It’s just past 6 a.m. at the San Diego Zoo. I crack the large gorilla-size door open to the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible so I don’t wake up Alvila, a 41-year-old female gorilla sleeping right next to the kitchen. As I prepare a breakfast of omnivore biscuits, made especially for our gorilla friends, and a few pieces of fruit, I hear low grumbling greetings coming from all directions: two gorilla troops are letting me know they have heard me moving around the kitchen.
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The koalas of St. Bees Island were probably wondering what all the fuss was about on my recent trip there. As well as tracking night and day, the Earthwatch team I led managed to catch and collar nine adult koalas and had our first meeting with one of the latest batch of pouch young. I had a diverse group of volunteers, from as far away as Bangladesh, United Kingdom, USA (yes, that’s a long way away for me!), and even Australia.
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Yvette is writing a series of blogs about each orangutan at the San Diego Zoo. Her previous blog, about Josephine, is titled More Orangutan Exercises.

We’ve been releasing the orangutans into the Absolutely Apes exhibit, having them stop in the chute to complete their morning exercises on the way. So far, Indah, Cinta, and Josephine are on exhibit. Who should we let out next? There’s Karen, Clyde, Satu, and Janey, all waiting patiently in the bedrooms. Usually, that is! |inline

I’ve been in touch with the Phoenix Zoo about ” Harry” the condor (read Condor Rescue in the Grand Canyon), getting periodic updates. I recently received the following from Dr. Janis Joslin, their director of animal health:

I just wanted to thank you for all of the ” coverage” you have given Harry on your blog. We caught Harry (he will always be #134 to me) to get blood and get a weight on him today. He gave us a run for our money. We’ve gotten to be experienced condor catchers, but he managed to exhaust two of our best catchers today! He weight is up to 17.3 pounds (7.8 kilograms). It’s not as good of a weight gain as I had expected, as he came in at 16.3 pounds (7.39 kilograms) but it’s a start.
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What do zoo people do when they travel? Why, visit other zoos, of course! It was my great joy to find myself in Washington, D.C., last weekend. First stop: the National Zoo! I arrived early on Friday morning and raced to the panda exhibit. It was before the narrators’ hours, but I had no trouble locating Tai Shan (sleeping in a tree), Mei Xian (eating breakfast before turning her back to the viewing area and going to sleep), and Tian Tian (food searching), all very familiar and predictable by long-time panda-watchers. I sent silent greetings to them from their San Diego relations:Tian Tian and the San Diego Zoo’s Bai Yun have the same father, Pan Pan, which means that our Zoo’s Mei Sheng and Su Lin and National Zoo’s Tai Shan are cousins of a sort.
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Since starting the Girls In Science blogs, I have received several requests for more information about the program, along with expressions of disappointment when I had to explain that the program is only offered to Roosevelt Middle School students and program alums at this point in time.

I have some good news for you, though! There are two programs I know of that offer similar experiences and are open to students throughout San Diego County.
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Wow, what a year it’s been for our Girls In Science (GIS) program! In the span of one short school year, we met with 30 different presenters, covering topics from veterinary pathology to behavioral research to visual communication in primates to cytogenetics. (Read Cindy’s previous GIS blogs here.) We met sea lions, nearly extinct golden frogs, carnivorous plants, marsh birds, Mei Sheng the giant panda, Mexican gray wolves, and a black tarantula named Vivica. We dabbled in exotic animal nutrition, GPS mapping, and poop sampling. And we spent a glorious day at the La Brea Tar Pits learning about Southern California as it was during the last Ice Age!
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What do motorcycles and koalas have in common? They’re both very noisy! If you have never heard a koala before you might be quite surprised by the sounds they produce. The most common vocalization is called a ” bellow.” A bellow sounds like a motorcycle revving or, if you ask a bunch of 8th graders, like someone belching and making other rude noises! Both males and females will bellow, although they sound a little bit different. A bellow is a long, loud call that travels quite far.
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For the past few weeks, Kauila and Kinohi have been receiving some rather special treatment. Both birds are ‘alala, or Hawaiian crows, a species that is so critically threatened that it has become extinct in the wild. Fortunately, captive populations reside at the San Diego Zoo’s Keauhou and Maui Bird Conservation Centers in Hawaii, where every possible effort is being made to improve the future for the species.
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Read To Breed or Not To Breed, part 1 here.

We know that female pandas are able to get pregnant on a yearly basis, as happens frequently in China in captivity when animal managers remove dependent offspring to terminate the lactational suppression of estrus. Once cubs are removed, the female panda is free to cycle again and breed. Many of the adult females will give birth nearly every year of their reproductive lives, from about age 5 through 17.
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