Book Review: The Life of Pi

"I wish I could convey the perfection of a seal slipping into water or a spider monkey swinging from point to point or a lion merely turning its head.  But language founders in such seas.  Better to picture it in your head if you want to feel it."

When Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel and his family emigrated from India to Canada, they didn't travel alone.  Pi's zoo director family packed the entire menagerie onto a cargo ship and the mixed family of people and animals set sail for America.  When the ship goes down in a storm, Pi finds himself alone on a life boat in the middle of the Pacific - alone, that is, except for a spotted hyena, a wounded zebra, a seasick orangutan, and a full grown Bengal tiger.

Yann Martel's most famous novel is a story of spirituality and survival, but it also manages to be a very good story about animals.  Before he sends his young protagonist off on his fateful adventure, Martel introduces us to the world that Pi grew up in - his father's zoo, where he spent his childhood playing among the grounds and watching the animals.  Aware that most of his readers have only a passing familiarity of what goes on in a zoo behind the scenes, Martel does an pretty decent introduction into the life of a zoo and zookeeper, offering all sorts of interesting tidbits and anecdotes from real history (my favorite is his recounting of the saga of black panther than escaped one Swiss winter, a true story I'd completely forgotten about until revisiting Life of Pi).

What makes Life of Pi so remarkable to me is how the author is able to tell such a charming, spiritual story featuring zoo animals without romanticizing or unduly humanizing the animals themselves.  Richard Parker is a tiger, and a tiger he remains throughout the book, and his relationship with Pi is that of a tiger with a caretaker... albeit in some pretty unusual circumstances.  In one of the most famous scenes in the book, Pi's worrywart father, concerned that his son's playful, imaginative nature will get him hurt one day, uses an unfortunate goat to teach Pi and his brother about the fierce power of their charges.  He then takes his boys for a tour-of-death around the zoo, describing how each and every animal they encounter is capable of killing them.

Martel doesn't humanize his animals as many authors do - instead he allows their animalism to make them the interesting characters that they are - different from us, yes, but still relatable.  The story of Pi's life, from childhood to fight for survival, is one that introduces readers into a unique world that very few could imagine... and that's before the adventure even really starts.

The 2012 movie based on the book and sharing the same title is also worth a peak, certainly.  It lacks most of the narration and backstory and animal insights of the novel, but makes up for it by being one of the most visually stunning movies I've ever seen.  Both are certainly worth your time.

Life of Pi at Amazon.com

From the News: Is the Houston Zoo haunted by the ghost of a former zookeeper?

Is the Houston Zoo haunted by the ghost of a former zookeeper?

Haven't meant to be slacking so much on the blog lately, but between computer troubles and an avalanche at work, it's been hard to find the time.  Anyway, here's a little Halloween-appropriate gem from the annals of the Houston Zoo.

Hans Nagel at left, the Houston Zoo's first zookeeper, at work during his tenure at the zoo in the 1930s.

The Virgin Snake

When the keepers at the Louisville Zoo discovered that their reticulated python had given birth, that would have been great news no matter what, but probably nothing too out of the ordinary.  What was out of the ordinary, however, was that "Thelma", the 11-year old python, gave birth to her six young without any "assistance"... as in, without having been bred by a male.

The birth took place back in 2012, but was just announced recently as the zoo did some analysis behind-the-scenes.  Like many snakes, female reticulated pythons can store sperm for lengthy periods of time, so the folks at Louisville wanted to confirm that the babies weren't the result of some long-ago coupling.  In the end, DNA analysis verified that the little pythons were pure Thelma.  For the first time ever, parthenogenesis had been confirmed in the world's longest snake.

Parthenogensis ("virgin birth") is the process by which a female gives birth to offspring that are not fathered by a male.  Many of the cases of it are reported in zoos, aquariums and laboratories - not that it is more likely to happen there then in the wild, but in those controlled conditions, it is easier to verify that no male was present and to do DNA tests on the offspring.  The phenomena has been observed in many species, including many that normally reproduce sexually.  Examples include Komodo dragons, zebra finches, and numerous sharks. It has never naturally been observed to occur in mammals.  In some populations of lizard, parthenogensis is the only way in which reproduction has been observed to occur - the populations are all female!

