Zoo News Digest 26th May 2018 (ZooNews 996)
26th May - 3rd Jun 2018
This is ZooKeeping
Peter Dickinson
elvinhow@gmail.com
Dear Colleague,
I know nothing about
Vaalwater Predator Park but I do know that the owner was devastated to see his
big cats poisoned. I hope we learn more of this tragedy soon.
The animal
collections in Bali have rather got it in the neck this week and possibly some
of them quite rightly so. It is some years since I was in Bali and I only
visited the two collections which I have written about before in The Zoo Hubs.
I did not visit the Elephant Park but I do recollect a huge sign which said "The Elephant Safari Park has been named the "Best Elephant Park in the World" by (Crocodile Hunter) Steve Irwin."
I wonder?
There is much more
of interest in the links below.
"good
zoos will not gain credibility from their critics until they condemn the bad
zoos wherever they are." Peter Dickinson
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Did You Know?
ZooNews Digest has over 78,000 Followers on Facebook( and over 78,000 likes) and has a weekly reach often exceeding over 350,000 people? That ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 823 Zoos in 154+ countries? That the subscriber list for the mail out reads like a 'Zoos Who's Who?'
If you are a subscriber to the email version then you probably knew this already. You would also know that ZooNews Digest pre-dates any of the others. It was there before FaceBook. It was there shortly after the internet became popular and was a 'Blog' before the word had been invented. ZooNews Digest reaches zoo people.
I remain committed to the work of GOOD zoos,
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Did You Know?
ZooNews Digest has over 78,000 Followers on Facebook( and over 78,000 likes) and has a weekly reach often exceeding over 350,000 people? That ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 823 Zoos in 154+ countries? That the subscriber list for the mail out reads like a 'Zoos Who's Who?'
If you are a subscriber to the email version then you probably knew this already. You would also know that ZooNews Digest pre-dates any of the others. It was there before FaceBook. It was there shortly after the internet became popular and was a 'Blog' before the word had been invented. ZooNews Digest reaches zoo people.
I remain committed to the work of GOOD zoos,
********
*****
***
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A Vaalwater predator park owner was distraught to
discover four of his beloved big cats were poisoned in the early hours of
Friday morning.
Justin Fernandes
posted an emotional video on his personal Facebook page showing how he
discovered three poisoned lions and a tiger at their Jugomaro Predator Park in
Limpopo.
Describing it as the
worst nightmare of his life, Fernandes can be seen repeatedly wiping away his
tears.
Speaking to camera,
Fernandes said they were alerted to trouble at 02:00am on Friday morning when
one of their wolves started "barking". While walking around the park,
Fernandes saw one of their lions, Elvis biting on the gate.
"I thought his
jaw was actually stuck in the gate. We got the got they keys and moved him
away. As I moved him away, we saw there was something wrong with this
cat."
He said one of the
other lions, Kai, was already dead.
BJWT, Promoting The Illegal Exotic Pet Trade Since...
Well, Always
Captive Wildlife
Watchdog (formerly BJWTWatchdog) has, from the very beginning, criticized Black
Jaguar White Tiger founder Eduardo Serio for glorifying captive big cats as
pets, along with promoting other exotic animals as pets. Despite his gratuitous
hashtags like #notpets Serio’s behavior and treatment of his animals falls
squarely into the category of pets. BJWT fans will argue that the cubs living
cardboard boxes in Serio’s closet, and confined to various rooms in the house
are just in “Stage 1” and that when they get older, they’ll go to “Stage 2”.
The fact, however,
is that there is no biological, scientific, or conservation-based rationale for
raising exotic animals in a human dwelling, while treating them like pets.
The choice to
contain his continual flow of cubs (cubs which Serio is now openly admitting to
breeding on site, even species not native to Mexico) in cardboard boxes in his
house, is just a choice, not a requirement. Just as Serio’s fixation on
incorrectly feeding those cubs is a choice, not a matter of ignorance. “Papa
Bear” chooses to do these things specifically because he’s been criticized for
them, more than anything else. If he were to change what he does after being
criticized for it, it would be an admission th
Michigan deputies stunned to find 8 Bengal tigers at
scene of semi-truck crash
Michigan deputies
responded to a semi-truck crash on a local interstate late Monday. When they
arrived, they learned the truck was hauling a rather unusual shipment to New
York: Bengal tigers.
The Bay County
Sheriff’s deputies were aware the truck was hauling animals, but they were not
informed of what kind prior to arriving at the crash site, Michigan Live
reported.
The semi-truck
“hydroplaned and its driver lost control of the rig, causing it to leave the
roadway, enter a grassy median and jackknife,” Sheriff Troy R. Cunningham told
the news site. The tigers were not injured in the crash, nor was the driver.
The perception of conservation in UK zoos
This questionnaire
is the final project for my MSc in Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes
University. All participants should be over 18 and are completing this
questionnaire voluntarily and are free to stop at any point. All answers will
be anonymous. For any further information please contact
17033867@brookes.ac.uk. It should take around 5 minutes to complete, thank you
for your participation.
After zoo cover-up on animal deaths, Delhi HC asks
Centre for report on action against officials
After several deaths
of protected animals, including the common langur and hog deer, at the
capital’s National Zoological Park were reported by the Central Zoo Authority
(CZA), the Delhi High Court Friday sought a report from the Centre.
A bench of Acting
Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Deepa Sharma directed the Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change to file an affidavit on the steps being
taken against the Delhi Zoo, which had allegedly suppressed the deaths by
submitting inaccurate inventory reports and fabricated post-mortem reports.
It also sent a
notice to the Ministry and Delhi Zoo, asking them to file counter-affidavits in
eight weeks.
On Wednesday, The
Indian Express had reported that zoo officials failed to record the deaths of
at least 50 animals last year to show a re
How is Dolphinaris Arizona regulated?
It was business as
usual at Dolphinaris only a couple days after the marine park announced one of
its dolphins died.
The dolphin aquatic
park confirmed a 10-year-old dolphin, Alia, passed away on Wednesday. It is the
second dolphin to die since the park opened less than two years ago.
PLEASE, LET TRUSTING THE DODO AS A SOURCE GO EXTINCT
Let’s talk today
about how important it is to fact-check major publications in the realm of
animal media before sharing any information they present. Specifically, let’s
talk about why The Dodo is never a source on animal related issues to be
trusted, because of the misinformation they perpetuate and the directly harmful
ideas they propagate. Dodo articles are rife with misinformation, twisted
presentations of facts, quotes from purported ‘experts’ who are well known to
be biased and unreliable sources, have non-existent primary citations, and in
many cases are just egregiously incorrect about things that can simply be
googled.
Today, a new article
showed up that I was hoping would be a valid source of information: How To Tell
if An Animal Sanctuary is a ‘Fake’. It is, sadly, just as egregiously not
fact-checked as everything else animal related The Dodo has produced - and what’s
worse is that the incorrect information it presents is mixed in with other
really valid and important points for interpreting the quality of a sanctuary.
Before we break down why it’s so infuriating, let’s look at the way Dodo
articles are produced in general.
London Zoo uses art to highlight plastic pollution
scourge
An art installation
made of 15,000 plastic bottles went on show at London Zoo on Thursday to
highlight the devastating impact of litter on the oceans, as public pressure to
tackle the problem grows in Britain.
Between five and 14
tonnes of plastic are estimated to enter the world’s oceans every year, causing
irreparable damage to marine wildlife and ecosystems.
The work by artist
Nick Wood represents the 15,000 water bottles bought every minute in Britain,
which has committed 61 million pounds ($81.62 million) to develop new ways of
tackling plastic waste.
“In the middle of
the ocean we are finding huge amounts of plastic,” said Fiona Llewellyn, Marine
Project Manager at the Zoological Society of London.
