San Diego Zoo Blogs

Watch Where You Step!

Daniel Essary — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:35:40 +0000

A nickle placed on cryptobiotic soil shows how small the lichen is.

The desert soil is alive! Well, the soil itself isn’t really living, but life occurs throughout the soil of the Mojave Desert, so it’s important to always stay on designated trails and roads when you are in the desert.

Small microorganisms called cyanobacteria, which are from the same family as blue-green algae, actually live on the surface of bare soil in the desert. For most of the Mojave Desert, the soil is usually characterized by rough dark patches as shown in the photo, but these cyanobacteria, with the aid of different types of lichens, mosses, and other colonies of microorganisms, can sometimes produce colorful soil crusts. In both cases, the soils are called cryptobiotic crust.

Lichen covers cryptobiotic soil in the Mojave Desert.

Cryptobiotic crust is very important to the health of the desert—a great sign that barren land is actually growing and thriving. In fact, cryptobiotic crust helps produce nutrients and organic material that are recycled back into the soil, and this supports vegetation in the desert. This is great news for all the desert animals, like desert tortoises, that feast on plants as their main source of nutrition. The organic structure of cryptobiotic soil can also help native seeds to germinate (sprout), again an important feature for plant eaters like desert tortoises.

It takes a very long time for cryptobiotic soil to form, and it is also very sensitive to changes in its environment, so when it is disturbed, it does not have an easy time recovering. Some estimates indicate that it takes 250 years for damaged desert habitat to recover! When people use the desert for recreation, they have the opportunity to see and experience some of the most amazing scenery in the world. But if they are not careful, or they purposefully hike or drive off designated trails, cryptobiotic soil can be devastated.

When you step on cryptobiotic soil or drive over it, you kill millions of organisms that support the plant life that desert tortoises eat. If the soil is destroyed, then plants cannot grow, and tortoises will have nothing to eat. So if you know anyone who drives or hikes off trail and they tell you it’s okay because they are always careful not to run over tortoises or their burrows, you can now tell them it’s not okay because they are destroying cryptobiotic soils that allow plants to grow to feed the tortoises that they are being so careful to avoid!

As you can see, cryptobiotic soil is very important to the Mojave Desert ecosystem, and we should make every effort to avoid walking on or touching the soil. The next time you are out on a desert hike or driving down an old desert road, please stay on the designated routes to avoid harming the living soil below you.

Daniel Essary is a research associate at the San Diego Zoo’s Desert Tortoise Conservation Center in Las Vegas. Read his previous post, A Desert Tortoise Isn’t Just Any Old Tortoise.

What a Difference Rain Makes

Russ Van Horn — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:42:46 +0000

Clouds and fog in the normally dry mountains near Cerro Venado.

Russ is studying wild Andean (or spectacled) bears in the Lambayeque region of Peru and sharing his adventures with us. Read his previous post, Finally, a Little Bit of Rain.

Wow, what a difference a little rain makes in the dry forest! When I woke up this morning, I walked away from the base camp to look at the clouds and fog rolling through the valleys. It was just before dawn, and at first I thought it was still raining. Then I realized that what I thought were raindrops falling on me were actually flying ants!

A swarm of flying ants congregating and competing to mate after two days of rain.

After some rain, in this dry forest and in many dry habitats around the world, reproductive flying ants leave their colonies and aggregate in an attempt to mate and reproduce. Most ants in any colony do not fly, and these swarms do not last long. They tend to occur near high points, at least in the dry forest, and our base camp is located along a ridgeline. So, there are several large clouds of flying ants rising up over our camp, and near our camp. Each of these swirling clouds of insects is at least 2 meters (6.6 feet) wide, and up to 10 meters (33 feet) tall. They’re amazing!

As the light of the sun seeps through the dark clouds, I can see that the color of the landscape is changing. Instead of being brown, as it was only a day or two ago, it’s becoming bright green! There are thousands of tiny plants at my feet, each shorter than the width of my little finger. I have no idea what kind of plants these are, but it is impossible to walk anywhere without stepping on them. I knew that arid habitats often have an abundant number of seeds waiting in the soil for just a little moisture to trigger germination and growth, but it is one thing to “know” that something happens and another thing to see it right in front of your eyes. I can almost hear the plants growing…

Russ Van Horn is a senior researcher with the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. We’ll be posting more about his trip every few days!

