After catching up a bit, we went through an original powerpoint presentation that I created with my own photos and those of international colleagues who have contributed rare photo IP to iFrogs for educational purposes.
IN addition to playing the 'find the hidden animal game,' Jonathan initiated excellent idea to go onto his iPad and then we worked on Google Earth to orientate ourselves and see the places where the photos came from, including looking at views taken by Google Earth users. I really think that Jonathan could be guided to become an integral part of the Google Earth team, or at least should keep his eye on National Geographic opportunities and Geographic Bee contests (one day at NGS HQ in DC I co-hosted a cohort of young explorers who won such a contest, aged ~8-17 at a temporary frogs exhibit, and I have published in the Nat Geo Kids magazine about frogs). I still have Google Earth Pro features I am keen to teach him (although he might already have that on your MacBook at home?).
So we explored animals mainly from Madagascar, Borneo and the ocean. Camouflaged taxa included insects, spiders, frogs, lizards, snakes, mammals, and fish such as seahorses. He already knew about seahorse reproductive biology. I was amazed at the speed at which Jonathan found all of the hidden animals, and even more impressed at his will to dig deeper and look into maps.
Finally, he shared a life goal: to photograph every snake that exists on Earth!
Perfect... so I left him eagerly exploring my friend and colleague Joel Satore's Photo Ark (embedded within National Geographic my parent company)- Joel has so far documented in HD some 11,000 different animal species with an emphasis on those threatened with extinction and one of his photos is in a NGS article about my research that we have not read yet. I left Jonathan with the Photo Ark links so that he could explore in more detail and this could hopefully keep him self-engaged for many hours of high quality education guided by his own curiosity. It was an honor to be able to share these resources with such a curious and capable student. He could make a huge difference in the field of wildlife conservation with his skills and passion for animals.