“In London, the
average adult uses 175 single-use pla
The Jamaican iguana, an international success story in
conservationism
Once thought to be
extinct, the Jamaican iguana, which was rediscovered in the Hellshire hills of
St Catherine in the 1990s, is once again thriving, although still very much
endangered.
When the latest
batch of 50 reptiles - bred at the Hope Zoo in St Andrew - was turned loose on
March 6 this year in the Hellshire hills, it marked the largest number of
iguanas ever released at one time under the programme.
This is significant
for conservationist Tandora Graham, a member of the San Diego Zoo Institute for
Conservation Research in the United States. She led a recent group of 11
volunteers from five zoos in the United States and supervised the latest
release of the reptiles back into the wild.
Graham has been
coming to Jamaica since 1996 and was full of praise for the Hope Zoo’s ‘Head
Start and Reintroduction Programme for the Jamaican iguana, which she described
as one of the Caribbean’s unique species. She sa
Chameleon Breeder Podcast
It is time to
revisit our understanding of hydration in chameleons. We are well aware of
hydration during the day, but that is only half of the story. Today we are
going to talk about hydration over the entire 24 hours in the day to form a
holistic approach to a captive hydration strategy.
Menagerie mentality
Zoos in India are
cramped, lack specialists who can cater to animals in captivity. Delhi zoo’s
problems are not unique.
In 1810, the British
colonist Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles visited a small menagerie in Barrackpore
in Calcutta. The visit left a lasting impression on Raffles, who was also an
amateur zoologist. The “scientific documentation” of plants and animals at the
menagerie is said to have influenced the colonist-turned naturalist when, a
decade later, he set up the world’s first modern zoo in London.
Barrackpore’s
collection went into the making of the country’s first modern zoo at Calcutta,
whose first Indian superintendent general, Ram Brahma Sanyal, authored a manual
in the 1890s that remained the standard handbook for zookeepers all over the
world till well into the 1960s. The management of Indian zoos today,
unfortunately, does not reflect any of this illustrious heritage.
An investigation by
this paper has revealed that Delhi’s National Zoological Park tailored data to
show a remarkable drop in mortality rate. It did not record the deaths of at
least 50 animals, including several endangered species. In 2015-16, the year before
it doctored data, the Delhi zoo
Podcast: Don’t call
me extinct
In Animals, History
& Culture, Research News, Science & Nature, Spotlight
Extinct species
don’t usually get a do-over… but don’t tell that to the scimitar-horned oryx.
Erased from the wild for three decades, these desert antelope are back in the
Central African country of Chad with a thriving herd of over a hundred
individuals. But how did this happen? We visit the Smithsonian’s National Zoo
and Conservation Biology Institute and a remote animal reserve in the United
Arab Emirates to reveal the twists and turns of this amazing comeback story.
Do Men Have the
Balls for Promiscuity?
As this blog enters
its sixth year, choosing the next topic is sometimes difficult. Only rarely
does a suitable theme turn up of its own accord. An e-mail message challenging
my previous blog post (Monogamy Anchored in Our Genes? posted April 30, 2018) was
therefore fortuitous: “You have it wrong on human sperm competition. Human
testicles are much larger than would be the case if there were not sperm
competition. Compare to truly monogamous or harem holding species. I will not
engage further on an email discussion of this, for it is very well known among
behavioral ecologists.”
At first, I was
frustrated to see my carefully compiled account thus dismissed outright, with
no mention of altern
Technical handbook
for the management of captive Egyptian vultures
Using genetics to
tackle the illegal ivory trade in Cambodia
RZSS WildGenes are
working with Fauna and Flora International (FFI) on a project to develop a
conservation genetics laboratory in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. The Royal
University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) was founded in 1960 and is the first Cambodian
University to offer a Master’s degree in Conservation, thanks largely to
support from FFI. Over the last few years, we have been working with scientific
staff at RUPP on a project to study the few remaining wild elephants in
Cambodia. Up to this point we have been extracting DNA from faecal samples to
allow researchers to identify individuals using their genetic profile.
THE FEED
Chimpanzee calls
differ according to context
The need for
cooperation may facilitate call diversification
Studies examining
animal alarm calls suggest species which require different escape responses for
different predators are more likely to have correspondingly different alarm
calls, facilitating appropriate escape responses from receivers. However, what
causes calls to diversify in less urgent contexts is little examined. "To
address this, we examine a quiet contact vocalisation of chimpanzees, the
'hoo'," says Catherine Crockford of the Max Planck Institute for
Evolutionary Anthropology. "We found that chimpanzees have at least three
acoustically different 'hoo' variants, each given in a different behavioural
context: alert, travel and rest."
In order to maintain
cohesion, chimpanzee receivers must respond differently to signallers in each
context: in rest contexts, receivers must stay in the vicinity of signallers,
in travel contexts, receivers must approach signallers, and in alert contexts,
receivers must approach signallers slo
Dolphins 'had teeth
pulled' for tourists on 'paradise' holiday island hot spot Bali
Orangutans, tigers
and elephants also suffering for holidaymakers' entertainment behind scenes
Dolphins at a
tourist attraction in Bali had their teeth removed or filed down to ensure
tourists were not harmed, leaving the creatures “traumatised”, investigators
have found.
Others are put at
risk by being forced to leap from the water onto the side of the pool during
shows for holidaymakers – putting stress on their internal organs and causing
them breathing difficulties.
And meanwhile,
behind the scenes at various attractions on the idyllic-seeming Indonesian
island, orangutans, tigers and elephants are secretly kept in filthy, cramped
enclosures with bare concrete floors.
Is Bali the world's
worst destination for animal cruelty?
A new report by
World Animal Protection (WAP) has criticised the popular honeymoon islands of
Bali, Lombok and Gili Trawangan in Indonesia of being among some of the worst
destinations in the world when it comes to animal cruelty in captivity.
Wildlife abusement
parks: Wildlife entertainment tourism in Bali, Lombok and Gili Trawangan claims
that 100 per cent of the 26 venues it investigated in November last year that
owned captive elephants, tigers, dolphins or civet cats and 80 per cent of venues
with primates did not meet the basic needs of captive wild animals.
A world premier!
Scientist discovers new Dracaena species in Royal Burgers' Zoo
The covered tropical
rainforest, Burgers’ Bush, of Arnhem’s animal park Royal Burgers’ Zoo, houses
the world’s largest Dracaena collection. Dracaena cinnabari is also known as
the Dragon blood tree. Botanist and Dracaena fanatic Theo Damen recently made a
remarkable discovery in the Bush: a species of Dracaena that was still
completely unknown to science. The plant’s abnormal growth and inflorescence
set Damen on the trail of his discovery, which has officially been a scientific
fact since publication in the May 2018 issue of the ‘Journal of Plant Taxonomy
and Plant Geography BLUMEA'. Theo Damen has named his find Dracaena bushii,
both in honour of his great inspirer Jan Just Bos and the site Burgers' Bush.
Bos gained national fame as a presenter of the Dutch television programme ‘Ja,
Natuurlijk' (yes, of course) and as a botanist, he had a predilection for
plants of the Dracaena genus. Burgers’ Zoo acquired the complete Dracaena
collection from Wa
To dress up its
report card, Delhi Zoo buried at least 50 animal deaths
OFFICIALS at the
National Zoological Park in Delhi (Delhi Zoo) evidently buried the deaths of at
least 50 animals last year and dressed up data to show a remarkable dip in
mortality rate, official records accessed by The Indian Express show.