Finally, a Little Bit of Rain

Russ Van Horn — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:30:07 +0000

Javier and Robyn hike through the dry forest on their way to a waterhole.

Russ is studying wild Andean (or spectacled) bears in the Lambayeque region of Peru and sharing his adventures with us. Read his previous post, Another Day Older, Another Day Wiser?

Well, we have to be creative and persistent in our quest to collar Andean bears in the dry forest. The last few weeks have shown us that although we have learned more about the bears here than we have elsewhere, we still have a lot to learn!

After a few days of watching the small valleys where the sapote fruit is still plentiful, we’ve seen bears in the distance only twice. This is a much lower frequency of bear sightings than the Spectacled Bear Conservation (SBC) team gathered last year while the sapote was fruiting, but we don’t know why this is so. Jose walks through several valleys, scanning for evidence of recent sapote feeding by bears. He finds no fresh signs. Apparently the bears have shifted their movements back up into the hills, weeks earlier than they did last year, and the year before that. Variation between years in the behavior and ecology of wild animals is not unusual, and this is why it’s important to conduct long-term research. Knowing this is not very reassuring at the moment, however; it just feels like we’re having bad luck!

After returning from his walkabout, Jose checks the remote camera at another waterhole, and we learn that one bear or another has been visiting this other waterhole every four to five days. This sounds like a much more promising site than the sapote trees, so we shift operations and methods again. Every morning Javier and Robyn hike up to the waterhole and sit in a blind all day, waiting. The rest of us wait in radio contact at a distance, ready to hustle to the waterhole if a bear is darted.

Heavy fog and light rain obscure the rugged terrain of the study site.

Finally, it rains! Well, it’s more of a drizzle than a rain on the first day, but it does rain steadily nearly all of the next day. From time to time the clouds part, and the air is clearer than I’ve ever seen it here, now that the ground is wet and the dust is dampened. This is striking evidence of just how much the wind erodes the soil here. A unique type of forest, the algarrobal, once stretched from this point down to the horizon in the distant flatlands, but the canopy trees were cut down over the last few decades. The trees were used primarily for construction materials and to produce charcoal for cooking. Now that the canopy trees are gone, their roots no longer hold the soil in place, retain water, and provide shade. Robyn and I wonder whether the dry forest bears would have used the algarrobal. It seems likely that the bears did, but who can say? This is one question that no amount of research effort can answer, because there are only a few remnant patches of algarrobal left, kilometers away from the study site. Robyn and I have talked about the potential for reforestation projects in the area, but for now these are only dreams, for the distant future.

Russ Van Horn is a senior researcher with the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. We’ll be posting more about his trip every few days!

Desert Tortoise Hotline

Angie Sawyer — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:34:02 +0000

A DTCC staff member on a pickup service call

This year is starting out to be quite busy for the San Diego Zoo’s Desert Tortoise Conservation Center (DTCC), located in Las Vegas. We are now operating the DTCC Pet Desert Tortoise Hotline/Pickup Service that complements Clark County’s Wild Desert Tortoise Pickup Service. Clark County operated both services until December 31, 2009, picking up desert tortoises that people found on development sites, tortoises in harm’s way (such as along a highway), or unwanted or found pet desert tortoises wandering in developed areas. Starting January 1, 2010, Clark County continues to pick up wild tortoises found on development sites, but the DTCC now picks up surrendered pet tortoises and tortoises found in already developed areas.

Last year, we received approximately 1,000 tortoises from the pickup service, and most were unwanted pets. We are anticipating that the number will increase this year as we reach out to educate the public about proper captive care for these special animals.

Angie takes a call on the hotline.

