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Conservation

3

It’s (Almost) Black Tuesday for Bees

By
Paige Howorth
– June 17, 2013Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Animals site main feature, Events at the Zoo, Insects, More, Uncategorized
The damaging effects commercially managed bees experience from pesticides are also suffered by native bees.

The damaging effects commercially managed bees experience from pesticides are also suffered by native bees.

Yes, I mean the catastrophic crash of the stock market in 1929 and the economic Great Depression that followed. As I listened to today’s stock market gains and losses on PBS’s “Marketplace,” I was struck by how closely our society follows this information. We pay attention because it affects our lives directly. The situation with pollinator decline is no less critical yet is barely on the radar of most. Since we have not hit bottom yet, it seems like a problem for another day—and there is no index to tell us how close we are.

Still, the warning bells are ringing. Pollinators like bees, butterflies, beetles, and flies are in crisis worldwide, suffering from pesticide exposure, habitat loss, and disease. Pollinators make fertilization possible for many plants; without them, food as we know it would simply not exist: no fruits, veggies, peanut butter, or chocolate—and that’s just a start.

If this suddenly sounds like the same old story you hear about humans and nature, stay with me a little longer. It’s more than another wildlife-in-crisis story, and I can guarantee that it will affect you personally—and definitely financially—if we keep the current course.

So, in the spirit of “Marketplace,” let’s do the numbers!

Visit the San Diego Zoo’s Pollinator Garden.

30% of the food we eat results from insect pollination.
This includes everything from cucumbers to squash, coffee to basil, strawberries to cantaloupes, cashews, and everything in between. It doesn’t include the insect-pollinated foods like alfalfa and clover that we feed to our livestock (where we get milk, eggs, and meat), so the percentage is likely much higher.

There is a 59% decline in overwintering monarch butterflies in the Central Mexican butterfly preserves since 2012.
75% of the Earth’s flowering plants depend on insect pollination to set seed or produce fruit.
The value of insect-pollinated crops in the US is $27 billion.

US beekeepers experienced a 30% decline of managed honeybee colony winter losses in the 2012-2013 year.
This number is far greater than the acceptable range of losses and only represents winter loss, not total loss. There are only about 2.5 million commercial honeybee colonies in the US. For perspective, it takes 1.6 million colonies to pollinate the annual almond crop alone.

THREATS TO POLLINATORS
Pesticides
All insects are affected by contact with insecticides. In particular, a newer class of systemic insecticides called neonicotinoids has been shown to severely affect bee health. In agriculture, this type of insecticide is most often applied as a seed coating, and the insect nerve poison is subsequently expressed in every tissue as the plant grows; leaf, stem, pollen, and nectar.

As a result, though the insecticide is targeted at “pest” insects, there can be serious consequences for any insect that visits the plant for nectar or pollen. Some need only be present when the planting occurs, as some of the chemical seed coating is released in a crop “dust” in agricultural plantings. The effects of these pesticide exposures include immediate death by contact, but some are sub-lethal, meaning that the animal does not die right away but experiences disorientation, loss of navigational ability, paralysis, and even memory loss as the result of contact.

Though there are federal regulations governing the concentrations of these poisons in agriculture, there are none for home use. Many products containing this type of insecticide can be found in local home improvement stores for landscaping use. Consumers often do not follow the instructions for application, and the concentrations can be many times higher than federal regulations allow. This means more of the poison will find its way to bees and other insect pollinators through gardens and runoff from irrigation.

It is important to note that the majority of research on pesticide effects in pollinators has been conducted in honeybees, because they are managed commercially and are thus more accessible and measurable. Since their biology is very similar to that of native bees, it is safe to assume that the damaging effects they experience from pesticides (and other sources) are also suffered by native bees.

