By Miriam Roth
When Josiah Utsch ’24 was 11 years old, his grandmother sent him a New York Times article about how the nautilus, Utsch’s favorite animal, was going extinct. Utsch was devastated and decided he wanted to help protect them. In researching what organizations might already be dedicated to the cause, Utsch found nothing.
“Before the New York Times article, I don’t think anyone knew anything about it. It was practically an unknown issue,” says Utsch. “I mean, I’ve seen biologists who worked their whole life to protect endangered fisheries. They have nautilus shell-laden toilets in national parks. So even prominent environmentalists have no idea, and if they don’t know then the public really had no hope. After weeks of searching, I was kind of desperate.”
Utsch reached out to Professor Dr. Peter Ward, a paleontologist and professor of Biology and Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington who was quoted in the NY Times article, to see if there was anything he could do to help. Ward, one of the world’s leading nautilus researchers, explained that there wasn’t any kind of organization specific to the preservation of the nautilus, but that if Utsch felt passionately about the issue, he should start something. Thus, Save the Nautilus was born.
