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Conservation

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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2

Protecting Kangaroo Rats

By
Maryke Swartz
– November 23, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Conservation, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized

A remote camera records a coyote on an SKR release site.

I am happy to report that we had another successful (and exciting!) field season. We re-trapped endangered Stephens’ kangaroo rats (SKRs) on sites where they were translocated in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Fortunately, these SKR populations continue to grow. We tagged hundreds of new individuals! In addition, we moved 100 SKRs from human-impacted habitat onto the Southwestern Riverside County Multispecies Reserve. Each year, our team seeks to improve the success of SKR translocations by conducting field experiments. Since the best measurement of “success” is survival, our goal this year was to try to minimize predation in order to enhance survival. Basically, we wanted to keep SKR predators (coyotes and barn owls) off sites following an SKR release. It sounds easy, right? But as field biologists know, nothing is ever easy.

A barn owl flies past a remote camera.

In 2008, we protected the translocated kangaroo rats from coyotes by putting an electric fence around the site. Unfortunately, the electric fence posts served as opportune perches for barn owls. In 2009, Scientist Debra Shier decided to try a different approach. She used scent and sound from the top predators (mountain lions and great-horned owls) to deter the mesopredators (coyotes and barn owls). Her results from these pilot studies suggested that there were positive effects for SKRs (see Mountain Lions Help Kangaroo Rats?), so this year we replicated these experiments at multiple release sites.

During this year’s SKR translocations, we put out mountain lion urine to deter coyotes (see A Summer Spent Helping Kangaroo Rats) at two of our release sites and used water as a control at two other sites. In order to deter barn owls, we played great-horned owl calls. We played the common poorwill’s call at our control sites.

We tracked coyote visitation using 32 remote cameras that surround our sites. In order to quantify barn owl visitation, we sat along the periphery of sites and listened for owl calls and observed them using night-vision goggles and spotlights. For a month, we monitored the sites as well as observed the kangaroo rats’ behavior. We wanted to better understand SKR behavioral responses following translocation.

We installed a 20-foot pole so a speaker could be hoisted to the top to play the great-horned owl call.

You might think that sitting quietly in the dark with night-vision goggles for several hours would be boring. But it is actually relaxing (especially on clear, starry nights) and really exciting once the SKRs emerge from their burrows and begin hopping around, foraging, and chasing each other. We became members of the nocturnal world and were able to catch glimpses of various species including skunks, deer, and bobcats.

Our remote cameras will remain out at the release sites for three months to continue to provide us with images of any visitors, so make sure to check out our pictures on San Diego Zoo Global’s Facebook page. Once all of the data is in, we will determine if our treatments deterred predators. We will keep you posted!

Maryke Swartz is a senior research technician for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Read her previous post, Translocated Kangaroo Rats: Where Are They Now?

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5

Rhinos: Never Give Up, Never Surrender

By
Matt Steele
– November 11, 2011Posted in: Animals and Plants, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo

The Safari Park's most recent eastern black rhino calf, Eric. There are only about 700 eastern black rhinos left in the wild.

In response to a recent article published by msnbc.com declaring the extinction of the western black rhino, Safari Park Curator of Mammals Randy Rieches had this to say:

“This is such incredibly horrible news. Within the last couple months we have seen the last Javan rhino in Vietnam poached, the western black rhino declared extinct, and numerous rhinos of all taxa in Africa and Asia poached for their horns, which are now being sold on the black market for up to $100,000 a kilo.

We thought that last year was such a horrendous year for rhinos being poached in Africa and Asia that it couldn’t get any worse. Unfortunately, we now see that the numbers continue to escalate higher in 2011.

There is no end in site to the carnage wreaked upon this magnificent family. As a conservationist, the term ‘never give up, never surrender’ has never carried more meaning.”

I second Randy’s sentiments, and if you’re reading this blog post you probably do, too. We can’t let human greed win this time. Help us spread the word about the dire plight of rhinos. Like, tweet, share, and re-share this blog post with your friends. Only through increased awareness can we inspire compassion and drive action to save rhinos. Unless we want to lose this incredible animal forever, we have to follow Randy’s advice: “never give up, never surrender.”

Matt Steele is the social media planner for San Diego Zoo Global. Read his previous post, Get Invited to Festival of Flight Tweet-up.