Habitat loss
As human populations grow, less space remains for native pollinators. Overgrown spaces with wildflowers, weeds, and nesting sites are disappearing, making way for manicured lawns that eliminate key nectar and pollen sources like dandelions and encourage pesticide use. Agricultural practices claim land that was once suitable pollinator habitat with a diversity of nectar and pollen sources and replace it with insecticide and herbicide-laden monocultures.

Genetically modified (GM) crops
Two types of GM crops are routinely used in agriculture. One is an insect-resistant type, where a bacterium that is lethal to certain insects is incorporated into the genome of the plant, and the target insect species are killed upon feeding on the plant.

The second is an herbicide-resistant variety and is definitely of concern for pollinators, especially butterflies and bees. In herbicide-resistant GM crops, the plants are engineered to be resistant to applications of certain herbicides. As a result, the crop can withstand repeated applications of herbicide, which in turn kills all the flowering weeds surrounding the planted area.

This is of particular concern for monarch butterflies, whose larval host plant is milkweed, which thrives in disturbed habitats and has historically been found adjacent to crops. Most people are familiar with the epic migration of the monarch butterfly to the oyamel fir forests of Central Mexico. This year, the count of overwintering monarchs in the protected reserves revealed a catastrophic drop—down an incredible 59 percent from that of 2012 and standing at an all-time historical low since the migration was discovered in the 1970s. Lack of available host plants due to GM-related herbicide application has been identified as a significant contributor to this staggering decline.

Diseases
There are a great many parasites and pathogens that burden pollinators such as bees, and the ones causing the most damage are introduced species. Native bumblebees suffer from a nonnative fungal disease, while honeybees struggle with introduced ectoparasites such as Varroa mites and fungal infestations from Nosema spores.

A combination of all these and probably other factors has created the phenomenon Colony Collapse Disorder, which is decimating honeybee colonies in the US. The precise cause is unknown, because the bees simply disappear, thus taking the evidence with them. But one thing is clear—life is hard for commercial honeybees these days.

Pollinator gard_1

A native bee house for mason and leafcutter bees in the Pollinator Garden provides holes to make nests.

WE ARE HERE FOR THEM
At the San Diego Zoo, we are committed to helping pollinators recover:

Providing a safe haven
We have a pollinator “way station” at the Pollinator Garden, located at the entrance to Elephant Odyssey. This space is dedicated to helping sustain pollinators by providing a steady supply of pesticide-free nectar and host plants, as well as suitable living spaces for native bees. We have a large section of milkweed available for monarch butterflies to lay eggs on from spring through fall, helping to boost the West Coast population.

Educating our guests
Our Education Department is working with Zoo Corps kids to help raise native milkweed for monarch butterflies in our Pollinator Garden. Staff have also incorporated the garden as a teaching tool for various curricula.

Live and let live
Where possible on Zoo grounds, we allow honeybee swarms to move on in their own time and only actively remove established hives when either human or collection animal health is clearly at risk.
National Pollinator Week awareness
The Entomology Department participates every year in National Pollinator Week, with the help of many departments. During the entire week, the insect keepers are giving daily presentations on bees and other pollinators at the honeybee display in the Insect House at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 pm.

HOW ABOUT YOU?
A steady wave of small choices can help turn the tide. Here are a few ways you can help:

Buy organic
If you don’t currently buy any organic foods or clothing, think about picking even one item the next time you visit the store. For one, you could potentially lower the demand for crops produced using pesticides and reduce the overall application (over one MILLION pounds yearly) of these chemicals in the US. This alone will help pollinators.

Secondly, even if you don’t care about whether or not you eat GM crops, buying crops that are genetically modified supports the practice of widespread herbicide application in agriculture and the decimation of pollinator habitat that results. Organic items cannot intentionally include GM crops; those labeled “No GMO” have been positively determined not to contain them. One item in your basket is a small step in the right direction for pollinators.

Build your own way station
Plant some milkweed! Create a habitat in your yard, garden, or flowerbox that invites pollinators. Some great planting information can be found at www.xerces.org, along with more details on the status of pollinators and insect conservation in general.