The official death
count at the zoo in 2017-18 was 91 from an opening stock of 1,202 animals. On
paper, this was good news since it was a sharp fall from the 325 deaths
recorded in 2016-17 — a 7.6 per cent mortality rate compared to 27 per cent the
year before, and just slightly above the 5 per cent considered acceptable for
zoos globally.
But the Delhi Zoo’s
numbers are suspect. For, the deaths of several animals were not recorded:
these include endangered species such as the brow-antlered deer found in
Manipur, sambar deer, black buck, white buck, spotted deer, barking deer, red
jungle fowl and palm civet, records show.
Consider the key
contradictions in the zoo’s records:
* Every zoo submits
the mandatory
You Know Black
Panthers. But Have You Ever Heard of Odisha’s Black Tigers?
In April 2018,
Chhattisgarh reported a sighting of a black panther after 24 years, bringing
immense joy to wildlife enthusiasts.
What is a black
panther? How did it come to Chhattisgarh and what does it mean for the black
panther population in the state? You can find out all about it in our story
here.
Recently, the Odisha
Forest Department also spotted a black panther in the Sundergarh forest, which
makes it probably the only state in India which is home to both black panthers
and black tigers!
We are all familiar
with the Bengal tiger, the magnificent beast which prowls the land in search of
prey; the soundless feline who h
Protected species
including Javan langur, leopard seized from Bali treehouse tourist attraction
Five protected
animals of four different species have been seized from eastern Bali, for
suspected illegal use as part of a tourist attraction from the Bukit Lemped
Tree House in Karangasem.
“From the results of
a temporary inspection, the owner of the tree house cannot show the letters and
origin information about the protected animals,” said administrative head of
the Bali Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA), I Ketut Catur Marbawa.
Endangered animals
including deer, the Javan langur monkey, a leopard cat, and two porcupine are
believed to have been held captive, used as an attraction for tourists at the
Karangasem tree house. The animals are said to have been inadequately cared for,
the Ja
Application to
sanction Rabat exotic animal farm filed
An application to
sanction an exotic animal farm on ODZ land in Rabat has been filed with the
Planning Authority, requesting the sanctioning of a number of cages for exotic
big cats.
The application
plans show that there are four cages to be sanctioned. One cage is listed as
being able to hold eight tigers, another to hold three lions, another for three
jaguars and one for three leopards. The official application description reads:
“To sanction the change of use from a cow breeding farm to an exotic animal
farm (animals with appropriate certificates). Sanctioning also include safety
fencing.” The “farm” is located on Dingli Road.
This newsroom asked
the Environment Ministry a number of questions. The ministry was asked whether
the site owner has permission to hold exotic animals, and whether they had
knowledge of the animals currently held on site.
The ministry said
tha
Why birds don't have
teeth
Why did birds lose
their teeth? Was it so they would be lighter in the air? Or are pointy beaks
better for worm-eating than the jagged jaws of dinosaur ancestors?
Actually, birds gave
up teeth to speed up egg hatching, a research paper published Wednesday
suggests, challenging long-held scientific views on the evolution of the
toothless beak.
Compared to an
incubation period of several months for dinosaur eggs, modern birds hatch after
just a few days or weeks.
This is because
there is no need to wait for the embryo to develop teeth—a process that can
consume 60 percent of egg incubation time, said researchers Tzu-Ruei Yang and
Martin Sander from the University of Bonn.
While in the egg,
the embryo is vulnerable to predators and natural disasters, and faster
hatching boosts survival odds.
This would be a
concern for dinos and birds—all egg layers. In mammals, embryos are protected
inside the mother.
"We suggest
that (evolutionary) selection for tooth loss (in birds) was
Prof. Craig Packer
on Trophy Hunting
Craig: “I initially
studied animal behaviour and started my career working with Jane Goodall in
Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. When I finished my PhD, I wanted to
carry on doing that sort of work and I was very lucky to be able to take over
the Serengeti Lion Project! I viewed that just as a wonderful opportunity to
study the natural behaviour, the behavioural ecology, and the evolutionary
biology of an unusually cooperative species.
[Years later] I had
students looking at human-lion conflict having to do with livestock losses
which can provoke people into retaliation. About that time, I was approached by
the Tanzanian government to look into an outbreak of man-eating lions in southern
Tanzania and I thought: ‘Well I guess we should really be looking into that,
that’s more important than livestock losses because anything that risks human
lives really has to be given priority!’. Then I had more students working on
man-eating lions and the issue was a reflection of the fact that lions don't
confine themselves inside the boundaries of these parks. They go outside and
there are a number of issues invol
Living Landscapes: A
Conversation with Fred Koontz, Retired Vice President of Conservation at
Woodland Park Zoo
Fred Koontz is an expert in the science of
small population management and understands the opportunity zoos can play in
that realm. He worked at the Bronx Zoo as Curator of Mammals at a time when the
zoo was dramatically growing its involvement in insitu conservation. After a 13
year absence from the zoo industry, he became Vice President of Conservation at
the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle in 2011. During his six years there, Koontz
developed a living landscape program for the Pacific Northwest, tied the zoo's
new Banyan Wilds with a commitment to Malayan tiger conservation and changed
the way the institution talked about conservation. Here is his story.
www.zoolex.org in May 2018
~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~
Hello ZooLex Friend,
We have worked for your enjoyment!
~°v°~
NEW EXHIBIT PRESENTATION
Polar Frontier at Columbus Zoo and Aquarium presents brown bears, polar
bears and Arctic foxes in naturalistic environments echoing the tundra
and taiga regions of the Arctic. The visitor area simulates an abandoned
arctic mine. Visitors can enjoy views of the bears above and under
water, a polar themed playground, food venue, and gift shop. An
interpretive centre offers games, activities, and displays that carry
messages about the arctic ecosystem, consequences of climate change for
the Arctic and the Columbus Zoo's conservation work.
We would like to thank Karen Huebel and Barbara Brem for preparing this
presentation.
~°v°~
SPANISH TRANSLATION
Thanks to Eduardo Díaz García we are able to offer the Spanish
translation of the previously published presentation of "Franz Josef
Land" at Vienna Zoo in Austria.
~°v°~
We keep working on ZooLex ...
The ZooLex Zoo Design Organization is a non-profit organization
registered in Austria (ZVR-Zahl 933849053). ZooLex runs a professional
zoo design website and distributes this newsletter. More information and
contact: http://www.zoolex.org/about.html
THE 6-FOOT CHINESE
GIANT SALAMANDER IS IN SERIOUS TROUBLE
THE 6-FOOT-LONG,
140-POUND Chinese giant salamander is a being that defies belief—and seemingly
the laws of the physical universe. It’s the largest amphibian on the planet, a
gargantuan (though harmless) beast that rests on river-bottoms hoovering up fish.
Once it grows big enough, not many critters dare touch it—save for, of course,
humans.
Particularly the
conservationists who are working to save the creature. The good bit about that
work is that scientists have used tissue samples and genetics to determine that
the salamander is not one species, but at least five. Unfortunately, that doesn’t
mean that there are automatically five times as many salamanders in the world.
And that reclassification means conservationists have been going about trying
to save the critically endangered creature all wrong. It’s a devastating
reminder that saving species means properly classifying them first.
You could once find
the outsized salamander across China, from high elevations to
Clock ticks,
parasites too, for zoo animals in cages: Study
In what could be an
indication of poor upkeep of facilities at Arignar Anna Zoological Park,
colloquially called Vandalur zoo, a study has revealed that infestation of
parasites like mites and ticks is higher among animals in enclosures compared
to those roaming freely on the 1,500-acre premises.
Two zoo- logists
from Bharathiyar University, in the study, examined 412 mammals in the zoo for
a year. They found that the prevalence of mites and ticks among caged animals
was more compared to those in habitats that allow them to move freely. Their
findings were published recently in peer-reviewed International Journal of
Current Research in Life Sciences.
