We all know that the Zoo is huge! There are lots of people moving about and lots of animals to see. It seems like it’s almost impossible to see the entire Zoo in one day and see all of your favorite animals. Of course, the San Diego Zoo realizes this and has set up a bus tour system so you can see all of your favorite animals and more!

The bus tour starts from the loading dock, which is near the entrance of the Zoo. The bus is a double decker, and passengers can choose to sit either on the bottom or the top (with a nice view, I might add) and it can hold 104 passengers. The bus then goes through Tiger River, where you can see plants and animals from Southeast Asia, then goes through Ituri Forest, which is modeled after the central African rain forest (of the same name). (more…)

I must say that Janey and Clyde, the orangutans, have been great conservation ambassadors during our daily keeper talks at the Absolutely Apes exhibit at the San Diego Zoo. Just under a year ago, I began to develop a conservation package that would some day becomepart of a pilot program for the rest of the great ape areas of the Zoo (see Juan’s blog, New Age Orangutan Conservation). Our conservation package includes materials and products that are made of sustainable and/or reused material; these were used as tools to show Zoo visitors options that we, as consumers, have for becoming more eco-friendly at home.
(more…)

It’s been a few weeks since you’ve had a report on the goings-on at our Giant Panda Research Station, which is the bad news. The good news is that nothing much has been going on, and from our perspective, normal-normal, same ol’-same ol’, is a good thing! At this time of the year we don’t expect to see any hormonally induced behavior shifts. Zhen Zhen is busy eating and growing, the summer crowds have gone, and it’s a bit early for large numbers of field trips, so the Panda Canyon is quiet. (more…)

It’s hard to believe that our little cubs at the Wild Animal Park’s Lion Camp are already one year old. Where did the time go? (see blog, Lion Cubs Grow by the Minute.) It seems like only yesterday we were looking into those soft brown eyes, wondering, “Are you Tamu or Laini?” “Is your left shoulder or left hip to be shaved?” Now I look into those eyes and a whole personality appears.
(more…)

Russ Van Horn is studying Andean bears in Peru. Read his previous blog, Andean Bears: Peppers and Maize

Cusco, Department of Cusco, Peru
I’m leaving Cusco for a few days in Quince Mil before going to Lima for the Second International Symposium on the Andean Bear. Before going to Lima, I’m hoping to retrieve the memory card from a digital infrared camera, or camera ‘trap,’ that I set in the cloud forest over a week ago. We can’t collect enough data with this camera to address our ecological questions, but we do hope to collect a photo of a wild Andean bear and verify that they are using a particular site.
(more…)

There is another side to the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program that happens at the San Diego Zoo’s Beckman Center for Conservation Research. Our Genetics Division has preserved the genetic material of many Hawaiian birds in the Frozen Zoo®, a large collection of frozen samples, including thousands of cell lines. Most of the cell lines in the Frozen Zoo are grown using a piece of skin tissue from a small biopsy, which can be taken during an animal’s regular veterinary exam. (more…)

The San Diego Zoo’s Applied Animal Ecology Division is pleased to announce the hatching of a critically endangered Grand Cayman blue iguana Cyclura lewisi. This little female iguana hatched out of her egg on September 13, 2008, after an incubation of 92 days at 86.5 degrees Fahrenheit (30.3 degrees Celsius). She weighed only 1.58 ounces (45 grams) at hatching—a tiny little girl compared to males of her species that can grow to over 18 pounds (8 kilograms) as adults! Although our little girl is gray in color now, as most hatchlings are, adults of the species can become a beautiful powder blue color.
(more…)

Oh me. Oh my!! What can I do?
My koala bag is torn right through.

No worries, mate. Your hat is great.
We’ll use it to weigh the baby joey today!

So, let’s catch the baby. We won’t say maybe.
Put her into my hat. And that’s that.

We grab little Gigi, who does a tiny wee-wee
Cuddles into my hat, weighing less than a rat.

Our work is now done. We put her back with her mum.
Up the tree they go. What a cute duo!!

~ With homage to Dr. Seuss

Fred Bercovitch is head of the San Diego Zoo’s Behavioral Biology Division. He is currently doing koala field research in Australia.

Cusco, Department of Cusco, Peru
I’ve returned to Cusco from Quince Mil to meet Ron Swaisgood, my boss and head of applied animal ecology research for the San Diego Zoo. (See previous blog, Wild Panda Research Helps Andean Bear Conservation) We’re both giving presentations at the Second International Symposium on the Andean Bear in Lima in just over a week, and Ron’s come to Peru a few days early so he can visit the Andean bear field site.
(more…)

As employees with the Transportation Department at the San Diego Zoo, there are many facets to our job. Of course, we give tours of our amazing facility on the double-decked buses (pictured below). Those in our department also drive the Express Buses, including the Polar Bear Express, which is a convenient transportation system for anyone with a bus ticket. A few of us are also trained to drive shuttles which assist guests with mobility issues and accommodate wheelchairs, ECV’s (Electric Convenience Vehicles), and other mobility devices. With a ramp that opens and elevates, we can accommodate people of varying abilities who want to enjoy our Zoo.
(more…)