Avoid pesticide use at home
If you really, truly must use pesticides, read the manufacturer’s instructions on recommended concentration, and only use it at or below that level.

Let part of your lawn go wild for pollinators
Long, overgrown grasses create a perfect habitat for nesting and overwintering native bees, and flowering weeds are a staple nectar and pollen source for bees and butterflies alike. Keep in mind that most native bees are solitary and do not sting readily. They are good, safe neighbors—especially if you have a garden.

Tell your friends
Most people have no idea that the sustainability of food as we know it is so tightly linked with the health of pollinators. Share what you know!

UNDERWRITE THE FUTURE FOR POLLINATORS
This week, June 17 through 23, is National Pollinator Week. It is the perfect time to visit the Zoo’s Pollinator Garden and spend some time watching monarch butterflies laying eggs, and bees and hummingbirds finding a nectar or pollen meal in a beautiful flower.

But it is an even better time to act. If we can all make one small change in our habits this week, we could make a big difference for pollinators. To bring it back to our financial analogy, it has been said that if more people knew the current status of pollinator decline, they would be more concerned with that than with the ups and downs of the NASDAQ or S&P 500.

So now you know the stakes—and you are definitely a stakeholder. Will you invest in the solution?

Paige Howorth is an animal care manager at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, The Queen Will Not Be Denied!

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165

Panda Cam Brings Healing

By
Matt Steele
– January 17, 2013Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Pandas

Our animal cams aren’t just for fleeting entertainment. As a wildlife conservation organization, our mission is to connect people to wildlife and conservation, and our live cams are incredibly powerful tools that allow us to connect people to wildlife worldwide in real time. With the birth of our sixth panda, Xiao Liwu, Panda Cam has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. We get comments from people all over the world about Panda Cam, but one in particular touched us, and we wanted to share it with you. Enjoy.

“My sister and I began watching these bears when our little gift was born. Then I took them to the hospital where I work and began sharing. For all of my patients and our nursing staff from Sutter Cancer Center in Northern CA, I say THANK YOU to all at SDZ. Your Panda cams and blogs have made a difference in how our very ill patients cope and get through their medical processes.

I am an Integrated Therapist & Medical Aromatherapist. The first thing I do for a new patient who will be staying for awhile is show them how to log on to the Panda Cam. We have all watched our “little gift” be born and grow & now make his debut. He is a wonderful deterrent to pain, depression, loneliness and hopelessness. We all thank you so much for providing this wonderful gift for us and our patients. It speaks to the Quality of their Life as they go through treatments.

This is something that should be put in all hospital long-term care and critical-care units. In the love of this little fuzz ball, my patients need less medication for coping and sleeping. I have been known to turn off their computer as they fall asleep with Xiao Liwu sleeping quietly on the screen in their lap. [All hospitals] should consider using this in their critical care and long-term care facilities.

We all love you Bai Yun and our little healing bear, “little Wu.” Happy anniversary to Gao Gao! Forever fans, Robin Gayle & Dixie Lee.”

Matt Steele is the social media planner for San Diego Zoo Global.

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275

Starting the New Year Healthy: 20th Exam

By
Matt Steele
– January 3, 2013Posted in: Animals and Plants, Bears, Conservation, Pandas, San Diego Zoo Blogs

Giant panda cub Xiao Liwu was a very busy boy during his weekly exam at the San Diego Zoo. When brought from his den, the rambunctious cub went straight to his toys, climbing headfirst into a doughnut-shaped plastic ring, playing with a ball, and frolicking in a tub while chewing bamboo. He quickly indicated, by running off and squirming from his keepers, that he wanted to play versus being weighed and measured.

The cub’s 20th exam showed the five-month-old panda is healthy and developing well. He is stronger, more agile, and continues to erupt baby teeth and is mouthing, chewing, and teething a bit. The young cub weighed in at 16 pounds (7.3 kilograms) and measured just over 30 inches (76.5 centimeters) in length from nose to tail tip.