The finding,
researchers said, was incidental. “Our main aim wa
Europe's largest
aquarium opens in France
Europe's largest
aquarium has opened in the north of France. An extension to the French National
Sea Centre in Calais allows the building to house one of the largest tanks in
the world, holding the equivalent of four Olympic swimming pools.
The highlight of the
extension is a spectacular panoramic window.
"This window is
five metres high, 20 metres wide and 38 centimetres thick," explains
Philippe Vallette, Nausicaa's managing director. "It is a technical feat
that was carried out in Europe which allows us to discover, not just a part of
the aquarium, but a real part of the sea."
22,000 marine
creatures will be added to the aquarium including hammerhead sharks, manta rays
and shoals of fish.
The centre’s role is
to educate and encourage the general public to protect marine life for the
future and to assess the impact of resources and how they can help with marine
conservation.
The new €70m euro
extension building was made i
Chinkaras in
captivity may soon become extinct, says study
A research on the
status of the current captive population of Indian gazelles or chinkaras —
placed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 — in Indian zoos said
the gazelle population is likely to become extinct or decline sharply over the
next 20 years, unless intensive measures to address causes of decline in
captivity are implemented.
The study, recent
Weymouth SEA LIFE
welcomes only colony of fairy penguins in Europe
A colony of fairy
penguins, have moved into a brand new state-of-the-art enclosure at Weymouth
SEA LIFE Adventure Park, opening on Saturday, May 26.
Twenty fairy
penguins have relocated from Manly SEA LIFE Sanctuary in Australia to Weymouth
in Dorset, due to the closure of the Manly Sanctuary in February. This is an
exciting opportunity for Weymouth as these fairy penguins are the only colony
in Europe.
Fairy penguins (also
known as little blue penguins) are the world’s smallest penguin measuring just
over 25cm tall and they weigh around 1 kg. The penguins are native to New
Zealand and Southern Australia, but Weymouth was chosen as their new home due
to the seaside town’s average summer and winter temperatures being very similar
to those experienced by the penguins in their natural habitat.
The park has
invested in excess of £100,000 into the new enclosure which will give visitors
the opportunity to get closer to the penguins than ever before and interact
with the
Birds from different
species recognize each other and cooperate
Cooperation among
different species of birds is common. Some birds build their nests near those
of larger, more aggressive species to deter predators, and flocks of mixed
species forage for food and defend territories together in alliances that can
last for years. In most cases, though, these partnerships are not between
specific individuals of the other species -- any bird from the other species
will do.
But in a new study
published in the journal Behavioral Ecology, scientists from the University of
Chicago and University of Nebraska show how two different species of Australian
fairy-wrens not only recognize individual birds from other species, but also
form long-term partnerships that help them forage and defend their shared space
as a group.
"Finding that
these two species associate was not surprising, as mixed species flocks of
birds are observed all over the world," said Allison Johnson, PhD, a
postdoctoral scholar at the University of Nebraska who conducted the study as
part of her dissertation research at UChicago. "But when we realized they
were sharing territories with specific individuals and responding aggressively
only to unknown individ
"THE ZOO"
May Have Aired its Season Finale, but AZA Members Continue to Share Our Stories
This weekend, Animal
Planet aired the Season Two finale of its highly successful series THE ZOO,
which highlights the AZA-accredited Bronx Zoo, its staff, and its animals. THE
ZOO is one example of the steps our members take to tell our stories and give people
an intimate look at the important work taking place at AZA-accredited zoos and
aquariums.
Zoos and aquariums
have been hesitant to bring the public behind-the-scenes. Whether out of
apprehension, modesty, or the sheer complexity of the work we do, zoo and
aquarium professionals have kept relatively silent regarding animal care
practices. Perhaps we thought it best to focus on the animals in our care, with
minimal outside interference. But it is
becoming increasingly important to be transparent, to educate the public about
our expertise and rigorous animal welfare standards, and to demonstrate our ded
Bear farming is
coming to an end in Vietnam
Is This the World’s
Most Diverse National Park?
Madidi National Park
in Bolivia goes from lowland to mountaintop, from 600 feet to almost 20,000
feet above sea level. It covers more
than 7,000 square miles of wildly different habitats. It is, says Rob Wallace,
an ecologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Bolivia, “a place where
the Amazon meets the Andes.”
First record of
large-antlered muntjac in Quang Nam, Vietnam, in the wild
Under a biodiversity
monitoring and assessment activity supported by the US Agency for International
Development (USAID), scientists and conservationists of the Leibniz Institute
for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and WWF-Vietnam captured photographs
of one of the rarest and most threatened mammal species of Southeast Asia, the
large-antlered muntjac (Muntiacus vuquangensis), in Quang Nam province, central
Vietnam. Prior to this milestone, this species had only been camera trapped in
three protected areas in all of Vietnam since the year 2000. The new records
from Quang Nam—which include photographs of both a male and a female—provide
new hope for the continued survival of a species that is on the brink of
extinction.
"It is amazing
news," said Phan Tuan, Director of the Forest Protection Department of
Quang Nam in Vietnam "The two individuals are both mature and of
reproductive age. These images prove that the species still survives in Quang
Nam province and give us hope that there might even be a breeding
population."
The large-antlered
muntjac was discovered by scientists in 1994 and is found only in the Annamites
mountain range bordering Vietnam and Lao People's Democratic Republic. Illegal
hunting, mainly accomplished by the setting of wire snares, has decimated the
species across its range. Snaring pressure is apparently high in the forests of
central Vietnam. From 2011 to 2017, for example, government rangers and WWF
Forest Guards removed more than a hundred thousand wire snare
Canadians see value
in zoos, aquariums, but voice support for banning whales and dolphins in
captivity
The future of zoos
and aquariums in North America has come into question in recent years, and two
proposed laws to reduce or outright ban cetaceans in captivity, both in the
House of Commons and Senate, appear to reflect the state of public opinion.
Some have called it
the “Blackfish” effect – citing the impact of a popular documentary about the
problematic nature of housing intelligent aquatic animals at SeaWorld. SeaWorld
Entertainment’s stock plummeted after the film aired on CNN, and has never recovered
to pre-Blackfish levels.
A new study from the
Angus Reid Institute finds Canadians more than twice as likely to say these
mammals should be banned from captivity in Canadian aquariums, than to say that
this practice should be allowed.
This finding follows
movements in this country against the captivity of cetaceans – whales, dolphins
and porpoises – which have been led against Marineland, the popular aquarium
and zoo in Niagara Falls, Ontario. In that provice, residents are more than three-times
as likely to say that such practice
Optimism & Pessimism; 2 Different Things
The first thing we
should do is all agree on what the meaning is for these word from a behavioural
perspective. I would like to share my thoughts on this topic because I think
its an important topic to think about.
There are plenty of
us who think that they are number one or number two. But where does that come
from? We aren’t born with it, we are shaped this way. One of us has more
negative outcomes about their actions in their lives than others while the
other one has more positive outcomes and so becomes an optimist. Let’s put this
back to the animals we work with.
At this moment I’m
pretty busy in our Welfare group we have in the zoo I work at. The main
question for us is obviously if the welfare of our animals is good yes or no
and how can we measure this. Click HERE for more info on that topic. I’ve
looked up some presentations from a welfare conference held in the USA.
Interesting and knowledgeable people who gave some great speeches. At the same
I wrote some questions down that I want to discuss wit
Become a ZooKeeper and change your life
A Vaalwater predator park owner was distraught to
discover four of his beloved big cats were poisoned in the early hours of
Friday morning.
Justin Fernandes
posted an emotional video on his personal Facebook page showing how he
discovered three poisoned lions and a tiger at their Jugomaro Predator Park in
Limpopo.
