Zoo News Digest 11th March 2018 (ZooNews 987)
Congratulations To the Highland Wildlife Park
Peter Dickinson
elvinhow@gmail.com
Dear Colleague,
One of several
things I read this week disturbed me. No it wasn't Borås Zoo for management culling of surplus animals. No
what really disturbed me was reading that some US Zoos are still sending their
surplus off to game ranches. Do staff ever wonder just what happens to them
there? Or do they even care? Give me the humane management cull every time.
Congratulations
Marwell Zoo on being named as number 13 in the best companies to work for.
Thirteen may be unlucky for some but this is not the case for Marwell.
Travelling tomorrow and slightly off the grid for the next week.
Lots of interest follows.
*********
Did You Know?
ZooNews Digest has over 74,000 Followers on Facebook( and over 74,000 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 74,000 Followers on Facebook( and over 74,000 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,
********
*****
***
**
*
First UK polar bear cub in 25 years emerges from den
The first polar bear
cub to be born in the UK for 25 years has emerged at the Royal Zoological
Society of Scotland's Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig.
Previously, the
birth had only been confirmed by high-pitched noises heard from the maternity
den.
The cub was born in
the week before Christmas, after its mother Victoria mated with Arktos, one of
two male polar bears at the park.
Victoria's enclosure
has been closed to the public.
It is expected to be
reopened to park visitors later this month.
The first image of
the cub is from footage film
The Future of
Wildlife in Southeast Asia?
Phnom Tamao, located
about 25 km outside of Phnom Penh, is no ordinary “zoo.” In fact, it’s not a
zoo at all. Run by the NGOs Wildlife Alliance and Free the Bears, as well as
the Cambodian government, this 2,600-hectare area feels more like a forest with
semi-natural enclosures to separate animals that would normally tear one
another to shreds.
But Phnom Tamao
isn’t just important as an inventory of tropical forest animals. As Asia’s
forests shrink and wildlife interceptions by police increase, what is to happen
to the region’s once-majestic fauna?
Outside of Luang
Prabang, Laos, for example, a similar (if much smaller) enclosure for sun
bears, Asiatic black bears, and Indochinese tigers is on display for visitors
at the scenic Kuangsi Waterfalls, one of the most popular tourist attractions
in the country. Where did these animals come from? Many were intercepted by
poachers, just like the one at Cambodia’s Phnom Tamao, and some were rescued
from illegal private zoos.
And these are the
lucky the ones. The rest were stir-fried into oblivion for those with erectile
dysfunction. Thailand has or had a facility called Tiger Temple Cave in
Kanchanburi province, a place so mired in controversy it was shut down after
dozens of frozen baby tigers were discovered in refrigerators. A man I know who
works for a Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai said that Chinese tourists regularly
inquire about buying “tiger parts
Shoot High and Go
for Broke: A Conversation with Steve McCusker, Retired Director of the San
Antonio Zoo
McCusker began his career working at the
Harvard Primate Center. “That was my first animal job,” he said. “I learned a
lot about primates. They had a lot of macaques and marmosets. It was all based
on human medicine primarily and research done for that purpose.” After a year,
McCusker moved to the Fort Worth Zoo. He started by working at the zoo’s
aquarium but then transferred over to working with mammals. “The Fort Worth Zoo
was really nice- beautiful location,” he remarked. “It was a really good
experience for me because I learned a great deal. When we did seals and sea
lions, I learned a lot about filtration, water quality, and maintenance. They
had an Amazon dolphin while I was there, which was a great experience since I
don’t know if there’s even one in human care anymore. I worked with lions,
hyenas and tigers as well.”
Zoo puts all of its
mammals on birth control amid fears of overcrowding
A zoo has put all of
its mammals on birth control amid fears of overcrowding following an outbreak
of TB.
Paignton Zoo was
forced to cull 11 antelopes last year after TB was discovered in one of the
animals.
Now Government
restrictions imposed on the Devonshire sanctuary prevent it from moving any of
its mammals until the end of the year at the earliest.
First UK polar bear cub in 25 years emerges from den
The first polar bear
cub to be born in the UK for 25 years has emerged at the Royal Zoological
Society of Scotland's Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig.
Previously, the
birth had only been confirmed by high-pitched noises heard from the maternity
den.
The cub was born in
the week before Christmas, after its mother Victoria mated with Arktos, one of
two male polar bears at the park.
Victoria's enclosure
has been closed to the public.
It is expected to be
reopened to park visitors later this month.
The first image of
the cub is from footage film
The Future of
Wildlife in Southeast Asia?
Phnom Tamao, located
about 25 km outside of Phnom Penh, is no ordinary “zoo.” In fact, it’s not a
zoo at all. Run by the NGOs Wildlife Alliance and Free the Bears, as well as
the Cambodian government, this 2,600-hectare area feels more like a forest with
semi-natural enclosures to separate animals that would normally tear one
another to shreds.
But Phnom Tamao
isn’t just important as an inventory of tropical forest animals. As Asia’s
forests shrink and wildlife interceptions by police increase, what is to happen
to the region’s once-majestic fauna?
Outside of Luang
Prabang, Laos, for example, a similar (if much smaller) enclosure for sun
bears, Asiatic black bears, and Indochinese tigers is on display for visitors
at the scenic Kuangsi Waterfalls, one of the most popular tourist attractions
in the country. Where did these animals come from? Many were intercepted by
poachers, just like the one at Cambodia’s Phnom Tamao, and some were rescued
from illegal private zoos.
And these are the
lucky the ones. The rest were stir-fried into oblivion for those with erectile
dysfunction. Thailand has or had a facility called Tiger Temple Cave in
Kanchanburi province, a place so mired in controversy it was shut down after
dozens of frozen baby tigers were discovered in refrigerators. A man I know who
works for a Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai said that Chinese tourists regularly
inquire about buying “tiger parts
Shoot High and Go
for Broke: A Conversation with Steve McCusker, Retired Director of the San
Antonio Zoo
McCusker began his career working at the
Harvard Primate Center. “That was my first animal job,” he said. “I learned a
lot about primates. They had a lot of macaques and marmosets. It was all based
on human medicine primarily and research done for that purpose.” After a year,
McCusker moved to the Fort Worth Zoo. He started by working at the zoo’s
aquarium but then transferred over to working with mammals. “The Fort Worth Zoo
was really nice- beautiful location,” he remarked. “It was a really good
experience for me because I learned a great deal. When we did seals and sea
lions, I learned a lot about filtration, water quality, and maintenance. They
had an Amazon dolphin while I was there, which was a great experience since I
don’t know if there’s even one in human care anymore. I worked with lions,
hyenas and tigers as well.”
Zoo puts all of its
mammals on birth control amid fears of overcrowding
A zoo has put all of
its mammals on birth control amid fears of overcrowding following an outbreak
of TB.
Paignton Zoo was
forced to cull 11 antelopes last year after TB was discovered in one of the
animals.
Now Government
restrictions imposed on the Devonshire sanctuary prevent it from moving any of
its mammals until the end of the year at the earliest.