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2

Pacific Pocket Mouse: Help Is on the Way

By
Debra Shier
– November 9, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Conservation, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized

An adult Pacific pocket mouse

Back in 2006, at the beginning of my postdoctoral fellowship with the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, I began a project to translocate the critically endangered Pacific pocket mouse. Like many San Diegans, this pocket-sized mouse lives in Southern California’s coastal zone. It’s actually endemic to the region, meaning that it is found here and nowhere else.

Several years later, I am now our Brown Endowed Scientist in the Institute’s Applied Animal Ecology Division. I have translocated several hundred endangered Stephens’ kangaroo rats over three years but have yet to translocate a single pocket mouse. I learned a great deal about the species by studying them in the wild at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, but our trapping efforts indicated that there were simply too few remaining in the wild to risk translocation.

Because of the status of the species, we have decided that we have reached that critical point with Pacific pocket mice where removal of individuals from the wild to establish a conservation-breeding program is necessary. The regulatory agencies and land managers have agreed, and we have secured funding to begin to breed this adorable mini-mouse in managed care. We have a lot of work ahead of us but are excited about facilitating recovery of the Pacific pocket mouse (PPM).

First, we have to design a facility for the species, which will be located on grounds but off exhibit at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. In 2012, we will bring founders into the facility and begin behavioral experiments to better understand the species and, yes, hopefully, to breed them and produce lots of babies! We hope to grow the captive population to as many as 200 individuals and begin releasing groups of 50 annually. My valuable senior research tech, Maryke Swartz, and new graduate student, Rachel Chock, and I will be the core Pocket Mouse Team.

We will keep you updated on the status of the program and our journey as we attempt to use science and the Zoo’s longstanding “know how” to recover this critically endangered species.

Debra Shier is the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research Brown Endowed Scientist. Read her previous post, Kangaroo Rats Dig Mountain Lions!

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3

Cocha Cashu: Exploring Uncharted Territory

By
Ron Swaisgood
– November 4, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Apes and Monkeys, Birds, Conservation, Projects in the Field, Reptiles and Amphibians, Uncategorized

Curious giant river otters inspect Ron and his group.

For the past two years the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research has been on a journey. The path has been long, and not always straight, but the endpoint is clear: we are exploring uncharted territory in search of a new and improved conservation vision. I am proud to say that I have been helping to steer us down this path, alongside my colleague and friend, Alan Lieberman, director of Regional Conservation Programs for the Institute. It all started two years ago, when John Terborgh, professor at Duke University, asked us if we were interested in inheriting his legacy of four decades at the Cocha Cashu Biological Station in Manu National Park in the magnificent Peruvian Amazon. Manu is a park without peer, a huge expanse sheltering more species than any other park on Earth. It is still pristine, almost untouched by human activity, other than the indigenous people living in the park as they have for thousands of years, some of whom remain uncontacted by the outside world. Learn more about the park and the Station from these earlier blogs: Cocha Cashu: Wild Nature, A Walk in the Woods with John Terborgh, and Manu National Park: Worth the Bites.

The Cocha Cashu Station will be set up to house researchers.

Cocha Cashu is deep in the heart of this park and, as such, is not easy to access. Having secured a 10-year agreement with the Peruvian National Parks Service to administer the Station, my journey starts in Cusco, where I am meeting our newly hired staff. I am joined by Cesar Flores, program director, Jessica Groenendijk, education coordinator, and Veronica Chavez, logistics coordinator. We board a van and spend the day on the long, winding road to a high Andean pass and then plummet down the mountainside along a single-lane dirt track to the Amazon basin. The direction of traffic alternates from day to day. Views of the cloud forests flanking the Andes are breathtaking. Along the way we are treated to a rare sighting of the preposterously ornate cock-of-the-rock, a bird that appears to have a slice of orange super-glued to its head.

A motorized canoe brings researchers to the Station.

At Atalaya we board a motorized canoe and travel all day down the upper “Mother of God” River to a jungle town called Boca Manu. From there, it is a pleasant two-day trip by boat up the Manu River, past the last bastions of civilization, to the Cocha Cashu Biological Station. Along the way we see more than 50 species of birds (out of the more than 1,000 that live in Manu), white caiman, river turtles, neotropical river otters, and several species of monkeys. We enjoy watching a group of red howler monkeys, dangling by their tails from the vegetation and scooping up mouthfuls of mineral-laden soil from the cliff.