Describing it as the
worst nightmare of his life, Fernandes can be seen repeatedly wiping away his
tears.
Speaking to camera,
Fernandes said they were alerted to trouble at 02:00am on Friday morning when
one of their wolves started "barking". While walking around the park,
Fernandes saw one of their lions, Elvis biting on the gate.
"I thought his
jaw was actually stuck in the gate. We got the got they keys and moved him
away. As I moved him away, we saw there was something wrong with this
cat."
He said one of the
other lions, Kai, was already dead.
BJWT, Promoting The Illegal Exotic Pet Trade Since...
Well, Always
Captive Wildlife
Watchdog (formerly BJWTWatchdog) has, from the very beginning, criticized Black
Jaguar White Tiger founder Eduardo Serio for glorifying captive big cats as
pets, along with promoting other exotic animals as pets. Despite his gratuitous
hashtags like #notpets Serio’s behavior and treatment of his animals falls
squarely into the category of pets. BJWT fans will argue that the cubs living
cardboard boxes in Serio’s closet, and confined to various rooms in the house
are just in “Stage 1” and that when they get older, they’ll go to “Stage 2”.
The fact, however,
is that there is no biological, scientific, or conservation-based rationale for
raising exotic animals in a human dwelling, while treating them like pets.
The choice to
contain his continual flow of cubs (cubs which Serio is now openly admitting to
breeding on site, even species not native to Mexico) in cardboard boxes in his
house, is just a choice, not a requirement. Just as Serio’s fixation on
incorrectly feeding those cubs is a choice, not a matter of ignorance. “Papa
Bear” chooses to do these things specifically because he’s been criticized for
them, more than anything else. If he were to change what he does after being
criticized for it, it would be an admission th
Michigan deputies stunned to find 8 Bengal tigers at
scene of semi-truck crash
Michigan deputies
responded to a semi-truck crash on a local interstate late Monday. When they
arrived, they learned the truck was hauling a rather unusual shipment to New
York: Bengal tigers.
The Bay County
Sheriff’s deputies were aware the truck was hauling animals, but they were not
informed of what kind prior to arriving at the crash site, Michigan Live
reported.
The semi-truck
“hydroplaned and its driver lost control of the rig, causing it to leave the
roadway, enter a grassy median and jackknife,” Sheriff Troy R. Cunningham told
the news site. The tigers were not injured in the crash, nor was the driver.
The perception of conservation in UK zoos
This questionnaire
is the final project for my MSc in Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes
University. All participants should be over 18 and are completing this
questionnaire voluntarily and are free to stop at any point. All answers will
be anonymous. For any further information please contact
17033867@brookes.ac.uk. It should take around 5 minutes to complete, thank you
for your participation.
After zoo cover-up on animal deaths, Delhi HC asks
Centre for report on action against officials
After several deaths
of protected animals, including the common langur and hog deer, at the
capital’s National Zoological Park were reported by the Central Zoo Authority
(CZA), the Delhi High Court Friday sought a report from the Centre.
A bench of Acting
Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Deepa Sharma directed the Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change to file an affidavit on the steps being
taken against the Delhi Zoo, which had allegedly suppressed the deaths by
submitting inaccurate inventory reports and fabricated post-mortem reports.
It also sent a
notice to the Ministry and Delhi Zoo, asking them to file counter-affidavits in
eight weeks.
On Wednesday, The
Indian Express had reported that zoo officials failed to record the deaths of
at least 50 animals last year to show a re
How is Dolphinaris Arizona regulated?
It was business as
usual at Dolphinaris only a couple days after the marine park announced one of
its dolphins died.
The dolphin aquatic
park confirmed a 10-year-old dolphin, Alia, passed away on Wednesday. It is the
second dolphin to die since the park opened less than two years ago.
PLEASE, LET TRUSTING THE DODO AS A SOURCE GO EXTINCT
Let’s talk today
about how important it is to fact-check major publications in the realm of
animal media before sharing any information they present. Specifically, let’s
talk about why The Dodo is never a source on animal related issues to be
trusted, because of the misinformation they perpetuate and the directly harmful
ideas they propagate. Dodo articles are rife with misinformation, twisted
presentations of facts, quotes from purported ‘experts’ who are well known to
be biased and unreliable sources, have non-existent primary citations, and in
many cases are just egregiously incorrect about things that can simply be
googled.
Today, a new article
showed up that I was hoping would be a valid source of information: How To Tell
if An Animal Sanctuary is a ‘Fake’. It is, sadly, just as egregiously not
fact-checked as everything else animal related The Dodo has produced - and what’s
worse is that the incorrect information it presents is mixed in with other
really valid and important points for interpreting the quality of a sanctuary.
Before we break down why it’s so infuriating, let’s look at the way Dodo
articles are produced in general.
London Zoo uses art to highlight plastic pollution
scourge
An art installation
made of 15,000 plastic bottles went on show at London Zoo on Thursday to
highlight the devastating impact of litter on the oceans, as public pressure to
tackle the problem grows in Britain.
Between five and 14
tonnes of plastic are estimated to enter the world’s oceans every year, causing
irreparable damage to marine wildlife and ecosystems.
The work by artist
Nick Wood represents the 15,000 water bottles bought every minute in Britain,
which has committed 61 million pounds ($81.62 million) to develop new ways of
tackling plastic waste.
“In the middle of
the ocean we are finding huge amounts of plastic,” said Fiona Llewellyn, Marine
Project Manager at the Zoological Society of London.
“In London, the
average adult uses 175 single-use pla
The Jamaican iguana, an international success story in
conservationism
Once thought to be
extinct, the Jamaican iguana, which was rediscovered in the Hellshire hills of
St Catherine in the 1990s, is once again thriving, although still very much
endangered.
When the latest
batch of 50 reptiles - bred at the Hope Zoo in St Andrew - was turned loose on
March 6 this year in the Hellshire hills, it marked the largest number of
iguanas ever released at one time under the programme.
This is significant
for conservationist Tandora Graham, a member of the San Diego Zoo Institute for
Conservation Research in the United States. She led a recent group of 11
volunteers from five zoos in the United States and supervised the latest
release of the reptiles back into the wild.
Graham has been
coming to Jamaica since 1996 and was full of praise for the Hope Zoo’s ‘Head
Start and Reintroduction Programme for the Jamaican iguana, which she described
as one of the Caribbean’s unique species. She sa
Chameleon Breeder Podcast
It is time to
revisit our understanding of hydration in chameleons. We are well aware of
hydration during the day, but that is only half of the story. Today we are
going to talk about hydration over the entire 24 hours in the day to form a
holistic approach to a captive hydration strategy.
Menagerie mentality
Zoos in India are
cramped, lack specialists who can cater to animals in captivity. Delhi zoo’s
problems are not unique.
In 1810, the British
colonist Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles visited a small menagerie in Barrackpore
in Calcutta. The visit left a lasting impression on Raffles, who was also an
amateur zoologist. The “scientific documentation” of plants and animals at the
menagerie is said to have influenced the colonist-turned naturalist when, a
decade later, he set up the world’s first modern zoo in London.
Barrackpore’s
collection went into the making of the country’s first modern zoo at Calcutta,
whose first Indian superintendent general, Ram Brahma Sanyal, authored a manual
in the 1890s that remained the standard handbook for zookeepers all over the
world till well into the 1960s. The management of Indian zoos today,
unfortunately, does not reflect any of this illustrious heritage.
An investigation by
this paper has revealed that Delhi’s National Zoological Park tailored data to
show a remarkable drop in mortality rate. It did not record the deaths of at
least 50 animals, including several endangered species. In 2015-16, the year before
it doctored data, the Delhi zoo
Podcast: Don’t call
me extinct
In Animals, History
& Culture, Research News, Science & Nature, Spotlight
Extinct species
don’t usually get a do-over… but don’t tell that to the scimitar-horned oryx.