Plants are woven into the fabric of all creatures’ lives, but perhaps none so much as insects. March’s news at www.zooplantman.com(NEWS/Botanical News) reveals some of these intricate tapestries:
· A plant is being attacked simultaneously by both aphids and caterpillars! What is a plant to do??? Where to use its chemical defenses?
· Our passion for helping Monarch butterflies has led to the planting of milkweed anywhere and everywhere. But from the butterfly’s perspective not all milkweed plantings are equally helpful.
· Seeds ae dispersed by mammals, birds, reptiles and even fish. Now scientists have discovered a specialized seed dispersal relationship between certain plants and crickets.
· Many tropical trees have adopted ant colonies for their defense. Sadly, not all ant colonies are equally courageous defenders.
· A plant species that has been among the most popular house plants since Victorian times is native to the dark understory of Japanese forests. Until recently no one knew how they were pollinated.
Exciting times for new exhibits! In Rhode Island (USA) the Roger Williams Park Zoo will soon open the anticipated tropical exhibit while in Texas the El Paso Zoo has broken ground on an inspired exhibit featuring the flora and fauna of the local Chihuahuan Desert.
Please share these stories with associates, staff, docents and – most importantly – visitors!
Follow on Twitter, Facebook Or visit www.plantworldnews.com – new stories every day as well as hundreds of stories from the past few years.
Marwell Zoo among
the best UK companies to work for
MARWELL Zoo is being
hailed for being good to its staff.
The zoo was named in
the Sunday Times top 100 not-for-profit employers.
Staff were asked
questions over eight areas: my manager, leadership, my company, personal
growth, my team, giving something back, fair deal and wellbeing.
The winners were
announced at a gala dinner in London.
Marwell was placed
13 out of 100 in the not-for-profit list.
The charity employs
250 people ranging f
Surprising Origin of
American Flamingos Discovered
Few of us Floridians
are native to the state. Even our emblematic flamingos were widely thought to
be escapees from captivity—until now.
A new study sheds
new light on a long-standing controversy by suggesting flamingos are indeed
true residents of the Sunshine State.
FOOD AND FEATHERS
There are six
species of flamingo, and the American, or greater, flamingo is found in
Florida. The bird also lives in the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America.
"During the
1800s, it was commonly accepted that [flamingos] were native," says study
leader Steven M. Whitfield, a conserv
China’s lust for
jaguar fangs imperils big cats
The jaguar was found
floating in a drainage canal in Belize City, Belize, on the day after Christmas
last year. Its body was mostly intact, but the head was missing its fangs. On
10 January, a second cat — this time, an ocelot that may have been mistaken for
a young jaguar — turned up headless in the same channel.
The killings point
to a growing illicit trade in jaguars (Panthera onca) that disturbs wildlife
experts. The cats’ fangs, skulls and hides have long been trophies for Latin
American collectors who flout international prohibitions against trading in
jaguar parts. But in recent years, a trafficking route has emerged to China,
where the market for jaguars could be increasing because of crackdowns on the
smuggling of tiger parts used in Chinese tr
Tiny but mighty?
Krill could prove secret weapon in ocean plastics battle
They might be at the
bottom of the food chain, but krill could prove to be a secret weapon in the
fight against the growing threat of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.
New research Friday
showed the tiny zooplankton are capable of digesting microplastics -- under
five millimeters (0.2 inches) -- before excreting them back into the
environment in an even smaller form.
Study author Amanda
Dawson stumbled on the finding while working on a project involving microbeads
-- polyethylene plastic often used in cosmetics such as face scrubs -- at the
Australian Antarctic Division’s krill aquarium to check the toxic effects of pollution.
“We realized that
krill actually break up plastic, it was amazing,” the re
Wildlife
trafficking: The ring that provides tigers soaked in alcohol
A trafficking ring
in HCMC and Long An province is a well-known provider of these products.
“Our products have
prime quality. Goods will be delivered to you at your home. A tank of wild cat
is priced at VND8 million, one bear arm soaked in with poppy flowers and opium
is VND15 million,” said T, who introduced himself as the owner of the ring to
reporters.
“Tiger cubs are now
in Long An province, and bear arms and wild cats are at my house in HCMC. Only
one tiger, one cat cub and two bear arms are available. But there are numerous
grand cobra (Ophiophagus Hannah) “ he said over the phone.
Legal Africa-Asia
Wildlife Trade Gets a Look in
In recent years, the
focus on wildlife trade between Africa and Asia has been almost exclusively on
poaching of iconic mammals and the smuggling of their parts.
Meanwhile, the vast,
legal trade in wildlife has received scant attention, despite its many
potential positive impacts, such as providing support to livelihoods and
sustainable income for local communities.
A new TRAFFIC study
released this week attempts to restore some of the balance in attention to
wildlife trade issues through an examination of the trade in wildlife sourced
in Africa and traded to Asia. It endeavours to shed light on legal trade
trends, the diversity of species and countries involved, and new patterns
emerging.
The data used was
all publicly accessible, as information provided by Parties to the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) on
trade in species listed within the Convention.
The analysis was
made possible thanks to the generous support of Arcadia—a charitable fund of
Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. It revealed more than 1.3-million live
animals and plants, 1.5-million skins and two thousand tonnes of meat were
exported between 2006 to 2015 from 40 countries and a disputed territory in
Africa, to 17 countries and territories in East and Southeast Asia.
There was a
remarkable diversity: some 975 different taxa in all and among the trade
patterns identified were the rising number of live animal and plant exports and
the increased sourcing of species from captive breeding operations: from 42% in
2006 to a peak of 66% in 2013.
The analysis found
evidence of newly emerging trade in hippo teeth from Malawi; a rise in European
Eel exports from North Africa, mostly to South Korea in response to a Eu
The Ark and Beyond
THE EVOLUTION OF ZOO
AND AQUARIUM CONSERVATION
St. Louis Zoo will
buy 425 acres in north St. Louis County
A plan to buy land
in north St. Louis County would more than quadruple the St. Louis Zoo’s space,
opening it to possibilities such as saving more endangered animals and even
letting visitors go on “safari” to watch animals graze.
The St. Louis Zoo
Association, a private, nonprofit group that oversees fundraising, plans to buy
425 acres from the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 562 for
$7.1 million, officials announced Friday. The money came from two anonymous donors.
“Once we develop it,
we’ll be in a much better position to care for animals and those who are
Kurdistan: Peshmerga
Fighters Release Bears Back in the Wild
Iraqi Kurdish
Peshmerga fighters released wild bears in the wild, in the mountains of Gara
near the city of Dohuk, Northern Iraq on Sunday, after animal rights activists
rescued a group of bears, AFP reported.
The Kurdish-American
Friendship Organization concerned in environmental issues in Kurdistan, Iraq,
has previously released a group of wild bears in a natural reserve near the
borders with Iran. This process aims to bring these bears back to their natural
habitat.
The group of six
bears, including a cub, was brought back to the region’s mountains this year.