At the Station, we spend our time brainstorming our mission and inspecting the infrastructure to determine how to upgrade the facilities. We will work to create more creature comforts for visiting scientists, who will pay a small fee to support the Station, while still maintaining the rustic—some may say primitive—charm of the Station. Planned are a new kitchen, improved bathrooms, a shower facility (replacing bathing in the nearby oxbow lake, though some may still prefer to attend to their hygienic needs alongside the piranha and black caiman that share the lake!), and improved solar power and internet connection. Yes, the Station does not yet have proper toilets, but it does have email! Most enjoyable, we check out the vital network of trails that provide researchers access to the forest and animals they study.

Ron inspects a large spider.

Despite the difficult task at hand, we slowly fall under Cashu’s spell. Eight species of primates visited the forest surrounding the Station, and we were treated to groups of spider and capuchin monkeys sipping the nectar from the flowering giant trees. Sometimes they were joined by scarlet macaws, and together they created quite a ruckus. Morning coffee was enjoyed at the dock, where the resident group of giant river otters often passed by, an incredible animal measuring 6 feet in length. We also took the small dugout canoe out on the lake and observed the otters playing and fishing. Jessica spent several years studying these animals and was a tremendous fountain of knowledge and expertise on the species. And there is nothing so magical as watching a full moon rise over the Manu River, silhouetting the ancient primeval forest that has remained unchanged for millennia.

A black-capped squirrel monkey is just one of the many species found in this pristine rain forest.

A week later, sadly, we retraced our steps back out of the Park. We left with a better understanding of the Station’s needs and a new and improved mission: to contribute to the knowledge and conservation of tropical biological diversity by improving infrastructure, educating the public, building conservation capacity, and promoting quality, innovative, scientific research at local, regional, national, and international levels. A tall order! We hope you will continue to follow us on this journey.” Though we work in the field in 35 countries around the globe and maintain several field stations, this is our first station “open for business” to any and all scientists and is our first program in the Amazonian ecosystem. The path is sure to be an exciting one, full of adventure and surprise.

Ron Swaisgood is the director of Applied Animal Ecology and the general scientific director of the Cocha Cashu Biological Station for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Read his previous post, Tracking Pandas in Foping Nature Reserve.

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0

Facebook Winner Joins Us in the Field

By
Matt Steele
– November 3, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Conservation, Projects in the Field, Reptiles and Amphibians

From left to right: Facebook winner Jeff Williams, research technician Frank Santana, UC James Reserve Director Rebecca Fenwick

When we got to the gorgeous University of California James Reserve in the San Jacinto Mountains, the sun was high and the sky was a clear, deep blue. We lucked out. It was the perfect day to take our Facebook winner, Jeff Williams, with us into the field to take part in our mountain yellow-legged frog project. It was also apparent by the conversation we had in the two-hour car ride up to the mountains that Jeff was the perfect candidate to take with us.

An avid outdoorsman, Jeff’s passion for nature and the wildlife therein was palpable. It turned out that Jeff used to breed blue dart frogs, a hobby catalyzed by an encounter he had with wild frogs in Costa Rica. “I thought it was amazing to come across these fluorescent spots of light in the forest all around you,” he said. A love of wildlife also runs in Jeff’s family. After learning that meat came from animals at the age of four, his daughter chose to be vegetarian. “It’s kind of a good thing because it forces us to eat healthier,” Jeff said.

Jeff was also very interested in the project, and asked Frank Santana, our lead field technician, a million questions about mountain yellow-legged frogs (MYLF) and their plight. We learned that the chytrid fungus is the main reason for the frog’s alarmingly rapid decline. The fungus affects the keratin layer of skin and impairs the frogs’ ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide through their skin, resulting in a slow suffocation. The species also faces threats from pollution and introduced predators like brown and rainbow trout. I also learned that historically there were 160 populations of MYLF in the region, now there are just 9. In fact, 33% of all amphibian species worldwide are threatened by extinction, with threats from habitat loss, pollution, introduced species, and chytrid. This knowledge gave our work renewed gravity and purpose in my mind.

When we broke off the beaten path toward the wild stream where we had released about 500 critically endangered mountain yellow-legged frog tadpoles earlier this year, it was clear that we were in for an adventure. Soon we were climbing over fallen logs, thrashing through dense foliage, and wading in knee-deep water. Our goal was to hike upstream in search of tadpoles that may have dispersed from their original release pools. Jeff didn’t get off easy. We put him to work searching for tadpoles and measuring the length, width, and depth of certain pools, and he gladly indulged us. He was an important part of the team for a day. He even brought some useful equipment with him, like a super-small, super-bright LED flashlight that really came in handy for searching dark pockets of water. In fact, many of the pictures we captured of tadpoles wouldn’t have come out without Jeff shining his flashlight in the water.