We take calls from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day of the week, including weekends. When someone calls the DTCC Pet Desert Tortoise Pickup Service at 702-488-9422, the phone is answered by one of two dedicated hotline staff members, and if they miss the call or the call comes in after hours, a staff member returns the call as soon as possible. Staff briefly ask for general information regarding the tortoise’s condition to make sure it doesn’t need immediate medical attention, and they schedule the pickup, requesting the caller’s address. At the time of the pickup, staff try to gather as much information as possible from the caller regarding the history of the tortoise. This information helps us to better care for the animal and gives us a great opportunity to educate the public about captive care and conservation of wild desert tortoises.

We are excited to start educating pet desert tortoise owners about captive care because we know this is a crucial step in ensuring the health of captive tortoises. A great majority of pet desert tortoises we received from the hotline last year were not healthy animals; interestingly, most had health issues that could have been prevented with small changes to nutrition and housing. With the San Diego Zoo operating the DTCC Pet Desert Tortoise Pickup Service, we will get the chance to talk to people face to face and address these issues. We also plan to offer a captive-care class at the DTCC. The topics we will be discussing include:

- Proper feeding and watering of pet desert tortoises
- Burrow construction
- Toxic plants in your yard
- Importance of desert tortoises living outside
- Brumation (hibernation)
- Sexing your desert tortoise
- Desert tortoises living with other domestic pets

We will also conduct health assessments on pet desert tortoises and be able to recommend tortoise veterinarians in the Las Vegas area. The class will be another way for us to get the word out about conservation of the desert tortoise. Our hope is that as the word spreads, we can begin to understand how many pet desert tortoises there are in the Las Vegas area, and we can make strides in decreasing that number.

We would like to coordinate with veterinarians and other local businesses to arrange for them to serve as authorized drop-off locations for the hotline around the Las Vegas Valley. These locations will help ease the demands on the pickup service staff, especially during our peak season from April to October. It will also provide pet desert tortoise owners anonymity when dropping off tortoises, so those who hesitate to call the hotline because they are required to provide an address and phone number may be more likely to turn in their pet desert tortoises.

We are looking forward to the New Year and new endeavors, and the new hotline will help us to spread our message of desert tortoise conservation all over southern Nevada and beyond!

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is against the law to remove a desert tortoise from the desert! If you come across one, even if it is a hatchling and seems helpless, it is healthier for the tortoise to stay in the wild than to be disturbed and brought to the DTCC. The wild desert tortoises that Clark County picks up only come from development sites and are removed by authorized biologists that are permitted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The new Pet Desert Tortoise Hotline number is 702-488-9422.
The wild Desert Tortoise Hotline number is 702-593-9027.

Angie Sawyer is a research coordinator at the San Diego Zoo’s Desert Tortoise Conservation Center. Read her previous post, We Love Volunteers.

Another Day Older, Another Day Wiser?

Russ Van Horn — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:24:17 +0000

The team sets up camp on a ridge between two dry valleys.

Russ is studying wild Andean (or spectacled) bears in the Lambayeque region of Peru and sharing his adventures with us. Read his previous post, To Smell a Bear.

The sky last night was clear, so the stars were bright overhead as we cooled off and settled into a new campsite. The moon was just past full, so we could easily have stayed up later, but we were all tired from hiking in the afternoon sun with full backpacks, and we went to sleep early.

We’ve moved to a different campsite because it was obvious that staying by that waterhole longer would not be an efficient way to immobilize and collar Andean bears here. Members of the team have seen bears coming down to feed on sapote fruits at lower elevations, so we’ve moved down, following the bears. This new campsite is also a dry camp and is more exposed to the sun, but visibility is much better than higher up, next to the waterhole.

The dry valley at the field site.

Javier is the first to stand up from his sleeping pad, but although I’m bleary headed, I eventually haul myself up and try to make myself useful. After a quick breakfast, we split up and head for our posts. I’m positioned next to the campsite, so I look for an exceptionally soft rock and settle in by 6:07 a.m. My binoculars lie on the ground next to my right hip, and my water bottle rests next to my left knee. I’m overlooking a small valley, and Jose is a few hundred meters lower down in the same valley. Jonathan sits several meters behind me, scanning the valley on the other side of this ridge. Robyn and Javier are in different locations higher up in this second valley. If someone sees a bear that we might be able to dart, we’ll communicate via two-way radios. At first it’s still, and quiet, and cool. At 6:43 a.m. the sun rises over the mountains, behind my right shoulder, and things begin to heat up.