This group is the first batch of wild animals the Kurdish-American Friendship
Organization plans to release consecutively.
Sources in Kurdistan
said that a convoy accompanying the bears, went on a four-hour journey from
Erbil to the natural reserve
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1196906/kurdistan-peshmerga-fighters-release-bears-back-wild
Innovation in Animal
Welfare Prioritisation
Late last year I
published a paper entitled "In pursuit of peak animal welfare; the need to
prioritize the meaningful over the measurable", in it I argued that too
frequently, animal management places too much emphasis on aspects of care
reflected in welfare assessment metrics, and not enough on the actual feelings
and experiences of animals, which remain stubbornly closed to us. The outcome
of this quantification bias can be systematic sub-optimal animal welfare
management. In other words, animal management all too frequently focuses on the
measurable rather than the meaningful to the detriment of animal welfare.
In closing this
paper, I advocated the use of alternative methodologies to determine welfare
priorities; an area I have been working on for over two years with the
collaboration of a number of international animal welfare charities, zoo
associations and academic institutions. Following recent successful
presentations to the Dutch Zoo Federation's accreditation committee, the EAZA
community at their annual conf
Denbighshire's
under-fire red squirrels bring in fresh re-inforcements to battle grey invaders
Denbighshire's
lonely red squirrels have got some reinforcements as they battle pesky grey
interlopers.
Conservationists
have released seven reds in Clocaenog forest near Ruthin to boost a resident
population that it thought to have dwindled to less than 50.
In 1998 there were
up to 400 native squirrels in the forest – making it the largest population in
Wales – but competition from invasive grey squirrels has steadily forced them
out.
To give them a
fighting chance, seven reds we
Sea Life aquariums
could lose Marine Conservation Society sponsorship due to high animal death
rates
The Sea Life chain
of tourist attractions faces losing its sponsorship deal with the Marine
Conservation Society over its “unacceptable” death rates.
More than a third of
all animals at the aquarium in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, died in a single year
according to mortality figures obtained by the BBC.
The MCS, which
accepted funding from Sea Life to cover the printing costs of the Pocket Good
Fish Guide and has worked with it on conservation projects, said the figures
were a “cause for concern”.
Swedish Zoo Gets
Death Threats for Slaughtering Hundreds of 'Surplus' Animals
Staff at the Borås
Zoo, located in the Swedish city of the same name, have started to receive
death threats after the park made national headlines for its practice of
culling perfectly healthy animals.
Since an early
January report that revealed the killing of hundreds of "surplus"
animals not deemed deficient in any way, the Borås zoo has received over a
dozen death threats via e-mail and social media. Among them were several death
threats directed against zoo CEO Bo Kjellson. One of them features a montage,
in which Bo Kjellson's head is placed behind crosshairs, national broadcaster
SVT reported.
How a big black cat
is avenging its death
In times past, a
hunter would be lifted triumphantly aloft as the tribe celebrated wildly at his
feet after he killed a black leopard. So why all the fuss when an animal of the
same species is gunned down in 2018?
The tables have
turned, and a mega-rich businessman is discovering that even his massive wealth
is outweighed by the dead animal his group allegedly slaughtered. Black
leopards (aka panthers) were among top jungle predators that terrorised our
ancestors. Killing one would have been considered an act of extreme courage,
bringing instant hero status and a tribal coming of age. The opposite now applies, and the businessman
and his party have learned it the hard way after being branded villains and
cowards. Things would be very different had the construction mogul killed a big
cat th
Georgia Aquarium
Loses Appeal to Import Beluga Whales
The Georgia Aquarium
has lost an appeal against a federal judge who ruled against the institution
importing beluga whales from Russia. The federal court decision upholds the
determination made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) in 2013.
However, officials
from the Georgia Aquarium – one of the world’s largest – plan to review the
ruling and make a decision on further action. In 2012, the Georgia Aquarium
filed import requests for 18 beluga whales. The whales were meant to be
distributed amongst other aquariums around the United States.
“When you’re looking
at the sustainability or health of a population, you want to make sure that the
removals don’t negatively impact the ability of that population to be healthy,”
NOAA Fisheries’ director of the Office of Protected Resources, Donna Wieting,
told NPR.
This is the first
time in 20 years that NOAA has
Aquarium
‘disappointed’ with park board appeal of court ruling
Vancouver Aquarium
Tuesday said it is disappointed with the park board’s move to appeal the
Supreme Court ruling striking down the bylaw banning cetaceans.
On Friday, Vancouver
Park Board announced plans to appeal the ruling that prohibited the board from
applying its May 2017 bylaw amendment to the aquarium’s operations in Stanley
Park. The aquarium responded Tuesday afternoon saying the organization is “disappointed
with the Vancouver Park Board’s unwillingness to accept the sound reasoning and
commercial realism of the Honourable Mr. Justice Mayer’s decision in the B.C.
Supreme Court.”
Self-reported
impacts of volunteering in UK zoos and aquariums
Zoos and aquariums
are popular visitor destinations, with around 30 million visits made to them
annually throughout the UK and Ireland. The role and mission of modern zoos
have evolved, with the conservation of world’s remaining biodiversity now being
their major purpose. They seek to aid biodiversity through a combination of
public education, in situ and ex situ conservation programmes, and applied
scientific research. Directly relevant to this paper, they are also
institutions that actively recruit, attract and utilise volunteers. However,
the impacts of volunteering in zoos and aquariums, on the volunteers
themselves, are under-researched. Here we show that, in a survey of more than
500 volunteers at 19 different zoological collections in the UK, zoo volunteers
report positive impacts, specifically in relation to increases in their human
and social capital. We also found that these benefits were more pronounced in
younger volunteers, and with those volunteers who received more initial
training. We conclude that while volunteering in UK zoos correlates with
significant personal benefits to individuals, zoos could aim higher and should
seek to do more to maximise the positive effects of connecting volunteers with
the wildlife and nature found in zoo settings, as well as tailoring their
volunteer training programmes for different age groups.
6 African elephants
to settle in east China
Six African
elephants have passed quarantine inspection and will soon settle at a safari
park in Changzhou City, east China's Jiangsu Province, according to the local
inspection and quarantine bureau Tuesday.
The Zimbabwe-born
elephants, four female and two male, are between three to four years old. This
is the first time live African elephants have been introduced in Jiangsu.
In 2014, the park
bought an African elephant specimen from South Africa and received a warm
response from tourists, according to Li Dongming with the bureau. "Four
years later, the specimen finally can 'walk out' to meet
Tilikum VS. J-34: A
Tale Of Two Killer Whales
The Southern
Resident Killer Whales are dying. It is happening now, it is happening quickly,
and it is happening before our eyes.