 

 

“Xiao Liwu was very active, very strong, and very exploratory during his exam this morning,” said PK Robbins, senior veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo. “He is moving about very quickly and exhibiting great confidence in his strength and climbing abilities. At this rate, I think we will see him venturing into more areas of the giant panda habitat very soon.”
Click on chart to enlarge.

Click on chart to enlarge.

Matt Steele is the social media planner for San Diego Zoo Global.
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6

The World’s Rarest Cats: Growing Up

By
Todd Speis
– July 20, 2012Posted in: Animals and Plants, Cats, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo

There is estimated to be about 30 Amur leopards left in the wild.

It’s been over three months since our trio of Amur leopard siblings debuted (watch the video) on Big Cat Trail at the San Diego Zoo. Personally it has been very rewarding to work with these cats, both because of their extreme rarity and because at this young age they are always very engaging!

With an estimated wild population of only 30 animals, the Amur leopard is literally on the razor’s edge of extinction. For comparison, our beloved and also endangered giant pandas have a wild population of approximately 1,500 individuals. The current plight of the Amur leopard makes our job of both breeding this species and raising awareness of its conservation that much more important. With hard work, it is hoped that the Amur leopard can follow in the footsteps of the California condor, a species who’s numbers were at one time equally as low but through dedicated work have now risen to become a conservation success story.

We have many reasons for hope for this species. Early this year, after urging from various conservation organizations, Russia established a new national park specifically for the purpose of protecting the Amur leopard. These rare cats have also recently been seen during camera-trap surveys in China, the first time they have been observed in China in recent history. If nothing else, viewing our youngsters’ escapades is sure to bring a smile to your face.

Zeya, the little girl, is the troublemaker of the bunch. She is most likely to start a playful tussle with one of her brothers, often using her patented “death from above” move. Primorye is the most affectionate of the group, often soliciting attention from the keepers. He’s also a bit of a goof ball and is the most likely to randomly fall off of something, with or without the help of one of his siblings. Koshka has a classical “cat attitude,” which some might consider grumpy or aloof, but he still has a playful side. During behind-the-scenes tours, he often hangs back until the antics of his siblings have the tour group totally engrossed. Then he springs forward, pounces, and hangs from the side of the exhibit for a while, just like a house cat on a screen door.

A lot of this play behavior is actually training for behaviors they would need to be successful living as adults in the wild. When the youngsters are play fighting, you may notice that they most commonly bite at each other’s necks. The neck is the most vulnerable spot on prey and a leopard’s preferred method of dispatching a future meal. You can also see them lugging around and stashing over-sized burlap bags stuffed full of hay. In the wild, a smart leopard goes to great lengths to conceal its kill, which often outweighs the leopard. Other predators such as the Amur tiger wouldn’t hesitate to steal away the meal the leopard worked so hard for.

These rambunctious felines are growing by leaps and bounds and are soon approaching the age that they would naturally disperse away from both their mother and siblings. I hope they will eventually be paired with mates to produce a next generation. Make sure to stop by and see these extraordinary cats while they are still in rare form.

Todd Speis is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Read his previous post, Snow Leopards: Love at Second Sight?

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1

Biodiversity at Cocha Cashu

By
Russ Van Horn
– July 20, 2012Posted in: Conservation, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized

Early morning on the lake at the Cocha Cashu Biological Field Station

As someone interested in nature, and as a scientist with San Diego Zoo Global, over the years I’ve been fortunate enough to see four of the world’s eight bear species in the wild. Often these sightings occurred in circumstances that left my heart pounding with wonder, although I admit that once or twice I’d have preferred to know beforehand that all would end well. How many bear species can you list, without referring to a reference? Similarly, how many primate species can you list? They may be big charismatic mammals, but both bears and primates are a tiny fraction of the biodiversity in our world. On a recent trip to the Cocha Cashu Biological Station in southeast Perú, I gained a much better appreciation for the biodiversity of the lowland Amazonian rainforest. You’ve probably heard that tropical rainforests have incredibly biodiversity, but it’s one thing to ‘know’ in your head that the rainforest features amazing biodiversity, and it’s something else to ‘know’ it from experience.