After a few hours of searching the stream we had yet to find tadpoles, even with the help of UC James Reserve Director Rebecca Fenwick. It wasn’t until we got to the most upstream release pool that we saw about five tadpoles, which believe it or not is a good sign, since tadpoles face threats from many predators in the wild. It was an incredible feeling to finally spot the little guys. “After all that work it’s good to see that they’re still there and hopefully they’ll start to see some success,” Jeff said. I think we can all agree.

It was an absolute pleasure having Jeff along with us. We appreciated his help and had an awesome time “doing science” with him. Like our facebook page for a chance to fill Jeff’s shoes and ride along with us into the field for our cactus wren project.

Matt Steele is the social media planner for San Diego Zoo Global. Read his previous post, Summer SCVNGR Safari.

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77

Su Lin: Back to Bi Feng Xia

By
Megan Owen
– October 27, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Bears, Conservation, Pandas, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized

Su Lin at 16 weeks old at the San Diego Zoo. What a cutie!

For some critically endangered species, reintroduction is the ultimate goal of captive-breeding programs. While some species have greatly benefited from reintroduction programs, there are inherent challenges associated with developing a protocol that has a good chance of success. As we all know, the giant panda is critically endangered, and our Chinese colleagues are developing a reintroduction program for the species. Months ago, Su Lin was identified as a potential participant in this program. While not slated to be reintroduced to the wild, Su Lin was chosen to live in a large, naturalistic enclosure with the hope that she would give birth, raise her cub to about 18 months of age with minimal human intervention, and then her cub might have eventually been released. For all of us who’ve followed the panda conservation program over the years, this was a great honor and reflected our pride in Bai Yun and Gao Gao’s San Diego Zoo-born offspring.

We have worked closely with our colleagues in Wolong for over 15 years. In that time we have learned so much, and our collaborative, science-based conservation program has become a model for other species. I think I speak for everyone on the Panda Team when I say that we have tremendous respect for our colleagues in Wolong and tremendous confidence in the care and effort they have put into this amazing program.

Recently we learned that Su Lin would be heading back to the breeding base at Bi Feng Xia with her cub. While we were disappointed that this cub, Bai Yun and Gao Gao’s descendent, would not be a candidate for reintroduction, we were confident that the right decision was made. While Su Lin’s new status as a mother made her a good candidate for this program, her inexperience was evident, and the staff at Wolong decided that it was best for both Mom and cub to be returned to Bi Feng Xia base.

Ultimately, we know that the goal that we all share is that of giant panda conservation. And luckily, for those of us who feel a connection to the individual pandas that we’ve gotten to know, this lofty goal includes taking the best care possible of each and every panda in our collective care.

Megan Owen is a conservation program specialist with the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Read her previous post, Polar Bears: Getting Ready.

Update: October 31, 2011. The co-head of our giant panda conservation program, Ron Swaisgood, is currently in China and saw Su Lin and her cub. He reports that Su Lin and baby are healthy and doing well and that her move seems to be for logistics. She may return to the release pen for her next cub.

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1

A Summer Spent Helping Kangaroo Rats

By
Matt Golembeski
– October 17, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Conservation, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized

Matt modifies a camera trap to reduce temperature impacts on the camera.

I was lucky enough to work as an intern this summer for the Applied Animal Ecology Division of the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Starting work in late June, I did not know what to expect. Over the course of this summer, I’ve been involved in everything kangaroo rat, from nightly trapping to building little “kangaroo rat homes” on their translocation sites. I’ve had a blast this summer and have learned a great deal about conservation biology and the protection of local species.

Coming into this project, I knew I wanted to work for the protection of local endangered species, and Stephens’s kangaroo rats (SKRs) seemed like a perfect fit. Growing up in suburban San Diego, I had seen very little local wildlife. I was astonished to find out the number of vulnerable and endangered species here in our own county. Working with Debra Shier and Maryke Swartz this summer, I was able to aid in endangered species research and understand the local biome that I had always been acquainted with but never truly known.

Matt checks a trap, hoping to find an SKR.