Erased from the wild for three decades, these desert antelope are back in the
Central African country of Chad with a thriving herd of over a hundred
individuals. But how did this happen? We visit the Smithsonian’s National Zoo
and Conservation Biology Institute and a remote animal reserve in the United
Arab Emirates to reveal the twists and turns of this amazing comeback story.
Do Men Have the
Balls for Promiscuity?
As this blog enters
its sixth year, choosing the next topic is sometimes difficult. Only rarely
does a suitable theme turn up of its own accord. An e-mail message challenging
my previous blog post (Monogamy Anchored in Our Genes? posted April 30, 2018) was
therefore fortuitous: “You have it wrong on human sperm competition. Human
testicles are much larger than would be the case if there were not sperm
competition. Compare to truly monogamous or harem holding species. I will not
engage further on an email discussion of this, for it is very well known among
behavioral ecologists.”
At first, I was
frustrated to see my carefully compiled account thus dismissed outright, with
no mention of altern
Technical handbook
for the management of captive Egyptian vultures
Using genetics to
tackle the illegal ivory trade in Cambodia
RZSS WildGenes are
working with Fauna and Flora International (FFI) on a project to develop a
conservation genetics laboratory in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. The Royal
University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) was founded in 1960 and is the first Cambodian
University to offer a Master’s degree in Conservation, thanks largely to
support from FFI. Over the last few years, we have been working with scientific
staff at RUPP on a project to study the few remaining wild elephants in
Cambodia. Up to this point we have been extracting DNA from faecal samples to
allow researchers to identify individuals using their genetic profile.
THE FEED
Chimpanzee calls
differ according to context
The need for
cooperation may facilitate call diversification
Studies examining
animal alarm calls suggest species which require different escape responses for
different predators are more likely to have correspondingly different alarm
calls, facilitating appropriate escape responses from receivers. However, what
causes calls to diversify in less urgent contexts is little examined. "To
address this, we examine a quiet contact vocalisation of chimpanzees, the
'hoo'," says Catherine Crockford of the Max Planck Institute for
Evolutionary Anthropology. "We found that chimpanzees have at least three
acoustically different 'hoo' variants, each given in a different behavioural
context: alert, travel and rest."
In order to maintain
cohesion, chimpanzee receivers must respond differently to signallers in each
context: in rest contexts, receivers must stay in the vicinity of signallers,
in travel contexts, receivers must approach signallers, and in alert contexts,
receivers must approach signallers slo
Dolphins 'had teeth
pulled' for tourists on 'paradise' holiday island hot spot Bali
Orangutans, tigers
and elephants also suffering for holidaymakers' entertainment behind scenes
Dolphins at a
tourist attraction in Bali had their teeth removed or filed down to ensure
tourists were not harmed, leaving the creatures “traumatised”, investigators
have found.
Others are put at
risk by being forced to leap from the water onto the side of the pool during
shows for holidaymakers – putting stress on their internal organs and causing
them breathing difficulties.
And meanwhile,
behind the scenes at various attractions on the idyllic-seeming Indonesian
island, orangutans, tigers and elephants are secretly kept in filthy, cramped
enclosures with bare concrete floors.
Is Bali the world's
worst destination for animal cruelty?
A new report by
World Animal Protection (WAP) has criticised the popular honeymoon islands of
Bali, Lombok and Gili Trawangan in Indonesia of being among some of the worst
destinations in the world when it comes to animal cruelty in captivity.
Wildlife abusement
parks: Wildlife entertainment tourism in Bali, Lombok and Gili Trawangan claims
that 100 per cent of the 26 venues it investigated in November last year that
owned captive elephants, tigers, dolphins or civet cats and 80 per cent of venues
with primates did not meet the basic needs of captive wild animals.
A world premier!
Scientist discovers new Dracaena species in Royal Burgers' Zoo
The covered tropical
rainforest, Burgers’ Bush, of Arnhem’s animal park Royal Burgers’ Zoo, houses
the world’s largest Dracaena collection. Dracaena cinnabari is also known as
the Dragon blood tree. Botanist and Dracaena fanatic Theo Damen recently made a
remarkable discovery in the Bush: a species of Dracaena that was still
completely unknown to science. The plant’s abnormal growth and inflorescence
set Damen on the trail of his discovery, which has officially been a scientific
fact since publication in the May 2018 issue of the ‘Journal of Plant Taxonomy
and Plant Geography BLUMEA'. Theo Damen has named his find Dracaena bushii,
both in honour of his great inspirer Jan Just Bos and the site Burgers' Bush.
Bos gained national fame as a presenter of the Dutch television programme ‘Ja,
Natuurlijk' (yes, of course) and as a botanist, he had a predilection for
plants of the Dracaena genus. Burgers’ Zoo acquired the complete Dracaena
collection from Wa
To dress up its
report card, Delhi Zoo buried at least 50 animal deaths
OFFICIALS at the
National Zoological Park in Delhi (Delhi Zoo) evidently buried the deaths of at
least 50 animals last year and dressed up data to show a remarkable dip in
mortality rate, official records accessed by The Indian Express show.
The official death
count at the zoo in 2017-18 was 91 from an opening stock of 1,202 animals. On
paper, this was good news since it was a sharp fall from the 325 deaths
recorded in 2016-17 — a 7.6 per cent mortality rate compared to 27 per cent the
year before, and just slightly above the 5 per cent considered acceptable for
zoos globally.
But the Delhi Zoo’s
numbers are suspect. For, the deaths of several animals were not recorded:
these include endangered species such as the brow-antlered deer found in
Manipur, sambar deer, black buck, white buck, spotted deer, barking deer, red
jungle fowl and palm civet, records show.
Consider the key
contradictions in the zoo’s records:
* Every zoo submits
the mandatory
You Know Black
Panthers. But Have You Ever Heard of Odisha’s Black Tigers?
In April 2018,
Chhattisgarh reported a sighting of a black panther after 24 years, bringing
immense joy to wildlife enthusiasts.
What is a black
panther? How did it come to Chhattisgarh and what does it mean for the black
panther population in the state? You can find out all about it in our story
here.
Recently, the Odisha
Forest Department also spotted a black panther in the Sundergarh forest, which
makes it probably the only state in India which is home to both black panthers
and black tigers!
We are all familiar
with the Bengal tiger, the magnificent beast which prowls the land in search of
prey; the soundless feline who h
Protected species
including Javan langur, leopard seized from Bali treehouse tourist attraction
Five protected
animals of four different species have been seized from eastern Bali, for
suspected illegal use as part of a tourist attraction from the Bukit Lemped
Tree House in Karangasem.
“From the results of
a temporary inspection, the owner of the tree house cannot show the letters and
origin information about the protected animals,” said administrative head of
the Bali Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA), I Ketut Catur Marbawa.
Endangered animals
including deer, the Javan langur monkey, a leopard cat, and two porcupine are
believed to have been held captive, used as an attraction for tourists at the
Karangasem tree house. The animals are said to have been inadequately cared for,
the Ja
Application to
sanction Rabat exotic animal farm filed
An application to
sanction an exotic animal farm on ODZ land in Rabat has been filed with the
Planning Authority, requesting the sanctioning of a number of cages for exotic
big cats.
The application
plans show that there are four cages to be sanctioned. One cage is listed as
being able to hold eight tigers, another to hold three lions, another for three
jaguars and one for three leopards. The official application description reads:
“To sanction the change of use from a cow breeding farm to an exotic animal
farm (animals with appropriate certificates). Sanctioning also include safety
fencing.” The “farm” is located on Dingli Road.