As time passes, there are numerous demands for my attention, but I can’t allow myself to be distracted. If a bear were to come down from the mountains into the valley, it might only be visible for a few seconds, so I can’t stop watching. Gnats appear and start flying into my eyes and ears and bite my face, hands, and wrists. Pairs of birds that I suspect are probably flycatchers, fly across in front of me and perch in a shrub only 20 meters away. This area is known for being home to a high number of birds that live nowhere else, so it’s tempting to watch these birds through my binoculars for just a little bit, but I force myself to keep my mind, and eyes, on guard for bears. A large vulture, probably a king vulture, soars into my peripheral vision and then crosses back and forth over the valley. It would be so easy to get a good look…but I’d rather get a good look at a bear!

A sapote tree in a dry valley at the field site.

At 7:47 a.m., I hear the others talking on the radio, but no bear in sight yet. Shortly afterward, a breeze begins, which helps keep the gnats away. An hour later, there are voices on the radio again. Javier and Robyn have seen a bear come down from the hills into the upper part of the other valley. A few minutes later, Jose walks uphill, shifting to the other valley in case it becomes possible to immobilize this bear. It doesn’t become possible. The bear only descends into the upper part of the valley and feeds briefly at two sapote trees before crossing over the next ridge, into the next valley farther away from us. We just don’t have enough people to monitor every valley, so we do the best we can, and hope.

At 10:30 a.m., I see Robyn briefly as she changes position. At 11:27 a.m., everyone returns to camp. The field team doesn’t expect bears to be feeding in these valleys at mid-day, so we’re taking a break for lunch and to rest. It’s harder than you might think to keep alert for hours in the sun! Other than the bear sighting, the most interesting topic of conversation is Jose’s temporary friend. As he was sitting watch, he felt something on his back, underneath his shirt. This is nothing unusual, as there are a lot of gnats, and ants crawling on all of us. What was unusual was that this visitor seemed to be longer than an ant could be. Jose realized what it was and made the wise decision to not swat at his “guest,” which was a large centipede. The centipede, about 10 inches long, walked up his back, across his left shoulder, and down his left arm, exiting his shirtsleeve and going on its way.

We’re all back in place by 2:30 p.m., except for Jose. He’s hiked up into the hills to replace the memory cards at some remote cameras. We’ll look at those photos later and decide whether or not to stake out a different location. At 4 p.m., the breeze dies, and the gnats return. Fortunately, at 4:15 p.m. a swarm of golden dragonflies follows the gnats. Jose and the others return to camp at 4:40 p.m.. A bear, possibly the same bear as seen this morning, crossed back over into the upper part of the other valley at around 3:30 p.m. but it kept walking up into the hills, away from where we waited.

A fox is caught by a camera trap at a waterhole at the study site.

In the evening, we look at the photos from the remote cameras, but in 10 days these cameras have only taken photos of foxes, birds, and one bear, the male “Chris” that we collared a few days earlier. So, it looks as though collaring these bears is going to take longer than we hoped. If it rained, the waterholes would fill up, and the bears might use them as swimming holes, as they were doing as recently as December. However, as much as the Spectacled Bear Conservation team has already learned about the Andean bears of the dry forest, they haven’t yet figured out how to make it rain!

Russ Van Horn is a senior researcher with the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. We’ll be posting more about his trip every few days!

Perfect Panda Photos

Anastasia Jonilionis — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:34:27 +0000

Picture-perfect Yun Zi!

As you walk into the Giant Panda Research Station at the San Diego Zoo, the first bear you see is Su Lin. She’s been going through some definite hormone changes recently, and our research team is monitoring her. With these changes comes a restlessness that makes it rather difficult for our guests to get a photograph of our girl! Currently, we are seeing her sleep a good part of the day, sitting in water and playing, and walking a good bit! These are all behaviors that we have seen previously with Bai Yun, so she’s really not surprising us, except with how early she started her estrus this year!