I spent the majority of the summer working on a project that sought ways to deter predators from kangaroo rat translocation sites (see SKRs Get TLC). “Translocating,” or moving animals from unprotected lands to protected areas within the reserve, is one of the major components of protecting SKRs. Increasing survivorship on these translocation sites is equally important. Previous research conducted by Debra pointed to increased survivorship of SKRs on sites that had been marked with mountain lion, or cougar, urine (see post, Kangaroo Rats Dig Mountain Lions!).

She believed that the mountain lion urine could be deterring SKR predators from visiting the translocation sites. I was asked to conduct a three-week study, testing this hypothesis. I set to work conducting a field study analyzing the effects of mountain lion and wolf urine on the deterrence of natural predators of the Stephens’ kangaroo rat. To visually observe these effects in the field, 32 camera traps were set up on different portions of the reserve with urine placed in front of the cameras. These cameras have both still image and video recording capability, invaluable for recording visitation to the sites and behavioral responses of the predators as well.

Matt installs an acclimation cage for this year's translocation effort.

Initially, I did not expect a great number of animals to be recorded by the cameras. Debra assured me that many predators would indeed be captured on the cameras. She was right. Being a San Diego native, I found growing up that seeing the natural predators of the region was an uncommon occurrence. Coyotes would occasionally scamper across the road late at night, skunks and raccoons rarely appeared, and I had never seen a wild bobcat in San Diego County. To my surprise, at the reserve in Riverside County I experienced a total of 142 predator visitations to my 32 sites over the course of 3 weeks.

After analyzing the data from the study, we found that mountain lion/cougar urine does indeed have a significant impact on coyotes, the principal ground predator of the SKR. Although initially drawn in by the scent, the coyotes are subsequently strongly deterred from visiting sites marked with mountain lion urine. This was in strong contrast to the wolf urine treatment, which seemed to attract more animals as the study continued on. From this information we have gathered that to successfully deter coyotes from translocation sites, mountain lion urine should be placed around the site at least four days in advance to SKRs being released onto the site. This way, coyotes will be effectively deterred, and this will minimize predation on the translocated SKRs. The chart below show the average visitation of coyotes at the remote camera stations with the four scent types: cougar (mountain lion), wolf, deer, and water.

Besides my work on the experiment this summer, I also had the privilege of working actively for SKR conservation. Debra told me that my work this summer was going to be as half-biologist, half-construction worker. Boy, was she right! At times, I felt like a professional biologist, donning my headlamp and trapping SKRs through the night. Other times, I felt construction “worker-esque,” digging holes alongside a prison crew for SKR acclimation cages. Throw in some arts and crafts (making cages, camera boxes, and anything else that we needed for the project), and I could call it a productive summer.

A coyote visits a remote camera station.

For me, I could not have asked for a better experience to start my career in field biology. Growing up as a kid in San Diego, I always wanted to work with the San Diego Zoo. This job was truly a dream come true. The valuable lessons that I have learned here I won’t forget and will aid me as I continue my career.

Matt Golembeski was a summer fellow for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Thank you, Matt, and good luck to you as you continue your career goals!

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3

Kiwi Chicks Arrive

By
Steph Walden
– October 10, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Birds, Conservation, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized

Farmer Dave holds Babe on the day Alex attached its radio transmitter.

Spring is here! Lambs are following their mothers around, flowers are beginning to bloom, leaves are appearing on trees, and kiwi chicks are entering the world. And, of course, the Rugby World Cup is in full swing, which is the main news topic on any radio station or television channel over here! “Go the All Blacks!” is a pretty common sign posted around the country. It’s an exciting time to be in New Zealand!

A very rear sight (pun intended): Marc sitting on his chick.

Working an on- and off-island schedule provides opportunities for surprises both good and bad. Sometimes birds have moved from one burrow to another in their general territories. Other times their radio signals seem to come from totally new directions. During the ~80-day incubation period, male kiwis are always on their nests during daylight hours. (Anything else is cause for concern and speculation on why they’ve abandoned the nest and eggs.)

When we returned to the island, I found an exciting and unique view inside a nest. I could see a kiwi bum sitting on what looked like a smaller kiwi bum in a known nest! Yes, Marc was sitting on his chick! The chick fledged (left the nest) just a few days later, so I felt lucky to have caught the scene. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t realize how unlikely it would be to have the same view the next day, and so I only snapped this photo with my small point and shoot. I guess it’s better to have this photo than nothing!

