Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Celebrates its 50th Year Anniversary!

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.” ~Jim Fowler, Wild Kingdom Host and Conservationist.

Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom Celebrates 50 Years!

As a child, my brother and I looked forward to the nature and wildlife shows by Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. You have to remember back in the day (a long time ago is suffice to say) there were not 5,000 channels to choose from. We had like 12 channels and had to be happy with the selection – period. Luckily, we had great programs available through Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom which premiered on January 6, 1963. For 50 years now, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom has taken viewers to the far corners of the world and studied wild animals in their natural habitats.

I remember watching hosts Marlin Perkins, Jim Fowler and Peter Gros as they taught us about wildlife and conservation. The Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom programs were truly groundbreaking and helped to increase awareness about the world around us. As kids, we often dreamed that we were on the safari with the host, Marlin Perkins, and I envied when he was right in the mix of exotic adventures and places! But what a great program to offer us 70’s kids who could only dream of going to such places. The program definitely planted the seed in me to always appreciate wildlife in it’s natural habitat! And I enjoyed Marlin Perkins with his sidekick chimpanzee’s W.K (Wild Kingdom) and Mr. Moke.

How it All Began:

The original Wild Kingdom grew from discussions that started in 1962 between zoologist Marlin Perkins and V. J. Skutt, the chairman and CEO of insurance company Mutual of Omaha. The company had been the sponsor of an earlier animal-related show, Zoo Parade, that Perkins had hosted from 1952 until 1957. Also intimately involved with the creation of Wild Kingdom was Zoo Parade producer Don Meier, who was credited as the series’ creator.^[1] Mutual of Omaha sponsored and lent its name to the new program.

Wild Kingdom can be credited for increasing ecological and environmental awareness in the United States. Its exciting footage brought the wilds of Africa, the Amazon River and other exotic locales into the living rooms of millions of Americans. It created an interest in commercial nature programming that was a precursor to cable television networks such as the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. (Source: Wikipedia).

Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Today:

Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom was originally produced from 1963 until 1988, and thankfully was revived in 2002. The show’s second incarnation currently airs on Animal Planet in the U.S. While Wild Kingdom was a television pioneer, its reach extended well beyond TV as programs like Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Kids’ Summit, the Wild Kingdom Adventure Tour, Wild Kingdom on YouTube and personal appearances by Jim Fowler and Peter Gros reached new generations.

Below we see Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom host Peter Gros at an elementary school teaching the children about snakes. This service Peter Gros and Jim Fowler provide for schoolchildren is so important in their education! According to studies, children’s academic performance in science, math, English and social sciences increase when they have hands-on experiences with nature and the outdoors—not to mention their sense of ownership and responsibility to their surroundings. (Source: www.nwf.org)

Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom Releases an App:

Recently, Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom released a new app that is quite fantastic! My daughter and I had a great time playing with this app and had some fun adventures. The app is currently FREE at the moment and our review can be found here: https://melissanorthway.com/2013/06/app-of-the-week-my-wild-kingdom-by-mutual-of-omaha/. In celebration of their 50th year Anniversary, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom is offering a wild tote bag filled with sunglasses, t-shirt and much more! To enter to win one of 5 bags they are offering go to: https://melissanorthway.com/2013/06/mutual-of-omahas-wild-kingdom-50th-anniversary-giveaway/