Bai Yun and Yun Zi are in the next exhibit and are both doing very well. Yun Zi is really exploring his trees in the exhibit, and often you can’t really see him clearly in the trees while he’s sleeping. Bai Yun has been pretty good about eating where our guests can see her; she even gives guests a view of her nursing the cub. We can never tell when the little guy will wake up, or what he’ll do when awake, so having a rare peek at panda motherhood is always a real treat.

Gao Gao is still off exhibit and has been doing very well. Right now he will remain there so Su Lin can stay in the front, close to our soundproof area for the hearing study (see post Panda Care).

Zhen Zhen is in the off-exhibit classroom area and has really adjusted well. She and Gao Gao sometimes communicate with each other, and Zhen Zhen is constantly in the trees trying to see the bear she’s “talking” to. Remember: the two will never have direct access to each other, as they are father and daughter. Even though Zhen Zhen isn’t reproductively mature, we wouldn’t want to breed Gao with his daughter, and we don’t know if there would be any unfriendly behavior on his part.

If you cant visit the San Diego Zoo for your perfect photo opp, do keep an eye on the Panda Cam, as we focus on Zhen Zhen and Gao Gao from time to time!

Anastasia Horning is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.

Polar Bears: Crash, Slurp, and Shadow

JoAnne Simerson — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:28:07 +0000

Kalluk, left, and Chinook

Could it be we are nearing the end of our fantastic remodel of the Conrad Prebys Polar Bear Plunge at the San Diego Zoo? Anyone who has remodeled their home knows the joys and dilemmas that improvement brings. Most of the work that impacted our bears was completed last fall with the building of our management yard and the experience wall.

The bears love the wall area, and with all the great rain we’ve had, the yard is thick with green grass. In fact, we’ve begun calling the yard Polar Bear Park! We did, however, want to do some remodeling in the exhibit: remove some of the deadwood to make viewing easier. We set about renting a huge crane to come and lift the wood out and move the huge root balls, but…

The project started when we brought all three bears in for the afternoon and night while we cut through all the metal thread that held everything together, cut the wood into smaller, more manageable pieces, and basically prepared all for fast work the next morning. Everything needed to be done by 9 a.m. so the crane would not block the road.

We were all in an hour early; we made sure the bears were all fed and happy with new beds or enrichment and then set up for the crane. The crane arrived early but, OH NO! The hydraulic line broke! The crane was out of commission. Now what? We can’t let the bears on exhibit—it was too dangerous with all the loose logs. In steps teamwork!

One of our animal care managers got a bobcat tractor while ropes, chains, pry bars, and determination were gathered. For the next two hours logs were pulled off and out with loud crashes and moved into better positions. The polar bears’ “living room” took on a whole new look. By 9 a.m. we had everything done and secure so our trio could come out and assess our work. We expected lots of curiosity from them, but they took a look, a sniff, and went off to their carrot piles! We will be doing a bit more work before the grand re-opening on March 26, including removing one more root ball and filling part of the center shelter area with sand for another sleeping area.

There is also a return of that wonderful “sllluuurrrrrrpppppp” sound every day from Kalluk. What does this mean? As we are beginning to understand, scent is an integral part of polar bear communication. Just as breeding season begins, Kalluk busies himself with smelling everywhere Chinook has stepped. He flattens his nose and mouth to the floor and slurp-inhales with all he’s got to assess where Chinook may be in her approach to breeding season. We now are seeing him less and less away from her as he has become her shadow. This year, he seems to be less anxious about it, perhaps after last year he has gained some maturity and confidence. In the past few days we have begun to see Chinook become more flirtatious with him, and she often adds a nice face rub to her greetings to him. She rarely goes anywhere now with her 1,000-pound shadow!

Tatqiq is beginning to be an outcast, but she also seems to have gained some confidence. She is not backing down from Chinook but instead stands in place and offers behaviors that neutralize Chinook’s advances. Every day we do offer all our bears the opportunity to show us what they need, and so far everyone still wants to be together. We are really happy that when it comes time to give someone a break, they get to spend it in the new Polar Bear Park!

When you come to visit after re-opening on March 26, you will be able to see through the exhibit and look on the hill and see our bears in their lush, green park.