A white-fronted capuchin monkey at the Cocha Cashu Biological Station

Jessica Groendijk, education and outreach coordinator for the Cocha Cashu Biological Station, has written about how she and I began a morning at the field station. We saw giant river otters in the wild! Thus began a truly memorable day in the field. After returning to camp, I quizzed Jessica over breakfast on her interpretation of the otters’ behavior, and various aspects of their ecology. Patiently she explained what was known and not known about giant river otter behavior, ecology, and conservation. She politely refrained from reminding me that most of this information was included in the book on giant river otters she co-authored with her husband. I did read the book, honest! It’s just that I read it a few years ago, and I hadn’t yet had my first cup of coffee…

After fueling up, we grabbed our gear and left camp with Cesar Flores, director of the Cocha Cashu Biological Station, and Luis Ramirez and Samantha Young, both of San Diego Zoo Global’s Conservation Education division, to become more familiar with the habitat and animals surrounding the field station. I’ve spent much more time in the cloud forest, and the tropical dry forest, than in the lowland Amazon rainforest, so the Amazon is like a different world to me. In my humble opinion, it is truly wonderful, in the full sense of that word.

The forest canopy at Cocha Cashu Biological Station

By the end of this day at Cocha Cashu, Jessica and I had not only seen giant river otters (!) and numerous bird species, we’d also seen seven species of wild primates: white-fronted capuchin monkeys, brown capuchin monkeys, spider monkeys, common squirrel monkeys, red howler monkeys, saddleback tamarins, and emperor tamarins. My heart got a decent workout.

Cocha Cashu has long been known as a great place to conduct biological field research, to better understand how things work in the lowland Amazon rainforest. After seeing the improvements Cesar and his staff have made since I last visited the station, and talking to these folks about their vision and goals, I’m hopeful that Cocha Cashu will continue to be a source of knowledge, and that this knowledge will help guide efforts to conserve the lowland rainforest and its diverse components.

Thanks again, Jessica, for allowing me to share a wonderful morning on the lake at Cocha Cashu, and thanks to Cesar and all the other people in Perú and in the US who made our visit, and our involvement at Cocha Cashu, a possibility.

Russ Van Horn is a scientist in the Applied Animal Ecology Division of the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Read his previous post, Are Wild Areas a Luxury?

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4

Homecoming in Cocha Cashu

By
Jessica Groenendijk
– July 11, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Apes and Monkeys, Birds, Conservation, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized

This is Theo (or Thea?), a young otter born last year in Cocha Cashu. The giant otter habit of periscoping allows us to document their unique throat patterns.

The howler monkeys wake me up before my alarm clock does. For a moment, I’m disorientated. Oh, right, I’m in Cocha Cashu in Peru. As I dress, I try to decide how I would describe the howlers’ epic serenade to my kids. Like a train roaring through a tunnel? A powerful wind rushing through the tree canopy? Awesome in the true sense of the word?

The day is just beginning when I meet Russ at the lake. We collect our gear and gingerly step into the wooden canoe. It sits low in the water. Any sudden movement risks an early bath. The trick is to smoothly fold yourself into a cross-legged position on the bottom. We eventually manage this (not so smoothly), and gently push ourselves off. The canoe, shaped like a hollowed-out needle, slides soundlessly from the shore. Sitting in the stern, I grip my crudely carved paddle and push against the water, accidentally knocking against the boat and causing Russ to clutch the sides. But soon I fall into a rhythm, five strokes to starboard, five to port, and the canoe stabilizes. We relax. The paling sky, the murmur of our passage, the darkly sleeping forest, it all seems so familiar. It is as though I’ve never been away.