It's uncertain how or why exactly these virgin births occur to some animals but not others, even within the same species.  Hopefully, data collected at the Louisville Zoo and other institutions that have documented these incredible births will be able to shed a little more light on these occurrences.  Until then, congratulations to Louisville on their fascinating discovery!

A reticulated python (but not Thelma... or one of her miraculous offspring)

Going, Going, Almost Gone...

"The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living beings breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again."

- William Beebe

Death Leaves Only 6 Northern White Rhinos in World, Conservancy Says

When I was younger, my father took me on what - to a thirteen-year-old zoo fanatic - was the coolest vacation imaginable - San Diego.  We hit the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld San Diego, and the Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography Aquarium, but my favorite animal attraction was the world famous San Diego Wild Animal Park.

There were a tremendous number of "firsts" for me on that trip - my first koala, my first okapi, my first Tasmanian devil - so it probably wasn't too surprising that, when our guide pointed out a small herd of white rhinos in one of the paddocks, I didn't get too tremendously excited.  I mean, rhinos are cool and I love them, but the zoo back home had white rhinos, so they weren't that high on my "must see" list.  If I'd known better how the future would have turned out, I might have taken a closer look.

The white rhinos we had back home - along with 99% of the other white rhinos on earth - were southerners.  What I had seen in San Diego, on the other hand, were some of the last northern white rhinoceros - a critically endangered subspecies - left in the world.  That herd in San Diego - and some individuals in the Czech Republic - represented all that was left of a population of animals that once thrived across Central Africa.  Poachers - armed with weapons obtained easily from the region's endless civil wars - decimated the wild population.  Attempts were made to establish rhinos in sanctuaries in Africa.  They have not succeeded.

With the recent death of the male Suni, the total global population of northern white rhino is six.  When one more dies, you'll be able to count the numbers on one hand.

The northern white rhino won't be the first rhino subspecies to go extinct - very recently, the West African black rhinoceros went extinct as well.  Somehow we haven't lost a whole species of rhino in modern times, but unless things change dramatically, I can't believe that the Javan and Sumatran rhinos are going to hold on for that much longer. The loss of a subspecies isn't as disastrous as the loss of a species - I can imagine that, if things ever stabilize in Central Africa, southern white rhinos could be introduced in their stead (similar to how Aldabra tortoises have been used as a surrogate for now-extinct giant tortoises on islands throughout the Indian Ocean).  Also, in our new genetic age, sperm, eggs, and other biological materials can be frozen and possibly used again in the future.

Still, the loss of a unique population of endangered animals is a grim reminder of how tenuous the fate of an endangered species can be.  I was pretty young - my early teens - when I saw the northern white rhino for the first and only time.  I remember our guide taking a moment to remark upon the ancient lineages of the rhino family, extending back millions of years.  I don't think I ever suspected that those million-year lineages might end in my lifetime.

A southern white rhinoceros... soon probably to be the only white rhinoceros left on earth

Sporcle Quiz: Animal Olympians

As was stated in the last post, animals are capable of some pretty amazing feats of speed, endurance, and agility.  Today's quiz highlights a few olympians of the animal world.

Animal Olympians

Exercise - Animal Style

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that I had a few ideas on how to use a visit to the zoo to promote exercise and physical activity.  The problem, of course, with saying something like that is that eventually someone expects you to actually produce said ideas.  So, without further ado, here are some animal exercise ideas.  Some of them are cheap and easy to incorporate into any zoo.  Others, admittedly, require a lot of expenditure and logistical tinkering (to say nothing of insurance).

• Animal Olympians:  Compared to a lot of zoo animals, we humans are a pretty puny bunch of apes.  Zoo animals are pretty amazing at running, jumping, climbing, and other physical activities.  How good are they?  Let's find out!  Let visitors challenge themselves and see how they stack up against the top animal athletes.  Can they run as fast as a cheetah?  Mark off a flat stretch and see how fast they can run it. Can they jump as far as a kangaroo?  How about a bullfrog?  Measure and find out!  It'll make visitors view animals with an extra degree of respect when they see how they measure up.

