Over the years, our staff has done a lot of research of various kinds on the giant panda. In general, when working on a particular research topic it is useful to have a large population of individual bears to study. This helps to ensure that the statistical results of the study are powerful, and that the outcome of the research can be broadly interpreted to apply to the species as a whole.
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Delilah is a southern ground hornbill that you might be familiar with because she used to live on the San Diego Zoo’s Reptile Mesa. Her natural attraction to people made her a very popular bird. Because of her colorful personality, Delilah has a following of admirers and we are often stopped by members and employees who inquire about her.
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The Paul Harter Veterinary Medical Center, located at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, is a fascinating place to work. Not just because of the beautiful, state-of-the-art facility we enjoy, but because every day something happens that reminds us why we do what we do: protect the health and well being of our animals. At times, there are over 3,000 animals to care for at the Wild Animal Park, and that is no minor undertaking!
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I blogged in December about the little drill called Soso that I rescued from a roadside seller in late 2004. Drills are the most endangered primate in Africa, and we know very little about their behavior, feeding habits, or even their conservation status in the wild. Yesterday I visited Soso, now happily ensconced in the Limbe Wildlife Center (LWC) with his best friend, Eumujock, another drill orphan from the bushmeat trade here in Cameroon, Africa.
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Once again I thought I could take some time to answer some of the many questions I have seen posted under the comments section of the blogs. I appreciate your curiosity about these animals, especially since curiosity plays a big part in the work that researchers do. ” Why does an animal”¦ ? How can we predict”¦ ? What will make this”¦ ?” This is how our work begins!
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” Eeeeeew!” seemed to be the general consensus when the Girls In Science participants learned they were heading up to the Pathology Department for this week’s Zoo visit, but opinions had definitely changed by the time we finished up!

We learned that ” pathology” means ” the study of disease” and involves the nature, processes, and consequences of any given infirmity. Every animal that dies at the Zoo or the Wild Animal Park comes to the Pathology Department for necropsy, which is a post-mortem exam similar to an autopsy. Even if an animal doesn’t belong to our collection, but is found dead on grounds (like a sparrow, duck, or squirrel), it is still examined to make sure it isn’t carrying a disease that might affect the collection. Approximately 1,800 necropsies are done each year, averaging about five each day.
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Tundra is an 8-year-old reindeer that was born at the San Diego Zoo’s Polar Bear Plunge. She was hand-raised in the Children’s Zoo nursery because her mother, being a new mother, wasn’t confident in rearing this youngster. When she was older, Tundra moved to the Zoo’s Hunte Amphitheater to become a part of our shows.
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