In 2016, the number
of Southern Residents plummeted from 83 to 78, one of the smallest populations
since record keeping on the whales began in the early 1970s. One of these
whales, J-34, or “Doublestuf,” a well known member of the J-22 matriline,
washed ashore in British Columbia on December 20th, 2016. A breeding age male
of 18, the BC Ministry of Agriculture’s initial examination revealed blunt
force trauma and a hematoma as the cause of death. There is a high probability,
though unconfirmed, that J-34’s injuries were caused through a vessel strike
Something Mysterious
Is Killing Captive Gorillas
Just before 8
o’clock on a snowy Wednesday morning, deep in a maze of doors and steel fencing
in the basement of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, a 30-year-old gorilla named
Mokolo is getting a heart exam. He’s voluntarily shambled up to a
stainless-steel fence, squatted on his stout legs, and pressed his belly to the
mesh. Now he looks at the ceiling with thinly veiled exasperation, like a kid
who wants to play outside but knows he has to stand still long enough to get
slathered with sunscreen first. His expression is so recognizably human that
it’s disconcerting.
SSPs, TAGs and
Permits: A Conversation with Alan Shoemaker, Retired Collections Manager at the
Riverbanks Zoo
For the first 28 years of its existence, Alan
Shoemaker was a staple of the Riverbanks Zoo team. After serving as Curator of
Mammals for several years, he became Collections Manager. Along with Director
Satch Krantz, Shoemaker helped the zoo grow both in size, scope and reputation
and become heavily involved in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In the
zoo industry, Shoemaker became regarded as an experts in writing permits for
animal acquisitions. He also was instrumental in the development of Species
Survival Plans (SSPs) and Taxon Advisory Groups (TAGs), which were fundamental
to creating sustainable populations of animals in zoos. Here is his story.
175 newborn animals,
5 cheetahs at Dubai Safari
As many as 175
newborn animals of 30 species and five big cheetahs have become the new
inhabitants of Dubai’s wildlife attraction, Dubai Safari Park.
The facility has
welcomed new arrivals such as a vervet monkey, 22 blackbuck antelopes, three
Arabian wolves, 12 corn snakes, two Nile crocodiles, five Egyptian fruit bats,
six wood ducks, 24 African spurred tortoises and three African white lions
among others, it said in a press release.
“With the addition
of the 175 newborns, we are pleased to see the Dubai Safari family growing in
terms of both the number and diversity of the species,” said Khalid Al Suwaidi,
Director of Leisure Facilities at Dubai Municipality which manages the facility.
He stated that the
list of the new arrivals highlights the sheer variety visitors can look forward
to at Dubai Safari, including rare animals such as the African white lions.
He said it further
strengthened the park’s commitment to conservation efforts for endangered
species.
Stolen Apes Report
Stolen Apes: The
Illicit Trade in Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Bonobos and Orangutans [PDF] is the
first report to analyze the scale and scope of the illegal trade and highlights
the growing links to sophisticated trans-boundary crime networks, which law
enforcement networks are struggling to contain.
Stolen Apes, which
was produced by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) through GRASP, estimates
that a minimum of 22,218 great apes have been lost from the wild since 2005 –
either sold, killed during the hunt, or dying in captivity – with chimpanzees
comprising 64 per cent of that number.
The report examines
confiscation records, international trade databases, law enforcement reports,
and arrival rates from sanctuaries and rehabilitation centers between 2005 and
2011.
Could Las Vegas
support a world-class zoo? This group believes so
Amid the excitement
surrounding potential new stadiums, arenas and art museums, some locals want
Las Vegas to get a different kind of venue.
During the past few
years, members of the nonprofit Las Vegas Zoological Society have been quietly
laying the groundwork for a world-class zoo. Their mission: “to inspire
education and conservation leadership by connecting people with wildlife and
nature.” Unlike zoos of the past, this one would have a focus on “animal care,
science, education and conservation.”
A “motor safari
ride” would ferry visitors around the planed 100-acre park, which would offer
16 exhibits featuring 900 animals from 300 species. The conceptual site plan
shows exhibits grouped by region (Nevada, Africa, Asia), along with a botanical
garden, children’s zoo, aviary, amphitheater and aquatic exhibit.
Conservation and
education plans are no less ambitious. The Zoological Society would offer a
college preparatory program for high school students; a kids’ Safari Camp; a
public zoo library; workshops and classes; and a weekly TV show called Wild
Zone. A conservation center would include fieldwork and research
Top 5 Concepts What
Makes Your Training a Success
As the business
owner of an online space where many different animal training professionals
come together, here are five important concepts that really stood out to me in
2017. I present these here as conversation starters and look forward to
everyone’s thoughts and feelings on them …
1) Define yourself
as a trainer.
As the business
owner of an online space where many different animal training professionals
come together, here are five important concepts that really stood out to me in
2017. I present these here as conversation starters and look forward to
everyone’s thoughts and feelings on them …
BRISTOL’S LINK TO
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN
Still wowing
audiences on the big screen – including in a singalong version at three Bristol
cinemas this week – The Greatest Showman is one of the major movie successes of
the last 12 months.
A newly published
book about Bristol Zoo now uncovers Bristol’s link to the man whose life the
film is based on – the American showman and politician PT Barnum.
In 1894, a female
Bengal tiger was loaded onto a passenger train at Clifton Down station bound
for Paddington. Once in London, the animal headed onto New York to join Barnum
& Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth.
The Secret Life of
Elephants
We have the pleasure
of watching elephants in broad daylight in precious few places like Udawalawe,
where they are habituated enough to be placid and tolerant of onlookers.
Indeed, one can get rather spoiled in this particular Park, because even the
birds are unafraid and will happily sit and pose for your clumsy photograph
from inches away. At times, certain exhibitionist pachyderms even appear to put
on a show for the gawking crowds:
Orangutan Smokes
Cigarette; Bandung Zoo Tracks Down Perpetrator
Bandung Zoo
managements publically asked the person responsible for giving one of the zoo`s
orangutans a cigarette to make a public apology.
“We urge the
perpetrator to apologize to the public,” said Bandung Zoo spokesman Sulhan
Safi’I on Wednesday, March 7. Meanwhile, zoo management is tracking down the
identity of the suspect.
From Cages to
Science: A Conversation with Dr. Lester E. Fisher, Retired Director of the
Lincoln Park Zoo
Dr. Lester E. Fisher
was a true visionary in the zoo profession. During his three decades as
Director of the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, he transformed the institution
into a leader in animal research and a modern zoo. Fisher was particularly known for his
expertise in great apes as he led the Lincoln Park Zoo to having the largest
gorilla population in North America and conducted groundbreaking research on
the species. Here is his story.
What We Can Learn
From the Demise of the Northern White Rhino
The health of the
world’s last male northern white rhino, Sudan, is rapidly declining, bringing
the subspecies’ inevitable extinction closer to a reality. Even as scientists
and conservationists work on an ambitious in vitro fertilization effort,
there’s little reason for hope that the 45-year-old Sudan and his two female
companions—the last of the entire subspecies—will leave any offspring behind.
