MYTHIX Founder, Peter Gottesman. Driven by passion, guided by science and a desire for results.

MYTHIX was founded by Peter Gottesman, an idealist and pragmatist who holds a history degree from Columbia University, an MBA from Babson College, and has studied wildlife management and ecology in locales such as Kenya and Costa Rica. Mr. Gottesman has traveled extensively and met with leading conservationists in India, China, Nepal, Russia, Japan, Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Mexico, The Seychelles, The Caribbean, New Zealand, Hawaii, Europe, Madagascar, South Africa, Canada, Alaska and more. Peter's love of the natural world was clear at age 5 by his fast-growing collection of fossils and minerals which he eagerly showed to friends. By age 8, Peter had joined the Paleontological Society of New York's American Museum of Natural History, with whom he traveled to various states on excavations, chisel in hand, accompanied by his father.

Message from our founder:

"Our Scientists Will Help Us."

“No one in their right mind would allow anyone but a trained surgeon to operate on them – yet we have allowed everyone but biologists (i.e. corporations, politicians, private individuals) to make the most consequential, far-reaching conservation decisions for our planet. Our magnificent living planet has been painfully carved up by novices, with little ecological planning. The result is that thousands of our most beautiful animals, of both land and sea, are now needlessly imperiled. This irrational behavior must change, as it harms ourselves.

"We are not separate from nature – we are part of the Earth, its plants, rivers and animals, and they,
are an integral part of us." – Peter Gottesman


We must make certain our world's greatest biologists are given the financial resources and authority to be at the forefront of critical conservation decisions. Indeed, those with the greatest power to help all of us, are virtually powerless: Today, although ecological issues are of man's greatest concerns, conservation biologists receive scarcely any of the trillions of dollars which our vast economy generates.

If a fraction of the marvelous energy, financial resources, intellectual power and creative power unleashed in capitalism were directed to empowering our finest biologists to implement known conservation solutions – we could save all our wonderful animals and ecosystems. In addition to saving beautiful forms of life (which intrinsically deserve to live), protecting our planet's ecosystems would safeguard our own health, ensure a long-lasting, safe supply of important food sources (i.e. tuna – now dangerously overfished and polluted with mercury), and ensure that a potentially endless supply of new medicinal drugs derived from plants and animals of land and sea (of which we have barely scratched the surface) is not lost to us. For indigenous people, and for all of us, no matter where we live, the animals, rivers, oceans, forests and plants around us are also an integral part of our daily lives, who we are, and of our history, literature, art, festivals, masks, foods – and way of life.

Peter plots strategy with his feline Board of Directors.



Animals also inspire us, and are a vital part of our cultural identity – from the incredible double-winged maneuvers of dragonflies which have inspired new aeronautic designs, to the endangered tigers, tortoises and whales which fill our paintings, sculptures, mythologies, fables, folklore and sacred texts. Our finest fantasy literature (i.e. Alice in Wonderland, Narnia, Harry Potter) and science fiction, and our favorite children's tales (i.e. Winnie The Pooh, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Pinocchio – woodpeckers attacking Pinocchio's nose, Fox & Cat, talking cricket, wolf, Puss' N 'Boots, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and Just So Stories, Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, and Disney's Finding Nemo and The Lion King) all reveal our love of animals. In popular film, our wondrous, critically-endangered orangutans, chimpanzees and gorillas inspired Charlton Heston's 'Planet of the Apes' and massive 'King Kong.' If we lose any of our animals, we lose a part of ourselves, our culture, we lose fantastic scientific, technical and medicinal knowledge...and our ability to wonder.

Our most beloved cartoon characters and puppets (i.e. Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Curious George, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and Snuffalufagus – whatever they are, Wile E Coyote, Road Runner, Pepe Le Pu, Donald Duck, Goofy, Tom & Jerry, Sylvester & Tweety, Magilla Gorilla, Chilly Willy, Woody Woodpecker, Felix the Cat, the lovably-spastic Tasmanian Devil – now incredibily endangered in the wild, and our most imaginative comic book heroes (i.e. Batman, Spiderman, Wolverine, Aquaman, Hawkman, Tarzan of the Apes) are a testament to our empathy for animals, and the inspiration we draw from them all.

Our favorite music reveals how passionately we are bound to nature – and (like the fables of Aesop and La Fontaine) reveals how deeply we see ourselves reflected in animals and nature: The Beatles: Blackbird, Mother Nature's Son, Octopus's Garden, The Rolling Stones: Wild Horses, Bette Midler: The Rose, Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Beethoven: The Moonlight Sonata,
Mozart: The Magic Flute (featuring bears, frogs, parrots, and a prince pursued by a serpent), and Johan Strauss: Die Fladermaus (The Bat). Perhaps when the best-selling musical act of all time, THE BEATLES, is named for iridescent creatures of the forest...it's a hint from above that we should be more in tune with nature?

Our passion for animals shows itself in the most popular video games of all time – Donkey Kong, Frogger, and Sonic the Hedgehog! And clearly, our sports teams reveal we feel animals and nature are often our best representatives of greatness and grace: NFL: Eagles, Seahawks, Falcons, Cardinals, Panthers, Jaguars, Lions, Bengals (Bengal Tigers), Dolphins, Colts, Buffalo Bills, Rams, Broncos and Bears; MLB: Tigers, Blue Jays, Orioles, Marlins, Cardinals, Rays (devil/manta rays), Diamond Backs (rattlesnakes), Colorado Rockies (mountain range);
NBA: Grizzlies, Bobcats, Hawks, Timberwolves, Hornets, Bucks, Bulls, Raptors (little dinosaurs), Suns; NHL: Penguins, Panthers, Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Maple Leafs, Hurricanes, Lightning. MLS: Red Bulls, Colorado Rapids, Earthquakes, FC Dallas (bull logo).

A fantastic array of animals and landscapes are here for us to enjoy – we should enjoy them! We should enjoy our natural areas as places to relax, reflect, and feel replenished. Our animals should inspire us in all we do – science, art, music (i.e. birdsong), athletics (i.e. cheetahs), dancing (i.e. graceful dolphin 'ballet' & amusing 'Dancing Lemurs'), romance (i.e. swans), parenting (i.e. elephants, orangutans, doting mother birds)...industriousness (i.e. beavers & bees), resourcefulness...taking on challenges...frolicking (i.e. bear cubs & tiger cubs)... cuddling...and showing bravery! (i.e. lions). We should marvel at the extraordinary creatures among us, point and laugh at the ridiculous ones, eat some of the tastier ones, pet some we have befriended, envy their athletic feats, parental devotion and amusing courtship rituals...and listen to their beautiful songs. The world we live in would be far less awe-inspiring and healthy without them all. We can protect them – and we should protect them. Our scientists will help us. We have foxes, lions & bears – all with different-shaped ears and noses, soft fur and sparkling eyes...Seahorses!...magenta and purple corals…glittering schools of fish…azure frogs…tiny golden monkeys with moustaches…soaring eagles...and red-capped birds who dance. It is an amazing world.”

– Peter A. Gottesman

SEE VIDEO OF MOONWALKING BIRD!

Kimberly Bostwick, Ph.D., shows how the male Red Capped Mannequin moonwalks to attract a mate in the jungles of Central America.