JoAnne Simerson is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Polar Bears: Oh So Busy.

Watch video of the new statues and interactive elements being moved into place at Polar Bear Plunge.

Looking Down on the World

Anastasia Jonilionis — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:49:16 +0000

Yun Zi

For people viewing the giant panda cub here at the San Diego Zoo for the first time, seeing him up so high in the trees can be a little worrisome! So often we think of bears just keeping all four limbs on the ground. Well, we have bears that say, “No way!” to that. From the young age of four to five months, giant panda cubs begin climbing up the trees for a nap, a long snooze, to get out of Mom’s way, and to get away from danger!

Our newest cub, Yun Zi, is now seven months old and spends just about all of his time either in his hammock or way up in the trees watching everyone in the queue line. I promise that this is completely normal for our little man! Yun Zi started walking and really becoming mobile later than our previous cubs, but what he lacks in experience, he makes up for in determination.

Early in the mornings he seems to come down from the trees to see what we are up to, and after getting the gist of what we are doing, he proceeds back up the trees. We often get questions about the different perches we put in the trees for the cubs, and Yun Zi has a green hammock! We try to put something in the exhibit for each cub so that they won’t always be so high up in the trees; it works for our guests, and it helps us keep an eye on them.

As Yun Zi gets older, and larger, he will, of course, outgrow his hammock and only be able to sleep on certain branches, but for the time being we love watching him climb in there to settle down for a nap!

Wild giant pandas also climb, and I’ve seen Bai Yun climb up to get a cub or help a cub out of the trees before. Sometimes, when she’s in estrus, she will climb up to see if she can see Gao Gao on the other side of the wall. So the next time you come to visit our bears, don’t be too surprised to see any of our bears climbing!

Anastasia Jonilionis is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.

Note: Yun Zi will be featured the television program Today Weekend (NBC) on Saturday, March 13, between 7 and 9 a.m. A host in New York will do a live interview via satellite at our panda exhibit, focusing on Yun Zi’s new home. The show is airing live on the East Coast; we’ll see the taped version on the West Coast. Be sure to check your local listings, as times may vary!

To Smell a Bear

Russ Van Horn — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:52:27 +0000

A physical examination of wild Andean bear named Chris.

Russ is studying wild Andean (or spectacled) bears in Peru and sharing his adventures with us. Read his previous post, 20 Liters Down, 5 Hours to Go.

I’m sometimes jealous of people who can describe how things smell, or taste. I know the same words that they do, but they truly understand how to use the words. If I could, I would describe for you what a wild Andean bear smells like. Instead, all I can say is that “Chris” smelled like a bear.

I’ve been familiar with the general smell of “bear” since I was a child, growing up in black bear country. Since then, I’ve been fortunate enough to smell black bears and brown bears across the mid-western and western United States, but this is the first time I’ve ever sniffed a wild Andean bear. Yep, Chris definitely smells like a bear!

GPS satellite radio collar, ready to be placed on Chris.

“Chris” is what the Spectacled Bear Conservation (SBC) team named this bear, but he would not respond if you were to call his name. Instead, he moves around the landscape in response to cues, signals, and motivations that we don’t yet understand. This morning, he came to the waterhole at 9:05 and turned his back on Javier Vallejos. Javier had been waiting for days for an opportunity like this and darted Chris with an injection of anesthetics. Once Chris was immobilized and his vital signs were stable, we replaced his GPS telemetry collar, gave him a thorough physical examination, and took measurements of his body.

A GPS radio collar is properly fitted to Chris’ neck.

Chris is an adult male bear, in breeding condition and in good physical condition. He’s been photographed on camera traps in the area quite often recently, so there was a good possibility that we could replace his collar, as its batteries were running low. The batteries on these collars last around 12 months, so by replacing his collar now we should be able to collect data on his movements for another year.