Sudan, who is aging
and suffering from a leg infection, could soon be euthanized if his condition
doesn’t take a turn for the better. Until recently, the subspecies numbered in
the thousands across central Africa. However decades of poaching and habitat destruction
leave only Sudan, his daughter Najin, and granddaughter Fatu. As of Tuesday,
Sudan’s condition had improved slightly according to the BBC, although his
caretakers say the prognosis is still “not looking bright” and they are not
holding out “big hopes” for a miracle recovery.
Google, Facebook,
and Other Tech Giants Unite to Fight Wildlife Crime Online
The black market
trade in ivory and rhino horn doesn’t just happen in the back rooms of stores
or under the table at nondescript secret meeting locations. Increasingly the
illegal wildlife trade has moved online, where anonymity and the sheer number
of for-sale postings makes it hard to stop the smuggling. When one company
cracks down, sellers simply move to another platform.
A new international
effort aims to put a stop to this whack-a-mole effect. The World Wildlife Fund
(WWF), TRAFFIC, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare are launching the
Global Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, bringing together technology,
e-commerce, and social media companies to work together to squeeze out wildlife
traffickers. The coalition includes Google, eBay, Facebook, Instagram, and many
others.
“Criminal groups and
illegal traders are exploiting the technology to operate anonymously online
with less chance of detection and to reach a wider market than ever before,”
says Crawford Allan, the senior director of wildlife crime at the World
Wildlife Fund and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring organization. Law
enforcement can’t police it all, he says. “The companies themselves wer
Sea lions’
night-time ruckus leads to Cologne Zoo’s first ever squabble with neighbours
Cologne’s sea lions
have landed in hot water after their late-night antics led local residents to
file a noise complaint. This is the first time in 168 years that someone has
taken offence at the adorable creatures.
The beloved sea
lions Astrid, Amelie, Oz, Lina and Mia are the focus of an official
investigation at the Cologne Zoo after complaints were lodged by local
residents about their load nocturnal roars.
In a story first
reported on Wednesday morning by Cologne newspaper “Express”, the city
government is launching a full inquiry into the nature of the sea lions'
nighttime activities, as well as the ability of the zoo to comply with German
noise regulations.
The investigation is
forcing Cologne Zoo to check the quality of its sound-proofing within the sea
lions' enclosure and to analyze surveillance video to determine the cause of
the creatures' late-night noise. The zoo’s sp
Two Species of
Ravens Nevermore?
Speciation, where
one species splits into two, has long been a focus of evolutionary research. A
new study almost 20 years in the making suggests that the opposite—speciation
reversal, where two distinct lineages hybridize and eventually merge into one—may
be just as important.
In the paper,
published in Nature Communications, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
scientists and partners report some of the strongest evidence yet of this
phenomenon in two lineages of common ravens.
Researchers examined
genomic data from hundreds of ravens across North America, a challenging effort
that proved to be worthwhile. “Next-generation genomic techniques are revealing
more and more examples of species with hybrid genomes,” explains Anna Kearns,
postdoctoral fellow with SCBI’s Center for Conservation Genomics and the
study’s lead author.
In fact, throughout
history this natural evolutionary process of speciation reversal has probably
occurred in hundreds or thousands of lineages across the planet
When UMBC professor
of biological sciences Kevin Omland, one of the paper’s authors, first started
down this road in 1999, common ravens were considered a single species. A year
later, he reported that in fact two common raven lineages existed—one called
“California” concentrated in the southwestern U.S. and the other called
“Holarctic” found everywhere else.
But that’s not where
the story ends. After analyzing mitochondrial DNA from ravens throughout the
western U.S., scientists found that these two lineages are widely intermixed.
Further study of nuclear genome data led to the conclusion that the California
and Holarctic raven lineages did diverge for one to two million years but later
came together and have been hybridizing for at least tens of thousands of
years.
*****************************************************
· A plant is being attacked simultaneously by both aphids and caterpillars! What is a plant to do??? Where to use its chemical defenses?
· Our passion for helping Monarch butterflies has led to the planting of milkweed anywhere and everywhere. But from the butterfly’s perspective not all milkweed plantings are equally helpful.
· Seeds ae dispersed by mammals, birds, reptiles and even fish. Now scientists have discovered a specialized seed dispersal relationship between certain plants and crickets.
· Many tropical trees have adopted ant colonies for their defense. Sadly, not all ant colonies are equally courageous defenders.
· A plant species that has been among the most popular house plants since Victorian times is native to the dark understory of Japanese forests. Until recently no one knew how they were pollinated.
Exciting times for new exhibits! In Rhode Island (USA) the Roger Williams Park Zoo will soon open the anticipated tropical exhibit while in Texas the El Paso Zoo has broken ground on an inspired exhibit featuring the flora and fauna of the local Chihuahuan Desert.
Please share these stories with associates, staff, docents and – most importantly – visitors!
Follow on Twitter, Facebook Or visit www.plantworldnews.com – new stories every day as well as hundreds of stories from the past few years.
Marwell Zoo among
the best UK companies to work for
MARWELL Zoo is being
hailed for being good to its staff.
The zoo was named in
the Sunday Times top 100 not-for-profit employers.
Staff were asked
questions over eight areas: my manager, leadership, my company, personal
growth, my team, giving something back, fair deal and wellbeing.
The winners were
announced at a gala dinner in London.
Marwell was placed
13 out of 100 in the not-for-profit list.
The charity employs
250 people ranging f
Surprising Origin of
American Flamingos Discovered
Few of us Floridians
are native to the state. Even our emblematic flamingos were widely thought to
be escapees from captivity—until now.
A new study sheds
new light on a long-standing controversy by suggesting flamingos are indeed
true residents of the Sunshine State.
FOOD AND FEATHERS
There are six
species of flamingo, and the American, or greater, flamingo is found in
Florida. The bird also lives in the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America.
"During the
1800s, it was commonly accepted that [flamingos] were native," says study
leader Steven M. Whitfield, a conserv
China’s lust for
jaguar fangs imperils big cats
The jaguar was found
floating in a drainage canal in Belize City, Belize, on the day after Christmas
last year. Its body was mostly intact, but the head was missing its fangs. On
10 January, a second cat — this time, an ocelot that may have been mistaken for
a young jaguar — turned up headless in the same channel.
The killings point
to a growing illicit trade in jaguars (Panthera onca) that disturbs wildlife
experts. The cats’ fangs, skulls and hides have long been trophies for Latin
American collectors who flout international prohibitions against trading in
jaguar parts. But in recent years, a trafficking route has emerged to China,
where the market for jaguars could be increasing because of crackdowns on the
smuggling of tiger parts used in Chinese tr
Tiny but mighty?
Krill could prove secret weapon in ocean plastics battle
They might be at the
bottom of the food chain, but krill could prove to be a secret weapon in the
fight against the growing threat of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.
New research Friday
showed the tiny zooplankton are capable of digesting microplastics -- under
five millimeters (0.2 inches) -- before excreting them back into the
environment in an even smaller form.
Study author Amanda
Dawson stumbled on the finding while working on a project involving microbeads
-- polyethylene plastic often used in cosmetics such as face scrubs -- at the
Australian Antarctic Division’s krill aquarium to check the toxic effects of pollution.