A juvenile striated heron pretends to be invisible as we approach.

Almost immediately, we glide past a tree in which white-fronted capuchins are feeding. There is still not enough light for photography, so I take pleasure in simply watching. Russ does not speak, for which I am grateful. The beauty around us is enough. We slowly drift on. Howlers on one shore of the lake begin their unearthly concert, and a group on the opposite shore answers. The forest is quickening. Far off, I hear the soulful hiccupping of crying babies; correction, dusky titi monkeys. A hoatzin shuffles in overhanging branches, rasping softly. Sunlight now gilds the trees, and their leaves turn a luminous green. A striated heron stands frozen at the edge of a patch of floating grass. I touch the water with my paddle, and the canoe whispers forward. Russ and I take photos of the heron until, losing heart, it flies off.

Then I hear them. I hold my breath. Yes, there it is again. Unmistakable. Now I’m tense with anticipation. I know what to look for and scan the water’s surface ahead. It reflects the tree line perfectly, such is its stillness. But at the grass edge to the left I see it distort and shimmer. Then I hear a sharp exhalation, and a wave bulges toward us. They’re chasing fish. Russ and I see the small head simultaneously. Two. No, three giant otters! I reach for my camera and wait. Sure enough, they soon spot us and head directly toward us. As they come closer, they begin to zigzag, studying us from all angles. One exhales explosively and ducks under. Another propels its upper quarters straight out of the water—periscopes—and I quickly take a photo of its throat pattern. To my delight, I recognize this male. I knew him as a demanding cub in 2002, in nearby Cocha Salvador, Manu National Park’s best-known oxbow lake. I named him Diablito—Little Devil. Now, a decade later, we meet again.

The third otter also snorts loudly and periscopes. This individual was born in Cocha Cashu in 2009 and is Diablito’s daughter or son. Soon I have the throat patterns of all three. Gently, quietly, I paddle backward, letting the otters know that we mean no harm. The important business of hunting soon distracts them, and they continue foraging along the grassy shore.
I take a deep breath. I love seeing giant otters, the subject of seven years of conservation work, but actually recognizing an individual from my former life is thrilling. And I’m happy that the lake still harbors a resident giant otter group as it has done for as long as research has been carried out at the Cocha Cashu Biological Station.

As we make our way back to the station, a pair of macaws flies overhead and a cormorant croaks rudely. My paddle dips into a large clump of fat, squirming tadpoles. They fan out, bobbling the water surface. The lake is humming with life, including biting beasties. I’ve been so caught up with the otters that only now do I feel the burning itch of several bites on my arms and neck. But it’s not worth stopping for repellent—our breakfast is calling us.
The canoe nudges the station’s jetty, and Russ pulls us along it. He climbs out, stretches, and turns to face me. “That was wonderful. Thank you,” he says. Pleased, I beam at him. As he walks off for his coffee, I take a last, long look across the lake and sigh contentedly. I’ve come home.

Jessica Groenendijk is an education and outreach coordinator at San Diego Zoo Global’s Cocha Cashu Biological Station in Peru.

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1

Ear Notches: Trash or Treasure?

By
Suellen Charter
– July 9, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo, Uncategorized

Our newest reindeer calf’s DNA will soon be part of our Frozen Zoo.

We have over 8,500 individual animal cell lines represented in our Frozen Zoo®, a cell line collection started in 1975 by San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research founder Kurt Benirschke and his laboratory technician, Arlene Kumamoto. They started establishing cell lines on what was an easy source of material at that time: ear notches. The San Diego Zoo Safari Park had just opened a few years earlier and was home to many hoofed animals (deer, gazelles, antelope, oryx). All of these animals were ear notched as a way to identify individuals out in the field (see post Picking One from the Herd). These small ear-notch pieces were put into vials with a transport media, instead of being disposed of, and taken back to our Genetics Laboratory.

