Zoo News Digest 7th April 2019 (ZooNews 1016)
Alvis Lazarus Photography
Peter Dickinson
elvinhow@gmail.com
Dear Colleague,
There are some zoos that will never progress until they recognised that caring for animals properly is a skilled profession and Control of Karachi's Safari Park given to new department really makes the point. This has all the makings of a recipe for disaster. Things have got to change.
I have been horrified by the so called 'Whale Jail' that has been making the press with great frequency. I do believe however that, as has been suggested in Marine scientists warn of risky rescue of orcas and belugas from Russian 'whale jail' that they are bringing the wrong people on board to remedy the situation. This isn't a job for Ocean Scientists and Animal Rights Anarchists. It needs zoo and aquarium professionals. It needs to be faced that releasing these animals will, in most cases, not be a realistic option. Far better to place in reputable collections whether they like it or not. If they take their blinkers off they may recognise the truth.
12.9 tonnes of Pangolin Scales!!! This latest news World record haul of pangolin scales worth $52 million seized from container at Pasir Panjang makes me wonder if there are any Pangolins left. These are all from African species. When I personally started drawing attention to the demise of these important mammals in Pangolins in Peril 10 years ago there was never a mention of African animals. Now they appear to be the main target.
There appears to be an increasing number of petitions and moans online about the 'Big Cat Public Safety Act' and personally I really cannot see what the problem is. I am against Big Cats being used in shows. As far as I am concerned all captive big cats should be in official managed breeding programmes in accredited or professionally managed zoos. There should be no deliberate or accidental breeding of hybrids or mutants. There should be no breeding at all unless indicated by the studbook holder and coordinator. Am I missing something here?
You will be aware that Zoo News Digest in the Zoo Jobs format posts out vacancies on a regular basis. These are either sent to me directly or I take them from websites and post them out to a huge audience of zoo professionals as a service to the zoo community. It takes time. There is no magic involved. I don't and have never charged for this but do ask for an optional donation if the collection is so inclined. 99% send nothing. No worries. However what really gets to me is when a zoo brings an agency on board to advertise, an agency which is being paid mega bucks and that agency sends it to me. Still no problem, the Zoo Jobs reach is bigger than any other and I want to help zoo professionals.
My gripe is that this week one such agency sent me one such vacancy. I posted it out and within 24 hours 548 people had shown interest. In 48 hours the agency asked me to take the ad down. No reasons given, even after an email expressing my delight that enough suitable applicants had been found. However the ad is still live elsewhere. Was it because they didn't like the idea of sending an optional voluntary donation?
You will be aware that Zoo News Digest in the Zoo Jobs format posts out vacancies on a regular basis. These are either sent to me directly or I take them from websites and post them out to a huge audience of zoo professionals as a service to the zoo community. It takes time. There is no magic involved. I don't and have never charged for this but do ask for an optional donation if the collection is so inclined. 99% send nothing. No worries. However what really gets to me is when a zoo brings an agency on board to advertise, an agency which is being paid mega bucks and that agency sends it to me. Still no problem, the Zoo Jobs reach is bigger than any other and I want to help zoo professionals.
My gripe is that this week one such agency sent me one such vacancy. I posted it out and within 24 hours 548 people had shown interest. In 48 hours the agency asked me to take the ad down. No reasons given, even after an email expressing my delight that enough suitable applicants had been found. However the ad is still live elsewhere. Was it because they didn't like the idea of sending an optional voluntary donation?
"good zoos will not gain the credibility of their critics until they condemn the bad zoos wherever they are." Peter Dickinson
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Did You Know?
ZooNews Digest has over 109,500+ Followers on Facebook( and over 109,700 likes) and has a weekly reach often exceeding over 350,000 people? That ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 900 Zoos in 155+ 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 109,500+ Followers on Facebook( and over 109,700 likes) and has a weekly reach often exceeding over 350,000 people? That ZooNews Digest has subscribers in over 900 Zoos in 155+ 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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Control of Karachi's Safari Park given to new
department
With its collection of
various exotic species, Safari Park was once an iconic recreation spot for the
denizens of Karachi. But as the metropolis grew over the years, the numbers of
the park’s many visitors dwindled.
With the situation yet to
improve, the animals of Safari Park now face a new threat on account of new
management with no zoological or veterinary expertise.
‘Skeletal’ baby elephant forced to bang head to rave
music as Thailand zoo visitors laugh
An emaciated baby elephant is
forced to bang her head to rave music, “play” musical instruments and perform
tricks under the threat of painful punishment at a Thai zoo, investigators have
found.
Behind-the-scenes footage
also shows the young animal chained up and repeatedly sucking on her trunk – a
sign of distress – when away from the tourist shows.
UPDATE: SOCIAL SUPPRESSION OF MATERNAL CARE
I am researching social
suppression of maternal care behaviors and affects cub development. In other
words, does the presence of a large number of females in the same area during
gestation and after birth alters the behavior of mothers and cubs?
To answer this question, I
compared the data of two different mother-cubs groups at the Bifengxia base,
one in Leopard Mountain, a low-density female area (up to 2 female neighbors),
and the other in the Breeding Center, a high-density area (up to 13 females
nearby).
State on lookout for pair of black bears that escaped from
wildlife refuge
A pair of 2-year-old black
bears escaped from an upstate New York wildlife refuge earlier this week,
prompting the state Department of Environmental Conservation to help locate
them.
Luve, described as “very
likely the only brown black bear in the Adirondacks,” and its aptly colored
companion wandered away from their enclosure at the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge,
the center said in a Tuesday Facebook post.
The captive-bred bears have
lived at the center since they were both 1 month old.
In a follow-up post to
Facebook on Wednesday, the center explained the furry mammals’ escape seems
indicative of normal post-hibernation behavior.
Out with wire fences, in with ‘immersive landscapes’:
the revolution in zoo design
Auckland Zoo is no longer
about humans on the outside looking in at the animals. Now, it’s all about
being part of the landscape together.
Monica Lake has handed me a
high vis vest and a hard hat (my preferred outfit any given day) and is showing
me around a large construction site: mounds of dirt, a drained, mossy lake and
in the distance, what looks like a large concrete bunker. We’re looking out at
what will become Auckland Zoo’s South East Asia track, home to orangutans, Siamang
gibbons, Sumatran tigers, otters, crocodiles and other reptiles and fish.
The First International Expansion of Seaworld Opens in
2022, Abu Dhabi
On 2016’s last month, Miral
and SeaWorld Entertainment Inc announced their partnership in developing
SeaWorld Abu Dhabi on Yas Island which will be due to open its doors to
entertain the public in 2022.
SeaWorld is a chain of marine
life theme parks and animal research center in the United States and is owned
and funded by SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. Currently, SeaWorld operates in
various locations across the United States including Florida, California, and
Texas.
Yas Island, Abu Dhabi is
going to be the first location for SeaWorld that is outside of the United
States. SeaWorld Abu Dhabi will feature the first dedicated marine life
research, rescue, rehabilitation, and return center in the United Arab
Emirates. Abu Dhabi’s SeaWorld will be equipped with world-class facilities and
state-of-the-art resources that ensure conservation and care of local marine
life.
Our Planet is billed as an Attenborough documentary
with a difference but it shies away from uncomfortable truths
Over six decades, Sir David
Attenborough’s name has become synonymous with high-quality nature
documentaries. But while for his latest project, the Netflix series Our Planet,
he is once again explaining incredible shots of nature and wildlife – this series
is a little different from his past films. Many of his previous smash hits have
portrayed the natural world as untouched and perfect, Our Planet is billed as
putting the threats facing natural ecosystems front and centre to the
narrative. In the opening scenes we are told: “For the first time in human
history the stability of nature can no longer be taken for granted.”
Sea turtles are being born mostly female due to
warming—will they survive?
Allen, a scientist with the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Hawaii, had spent her early
career using hormones to track koala bear pregnancies. Then she started using
similar techniques to help colleagues quickly answer a surprisingly hard
question: whether a sea turtle is male or female.
You can't always tell which
is which just by looking. That often requires laparoscopy, viewing the turtle's
internal organs by inserting a thin camera. Allen figured out how to do it
using blood samples, which made it easier to check lots of turtles quickly.
These rare wolves are unique species. Here’s why that
matters.
But despite incredible
recoveries, both remain highly imperiled. These North American predators often
come into conflict with people, especially farmers and ranchers. As part of
this contention, some have questioned the science asserting the animals are
unique species and worthy of protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Now, a federal study has put
that question to rest. According to a report just published by the National
Academy of Sciences, Mexican gray wolves are a unique subspecies (Canis lupus
baileyi) of gray wolf, and red wolves are a legitimate, separate wolf species
(Canis rufus). Federal law thus requires both to be protected under the
Endangered Species Act.
Recovered vultures set free at Doi Pha Hom Pok
National Park
Three Himalayan griffon
vultures were released back to the wild at Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park in
Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district on Friday.
Officials from the Department
of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation's Wildlife Conservation
Bureau, accompanied by bird expert Chaiyan Kasorndorkbua from Kasetsart
University, released the three vultures at the Doi San Ju viewpoint. The three vultures had landed in Thailand due
to exhaustion and malnutrition in January and were unable to fly. The male vulture, nicknamed Pabuk, fell on
January 7 in Krabi's Khao Phanom area, the female vulture, nicknamed Long
Krung, fell on January 20 in
Marine scientists warn of risky rescue of orcas and
belugas from Russian 'whale jail'
Some of the world's top
marine biologists are meeting in Moscow this week to try to save nearly 100
whales — including 11 orcas and 87 belugas — held captive since autumn in what
critics have dubbed Russia's "whale jail."
Since November, the cetaceans
have been kept in small pens, which are often on the verge of freezing over, in
a bay not far from Vladivostok on Russia's Pacific Coast.
Chimpanzees escape at the zoo 1 hour later caught
Miyazaki
One chimpanzee fled from a
newly opened breeding facility at a zoo in Miyazaki city on the afternoon of
the 4th, but it was caught in the garden about one hour later and there were no
injuries.
One male chimpanzee escaped
from the breeding facility at 3:30 pm on the 4th at Miyazaki City Phoenix
Nature Zoo.
U.S. killing sea lions to save endangered fish
A plan to kill California sea
lions to save an endangered run of fish on a river that cuts through Portland,
Oregon, appears to be working just months after wildlife officials began
euthanizing the giant marine mammals, biologists said Thursday.
The Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife began killing the sea lions in January after getting permission
from federal authorities late last year. They have killed 16 so far, including
three on Wednesday, said department spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy.
World record haul of pangolin scales worth $52 million
seized from container at Pasir Panjang
In the biggest single haul in
the world in recent years, the authorities on Wednesday (April 3) seized 12.9
tonnes of pangolin scales worth $52.3 million from a container at Pasir Panjang
Export Inspection Station.
The scales originated from
Nigeria and were bound for Vietnam. They were found packed in 230 bags among
packets of frozen beef, and declared to contain "frozen beef".
Along with the pangolin
scales, 177kg of cut up and carved elephant ivory worth $120,000 were also
seized during the inspection.
'Draw a line in the sand': scientists find birds near
extinction
Scientists from the
Australian National University have found two birds believed to be near
extinction on an island off Tasmania.
Researcher Dr Matthew Webb
said the team had sighted the King Island brown thornbill and the King Island
scrub tit during a trip in March.
Conservation happens one animal at a time
With Congress divided and
2020 looming, it's hard to build consensus about how to solve problems that are
bigger than Washington. The good news is that while the most urgent
conservation issues are large and complicated, we don't need to wait for
massive reforms to make real progress.
Consider two instructive
pieces of legislation discussed by members of the House Natural Resources
Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife last week: the Big Cat Public
Safety Act and the SAVE Right Whales Act.
The Best Zoo in Every State in America
China’s Monkey Paradise is a Hidden Gem for Family
Travel
The crowd listening to Dr. Long
Yongcheng is glued to his love story. It goes like this:
“Red Dot came to the valley
in 2015 looking for a wife. Eight girls fell in love with him. He only chose
six. The six wives gave birth to four babies in 2016. One of the babies died.
Then they produced another four in 2017, and two in 2018, and one so far this
year, with three more likely on the way. Six wives and 10 kids! Red Dot now has
the biggest family in the valley.”
But Dr. Long isn’t talking
about Mormons. He’s talking about monkeys.
How much milk does a polar bear cub drink?
Healthy polar bear cubs
increase massively in weight from the day they are born (500-800 gram) to the
day they emerge with their mother from the maternity den (10-12 kg). This rapid
weight gain comes from the cubs drinking their mother’s milk. Polar bear milk
is the fattiest of any bears’. It contains about 40% fat when the cubs first
start nursing, and decreases to around 20% as the cubs grow older. The fat
percentage and the quality of the milk is of course also dependent on the
mother’s body condition – the less body fat she has, the less fat she will be
able to pass on to the cubs through her milk.
Do not shoot the leopard!
Today, all advanced humanity
is concerned about the problems of global warming, environmental degradation,
and, consequently, the threat of extinction of rare species of animals. In many
countries, large-scale projects are being implemented to prevent the situation
from worsening. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) also plays a significant role in
the fight to preserve the environment.
Our interview with Elshad
Askerov, Director of the Azerbaijan Representation of the World Wide Fund for
Nature, is devoted to the specifics of WWF’s activities in Azerbaijan, as well
as the problems of the environmental sector in our country.
Death among primates: a critical review of non-human
primate interactions towards their dead and dying
For the past two centuries,
non-human primates have been reported to inspect, protect, retrieve, carry or
drag the deadbodies of their conspecifics and, for nearly the same amount of
time, sparse scientific attention has been paid to suchbehaviours. Given that there
exists a considerable gap in the fossil and archaeological record concerning
how earlyhominins might have interacted with their dead, extant primates may
provide valuable insight into how and in whichcontexts thanatological
behaviours would have occurred. First, we outline a comprehensive history of
comparativethanatology in non-human primates, from the earliest accounts to the
present, uncovering the interpretations of previousresearchers and their
contributions to the field of primate thanatology. Many of the typical
behavioural patterns towardsthe dead seen in the past are consistent with those
observed today. Second, we review recent evidence of thanatologicalresponses
and organise it into distinct terminologies: direct interactions (physical contact
with the corpse) and secondaryinteractions (guarding the corpse, vigils and
visitations). Third, we provide a critical evaluation regarding the formand
function of the behavioural and emotional aspects of these responses towards
infants and adults, also comparingthem with non-conspecifics. We suggest that
thanatological interactions: promote a faster re-categorisation from livingto
dead, decrease costly vigilant/caregiving behaviours, are crucial to the
management of grieving responses, updateposition in the group’s hierarchy, and
accelerate the formation of new social bonds. Fourth, we propose an
integratedmodel of Life-Death Awareness, whereupon neural circuitry dedicated
towards detecting life, i.e. the agency system(animate agency, intentional
agency, mentalistic agency) wor
Nearest primate relatives also susceptible to
marketing spin
Humans aren't the only
species to be influenced by spin. Our closest primate relatives are
susceptible, too.
For example, people are known
to rate a burger as more tasty when it is described as "75 percent
lean" than when it is described as "25 percent fat," even though
that's the same thing. And they're more willing to recommend a medical procedure
when they are told it has a 50 percent success rate than when they are told it
has a 50 percent chance of failure—again, exactly the same thing.
2 Chinese pandas arrive in Denmark
Two pandas have arrived at
Copenhagen Zoo from China.
The animal park's vice
director Bengt Holst says male Zing Er and female Mao Sun were doing fine,
adding it was "his greatest moment in his 36 years" with the zoo.
The pandas, from China's
southwestern city of Chengdu, arrived Thursday evening in cargo containers at
Copenhagen's airport. They were driven to a new 160 million-kroner ($24.2
million) Panda House. The enclosure will open to the public on April 11, a day
after Queen Margrethe, among others, inaugurates it.
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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/Hubpages http://hubpages.com/profile/Peter+Dickinson
Peter earns his living as an independent international zoo consultant, critic and writer. Until recently 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 storyteller, 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"
"These are the best days of my life"
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