“We realized that
krill actually break up plastic, it was amazing,” the re
Wildlife
trafficking: The ring that provides tigers soaked in alcohol
A trafficking ring
in HCMC and Long An province is a well-known provider of these products.
“Our products have
prime quality. Goods will be delivered to you at your home. A tank of wild cat
is priced at VND8 million, one bear arm soaked in with poppy flowers and opium
is VND15 million,” said T, who introduced himself as the owner of the ring to
reporters.
“Tiger cubs are now
in Long An province, and bear arms and wild cats are at my house in HCMC. Only
one tiger, one cat cub and two bear arms are available. But there are numerous
grand cobra (Ophiophagus Hannah) “ he said over the phone.
Legal Africa-Asia
Wildlife Trade Gets a Look in
In recent years, the
focus on wildlife trade between Africa and Asia has been almost exclusively on
poaching of iconic mammals and the smuggling of their parts.
Meanwhile, the vast,
legal trade in wildlife has received scant attention, despite its many
potential positive impacts, such as providing support to livelihoods and
sustainable income for local communities.
A new TRAFFIC study
released this week attempts to restore some of the balance in attention to
wildlife trade issues through an examination of the trade in wildlife sourced
in Africa and traded to Asia. It endeavours to shed light on legal trade
trends, the diversity of species and countries involved, and new patterns
emerging.
The data used was
all publicly accessible, as information provided by Parties to the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) on
trade in species listed within the Convention.
The analysis was
made possible thanks to the generous support of Arcadia—a charitable fund of
Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. It revealed more than 1.3-million live
animals and plants, 1.5-million skins and two thousand tonnes of meat were
exported between 2006 to 2015 from 40 countries and a disputed territory in
Africa, to 17 countries and territories in East and Southeast Asia.
There was a
remarkable diversity: some 975 different taxa in all and among the trade
patterns identified were the rising number of live animal and plant exports and
the increased sourcing of species from captive breeding operations: from 42% in
2006 to a peak of 66% in 2013.
The analysis found
evidence of newly emerging trade in hippo teeth from Malawi; a rise in European
Eel exports from North Africa, mostly to South Korea in response to a Eu
The Ark and Beyond
THE EVOLUTION OF ZOO
AND AQUARIUM CONSERVATION
St. Louis Zoo will
buy 425 acres in north St. Louis County
A plan to buy land
in north St. Louis County would more than quadruple the St. Louis Zoo’s space,
opening it to possibilities such as saving more endangered animals and even
letting visitors go on “safari” to watch animals graze.
The St. Louis Zoo
Association, a private, nonprofit group that oversees fundraising, plans to buy
425 acres from the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 562 for
$7.1 million, officials announced Friday. The money came from two anonymous donors.
“Once we develop it,
we’ll be in a much better position to care for animals and those who are
Kurdistan: Peshmerga
Fighters Release Bears Back in the Wild
Iraqi Kurdish
Peshmerga fighters released wild bears in the wild, in the mountains of Gara
near the city of Dohuk, Northern Iraq on Sunday, after animal rights activists
rescued a group of bears, AFP reported.
The Kurdish-American
Friendship Organization concerned in environmental issues in Kurdistan, Iraq,
has previously released a group of wild bears in a natural reserve near the
borders with Iran. This process aims to bring these bears back to their natural
habitat.
The group of six
bears, including a cub, was brought back to the region’s mountains this year.
This group is the first batch of wild animals the Kurdish-American Friendship
Organization plans to release consecutively.
Sources in Kurdistan
said that a convoy accompanying the bears, went on a four-hour journey from
Erbil to the natural reserve
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1196906/kurdistan-peshmerga-fighters-release-bears-back-wild
Innovation in Animal
Welfare Prioritisation
Late last year I
published a paper entitled "In pursuit of peak animal welfare; the need to
prioritize the meaningful over the measurable", in it I argued that too
frequently, animal management places too much emphasis on aspects of care
reflected in welfare assessment metrics, and not enough on the actual feelings
and experiences of animals, which remain stubbornly closed to us. The outcome
of this quantification bias can be systematic sub-optimal animal welfare
management. In other words, animal management all too frequently focuses on the
measurable rather than the meaningful to the detriment of animal welfare.
In closing this
paper, I advocated the use of alternative methodologies to determine welfare
priorities; an area I have been working on for over two years with the
collaboration of a number of international animal welfare charities, zoo
associations and academic institutions. Following recent successful
presentations to the Dutch Zoo Federation's accreditation committee, the EAZA
community at their annual conf
Denbighshire's
under-fire red squirrels bring in fresh re-inforcements to battle grey invaders
Denbighshire's
lonely red squirrels have got some reinforcements as they battle pesky grey
interlopers.
Conservationists
have released seven reds in Clocaenog forest near Ruthin to boost a resident
population that it thought to have dwindled to less than 50.
In 1998 there were
up to 400 native squirrels in the forest – making it the largest population in
Wales – but competition from invasive grey squirrels has steadily forced them
out.
To give them a
fighting chance, seven reds we
Sea Life aquariums
could lose Marine Conservation Society sponsorship due to high animal death
rates
The Sea Life chain
of tourist attractions faces losing its sponsorship deal with the Marine
Conservation Society over its “unacceptable” death rates.
More than a third of
all animals at the aquarium in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, died in a single year
according to mortality figures obtained by the BBC.
The MCS, which
accepted funding from Sea Life to cover the printing costs of the Pocket Good
Fish Guide and has worked with it on conservation projects, said the figures
were a “cause for concern”.
Swedish Zoo Gets
Death Threats for Slaughtering Hundreds of 'Surplus' Animals
Staff at the Borås
Zoo, located in the Swedish city of the same name, have started to receive
death threats after the park made national headlines for its practice of
culling perfectly healthy animals.
Since an early
January report that revealed the killing of hundreds of "surplus"
animals not deemed deficient in any way, the Borås zoo has received over a
dozen death threats via e-mail and social media. Among them were several death
threats directed against zoo CEO Bo Kjellson. One of them features a montage,
in which Bo Kjellson's head is placed behind crosshairs, national broadcaster
SVT reported.
How a big black cat
is avenging its death
In times past, a
hunter would be lifted triumphantly aloft as the tribe celebrated wildly at his
feet after he killed a black leopard. So why all the fuss when an animal of the
same species is gunned down in 2018?
The tables have
turned, and a mega-rich businessman is discovering that even his massive wealth
is outweighed by the dead animal his group allegedly slaughtered. Black
leopards (aka panthers) were among top jungle predators that terrorised our
ancestors. Killing one would have been considered an act of extreme courage,
bringing instant hero status and a tribal coming of age. The opposite now applies, and the businessman
and his party have learned it the hard way after being branded villains and
cowards. Things would be very different had the construction mogul killed a big
cat th
Georgia Aquarium
Loses Appeal to Import Beluga Whales
The Georgia Aquarium
has lost an appeal against a federal judge who ruled against the institution
importing beluga whales from Russia. The federal court decision upholds the
determination made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) in 2013.