A vial containing an ear notch sample in transport media.

We still receive many ear-notch samples each year on hoofed animals new to our collection. Once we have the samples at the laboratory, the ear notch is processed and set up. We log in all of the information on the animal—species, common name, identification number, and birth date—into the Frozen Zoo database. Then the sample is taken into our tissue culture laboratory and, while working in a biological safety cabinet, or “hood,” the sample is set up. To do this, we first clean up the ear notch by removing any hair or debris. Then we cut the sample into very small pieces, and the pieces are covered with an enzyme and put into an incubator for around four hours to digest.

An ear-notch sample is processed in our Genetics Lab.

Next, when the sample looks digested, it is put into a flask (a sterile tissue culture vessel), and a special media is added and then incubated. In the next 72 hours, we hope to see cells attached to the bottom of the flask. These cells will then start to divide and grow for about three to four weeks until we have enough cells to freeze and make this animal part of the Frozen Zoo’s cell line collection. At this point, we have this animal’s DNA saved as a living cell line. At any time we can thaw a vial of cells and put them back into the incubator, and they will start to grow and divide again.

Fibroblast cells from a Siberian reindeer.

Recently, we received an ear notch from our Siberian reindeer calf. We have his cells growing, and soon his DNA will be part of the Frozen Zoo. Even though I have seen the start of many cell lines, it still seems like magic when you see those first cells start to grow and divide. What species would you choose to add to the Frozen Zoo?

Suellen Charter is a research coordinator for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Read her previous post, Counting Chromosomes.

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4

Clouded Leopards Make TV Debut

By
Rick Schwartz
– July 5, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Cats, Uncategorized

Rick enjoys time with a clouded leopard cub at the Point Defiance Zoo.

How does the ambassador for the San Diego Zoo end up being sent to the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington, to spend a day with clouded leopard cubs? Believe it or not, it has everything to do with a trip to New York. Let me explain! I was sent to Point Defiance Zoo and, I must admit, I was excited to go on this trip for many reasons. The obvious reason for my excitement was that I was sent there to spend a day with the clouded leopard cubs and their keeper staff. The less-obvious reason for my excitement? I had visited this zoo in my youth and remember really falling in love with it, so being able to go back rekindled fond memories.

Oh, and before I go into too much more detail as to why I was up there, I have to say that if you have not visited this zoo, you must. The facilities are outstanding, the staff is top-notch, and the grounds are beautiful.

Now, why in the heck was I sent there to visit the clouded leopard cubs? Well, one of my passions and goals as a national spokesperson and ambassador for the San Diego Zoo is to shine the spotlight on the conservation efforts of all AZA (Association of Zoos & Aquariums) facilities. And it is just as important that I make sure people know how zoos and aquariums work together to make a difference in preventing the extinction of species around the world. In this case, the Point Defiance Zoo, along with a few other accredited zoos in the U.S., is working collectively with the AZA’s SSP (Species Survival Plan) and the Thailand Clouded Leopard Consortium (see post Clouded Leopard Success). The goal is to have a self-sustaining breeding program in Thailand, and we will get there with our knowledge, science, and hard work.

This brings us to my trip to New York. We appeared on Live with Kelly on Monday, July 2, with rain forest animals from around the world, including two clouded leopards. I am very excited that we were able to partner with the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium for this trip. It is a great way to show how zoos work together for conservation across the globe. The plight of the clouded leopard helps us highlight the ongoing need for collaborative efforts when it comes to conservation. Of course, I also brought some of our San Diego Zoo rain forest animals, too.

Rick Schwartz is a keeper and ambassador for the San Diego Zoo. Read his previous post, A Little Binturong in the Big Apple.

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4

Monkeys, Leopard Cats, and Bears, Oh My!

By
Chia Tan
– June 13, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Apes and Monkeys, Bears, Cats, Conservation, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized

Wild Guizhou snub-nosed monkeys "caught" by the camera trap.