When he was darted last year, Chris had large blisters, or sores, on the pads of his feet. Robyn Appleton and her team can only guess that he’d worn down his footpads walking long distances on the rocky trails of the dry forest. This year, his feet are in good condition, which leads us to more questions: why were his feet more worn last year than this year; did he walk more last year than this year? If so, is this because he dispersed from his natal home range last year? Dispersal is the term for the process by which an animal relocates from one living place to another. A natal home range is the area where an animal was born. In most species of mammals, males disperse from their natal home range to a new area at around the time they go through puberty. In a few species of mammals, it is females that disperse, not males. The currently available evidence suggests that female giant pandas disperse but male giant pandas do not; male brown bears and American black bears disperse, but females of these species do not. No one has collected much evidence on whether it is male Andean bears or female Andean bears that disperse, but the probability is that males are the dispersing sex in this species. Were Chris’ blistered feet a clue as to whether male or female Andean bears disperse? Only time, and additional data collection, will answer that question.

We have additional questions on our agenda. We’ve seen and heard several bears in the area exhibiting behaviors that lead us to ask, is this the breeding season for Andean bears in the dry forest? If so, has Chris sired cubs? What determines whether one male sires cubs and another male does not? We can generate hypotheses to address these questions, but it will take a lot more work and data to test the predictions of these hypotheses and reach conclusions about the answers to our questions.

After we finished our physical examination of Chris, we moved him to a comfortable, safe place to recover. The last we saw of him, he climbed up a 10-foot-tall (3 meters) rock face and slowly walks uphill, out of sight into the dry forest. Forty-eight hours later, according to data transmitted by his new GPS collar, he’s 2.72 miles (4.38 kilometers) away, in an area with plenty of sapote trees, which produce fruits that bears in this area often eat. We, on the other hand, have moved less than 100 yards (91 meters), because we’re continuing to try to collar more dry forest bears. I wonder if the next one will smell like Chris?

Russ Van Horn is a senior researcher with the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research. We’ll be posting more about his trip every few days!

Green Family Challenge #4 Results

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:21:19 +0000

Families participating in our Green Family Challenge were asked to monitor their home’s electricity use and share their attempts to “hibernate” for Challenge #4: In the Dark? Each family received a watt meter, home electrical monitor, and low watt bulbs. When they actually took stock of how much electricity their homes used, they were amazed!

For the Ballentine Family in Maryland, their mantra became “Turn it off when you leave it behind. Whatever IT is— whether light, radio, computer, television—IT needs to go off.” Nine-year-old son Henry even offered his perspective and vowed to cut back on his lighting use in his bedroom.

The Carmignani-Goodman Family in San Diego blanched at the thought of using low watt bulbs, thinking about the “swampy hue” the bulbs would produce. Thus, they were delighted to “see” that low-impact bulbs now provide the typical warm glow they craved. However, the family wondered at the logic of using meters and monitors that require electricity to tell consumers how much electricity is being used in their home!

Seeing “blue” is the new “green” for the Abramson Family at Yale University in Connecticut. The CFL bulbs give off a bluish hue, but if the family can get the rest of the dorm rooms on campus to use them, the university will be using 75 percent less energy! They also discovered the phenomenon known as “vampire power”: even though an appliance/computer/recharger is turned off, if it’s not unplugged it still “sucks up” electricity.

The Dewar-Yates Family in Chicago admitted that their home was the “hands-down winner in energy consumption” and immediately made a huge effort to improve. Turning out the lights (or at least using less) can have an unexpected effect: it gave the illusion that the family was not at home! Could that be why they haven’t yet received their order of Girl Scout cookies?

Having the home electrical monitor displayed in a prominent location (the kitchen!) was great motivation for the Turkle Family in San Diego to cut back on energy use, as the thing really jumped when they used appliances like the clothes dryer, hair dryer, and toaster. Solar panels, anyone?

Blog post readers voted for their favorite attempts at electricity-use reduction effots. Congratulations to the Ballentine and Abramson families! Each will receive San Diego Zoo sweatshirts for their “hibernation” efforts to help them keep warm.

Challenge #5: It’s All Fun and Games
Our families will take a look at their recreational and entertainment choices. See what ideas they come up with to make going green fun! Your favorite family will receive a Caravan Tour at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park. For added fun, we’ve asked some celebrities to write about efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. See who has taken the challenge in our Famously Green category!