However, officials
from the Georgia Aquarium – one of the world’s largest – plan to review the
ruling and make a decision on further action. In 2012, the Georgia Aquarium
filed import requests for 18 beluga whales. The whales were meant to be
distributed amongst other aquariums around the United States.
“When you’re looking
at the sustainability or health of a population, you want to make sure that the
removals don’t negatively impact the ability of that population to be healthy,”
NOAA Fisheries’ director of the Office of Protected Resources, Donna Wieting,
told NPR.
This is the first
time in 20 years that NOAA has
Aquarium
‘disappointed’ with park board appeal of court ruling
Vancouver Aquarium
Tuesday said it is disappointed with the park board’s move to appeal the
Supreme Court ruling striking down the bylaw banning cetaceans.
On Friday, Vancouver
Park Board announced plans to appeal the ruling that prohibited the board from
applying its May 2017 bylaw amendment to the aquarium’s operations in Stanley
Park. The aquarium responded Tuesday afternoon saying the organization is “disappointed
with the Vancouver Park Board’s unwillingness to accept the sound reasoning and
commercial realism of the Honourable Mr. Justice Mayer’s decision in the B.C.
Supreme Court.”
Self-reported
impacts of volunteering in UK zoos and aquariums
Zoos and aquariums
are popular visitor destinations, with around 30 million visits made to them
annually throughout the UK and Ireland. The role and mission of modern zoos
have evolved, with the conservation of world’s remaining biodiversity now being
their major purpose. They seek to aid biodiversity through a combination of
public education, in situ and ex situ conservation programmes, and applied
scientific research. Directly relevant to this paper, they are also
institutions that actively recruit, attract and utilise volunteers. However,
the impacts of volunteering in zoos and aquariums, on the volunteers
themselves, are under-researched. Here we show that, in a survey of more than
500 volunteers at 19 different zoological collections in the UK, zoo volunteers
report positive impacts, specifically in relation to increases in their human
and social capital. We also found that these benefits were more pronounced in
younger volunteers, and with those volunteers who received more initial
training. We conclude that while volunteering in UK zoos correlates with
significant personal benefits to individuals, zoos could aim higher and should
seek to do more to maximise the positive effects of connecting volunteers with
the wildlife and nature found in zoo settings, as well as tailoring their
volunteer training programmes for different age groups.
6 African elephants
to settle in east China
Six African
elephants have passed quarantine inspection and will soon settle at a safari
park in Changzhou City, east China's Jiangsu Province, according to the local
inspection and quarantine bureau Tuesday.
The Zimbabwe-born
elephants, four female and two male, are between three to four years old. This
is the first time live African elephants have been introduced in Jiangsu.
In 2014, the park
bought an African elephant specimen from South Africa and received a warm
response from tourists, according to Li Dongming with the bureau. "Four
years later, the specimen finally can 'walk out' to meet
Tilikum VS. J-34: A
Tale Of Two Killer Whales
The Southern
Resident Killer Whales are dying. It is happening now, it is happening quickly,
and it is happening before our eyes.
In 2016, the number
of Southern Residents plummeted from 83 to 78, one of the smallest populations
since record keeping on the whales began in the early 1970s. One of these
whales, J-34, or “Doublestuf,” a well known member of the J-22 matriline,
washed ashore in British Columbia on December 20th, 2016. A breeding age male
of 18, the BC Ministry of Agriculture’s initial examination revealed blunt
force trauma and a hematoma as the cause of death. There is a high probability,
though unconfirmed, that J-34’s injuries were caused through a vessel strike
Something Mysterious
Is Killing Captive Gorillas
Just before 8
o’clock on a snowy Wednesday morning, deep in a maze of doors and steel fencing
in the basement of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, a 30-year-old gorilla named
Mokolo is getting a heart exam. He’s voluntarily shambled up to a
stainless-steel fence, squatted on his stout legs, and pressed his belly to the
mesh. Now he looks at the ceiling with thinly veiled exasperation, like a kid
who wants to play outside but knows he has to stand still long enough to get
slathered with sunscreen first. His expression is so recognizably human that
it’s disconcerting.
SSPs, TAGs and
Permits: A Conversation with Alan Shoemaker, Retired Collections Manager at the
Riverbanks Zoo
For the first 28 years of its existence, Alan
Shoemaker was a staple of the Riverbanks Zoo team. After serving as Curator of
Mammals for several years, he became Collections Manager. Along with Director
Satch Krantz, Shoemaker helped the zoo grow both in size, scope and reputation
and become heavily involved in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In the
zoo industry, Shoemaker became regarded as an experts in writing permits for
animal acquisitions. He also was instrumental in the development of Species
Survival Plans (SSPs) and Taxon Advisory Groups (TAGs), which were fundamental
to creating sustainable populations of animals in zoos. Here is his story.
175 newborn animals,
5 cheetahs at Dubai Safari
As many as 175
newborn animals of 30 species and five big cheetahs have become the new
inhabitants of Dubai’s wildlife attraction, Dubai Safari Park.
The facility has
welcomed new arrivals such as a vervet monkey, 22 blackbuck antelopes, three
Arabian wolves, 12 corn snakes, two Nile crocodiles, five Egyptian fruit bats,
six wood ducks, 24 African spurred tortoises and three African white lions
among others, it said in a press release.
“With the addition
of the 175 newborns, we are pleased to see the Dubai Safari family growing in
terms of both the number and diversity of the species,” said Khalid Al Suwaidi,
Director of Leisure Facilities at Dubai Municipality which manages the facility.
He stated that the
list of the new arrivals highlights the sheer variety visitors can look forward
to at Dubai Safari, including rare animals such as the African white lions.
He said it further
strengthened the park’s commitment to conservation efforts for endangered
species.
Stolen Apes Report
Stolen Apes: The
Illicit Trade in Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Bonobos and Orangutans [PDF] is the
first report to analyze the scale and scope of the illegal trade and highlights
the growing links to sophisticated trans-boundary crime networks, which law
enforcement networks are struggling to contain.
Stolen Apes, which
was produced by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) through GRASP, estimates
that a minimum of 22,218 great apes have been lost from the wild since 2005 –
either sold, killed during the hunt, or dying in captivity – with chimpanzees
comprising 64 per cent of that number.
The report examines
confiscation records, international trade databases, law enforcement reports,
and arrival rates from sanctuaries and rehabilitation centers between 2005 and
2011.
Could Las Vegas
support a world-class zoo? This group believes so
Amid the excitement
surrounding potential new stadiums, arenas and art museums, some locals want
Las Vegas to get a different kind of venue.
During the past few
years, members of the nonprofit Las Vegas Zoological Society have been quietly
laying the groundwork for a world-class zoo. Their mission: “to inspire
education and conservation leadership by connecting people with wildlife and
nature.” Unlike zoos of the past, this one would have a focus on “animal care,
science, education and conservation.”
