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For Immediate Release, April 3, 2007

Contact: Peter Galvin, Center for Biological Diversity, (707) 986-7805

Endangered Species “Wallpaper” for Mobile Phones
Complements Popular Wildlife Ringtones
Endangered Species Ringtones Reach 60,000 Downloads in More Than 50 Countries  

TUCSON, Ariz.– The Center for Biological Diversity is now offering cool endangered species wallpaper as background screen images for your cell phone, available for free through www.rareearthtones.org. Wallpaper is an image used as a background on cell phone displays. The Center’s endangered species cell phone ringtones, also available for free download, have been so popular since they were unveiled in December that more than 60,000 people in over 50 countries have the endangered species calls on their cell phones.

The rareearthtones.org Web site features free ringtones of the howls, croaks, chirps, songs and calls, as well as photos of more than 50 rare and endangered animals from around the world. Ringtones and photos of the American pika and half a dozen endangered and rare North American birds were added today. The most popular ringtone sounds are the orca and Mexican gray wolf, with more than 10,000 downloads each so far.

“Now you can quickly and easily download a photo of your favorite endangered species and make it the screen image on your cell phone, for free,” said Peter Galvin, conservation director with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Download endangered species ringtones and wallpaper at no cost and help educate your friends and community at the same time.”

The American pika is a cute, tail-less relative of the rabbit about the size of a hamster that inhabits high elevation mountain peaks in western North America. As the climate heats up due to global warming, the pika is being forced to higher altitudes to find suitable habitats. The pika could be one of the first mammals to go extinct due to global warming, since it will soon have no alpine habitat left .

The Center’s free Web site at www.rareearthtones.org allows users to listen to ringtones, send them directly to their phones with one easy click, and download photos and fact sheets for each of the featured wildlife species. Users can also take action to save endangered species worldwide.

The ringtones include the songs of North American and tropical birds, croaks of dozens of rare amphibians, and calls of orcas and beluga whales. The hoots of over two dozen rare owl species are courtesy of the nonprofit Global Owl Project, a project to identify and conserve the planet’s owls. Among the new sounds added today are the whooping crane (North America) and Cory’s shearwater ( Western Europe).

The wildlife ringtones have been featured on ABC News, CNN, National Public Radio and in several dozen newspaper articles nationwide including Fox News, San Francisco Chronicle, Contra Costa Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, Stockton Record, Houston Chronicle and Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, science-based nonprofit organization that works to protect endangered species and wild places throughout the world. The Center has more than 35,000 members and ten offices throughout the U.S., with headquarters in Tucson, Arizona.


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