Meet the Mods: Africa, Oceans, & Bats

CamOp Ele

Moderates Africa Cams
Favorite Animal: Elephants have been my lifelong love
Favorite Live Cam Moment: That is a really tough question because every day there are wonderful moments on the Explore.cams The most touching moment I have seen in 4 years of watching as a viewer and operating cams is on the Brown Bear cam- observing the way bear # 451 and her biological cub stayed with, stood watch over and repeatedly visited the dying cub
Why did you want to become a mod for Explore? I love our Explore.org community of viewers and just wanted another way to connect and help out if possible

Ken Kurtis (AOP Dive Team) MOD

Moderates Aquarium of the Pacific Cams
Favorite Animal: Hard to say. I’m quite fond of Bubbles, our psychotic Spadefish in the Tropical Reef who sits right in front of our presentation mask waiting for us to exhale so he can swim through the exhaust bubbles (hence, his name) and who bites us on the head when we don’t exhale fast enough for his taste.

But I’m also rather fond of this male California Sheephead who was fascinated by his reflection in my camera port of by my camera because it’s hard (photographically) to get fish to look straight at an underwater housing since to them it looks like a big eyeball staring at them and any big eyeball staring at them usually means a big animal thinking about eating them. So I’m rather fond of this shot on both an animal behavior and animal trust basis, as well as it’s good photographically:

Favorite Live Cam Moment: On our Blue Cavern cam, we’re amazed at how fascinated our three Giant Sea bass (aka Black Sea Bass) are at staring at the cam. We don’t know if they see their reflection or what but they’ve certainly become camera hogs. Rumor is that they’re shopping for an agent a movie deal as well.

Why did you want to become a mod for explore.org? People have questions about what they see and, as a scuba instructor for almost 40 years now, I love answering said questions. Plus I believe that if we provide a forum for people to ask questions and get answers, not only will more questions be asked, not only will more learning and understanding occur, but also more people will be watching the cam since it then becomes a bit more interactive, and that will further promote learning and understanding about the ocean, and what a vital and unique role it plays in our existence on this planet.

CamOp Kelly

Moderates bears, big cats, eagles and bats
Favorite Animal: I really love penguins, owls, and elephants (well, to name a few)
Favorite Live Cam Moment: It’s so hard to pick one favorite moment on any one cam for me. I’ve had so many great moments on different Explore cams. I love watching the kittens play on Big Cat Rescue’s Kitten Cabana; I love to watch the bears at beginning of the season all the way to the end to see how big they get; watching the owls and eagles care for their babies and then watching them fledge; Cayman cam because it’s so relaxing–but always hoping to get to see a shark or stingray; bats for how they interact with each other. You name an Explore cam and I can tell you why it’s great to watch!
Why did you want to become a mod for explore.org? I wanted to be a mod for Explore because I love what Explore does by bringing amazing views and knowledge to so many people from all over the world. I also like to be able to help others by answering questions for viewers. It makes me happy to share with viewers knowledge that I may have on anything from how our pages work to what is happening in the views they see.

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