This newsroom asked
the Environment Ministry a number of questions. The ministry was asked whether
the site owner has permission to hold exotic animals, and whether they had
knowledge of the animals currently held on site.
The ministry said
tha
Why birds don't have
teeth
Why did birds lose
their teeth? Was it so they would be lighter in the air? Or are pointy beaks
better for worm-eating than the jagged jaws of dinosaur ancestors?
Actually, birds gave
up teeth to speed up egg hatching, a research paper published Wednesday
suggests, challenging long-held scientific views on the evolution of the
toothless beak.
Compared to an
incubation period of several months for dinosaur eggs, modern birds hatch after
just a few days or weeks.
This is because
there is no need to wait for the embryo to develop teeth—a process that can
consume 60 percent of egg incubation time, said researchers Tzu-Ruei Yang and
Martin Sander from the University of Bonn.
While in the egg,
the embryo is vulnerable to predators and natural disasters, and faster
hatching boosts survival odds.
This would be a
concern for dinos and birds—all egg layers. In mammals, embryos are protected
inside the mother.
"We suggest
that (evolutionary) selection for tooth loss (in birds) was
Prof. Craig Packer
on Trophy Hunting
Craig: “I initially
studied animal behaviour and started my career working with Jane Goodall in
Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. When I finished my PhD, I wanted to
carry on doing that sort of work and I was very lucky to be able to take over
the Serengeti Lion Project! I viewed that just as a wonderful opportunity to
study the natural behaviour, the behavioural ecology, and the evolutionary
biology of an unusually cooperative species.
[Years later] I had
students looking at human-lion conflict having to do with livestock losses
which can provoke people into retaliation. About that time, I was approached by
the Tanzanian government to look into an outbreak of man-eating lions in southern
Tanzania and I thought: ‘Well I guess we should really be looking into that,
that’s more important than livestock losses because anything that risks human
lives really has to be given priority!’. Then I had more students working on
man-eating lions and the issue was a reflection of the fact that lions don't
confine themselves inside the boundaries of these parks. They go outside and
there are a number of issues invol
Living Landscapes: A
Conversation with Fred Koontz, Retired Vice President of Conservation at
Woodland Park Zoo
Fred Koontz is an expert in the science of
small population management and understands the opportunity zoos can play in
that realm. He worked at the Bronx Zoo as Curator of Mammals at a time when the
zoo was dramatically growing its involvement in insitu conservation. After a 13
year absence from the zoo industry, he became Vice President of Conservation at
the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle in 2011. During his six years there, Koontz
developed a living landscape program for the Pacific Northwest, tied the zoo's
new Banyan Wilds with a commitment to Malayan tiger conservation and changed
the way the institution talked about conservation. Here is his story.
www.zoolex.org in May 2018
~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~ ~°v°~
Hello ZooLex Friend,
We have worked for your enjoyment!
~°v°~
NEW EXHIBIT PRESENTATION
Polar Frontier at Columbus Zoo and Aquarium presents brown bears, polar
bears and Arctic foxes in naturalistic environments echoing the tundra
and taiga regions of the Arctic. The visitor area simulates an abandoned
arctic mine. Visitors can enjoy views of the bears above and under
water, a polar themed playground, food venue, and gift shop. An
interpretive centre offers games, activities, and displays that carry
messages about the arctic ecosystem, consequences of climate change for
the Arctic and the Columbus Zoo's conservation work.
We would like to thank Karen Huebel and Barbara Brem for preparing this
presentation.
~°v°~
SPANISH TRANSLATION
Thanks to Eduardo Díaz García we are able to offer the Spanish
translation of the previously published presentation of "Franz Josef
Land" at Vienna Zoo in Austria.
~°v°~
We keep working on ZooLex ...
The ZooLex Zoo Design Organization is a non-profit organization
registered in Austria (ZVR-Zahl 933849053). ZooLex runs a professional
zoo design website and distributes this newsletter. More information and
contact: http://www.zoolex.org/about.html
THE 6-FOOT CHINESE
GIANT SALAMANDER IS IN SERIOUS TROUBLE
THE 6-FOOT-LONG,
140-POUND Chinese giant salamander is a being that defies belief—and seemingly
the laws of the physical universe. It’s the largest amphibian on the planet, a
gargantuan (though harmless) beast that rests on river-bottoms hoovering up fish.
Once it grows big enough, not many critters dare touch it—save for, of course,
humans.
Particularly the
conservationists who are working to save the creature. The good bit about that
work is that scientists have used tissue samples and genetics to determine that
the salamander is not one species, but at least five. Unfortunately, that doesn’t
mean that there are automatically five times as many salamanders in the world.
And that reclassification means conservationists have been going about trying
to save the critically endangered creature all wrong. It’s a devastating
reminder that saving species means properly classifying them first.
You could once find
the outsized salamander across China, from high elevations to
Clock ticks,
parasites too, for zoo animals in cages: Study
In what could be an
indication of poor upkeep of facilities at Arignar Anna Zoological Park,
colloquially called Vandalur zoo, a study has revealed that infestation of
parasites like mites and ticks is higher among animals in enclosures compared
to those roaming freely on the 1,500-acre premises.
Two zoo- logists
from Bharathiyar University, in the study, examined 412 mammals in the zoo for
a year. They found that the prevalence of mites and ticks among caged animals
was more compared to those in habitats that allow them to move freely. Their
findings were published recently in peer-reviewed International Journal of
Current Research in Life Sciences.
The finding,
researchers said, was incidental. “Our main aim wa
Europe's largest
aquarium opens in France
Europe's largest
aquarium has opened in the north of France. An extension to the French National
Sea Centre in Calais allows the building to house one of the largest tanks in
the world, holding the equivalent of four Olympic swimming pools.
The highlight of the
extension is a spectacular panoramic window.
"This window is
five metres high, 20 metres wide and 38 centimetres thick," explains
Philippe Vallette, Nausicaa's managing director. "It is a technical feat
that was carried out in Europe which allows us to discover, not just a part of
the aquarium, but a real part of the sea."
22,000 marine
creatures will be added to the aquarium including hammerhead sharks, manta rays
and shoals of fish.
The centre’s role is
to educate and encourage the general public to protect marine life for the
future and to assess the impact of resources and how they can help with marine
conservation.
The new €70m euro
extension building was made i
Chinkaras in
captivity may soon become extinct, says study
A research on the
status of the current captive population of Indian gazelles or chinkaras —
placed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 — in Indian zoos said
the gazelle population is likely to become extinct or decline sharply over the
next 20 years, unless intensive measures to address causes of decline in
captivity are implemented.
The study, recent
Weymouth SEA LIFE
welcomes only colony of fairy penguins in Europe
A colony of fairy
penguins, have moved into a brand new state-of-the-art enclosure at Weymouth
SEA LIFE Adventure Park, opening on Saturday, May 26.
Twenty fairy
penguins have relocated from Manly SEA LIFE Sanctuary in Australia to Weymouth
in Dorset, due to the closure of the Manly Sanctuary in February. This is an
exciting opportunity for Weymouth as these fairy penguins are the only colony
in Europe.
Fairy penguins (also
known as little blue penguins) are the world’s smallest penguin measuring just
over 25cm tall and they weigh around 1 kg. The penguins are native to New
Zealand and Southern Australia, but Weymouth was chosen as their new home due
to the seaside town’s average summer and winter temperatures being very similar
to those experienced by the penguins in their natural habitat.