• Animal Playgrounds: A lot of zoos have playgrounds, which are, of course, huge hits with kids.  How about a playground that specifically encourages animal activities?  Burrow through tunnels like a prairie dig.  Swing from monkey bars like a gibbon.  Dig in a sandbox like a badger.  Walk on a balance beam like a leopard.  It isn't just fun and games - encouraging kids to act like animals is the first step in teaching them to empathize with them as fellow living things, deserving of consideration.

• Strike a Pose: On a similar note, use signage throughout the zoo to teach guests about the movements that animals make and encourage them to duplicate them.  Teach them how giraffes have to splay themselves out to reach the water to drink, and then have them do the same.  Explain why flamingos stand on one leg, and then see how well they can balance like that.  Chimps walk on their knuckles, warthogs feed on their knees... try it out (with suitable padding on the ground at this site).  Not only is it educational and getting people moving, but it makes for some great photo ops.  Speaking of posing, ever notice how so many yoga positions have animal names?  There's dog, cat, cobra, dolphin, camel... imagine a "Yoga at the Zoo" event!  You could even invent new poses for specific zoo animals (but don't ask what "pygmy hippo" would be).

• Arboreal or Aquatic: Zip-lines and rope courses are becoming popular at many zoos, and they certainly get visitors moving (though when I do them, most of the exercise comes from my knees knocking).  It can also allow visitors to experience the animals - especially tree-dwellers - in different ways.  Similarly, imagine an aquarium with swimming pools built into it, allowing visitors to swim alongside (but separate from) the animals.  Try swimming like a seal versus swimming like a shark.  Can you leap like a dolphin?  How long can you hold your breath compared to an alligator?  It would be a tremendous hassle (to say nothing of safety liability) to manage a swimming area in a facility, but maybe it could be limited to small, special educational groups who could be directly supervised by staff.

These are just a few ideas that popped into my head about how to get visitors physical active and mentally stimulated at the zoo or aquarium.  I'm sure there are plenty that I haven't thought of.  If you have any ideas, please don't hesitate to share!

Get Moving at the Zoo

Despite whatever issues their husbands campaign on, it's been traditional for the First Ladies of the United States to occupy themselves by working on an issue that they feel is important.  Lady Bird Johnson took up the cause of beautifying America, Laura Bush focused on literacy, and Betty Ford fought the stigma against alcoholism.  The current First Lady, Michelle Obama, followed this trend and decided to champion exercise and healthy eating with her "Let's Move!" campaign... and people lost their minds...

There has been a fair bit of backlash against Mrs. Obama's campaign - some of it delving into paranoid fantasies of Homeland Security agents raiding houses and confiscating cupcakes and sodas - probably a fair bit more than Mrs. Bush saw when she suggested that people turn off the TV and read more books.  part of it, simply, is that no one likes being told - or even suggested - what to do, especially about something as personal as diet and exercise.  That being said, I wonder if it's the reflection of a guilty conscious on the parts of many people.



When I walk around our modestly-sized, easily-walkable zoo, I can't help but notice... a lot of our guests are out of shape...

Zookeepers themselves tend to be a pretty svelte lot.  Sure, maybe part of that is we aren't paid enough to buy too much food... but the working environment has a lot to do with it as well.  Most job descriptions require applicants to be able to lift a certain amount of weight (usually 50 pounds, sometimes as much as 100), as well as spend the day standing, walking, crawling, ducking, climbing, and - on memorable occasions - running for your life.  We push heavy wheelbarrows full of wet bedding and poop.  We climb over fences and fake rock-work and up trees.  We carry heavy bags of feed.  And except for lunch, we are always on our feet.

Of course, the physical workload varies by keeper-type.  Hoofstock keepers tend to be the buffest, from my experience - more walking, more carrying heavy objects, more rake-and-shovel bicep building.  In contrast, an aquarist might have to do heavy lifting very infrequently (though mixing that fake seawater can mean toting some heavy bags of salt), but might stay flexible and fit by weaving her way through the torturous behind-the-scenes crawl spaces that seem to make up the keeper area of every aquarium I've ever been to.  Keepers at a big, sprawling zoo might make more use of a truck or golf-cart than keepers at a small one, who tend to walk everywhere.