Master’s student Alex Wilson does one last check before releasing Babe.

Massey University master’s student Alex Wilson is now free of her university schedule and able to focus on her research project studying chick behavior and survival. She monitors nests using cameras, which provides more insight into the lives of kiwis. Two volunteers from the U.S. have joined her as they combine a Rugby World Cup trip with some fieldwork. They tramp all over the gullies in the morning and at night as they set up and take down video cameras stationed at nests.

Part of understanding chick survivorship and behavior comes through the same radio telemetry we use on the adults. Alex recently pulled a chick out of its nest to attach a transmitter to it. We named the chick Babe after Rose’s grandfather. Babe’s activity is now being monitored by camera and telemetry. When chicks such as Babe start exploring more, we’ll use receivers to track them.

Genesis is another source of interesting news. He had been sitting on a nest, but it’s beginning to look like his egg didn’t hatch. However, his girl Susie spent two days in last year’s nest, and now he has been there for a few days. A night check revealed Susie did lay one egg in there, so hopefully Genesis will sit tight and incubate for the coming months!

Spring makes our commute to work even more of a pleasure.

We can say that Ivan, Scott, and Jenno are good fathers—so far. Videos reveal chicks emerging from their nests to forage nearby at night. The chicks look so helpless, and poor Alex worries as she watches them, hoping they’ll make it back into their nests without rolling down dirt mounts or wandering too far from “home.” I’m curious to see which other males have chicks when we get back, and whether Genesis is sitting on his nest!

Steph Walden is a volunteer for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Read her previous post, Kiwi Eggs: Our Big Nights.

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3

Summer Pitfalls: Lots of Lizards!

By
Christine Slocomb
– September 22, 2011Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo, Events at the Safari Park, More, Projects in the Field, Reptiles and Amphibians, Uncategorized

A juvenile Gilbert's skink

Each season reveals a new chapter in the multiple micro-habitats that our biodiversity-monitoring project surveys (see post, Biodiversity Monitoring at Safari Park Reserve). The warm, dry weather means that we have been up before dawn every day this season, and it affects which critters might be active at this time of year as well. This summer we have seen fewer mammals in our arrays at the Biodiversity Reserve at the Safari Park in Escondido as compared to last spring, whereas the number of herptofauna findings has increased. However, due to the dry weather we have rarely seen frogs, which may be aestivating during these hot months. This last week was quite foggy and a bit cooler, so our September data includes a few common mammals such as gray shrews, California pocket mice, San Diego pocket mice, cactus mice, harvest mice, deer mice, and California voles.

After a few months of seeing big, gravid female lizards, we started find hatchlings in our pitfall traps! June marked our first sightings of side-blotch lizard, western fence lizard, and western skink hatchlings. In July, we started finding Gilbert’s skink hatchlings as well. By August, beautiful orange-throated whiptail hatchlings emerged! This month brought the first occurrence of granite spiny lizard hatchlings and a few juvenile striped racers (aka California whipsnakes).

Western skink hatchling

Both orange-throated whiptail hatchlings and western skinks have bright blue tails and dark body-length stripes. Often my volunteers ask how I tell them apart! While they may be similar in size, they look quite different in detail. The western skink’s head is more rounded, and its scales are very smooth and shiny. In addition, the two species of endemic skinks are also easy to tell apart as hatchlings. Juvenile Gilbert’s skinks typically have bright pink tails, and western skinks have bright blue tails. Furthermore, the body-length stripes on the Gilbert’s skinks do not go past their hind legs, as do stripes on western skinks in juvenile form. Later in life, western skink adults have stripes down their sides, whereas Gilbert’s are darker in coloration and have no stripes at all, which makes them quite distinguishable.

Granite spiny lizard

Our local subspecies of western skink, the Coronado skink, is a California species of concern due to habitat loss. Orange-throated whiptails, western skinks, and Gilbert’s skinks all have brightly colored tails as juveniles as a defense adaptation that can be dropped if caught by a predator. The tail even continues to wiggle and move after it is cast off, which may allow the animal to potentially escape. All three species do not retain this tail coloration in their adult form, and it does not appear to be associated with a form of mimicry in these species. Furthermore, its tail grows back after being discarded. From the number of tailless hatchlings I have seen, it seems like this strategy is successful in aiding them to survive until they can learn from experience how to avoid predators.

Christine Slocomb is a research technician at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.

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