A “motor safari
ride” would ferry visitors around the planed 100-acre park, which would offer
16 exhibits featuring 900 animals from 300 species. The conceptual site plan
shows exhibits grouped by region (Nevada, Africa, Asia), along with a botanical
garden, children’s zoo, aviary, amphitheater and aquatic exhibit.
Conservation and
education plans are no less ambitious. The Zoological Society would offer a
college preparatory program for high school students; a kids’ Safari Camp; a
public zoo library; workshops and classes; and a weekly TV show called Wild
Zone. A conservation center would include fieldwork and research
Top 5 Concepts What
Makes Your Training a Success
As the business
owner of an online space where many different animal training professionals
come together, here are five important concepts that really stood out to me in
2017. I present these here as conversation starters and look forward to
everyone’s thoughts and feelings on them …
1) Define yourself
as a trainer.
As the business
owner of an online space where many different animal training professionals
come together, here are five important concepts that really stood out to me in
2017. I present these here as conversation starters and look forward to
everyone’s thoughts and feelings on them …
BRISTOL’S LINK TO
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN
Still wowing
audiences on the big screen – including in a singalong version at three Bristol
cinemas this week – The Greatest Showman is one of the major movie successes of
the last 12 months.
A newly published
book about Bristol Zoo now uncovers Bristol’s link to the man whose life the
film is based on – the American showman and politician PT Barnum.
In 1894, a female
Bengal tiger was loaded onto a passenger train at Clifton Down station bound
for Paddington. Once in London, the animal headed onto New York to join Barnum
& Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth.
The Secret Life of
Elephants
We have the pleasure
of watching elephants in broad daylight in precious few places like Udawalawe,
where they are habituated enough to be placid and tolerant of onlookers.
Indeed, one can get rather spoiled in this particular Park, because even the
birds are unafraid and will happily sit and pose for your clumsy photograph
from inches away. At times, certain exhibitionist pachyderms even appear to put
on a show for the gawking crowds:
Orangutan Smokes
Cigarette; Bandung Zoo Tracks Down Perpetrator
Bandung Zoo
managements publically asked the person responsible for giving one of the zoo`s
orangutans a cigarette to make a public apology.
“We urge the
perpetrator to apologize to the public,” said Bandung Zoo spokesman Sulhan
Safi’I on Wednesday, March 7. Meanwhile, zoo management is tracking down the
identity of the suspect.
From Cages to
Science: A Conversation with Dr. Lester E. Fisher, Retired Director of the
Lincoln Park Zoo
Dr. Lester E. Fisher
was a true visionary in the zoo profession. During his three decades as
Director of the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, he transformed the institution
into a leader in animal research and a modern zoo. Fisher was particularly known for his
expertise in great apes as he led the Lincoln Park Zoo to having the largest
gorilla population in North America and conducted groundbreaking research on
the species. Here is his story.
What We Can Learn
From the Demise of the Northern White Rhino
The health of the
world’s last male northern white rhino, Sudan, is rapidly declining, bringing
the subspecies’ inevitable extinction closer to a reality. Even as scientists
and conservationists work on an ambitious in vitro fertilization effort,
there’s little reason for hope that the 45-year-old Sudan and his two female
companions—the last of the entire subspecies—will leave any offspring behind.
Sudan, who is aging
and suffering from a leg infection, could soon be euthanized if his condition
doesn’t take a turn for the better. Until recently, the subspecies numbered in
the thousands across central Africa. However decades of poaching and habitat destruction
leave only Sudan, his daughter Najin, and granddaughter Fatu. As of Tuesday,
Sudan’s condition had improved slightly according to the BBC, although his
caretakers say the prognosis is still “not looking bright” and they are not
holding out “big hopes” for a miracle recovery.
Google, Facebook,
and Other Tech Giants Unite to Fight Wildlife Crime Online
The black market
trade in ivory and rhino horn doesn’t just happen in the back rooms of stores
or under the table at nondescript secret meeting locations. Increasingly the
illegal wildlife trade has moved online, where anonymity and the sheer number
of for-sale postings makes it hard to stop the smuggling. When one company
cracks down, sellers simply move to another platform.
A new international
effort aims to put a stop to this whack-a-mole effect. The World Wildlife Fund
(WWF), TRAFFIC, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare are launching the
Global Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, bringing together technology,
e-commerce, and social media companies to work together to squeeze out wildlife
traffickers. The coalition includes Google, eBay, Facebook, Instagram, and many
others.
“Criminal groups and
illegal traders are exploiting the technology to operate anonymously online
with less chance of detection and to reach a wider market than ever before,”
says Crawford Allan, the senior director of wildlife crime at the World
Wildlife Fund and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring organization. Law
enforcement can’t police it all, he says. “The companies themselves wer
Sea lions’
night-time ruckus leads to Cologne Zoo’s first ever squabble with neighbours
Cologne’s sea lions
have landed in hot water after their late-night antics led local residents to
file a noise complaint. This is the first time in 168 years that someone has
taken offence at the adorable creatures.
The beloved sea
lions Astrid, Amelie, Oz, Lina and Mia are the focus of an official
investigation at the Cologne Zoo after complaints were lodged by local
residents about their load nocturnal roars.
In a story first
reported on Wednesday morning by Cologne newspaper “Express”, the city
government is launching a full inquiry into the nature of the sea lions'
nighttime activities, as well as the ability of the zoo to comply with German
noise regulations.
The investigation is
forcing Cologne Zoo to check the quality of its sound-proofing within the sea
lions' enclosure and to analyze surveillance video to determine the cause of
the creatures' late-night noise. The zoo’s sp
Two Species of
Ravens Nevermore?
Speciation, where
one species splits into two, has long been a focus of evolutionary research. A
new study almost 20 years in the making suggests that the opposite—speciation
reversal, where two distinct lineages hybridize and eventually merge into one—may
be just as important.
In the paper,
published in Nature Communications, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
scientists and partners report some of the strongest evidence yet of this
phenomenon in two lineages of common ravens.
Researchers examined
genomic data from hundreds of ravens across North America, a challenging effort
that proved to be worthwhile. “Next-generation genomic techniques are revealing
more and more examples of species with hybrid genomes,” explains Anna Kearns,
postdoctoral fellow with SCBI’s Center for Conservation Genomics and the
study’s lead author.
In fact, throughout
history this natural evolutionary process of speciation reversal has probably
occurred in hundreds or thousands of lineages across the planet
When UMBC professor
of biological sciences Kevin Omland, one of the paper’s authors, first started
down this road in 1999, common ravens were considered a single species. A year
later, he reported that in fact two common raven lineages existed—one called
“California” concentrated in the southwestern U.S. and the other called
“Holarctic” found everywhere else.
But that’s not where
the story ends. After analyzing mitochondrial DNA from ravens throughout the
western U.S., scientists found that these two lineages are widely intermixed.
Further study of nuclear genome data led to the conclusion that the California
and Holarctic raven lineages did diverge for one to two million years but later
came together and have been hybridizing for at least tens of thousands of
years.
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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 49 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 49 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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