A big part of the equation, of course, is that zookeepers and aquarists love animals, and that tends to keep them outdoors.  Many of the keepers I know love to hike and camp.  Reptile and amphibian keepers especially love to go "herping" - trekking in search of the animals they love.  Plus, we tend to be young and there is the whole youthful metabolism going on... which is fortunate, because many of the zookeepers I know could out-eat three normal people with half their stomach tied behind their back.

So it's not the keepers that we really have to worry about as part of the whole fitness and wellness issue... it's the guests.

Of course, walking around the zoo is good exercise, but a slow, leisurely stroll only gets you so far.  That got me thinking, there had to be some ways to make going to the zoo a more physically beneficial experience for visitors... something fun, healthy, and with an educational, interactive element.  In tomorrow's post, I'm going to share some of those ideas - if you work at a zoo or aquarium, you have my blessing to steal them.  If you're a frequent visitor, take it as an invitation to put a new spin on your next visit - ways that you and your friends or family can get even more out of the trip.

Done right, a trip to the zoo can be good for the mind and good for the spirit.  With a little extra work, it can also be even better for the body.

As King Julian would say, "Move It, Move It!"

Zoo History: The OK Thing To Do

Prior to the late 1800's, you couldn't go to the zoo.

Oh, there had been collections of exotic animals in captivity for a myriad of purposes - education, entertainment, study, sport - since the earliest human history.  The Ancient Egyptians had them.  So did the Assyrians, the Chinese, and the Greeks.  They were essential to the blood sports of Ancient Rome.  And when Cortes entered the Aztec capital, one of the most astonishing sights to greet his conquistadores was Montezuma's menagerie.

The animal collections have been around for millennia.  It's just the word "zoo" which is relatively recent.  The name, interestingly enough, comes from a song.

Founded in 1828, the Zoological Society of London is perhaps the first modern zoo in the world (though some authorities prefer the Jardin des Plantes of Paris).  It first opened to the general public in 1847 and created a sensation.  It was different from the many smaller, humbler traveling animal shows of the era, as well as the few established menageries.  It set many historical firsts for zoo history.  The official name for it's facility, located in Regent's Park, was the "Zoological Gardens" or "Zoological Society's Gardens".  Most zoos use that title - or the related "Zoological Park" - as their full title.

Enter the Great Vance.

Alfred Vance (often known as "The Great Vance") was a popular showman of the era, and in 1870 he wrote a song about the bestiary in Regent's Park. It contains the line "Walking in the zoo is the OK thing to do."  Interestingly, that opening line is the source of two linguistic firsts.  It was the first use of "OK" in the sense that we usually think of it today (as in "good" or "alright").  It was also the first use of "zoo" as a shorthand for a collection of animals.

The directors of the ZSL did not care for the new nickname - they thought it vulgar and too familiar (and they aren't alone - William T. Hornaday of the New York Zoological Society raged incessantly against those who insisted upon calling his facility "the Bronx Zoo").  Still, the name has caught on and spread rapidly, until we've reached the point where few people can tell you want the full name of a zoo is.  The word has taken on additional meanings, as well - for example, a chaotic or hectic situation (as in "this place is a zoo!")

An excerpt from Vance's song is below - if I can find a clip of it, I'll share it as well (just don't ask me what the rest of the lyrics mean... I have no idea).

The Stilton, Sir, the cheese - the okay thing to do
On Sunday afternoon - is to toddle in the Zoo
Weekdays may do for 'cads' but not for me and you
So dressed right down the road - we show them who is who

Chorus: The walking in the Zoo, walking in the Zoo
The okay thing on Sunday is walking in the Zoo
Walking in the Zoo, walking in the Zoo
The okay thing on Sunday is walking in the Zoo.

So when there comes to town my pretty cousin Loo
I took her off to spend a Sunday in the Zoo
I showed her the aquarium, the tiger, the Zebu
The elephant, the Eland, that cuss the Kangaroo.

Chorus: That Sunday in the Zoo, that Sunday in the Zoo
It's jolly with a pretty girl walking in the Zoo
Walking in the Zoo, walking in the Zoo
The okay thing on Sunday is walking in the Zoo.

