For Immediate Release
May 28, 2008

Public invited to vote for the 2008 Zoo Father of the Year

PORTLAND, Ore. — It’s time for dads to take center stage, and the Oregon Zoo wants your help in choosing its Zoo Father of the Year for 2008. Atishwin the California condor, Kiku the colobus monkey, and Packy the Asian elephant are this year’s honored contenders. An online ballot featuring photos and short biographies of the zoo dads is posted on the Oregon Zoo’s Web site: www.oregonzoo.org/Voter/vote_form.cfm.

“We just finished a campaign for Zoo Mother of the Year and found it was a fun way to initiate a relationship between the public and the highlighted animals,” said Tony Vecchio, zoo director. “As the public reads about the nominees, all of which belong to species that are either threatened or endangered, we hope they’ll come to understand and care about the challenges facing these animals in the wild.”
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Summer is almost here, and with that, the animals in Ituri Forest have been enjoying all that the warmer weather has to offer. Unfortunately for me, that also means our trees are producing fruit and some of our Allen’s swamp monkeys become unreliable about coming into the bedrooms for exhibit servicing this time of year! Although I do everything I can think of to make the monkey bedrooms a positive place to be, I just can’t beat a big, beautiful ficus tree where a monkey can enjoy a snack with a view! So, beginning about a month ago, when San Diego had our unusually warm weather, I started a new routine with the Allen’s swamp monkey family consisting of Mr. Toad, Karen, Bunzi, and Bunzi’s daughters Kinah and Makonnen, the monkeys living in the exhibit with the bountiful trees in question.
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I’ll start with the good news. You can now visit the San Diego Zoo’s Web site to donate to the Wolong Panda Center Earthquake Relief Fund. We have been working with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Giant Panda Conservation Foundation and our colleagues at other zoos to establish a concerted effort to assist Wolong with recovery.
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For Immediate Release
May 22, 2008

PORTLAND, Ore. — After a week of antibiotics and a blood transfusion from adult condor Nootka, Oregon Zoo staff is pleased to report that the newest zoo addition, an endangered California condor chick, has seemingly turned he corner and is getting stronger.
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In 1983, the California Condor Recovery Program was authorized to collect California condor eggs from wild nests in order to incubate and hatch them in a captive environment. Four eggs were collected from three different pairs in the mountains north of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. All four eggs were taken to the San Diego Zoo where they were set in incubators and eventually hatched. It was the first time ever that a California condor hatched in captivity! This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of that historic occasion.
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Despite the wildfires of October 2007, the condors at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park had a productive breeding season. We weren’t exactly sure how the fire, and the loss of one of our breeding facilities would affect the 2008 season. Several birds had to be moved to new pens at a time when they are normally settling in to begin courtship. Although they started much later than they normally do, all of the birds performed admirably!
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No matter what species you are, ingesting lead can be fatal. The Peregrine Fund began studying the dangers of lead-based ammunition after the endangered California condors became sick or died from lead poisoning. Their research showed that the large scavengers were poisoned after feeding on carcasses and gut piles from game killed by hunters.
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See Carol’s previous blog, Hyrax Friends.

After vacation, I was looking forward to seeing my three new rock hyrax friends. But I came back to just one hyrax! The Wild Animal Park took the other two, named Squash and Yam, to be animal ambassadors for their Education programs. The Children’s Zoo decided to keep the third, named Green Bean. (They received these temporary names from the colors of nontoxic paint the nursery keepers dabbed on their heads to tell the three apart. Pictured, left to right, are Yam, Green Bean, and Squash.)
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Continuation from More Nests in Southern California.

More nests translate to a greater challenge for the field crew to monitor the nests and the movements of each pair as they take turns foraging for food over the backcountry of Santa Barbara, Ventura, Kern and Los Angeles counties. Monitoring the nests closely can provide cues in behavior that might indicate there is a problem with the egg or chick.
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It’s been what you call “slow with spurts of busy” at the San Diego Zoo’s hospital lately. Not many patients, I am happy to say. But definitely some very busy moments!

A patient we have had for several weeks now is a cute young Allen’s swamp monkey named Deiriai (”D” for short). Unfortunately, she came to us with a broken upper left arm and several open lacerations due to an altercation with one of the males in her group. The afternoon she arrived we were all very concerned for her, but incredibly she has done amazingly well. I’m sure it has a lot to do with the great medical care she received, and her feisty spirit.
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