TERRA Guide videotapes are produced by TERRA Geographical Studies Inc. TERRA Geographical Studies Inc. has been in operation since 1979 providing environmental and educational expertise to a wide range of clients including universities, government agencies, public groups, and private companies. We have been planning the production of videotapes since 1984. In the last three years we have been devoting an increasing amount of our time to planning titles and shooting raw footage. Our staff consists of experienced professional biologists with teaching experience.
We are committed to providing the best quality tapes that we can. We use top-notch equipment to ensure that by the time the tape is duplicated on VHS tape the quality will be the best that can be attained on VHS. As other suitable media (e.g., digital versatile disc - DVD) become widely available, we will produce titles on these media. We do not consider CD-ROM to be a suitable medium because of its low storage capability.
We are also committed to providing truly educational tapes. These tapes are structured as courses to help you learn about the topics being covered. While we strive to make them as entertaining as possible, entertainment is not our main goal. We pack our tapes with a lot of data and use a variety of teaching approaches to help you learn and remember.
Finally we are committed to environmental protection. TERRA has provided a strong voice for conservation for 18 years and its staff for longer than that. That commitment is reflected in our tapes. We try to instill conservation values through the tapes. We will not disturb animals for the sake of a good shot. We take our shots from a long distance to ensure both natural behaviour and minimal disturbance. We avoid shooting in circumstance that might put the animals at risk (e.g., shots at nests or dens). All of our shots to date are of wild, free animals. If at some point in the future we need to show a species that we cannot shoot in the wild without putting it to some risk, we may use shots of captive individuals, providing that the individuals involved are well-cared for and in captivity because of some good reason. We will label any shots we use of captive animals.