I showed her the swellesses and all the fashions new
Girls with golden tresses, girls with black hair too
Walnut gives the black, Champagne the golden hue
All the beautiful for ever that Madame Rachel knew.

Chorus: Oh the walking in the Zoo, walking in the Zoo
The monkeys put us to the blush on Sunday in the Zoo
Walking in the Zoo, walking in the Zoo
The okay thing on Sunday is walking in the Zoo

So in the monkey house, our going in to woo
Piling up the agony, swearing to be true
Agony indeed! for the cheerful cockatoo
Rudely caught my ear a nip and bit it through and through.

Chorus: Oh that dreadful cockatoo, that awful cockatoo
The horror and the agony that Sunday in the Zoo
Walking in the Zoo, walking in the Zoo
The okay thing on Sunday is walking in the Zoo.

My cousin bolted off without any more ado
And I skidaddled also looking very blue
So, sympathising friends, I bid you all adieu
Don't mention this occurrence if you meet me in the Zoo.

Chorus: The walking in the Zoo, walking in the Zoo
I'm as great a swell as ever on Sunday in the Zoo
Walking in the Zoo, walking in the Zoo
The okay thing on Sunday is walking in the Zoo.

Zoo Review: North Carolina Zoo

Tucked in between North Carolina's three largest cities, the North Carolina Zoo is one of America's newest zoos, having opened its gates in 1971.  It is also one of the largest walking zoos (as opposed to drive-through safari parks) in the world, sprawling over 2,000 acres.  These two traits make it one of the most extraordinary zoos in the nation, where modern philosophy of animal husbandry and zoo exhibit design were given a clean slate and room to grow.

For the first half of the zoo's relatively young existence, it focused almost exclusively on animals of Africa.  Perhaps the most extraordinary exhibit is the massive Watani Grasslands - at forty acres, bigger than many zoos are in their entirety.  White rhinos are the stars here, but they share the grasslands with several species of African antelope and tall birds.  African elephants are found in an adjacent enclosure, which appears to be part of the main exhibit.  Zebras, giraffe, and ostrich are found in a nearby enclosure.  Further exhibits in the Africa area house lions, lemurs, and red river hogs.  Two of Africa's great apes - chimpanzees and western lowland gorillas - are found in their own spacious meadow exhibits.



Ironically for such a young zoo, the state-of-the-art exhibit when the zoo opened is now emptied of animals.  The old African Pavilion used to be home to a recreated African rainforest, featuring leopards, mandrills, and a collection of African birds and reptiles.  Now it stands mostly empty of animals - outside, a cliff-face habitat holds hamadryas baboons.  The bird collection of the zoo is located in the nearby Reynold's Forest Aviary; grab a laminated guide (or print your own off at home) and try to find as many of the beautiful birds as you can in this wild-through forest.  Prior to the addition of North American exhibits, this was the only display to break the geographic mold.

Starting in the 1990's, the zoo began dabbling with North American wildlife with fantastic results.  In the first of the North American exhibits to open - the Sonoran Desert - roadrunners, tortoises, rattlesnakes, quail, and ocelot are found beneath a glass dome.  Nocturnal creatures of the desert - including vampire bats and cacomistle (or "ringtail cats", actually a raccoon relative) are found in a darkened side gallery.  Other biomes represented in the North American area are the swamp (home to alligators and puma), the plains (bison and elk, with geysers in the foreground), and the Stream, where otters, turtles, and fish can be seen underwater.  Three of North America's largest predators are found in side-by-side enclosures for grizzlies, black bears, and red wolves; North Carolina is the only place on earth where red wolves still live in the wild.  The final North American area is the Rocky Coast, where polar bears, seals, and a large collection of Arctic seabirds are displayed.  Some of the "Suarez Seven", polar bears rescued from a life in a Mexican circus, found their homes here.

Any issues that the zoo visitor has with North Carolina Zoo will mostly have to do with scale.  It's big and spread out, and it can be tiring for parents to navigate children through what seem like empty stretches (that and it's surprisingly easy to get lost).  The enormous enclosures may frustrate some visitors - to my amazement, when I first visited the Watani Grasslands, I didn't see a single animal - rhino, antelope, or bird - in the entire area.  Still, it's probably better to change visitor expectations about what a zoo should be rather than change a zoo to be what we think visitors might want at the expense of the animals.

