe ARKive website plays video in Flash format.
Most web browsers can play Flash video, but you may need to install a Flash plug-in specific to your browser. If a plug-in is necessary, you should be prompted to install the correct plug-in when you try to play an ARKive video.
If you have trouble installing the plug-in via the ARKive site, visit the Adobe Flash download page for further instructions and help.
The ARKive videos require at least version 8 of the Adobe Flash plug-in.
A broadband connection speed of at least 768Kb/s is recommended to play the ARKive videos at their highest quality. However, if you have a slower connection speed you will still be able to play the ARKive videos, but you may experience longer delays before video playback begins and video quality will be reduced.
Computers purchased new within the last 4 years should be able to play the ARKive Flash videos. Many earlier machines should also be able to play the ARKive videos satisfactorily.
ARKive videos are encoded for web playback at a variety of data rates. The data rate streamed to your computer should dynamically adapt to the speed of your internet connection, in order to reduce the chance of the video skipping or stuttering.
Some of the delay before playback is for the ARKive servers to detect the size of your available internet connection and select the most appropriately sized video for playback.
Your computer will also collect or 'buffer' an initial portion of the streamed video before beginning playback. This 'video buffer' enables you to watch an initial segment of the available video, while the rest is streamed in the background to your computer, thereby providing smooth video playback.
ARKive videos are encoded for web playback at a variety of data rates. The data rate streamed to you computer should dynamically adapt to the speed of your internet connection, in order to reduce the chance of the video skipping or stuttering.
However, if you experience problems, check that you are not downloading other content from the internet while you browse the ARKive website. Some hidden background processes such as Windows update or anti-virus updates may also cause your internet connection to slow down during video playback.
For information on the different ways to link to the ARKive website please see:
Linking to the ARKive website.
There are three main components to ARKive's technical infrastructure: