San Diego Zoo Blogs

The desert soil is alive! Well, the soil itself isn’t really living, but life occurs throughout the soil of the Mojave Desert, so it’s important to always stay on designated trails and roads when you are in the desert.

Small microorganisms called cyanobacteria, which are from the same family as blue-green algae, actually live on the surface of bare soil in the desert. For most of the Mojave Desert, the soil is usually characterized by rough dark patches as shown in the photo, but these cyanobacteria, with the aid of different types of lichens, mosses, and other colonies of microorganisms, can sometimes produce colorful soil crusts. In both cases, the soils are called cryptobiotic crust.
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Russ is studying wild Andean (or spectacled) bears in the Lambayeque region of Peru and sharing his adventures with us. Read his previous post, Finally, a Little Bit of Rain.

Wow, what a difference a little rain makes in the dry forest! When I woke up this morning, I walked away from the base camp to look at the clouds and fog rolling through the valleys. It was just before dawn, and at first I thought it was still raining. Then I realized that what I thought were raindrops falling on me were actually flying ants!
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Russ is studying wild Andean (or spectacled) bears in the Lambayeque region of Peru and sharing his adventures with us. Read his previous post, Another Day Older, Another Day Wiser?

Well, we have to be creative and persistent in our quest to collar Andean bears in the dry forest. The last few weeks have shown us that although we have learned more about the bears here than we have elsewhere, we still have a lot to learn!
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This year is starting out to be quite busy for the San Diego Zoo’s Desert Tortoise Conservation Center (DTCC), located in Las Vegas. We are now operating the DTCC Pet Desert Tortoise Hotline/Pickup Service that complements Clark County’s Wild Desert Tortoise Pickup Service. Clark County operated both services until December 31, 2009, picking up desert tortoises that people found on development sites, tortoises in harm’s way (such as along a highway), or unwanted or found pet desert tortoises wandering in developed areas. Starting January 1, 2010, Clark County continues to pick up wild tortoises found on development sites, but the DTCC now picks up surrendered pet tortoises and tortoises found in already developed areas.
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Russ is studying wild Andean (or spectacled) bears in the Lambayeque region of Peru and sharing his adventures with us. Read his previous post, To Smell a Bear.

The sky last night was clear, so the stars were bright overhead as we cooled off and settled into a new campsite. The moon was just past full, so we could easily have stayed up later, but we were all tired from hiking in the afternoon sun with full backpacks, and we went to sleep early.
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As you walk into the Giant Panda Research Station at the San Diego Zoo, the first bear you see is Su Lin. She’s been going through some definite hormone changes recently, and our research team is monitoring her. With these changes comes a restlessness that makes it rather difficult for our guests to get a photograph of our girl! Currently, we are seeing her sleep a good part of the day, sitting in water and playing, and walking a good bit! These are all behaviors that we have seen previously with Bai Yun, so she’s really not surprising us, except with how early she started her estrus this year!
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Could it be we are nearing the end of our fantastic remodel of the Conrad Prebys Polar Bear Plunge at the San Diego Zoo? Anyone who has remodeled their home knows the joys and dilemmas that improvement brings. Most of the work that impacted our bears was completed last fall with the building of our management yard and the experience wall.
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For people viewing the giant panda cub here at the San Diego Zoo for the first time, seeing him up so high in the trees can be a little worrisome! So often we think of bears just keeping all four limbs on the ground. Well, we have bears that say, “No way!” to that. From the young age of four to five months, giant panda cubs begin climbing up the trees for a nap, a long snooze, to get out of Mom’s way, and to get away from danger!
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Russ is studying wild Andean (or spectacled) bears in Peru and sharing his adventures with us. Read his previous post, 20 Liters Down, 5 Hours to Go.

I’m sometimes jealous of people who can describe how things smell, or taste. I know the same words that they do, but they truly understand how to use the words. If I could, I would describe for you what a wild Andean bear smells like. Instead, all I can say is that “Chris” smelled like a bear.

I’ve been familiar with the general smell of “bear” since I was a child, growing up in black bear country. Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to smell black bears and brown bears across the mid-western and western United States, but this is the first time I’ve ever sniffed a wild Andean bear. Yep, Chris definitely smells like a bear!
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Families participating in our Green Family Challenge were asked to monitor their home’s electricity use and share their attempts to “hibernate” for Challenge #4: In the Dark? Each family received a watt meter, home electrical monitor, and low watt bulbs. When they actually took stock of how much electricity their homes used, they were amazed!
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