Apart from its excellent exhibits, the zoo has a celebrated breeding history (especially among birds), as well as a great conservation track record, supporting conservation and research programs in Africa and in North Carolina.  Recently, the zoo has begun hinting at a possible third geographic area - Asia.  If they accomplish it on the scale that they have with Africa and North America, North Carolina Zoo could stand to be one of the greatest, most exciting zoos on the east coast.

North Carolina Zoo

On the Fence

Today, a three-year-old child tumbled into the jaguar exhibit at the Little Rock Zoo in Arkansas.  As is probably not surprising, both of the zoo's jaguars immediately went to investigate this sudden intrusion into their habitat.  One was repelled by objects thrown by the boy's father; the other was driven off by zookeepers who entered the enclosure with fire extinguishers.  Meanwhile, other keepers lowered a ladder into the exhibit (risky - a cat could have climbed up) and removed the child, turning him over to paramedics.

The child was removed - alive - from the enclosure.  Neither of the jaguars were harmed.  All things considered, a remarkable performance by the employees of the Little Rock Zoo, one which they should be very proud of and one which will doubtlessly be a permanent fixture in the zoo's mythology.

However, one minor detail I'd like to go back to... exactly how did this kid fall into the exhibit?

Oh, that's right... his grandfather put him on the railing... and then turned away.

Seriously, after the tragedy at the Pittsburgh Zoo two years ago, how anyone thinks that putting a small child on top of a railing, or holding them over a moat, or setting them down on the other side of a fence, or anything along those lines is a good idea blows my mind.

The boy is in critical condition, but his injuries are not considered life threatening, so hopefully he will be okay.  Happier ending than at Pittsburgh, at any rate.

I must see stuff like this every other day when I go to work... and I shudder to think of how many times it must happen that I don't see.  Someday, luck runs out for some people.  Please... be careful.

PS: Props to whoever it was who actually went into the jag enclosure with the fire extinguisher.  Of all the big cats, the thought of going in with jaguars - especially freaked out jaguars that have had panicky parents throwing stuff at them - makes me queasy.  Someone at LR has some major cojones

Species Fact Profile: Veiled Chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptrus)

Veiled Chameleon

Chamaeleo calyptrus (Dumeril & Bibron, 1851)

Range: Southwestern Arabian Peninsula
Habitat: Woodlands, Mountain Valleys
Diet: Insects, Leaves
Social Grouping: Solitary, Territorial
Reproduction: Sexually mature at 4-5 months old.  Females may store sperm from previous matings.  Eggs are laid 20-30 days after mating, with a clutch consisting of 40-80 eggs, which hatch after 6-9 months.  Females may breed up to 3 times per year.
Lifespan: 5-8 Years
Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern, CITES Appendix II

• Males are 45-60 centimeters long from head to tail, females are 25-35 centimeters long; males also have a larger casque (helmet, or crest) than the females
• Light green at birth, males develop patterns of several colors (blue, red, orange, yellow, green, and black), whereas females are green with light mottling
• Adaptations include a prehensile tail aiding in climbing, torrent-eyes which can move (independently) 360 degrees, and mitten-like claws for gripping leaves
• Ambush predators, relying on camouflage to resemble a flattened leaf; when prey is sighted, the chameleon captures it with its tongue
• Despite popular belief, chameleons do not change color so much for camouflage as they do to communicate their moods, reproductive statuses to other chameleons
• One of the few chameleon species known to eat plants, possibly using leaves to obtain moisture in their arid environment
• Due to extreme, variable nature of the wild habitat, the veiled chameleon is considered one of the most adaptable, hardy chameleons, and is one of the most common species in captivity, both in zoos and in the pet trade

From the News: Japanese zoo fails to breed two hyenas after both turned out to be male

Japanese zoo fails to breed two hyenas after both turned out to be male

Okay, okay, it's easy to laugh, but this one is legit.

The genitalia of male and female spotted hyenas look very similar, so similar that the ancient Greeks thought hyenas were all hermaphrodites.  I've even read one case study of an animal dealer who was commissioned to capture four hyenas - two male, two female - for a zoo.  He caught two males quickly enough, but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find a single female.  Then, one of his captive "males" gave birth.

