The okapi barn at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park has been a bustling place of late. Our training program has been coming along beautifully; we can now perform a variety of husbandry procedures with the okapis without anesthesia. We can take temperatures, lift and examine feet, perform ultrasounds, and undertake many other procedures designed to help us care for these very special animals. We have even drawn blood from two okapis with their cooperation!
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Here at the San Diego Zoo’s Desert Tortoise Conservation Center (DTCC) in Las Vegas, we have a number of special-needs desert tortoises that serve as wonderful education animals, and each of us has our favorites. Mine is Twizzler. He arrived here at the DTCC in 2007, and when he arrived, we found that he had hardened gray material all over the left side of his carapace (top shell), causing a severe deformity.
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On Sunday, June 7, a group of students from Volcano School of Arts and Sciences, K’au High, and Pahala Elementary School were welcomed on a VIP visit to the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center (KBCC) on Hawaii. Four of the children were winners of a contest to name the four `alala youngsters successfully reared during the 2008 breeding season.
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As we start our summer hours, the Giant Panda Research Station at the San Diego Zoo is open until 8:30 each evening during Nighttime Zoo. Since we are open later, a few changes are occurring to condition the bears. Usually in the summer we offer their evening feeding a little later, so as we start you may see the pandas on exhibit looking for their keepers. Do not be alarmed: this is normal as we change their feeding times, and they will soon get used to it.
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Hello again, panda fans! I was excited to read all of your questions in response to my previous post (see Panda Keeper Questions)!

It seems that our Panda Cam provides not only entertainment but a chance for our viewers to study panda behavior and to wonder where some of the pandas’ actions come from. Well, wonder no more! Part of a keeper’s job is to learn about and to educate others on the animals’ natural and zoo behaviors. Animal behavior is one of my favorite topics; it’s a big part of why I decided to become a zookeeper in the first place, and I’d be happy to enlighten you on the subject.
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Have you ever seen big plastic toys in polar bear pools? How about mirrors, swings, or other objects with gorillas and monkeys? But what about marsupial exhibits: have you ever seen interesting objects in with these animals? Probably not very often. Unlike bears, large cats, and primates, we don’t always think about enrichment items for marsupials because they are thought not to be as interested in these items. However, we can’t forget about these guys! Marsupials are curious creatures, and I don’t mean because of their pouch.
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One of the most frequent comments heard at the okapi exhibit in the Wild Animal Park’s Heart of Africa habitat is “Hey, it’s a zebra-horse!” However, okapis are not very closely related to either zebras or horses; the unusual and eye-catching okapi is most closely related to the giraffe.

In the wild, the okapi lives in the lush Ituri rain forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As a result of the density of its habitat, and its shy behavior, the okapi has proven extremely difficult to study in the wild. In fact, Western scientists only discovered the okapi in the early 1900s, and there is still a lot we have to learn about the species.
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As we approach the birthing window for Bai Yun, we are busy making preparations to ensure that things go smoothly for her this summer. Over the years, we have a series of tried-and-true checklist items we believe help us to ensure the health and wellbeing of our prolific panda and her offspring. One of the basic items involves readying the birthing den itself.
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I recently returned from Dominica, where I continue to study the Lesser Antillean iguana. This is the third of a multi-year study of the iguana. My team has been working to garner critical natural history information that will be used to manage and conserve the species. Habitat destruction, hunting, introduction of exotic predators and competitors, and hybridization with common iguanas threaten Lesser Antillean iguanas with extinction across their range. Indeed, Lesser Antillean iguanas have already been extirpated from several islands. But help is on the way, thanks to local students!
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Greetings to my fellow tortoise lovers.

Last week we updated you on some of the challenges we face at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center (DTCC) in Las Vegas with regard to the condition many of the tortoises are in when they arrive here (see post, Desert Tortoises: A Sad Week). Whether out of ignorance or just sheer neglect on the part of their previous guardians, many of these tortoises arrive with a wide variety of conditions that range from metabolic bone disease and upper respiratory tract infection to severe body deformities and traumatic injuries, which are most commonly caused by dog bites or being hit by a vehicle. Despite these daily challenges, great things happen here as well, so this week I’d like to share with you one of our success stories.
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