“Follow, observe, and record,” was the first directive I learned starting out as a field primatologist. For years I did exactly that; all day long in Madagascar, from the moment the lemurs awoke before sunrise till they retired at the end of the day after sunset. And I took great pride in my ability to habituate these primates, follow them up and down mountain slopes through dense vegetation, and observe and record their behavior with just a pair of binoculars, a notebook, and a pen.

An Asiatic bear cub follows its mother.

This simple standard methodology, though it can be successfully applied to studying many primate species, is not well suited for snub-nosed monkey research in China. Why? Free-ranging Chinese snub-nosed monkeys are notoriously difficult to follow because they live in groups containing hundreds of individuals and are not tolerant of human observers. Also, unlike most primate species that inhabit tropical environments, these monkeys range into the temperate zone in areas where snowfall occurs four to five months of the year. In other words, collecting behavioral data on free-ranging Chinese snub-nosed monkeys through direct observation was a tremendous challenge for researchers, until recently.

Tibetan macaques

Last year my colleagues at Fanjingshan nature reserve and I began using camera traps in our research of the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey (see post Saving Monkeys Takes a Team). And as you can tell by the title of this post, the captured images included not only the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey but also another rare macaque species, the Tibetan macaque, as well as leopard cats, bears, and other elusive mammals, indicating the reserve still harbors a rich community of wildlife! We are in the process of sorting through thousands of camera-trap images, but I’ve included some exciting examples here.

Leopard cat

Indeed, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and these images convey much information about the behavior of wild animals. However, we need to be mindful that camera traps are tools for collecting supplemental data; they cannot be used to replace researchers. It is important for researchers to spend quality time with their study animals in the field to obtain data firsthand that provide the contextual information necessary for the observed behaviors. All those years of me running after lemurs and monkeys in the forest, therefore, was not done in vain. Through direct observation, I have gained an understanding about primates in situ.

This understanding has helped me interpret the camera-trap images and infer the motivations of the monkeys’ behaviors in a biologically meaningful way. I must admit I was not a huge fan of camera-trap technology initially, but I am thoroughly impressed with the images captured so far. I give it a “thumbs up!”

Chia Tan is a scientist with the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.

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2

Kiwi Season

By
Steph Walden
– February 7, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Birds, Conservation, Projects in the Field

Sunset over the island in New Zealand

Steph is studying North Island brown kiwis on a private island in New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf. Read her previous post, Kiwis and Ticks.

With Rose’s departure just before Christmas, work on the kiwi island became a little quieter in January. That didn’t stop the kiwis from being plenty active, though! We found Dario sitting on his second nest, which means his female laid an egg quite late in the season. The kiwis here don’t want to acknowledge the ticking clock of seasonal change!

When I realized the seasons would be swapped down here from what I grew up with in the U.S., I expected to have a warm, dry summer in December and January. Unfortunately (according to many kiwi people), this summer has been very wet and cold. Of course, none of the farmers mind all of the rain we’ve been getting! I’ve been told the island rarely looks so green at this time of year! While the rain has likely made foraging easier for the kiwis, some chicks have died, probably because they aren’t hiding well enough or staying dry. Luckily, the rain has not prevented us from having some beautiful sunsets!

Recording equipment is mounted to a tree in kiwi habitat.

We had a visitor come to the island to collect a different sort of data from our kiwis. One researcher from Wellington, New Zealand, came up to record the kiwis calling at night. He set up recording stations on some trees and collected the chorus of bush sounds, the chirps of cicadas, the scurrying of rats, the rustle of wind, the calls of morepork (native owls), and the shrieks of the kiwi. When he played the recordings in the cabin, some of us were very confused to hear kiwis calling in the daytime! They don’t make the most beautiful sound, but the cry of a kiwi is a sound to remember.

Steph Walden is a volunteer for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.

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