Many zoo breeding programs run into the problem of matching a male and female.  Some animals are sexually dimorphic, meaning that the males and females look different.  Lions have manes and lionesses don't; male deer have antlers (for part of the year, anyway) and females don't (except caribou).  In some birds, especially many pheasants, the male is brightly colored and the female isn't.  In other cases, sexing animals can be tricky.  Today we have DNA, x-rays, and all sorts of high tech techniques.  In the old days, you put two animals in an exhibit together and hoped.

Well Maruyama zoo, better luck with that female...

Satire: Anaconda

Below is a parody of the new Nicki Minaj music video for her song, "Anaconda."

When I first saw this on Facebook, my initial thought was, "This would probably be a lot funnier if I actually knew who Nicki Minaj was..."  I then proceeded to watch the actual music video for "Anaconda."

I like this one better...

Wildlife Witness

Habitat loss is the primary threat to most endangered species, but many are equally - or even more - threatened by the illegal wildlife trade.  The trade may be in body parts used for medicinal purposes (rhino horn being the most famous example, but also many lesser known species, such as pangolins), in bushmeat, or in live animals to be sold as pets.  In some parts of the world the trade is conducted in the shadows by organized criminal enterprises, while in others it is carried on in broad daylight, the laws prohibiting it either unknown or unenforced.

Taronga Zoo (Sydney, Australia) and its regional partners are working to stop the trade with the new Wildlife Witness app.  It will allow users to document and report wildlife crimes so that the authorities are aware of what and where they are.   The program is now in the running for a very large grant that would allow it to greatly expand its capabilities and become available to many more people.  

Vote here to support it!

Zoo Joke: Who's There?

A bird keeper arrive at work on morning and notices some leaky pipes in the Bird House.  He puts in a call to a local plumber, then begins his daily routine deep with the Bird House.

About an hour later, the plumber arrives.  He walks up to the service door of the Bird House and gives a quick knock.  The keeper, way back in the building surrounded by noisy birds, doesn't here it.  A great horned owl in an exhibit right by the door, however, does.

"Who?" calls the owl in response to the knock.

"It's the plumber," calls the man outside, thinking that the voice from within is a human.

"Who?" the owl calls again.

"I said, 'it's the plumber'" the plumber repeats, a little louder this time.  After a moment of silence, he knocks again.  "Hello?"

"Who?" the owl hoots once more.

"I said, 'IT'S... THE... PLUMBER!", yells the plumber, really beginning to loose his patience.

"Who?" the owl says.

"IT... IS... THE... &#&*$(#@( PLUMBER!!!" screams the frustrated plumber.  He's so angry that his heart gives out and he drops down, dead on the spot.

Shortly later, the bird keeper comes to the door, wondering whatever happened to that plumber he'd called. As soon as he opens the door, however, he finds a dead man's body sprawled outside.

"What on earth!" he exclaims, bending down to check the man's breathing.  "What happened?  Who is this?"

"It's the plumber," the owl replies with a shrug.

Clan of the Komodo

"My objective with this piece was to convey the frenzy of a monitor after prey, its open maw shadowing the quarry's every move, the rest of the body seeming to scramble to keep up."

- Carel Pieter Brest van Kempen, on Salvadori's Monitor & Papuan Naked-Tailed Rat

Having spent most of my life in a zoo (or, very briefly, an aquarium) setting, I've learned many lessons, but one has stood out above the others.

There are no uncool animals.

That being said, some are cooler than others.

Every zookeeper or aquarist has a group of animals - or several groups of animals - which fascinate them above all others.  There are lots of crazy cat keepers out there.  Elephant keepers are pretty hardcore too; the one time I was foolish enough to make a disparaging comment about elephants (or what at least seemed to the keepers around me to be disparaging) in a room full of elephant keepers, I barely escaped with my life.  Monkeys?  Some keepers love 'em, other can't stand to work with them.  

I've always been a little fickle in my animal affections, somedays being more interested in one group, other days in another.  I had an antelope phase, a bird-of-prey phase, a duck phase, and, fairly recently, a large rodent phase (porcupines, beavers, capybara).  For a while, I was majorly into storks, and I still have no idea why.