The park has
invested in excess of £100,000 into the new enclosure which will give visitors
the opportunity to get closer to the penguins than ever before and interact
with the
Birds from different
species recognize each other and cooperate
Cooperation among
different species of birds is common. Some birds build their nests near those
of larger, more aggressive species to deter predators, and flocks of mixed
species forage for food and defend territories together in alliances that can
last for years. In most cases, though, these partnerships are not between
specific individuals of the other species -- any bird from the other species
will do.
But in a new study
published in the journal Behavioral Ecology, scientists from the University of
Chicago and University of Nebraska show how two different species of Australian
fairy-wrens not only recognize individual birds from other species, but also
form long-term partnerships that help them forage and defend their shared space
as a group.
"Finding that
these two species associate was not surprising, as mixed species flocks of
birds are observed all over the world," said Allison Johnson, PhD, a
postdoctoral scholar at the University of Nebraska who conducted the study as
part of her dissertation research at UChicago. "But when we realized they
were sharing territories with specific individuals and responding aggressively
only to unknown individ
"THE ZOO"
May Have Aired its Season Finale, but AZA Members Continue to Share Our Stories
This weekend, Animal
Planet aired the Season Two finale of its highly successful series THE ZOO,
which highlights the AZA-accredited Bronx Zoo, its staff, and its animals. THE
ZOO is one example of the steps our members take to tell our stories and give people
an intimate look at the important work taking place at AZA-accredited zoos and
aquariums.
Zoos and aquariums
have been hesitant to bring the public behind-the-scenes. Whether out of
apprehension, modesty, or the sheer complexity of the work we do, zoo and
aquarium professionals have kept relatively silent regarding animal care
practices. Perhaps we thought it best to focus on the animals in our care, with
minimal outside interference. But it is
becoming increasingly important to be transparent, to educate the public about
our expertise and rigorous animal welfare standards, and to demonstrate our ded
Bear farming is
coming to an end in Vietnam
Is This the World’s
Most Diverse National Park?
Madidi National Park
in Bolivia goes from lowland to mountaintop, from 600 feet to almost 20,000
feet above sea level. It covers more
than 7,000 square miles of wildly different habitats. It is, says Rob Wallace,
an ecologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Bolivia, “a place where
the Amazon meets the Andes.”
First record of
large-antlered muntjac in Quang Nam, Vietnam, in the wild
Under a biodiversity
monitoring and assessment activity supported by the US Agency for International
Development (USAID), scientists and conservationists of the Leibniz Institute
for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and WWF-Vietnam captured photographs
of one of the rarest and most threatened mammal species of Southeast Asia, the
large-antlered muntjac (Muntiacus vuquangensis), in Quang Nam province, central
Vietnam. Prior to this milestone, this species had only been camera trapped in
three protected areas in all of Vietnam since the year 2000. The new records
from Quang Nam—which include photographs of both a male and a female—provide
new hope for the continued survival of a species that is on the brink of
extinction.
"It is amazing
news," said Phan Tuan, Director of the Forest Protection Department of
Quang Nam in Vietnam "The two individuals are both mature and of
reproductive age. These images prove that the species still survives in Quang
Nam province and give us hope that there might even be a breeding
population."
The large-antlered
muntjac was discovered by scientists in 1994 and is found only in the Annamites
mountain range bordering Vietnam and Lao People's Democratic Republic. Illegal
hunting, mainly accomplished by the setting of wire snares, has decimated the
species across its range. Snaring pressure is apparently high in the forests of
central Vietnam. From 2011 to 2017, for example, government rangers and WWF
Forest Guards removed more than a hundred thousand wire snare
Canadians see value
in zoos, aquariums, but voice support for banning whales and dolphins in
captivity
The future of zoos
and aquariums in North America has come into question in recent years, and two
proposed laws to reduce or outright ban cetaceans in captivity, both in the
House of Commons and Senate, appear to reflect the state of public opinion.
Some have called it
the “Blackfish” effect – citing the impact of a popular documentary about the
problematic nature of housing intelligent aquatic animals at SeaWorld. SeaWorld
Entertainment’s stock plummeted after the film aired on CNN, and has never recovered
to pre-Blackfish levels.
A new study from the
Angus Reid Institute finds Canadians more than twice as likely to say these
mammals should be banned from captivity in Canadian aquariums, than to say that
this practice should be allowed.
This finding follows
movements in this country against the captivity of cetaceans – whales, dolphins
and porpoises – which have been led against Marineland, the popular aquarium
and zoo in Niagara Falls, Ontario. In that provice, residents are more than three-times
as likely to say that such practice
Optimism & Pessimism; 2 Different Things
The first thing we
should do is all agree on what the meaning is for these word from a behavioural
perspective. I would like to share my thoughts on this topic because I think
its an important topic to think about.
There are plenty of
us who think that they are number one or number two. But where does that come
from? We aren’t born with it, we are shaped this way. One of us has more
negative outcomes about their actions in their lives than others while the
other one has more positive outcomes and so becomes an optimist. Let’s put this
back to the animals we work with.
At this moment I’m
pretty busy in our Welfare group we have in the zoo I work at. The main
question for us is obviously if the welfare of our animals is good yes or no
and how can we measure this. Click HERE for more info on that topic. I’ve
looked up some presentations from a welfare conference held in the USA.
Interesting and knowledgeable people who gave some great speeches. At the same
I wrote some questions down that I want to discuss wit
Become a ZooKeeper and change your life
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New Meetings and Conferences updated Here
If you have anything to add then please email me at elvinhow@gmail.com
I will include it when I get a minute. You know it makes sense.
Recent Zoo Vacancies
Vacancies in Zoos and Aquariums and Wildlife/Conservation facilities around the World
*****
About me
After more than 50 years working in private, commercial and National zoos in the capacity of keeper, head keeper and curator Peter Dickinson started to travel. He sold house and all his possessions and hit the road. He has traveled extensively in Turkey, Southern India and much of South East Asia before settling in Thailand. In his travels he has visited well over 200 zoos and many more before 'hitting the road' and writes about these in his blog http://zoonewsdigest.blogspot.com/
or on Hubpages http://hubpages.com/profile/Peter+Dickinson
Peter earns his living as an independent international zoo consultant, critic and writer. Currently working as Curator of Penguins in Ski Dubai. United Arab Emirates. He describes himself as an itinerant zoo keeper, one time zoo inspector, a dreamer, a traveler, an introvert, a people watcher, a lover, a thinker, a cosmopolitan, a writer, a hedonist, an explorer, a pantheist, a gastronome, sometime fool, a good friend to some and a pain in the butt to others.
"These are the best days of my life"
Peter Dickinson
Independent International Zoo Consultant
If you have anything to add then please email me at elvinhow@gmail.com
I will include it when I get a minute. You know it makes sense.
Recent Zoo Vacancies
Vacancies in Zoos and Aquariums and Wildlife/Conservation facilities around the World
*****
About me
After more than 50 years working in private, commercial and National zoos in the capacity of keeper, head keeper and curator Peter Dickinson started to travel. He sold house and all his possessions and hit the road. He has traveled extensively in Turkey, Southern India and much of South East Asia before settling in Thailand. In his travels he has visited well over 200 zoos and many more before 'hitting the road' and writes about these in his blog http://zoonewsdigest.blogspot.com/
or on Hubpages http://hubpages.com/profile/Peter+Dickinson
Peter earns his living as an independent international zoo consultant, critic and writer. Currently working as Curator of Penguins in Ski Dubai. United Arab Emirates. He describes himself as an itinerant zoo keeper, one time zoo inspector, a dreamer, a traveler, an introvert, a people watcher, a lover, a thinker, a cosmopolitan, a writer, a hedonist, an explorer, a pantheist, a gastronome, sometime fool, a good friend to some and a pain in the butt to others.
"These are the best days of my life"
Peter Dickinson
Independent International Zoo Consultant
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