The kangaroo rat translocation project has kept our research team hopping this summer (see post Kangaroo Rats: Our Own Backyard). We conducted our first release of nearly 50 animals in early July. But the temperatures have soared at the Southwestern Riverside Multispecies Reserve in Temecula, California, reaching triple digits almost daily for the last couple of months. While this isn’t unusual, it means that we have had to wait to move our second group of kangaroo rats. With predicted temperatures cooling next week, our team has shifted into high gear.
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The San Diego Zoo has two researchers studying bear habitat in Peru. Read a previous post, Andean Bears and Cameras.

Slowly, slowly, we trudge up the makeshift trail, recently machetted along the ridge. The sun beats down, the thorns scratch our arms, our calf muscles strain to carry us up another 100 feet, then another. But our spirits lift as we rise higher and higher, leaving behind civilization in the valley below, and enter the domain of the spectacled bear.
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When I wrote my last post (Andean Bears: Field Research Continues), I thought I would have returned to southern Peru before now. But I am now on my way back to Peru, where I’ll be through November, for more field research. A key goal of this trip is to begin assessing the mammalian biodiversity of forests on the eastern slope of the Andes. I’ll be working with our primary collaborator in southern Peru, the Andes to Amazon Program of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, and members of the local communities.
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Daniel is the San Diego Zoo’s Teen Arctic Ambassador 2009. Read his previous post, Polar Bear Interrupts Debate on Climates.

Today I had to help make the meals for the buggy, which was really fun. While making breakfast, an Arctic fox was running around the buggy to say good morning to all of us. It was splendid because of his beautiful colors of white, black, and gray. I never thought I would describe an animal beautiful with such bland colors, but this fox truly was. After that we did videoconferences with kids from Winnipeg, Canada, and from Memphis, Tennessee. This was our first experience of spreading our experience and knowledge. It was a necessary stepping stone to my future presentations.
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Greetings again from St. Bees Island! We have some great news. Some time ago I reported that Elizabeth, the female koala we have been tracking for the longest time, had a baby in her pouch (see Island Koalas: A New Season). I have been very keen to find her again and see whether I could examine her baby before it left her for good. I am happy to announce that we have a new member of the koala group on “The Knoll,” and his name is Orbit!
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Daniel is the San Diego Zoo’s Teen Arctic Ambassador 2009. Read his previous post, Polar Bears on the Beach.

Today started again with a tundra wake-up call from Robert Buchanan, the president of Polar Bears International and a pretty bad singer. I was excited to have this morning’s breakfast burrito, a taste of home up here in the Arctic. Well, not exactly as good as home, because San Diego is pretty famous for its Mexican food, but it was good enough.
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On Friday, September 18, we attempted to release three more California condors to the wild at our condor reintroduction site in Baja California, Mexico. We had conditioned the three new birds, numbers 430, 436, and 446, in the large aviary with our adult mentor, Xewe, since they arrived at the site from the Wild Animal Park on March 19. The threesome was transferred a few weeks ago to the release pen situated atop a 2,000-foot ridge, where they could become accustomed to the sights and sounds of the area and see previously released condors use the food and water available to them once they were free. New tags and transmitters were attached on the night of September 13 by the field crew and they were ready to go. However…
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Daniel is the San Diego Zoo’s Teen Arctic Ambassador 2009. Read his previous post, Teen Arctic Ambassador Lives Life in the North

Today we arose to the harmonious singing voice of Robert Buchanan, the president of Polar Bears International and the “Head Bear” of our Leadership Camp. He was singing “Oh, what a beautiful morning.” The tundra was beautiful, that was true. After a wonderful breakfast, we went onto the Tundra Buggy to explore the wonders of the Arctic for three hours, but we didn’t find anything in the polar bear department. Since we didn’t see anything, we were allowed to get out of the Tundra Buggy and step on the ground. This was huge, since this was the first time we have set foot on the ground since arriving at camp in the Tundra Buggy Lodge.
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Simon is in Mexico to research the health of thick-billed parrots. Read his previous post, Thick-billed Parrots: My First Encounter.

We got stuck in the mud. Well, actually, the truck did, but we put it there. Photographic evidence is provided courtesy of our wonderful Mexican colleagues, who refused to help us get it out until we had been suitably humiliated. And not being in a position to really argue with this, we stood gallantly in front of our trusty yet debilitated steed while they froze the moment in perpetuity.
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Getting to the Arctic Circle is not easy. When we left San Diego on Sunday, September 27, the weather forecast was predicting highs in the upper 90s. So the hard part started before I even left, having to put warm clothes in a suitcase with such hot weather outside. We stopped in Winnipeg for the first night and then flew onward to Churchill on a small plane that carried 16 of us teen ambassadors from places in Canada, the U.S., and Australia. I am attending Polar Bears International’s Teen Leadership Camp for a week. This cool program is done as a partnership between Polar Bears International and the Arctic Ambassador Center network of zoos that is headquartered at the San Diego Zoo.
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