That being said, there are some taxa that I've always gravitated towards.  Chief among these are the varanids, better known as the monitor lizards.

Still not ringing a bell?  It'll probably help if I name-drop the most famous member of the family: the Komodo dragon.

When I was a kid, Komodos were slightly less rare in US zoos than giant pandas.  Today, they are rapidly becoming one of the standard stars of zoo reptile collections, with dozens of US zoos displaying the species. Komodos are the biggest living lizard, an apex predator capable of bringing down a water buffalo.  They're armed with a mouthful of sharp teeth, bear-like claws, and a bite so foul that you'll wish they'd just killed you outright.  They are the stuff of legends.  

With their tremendous size and occasional tendency to eat people, Komodos command a lot of respect from people.  What's less known is that their amazingness extends to the rest of their family.

Scattered across Africa, Asia, and - above all - Australasia, the monitors are, in some respects, the reptilian version of the mammal Carnivores (the order that includes many meat-eating mammals).  The sleek, aquatic Merten's water monitor is a stand-in for the otters.  The pygmy monitors of Australia fill in the niche of the mongooses.  The arboreal Gray's monitor, so different from other monitors with its fruit-based diets, reminds me of a lizard version of the binturong and other civets.  Agile, arboreal crocodile monitors, top-predators of the New Guinea rainforest canopy, make a convincing clouded leopard.  And the Komodo, the powerful ambush predator of the forest and scrub, is a tiger that has swapped its stripes for scales.

Any zookeeper who has seen a monitor at feeding time is unlikely to forget the experience.  Forget about birds and bats, these guys can teach you what it means to fly.  A hungry monitor is like a comet, the mouth streaking towards food, the body trailing behind.  I keep a pair of ridge-tailed monitors - a smaller Australian species - as pets, and it never ceases to amaze me to watch them feed.  Each lizard is about eight inches long, excluding the tail, but leaps about a foot straight up to take a cricket from the forceps (no way am I being dumb enough to put my fingers near their mouths when they're hungry).

Monitors aren't just bad-ass predators... they're SMART badass predators.  They are frequently considered to be some of the most intelligent of reptiles.  Zoo specimens are known to engage in play behaviors and recognize and respond to different keepers.  One study suggested that they even possess the ability to count, differentiating between numbers as high as six.  Heck, I know people who can barely do that.  

Monitors also come in an amazing variety of colors and patterns.  Many are the slate color of the Komodo, but then you have stunning greens, electric blues, and bold yellows.  The crocodile monitor - longer than the Komodo, but far more slender - is a dark hunter green, patterned with yellow spots.  Lace monitors come in a variety of delicate patterns of spots and stripes, yellow or white on blue or black.

Peach-throated monitor lizard at the Brookfield Zoo

It's not uncommon to see monitors in zoos.  It's also not uncommon to see them - especially Niles and savannahs - in pet stores.  This always chills my blood, which is ironic, considering, as I've admitted, I own monitors myself.  That's because I know what a handful my twin terrors can be (the one time I got bitten, that eight-inch lizard had me crawling on the ground, gasping with pain, trying to disengage his tiny teeth and vise-like jaws).  I have seen what a big one - and while not a Komodo, a Nile monitor can still top six feet - can do.  Most of the worst injuries I've seen on reptile keepers haven't been inflicted by crocodiles or venomous snakes, but by monitors.  Their jaws are powerful.  Their claws are sharp. Their tails can lash with amazing speed and strength.  

Besides the potential for injury, monitors have so much intelligence and personality that I hate to think of them under the care of an owner who will mistreat or ignore them.  A friendly, well-trained monitor can act like a big, scaly dog (one that you should always be cautious of, of course).  

A zoo educator handles a monitor lizard for a group of students

I would love to see that way zoos manage monitors, crocodilians, and other reptiles start to resemble they way they manage mammals and birds - training, behavioral enrichment, and larger, more complicated environments.   Perhaps if they are given better chances to highlight their extraordinary behaviors, beautiful appearances, and undeniable charisma, monitor lizards might receive a little more appreciation from the public and bask in their own glory... not just in the shadow of the Komodo.