From the News: Animal Escapes

Of all aspects of animal care at the zoo, there are few which fascinate the media as much as animal escapes.  The prospect of wild animals running amok, stampeding across the grounds, or of a dangerous beast stalking unwary members of the public, holds intense appeal for the newshound.

This week, there were two animal escape stories, taking place on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Paris zoo shut after 50 baboons escape

Okay, so this one I heard ended up not being that accurate.  Only some of the fifty baboons made it out of their enclosure.  That being said, baboons terrify me like few other animals, and the thought of one of them running around the zoo - let alone a gang of them - is horrifying.  All of the monkeys were eventually rounded up and herded back into the enclosure.

Hogle Zoo reports that missing Pallas' cat 'Mushu' has been found

The Salt Lake City's Hogle Zoo had an escape of its own - a Pallas' cat -  small, long-haired felid from Central Asia - was on the loose for a few days.  Zoo staff were aware that it was on zoo grounds, having set camera traps around the facility and seen it sulking around the zoo.  Knowing it is there and finding it are two very different things, however.  Few animals are better at hiding than small cats.  Fortunately, the cat was caught in a live-trap baited with mice and is safely back under the care of the zookeepers.


Image courtesy of Hogle Zoo

In both cases, it is worth noting that the escapees did not go far.  It's especially noteworthy in the case of the of the Pallas' cat, which was loose for a few days.  This is not surprising.  In most cases, zoo animals do not venture far from the places that they have come to identify as home.  In any case, it's good to know that everyone - human and animal - is safe and sound.

Zoos and Animal Rights - Uncommon Ground

As I mentioned in the post about Billy, it saddens me sometimes how much thought I've ended up having to give to the anti-zoo crowd as of late.  Most of all, it pains me that so much energy, so much passion about animals is directed in a way that I feel is so... misplaced.   Animals across the globe are in increasing danger, and zoos and aquariums are not the enemy.  We are trying to help.

The power of partnership: could animal rights organisations and zoos/aquariums join forces?

When I first read this article, it was with a bit of an eye-roll.  It made me remember all of the anger that was stirred up with the announcement of AZA and HSUS cozying up last year, too many grumbles about how the fox was now being invited into the chicken coop.  After reading it, I'm still not convinced that it isn't a lot of Kumbaya wishful thinking... but wishful thinking is still thinking.

I remember years ago reading, as part of a class, Dale Carnegie's classic book How to Win Friends and Influence People.  One of the first lessons that it hammers into the reader is to always get the person who you are disagreeing with to say "Yes" to something, anything.  Once you get them in the habit of saying "Yes", it's relatively easy to keep them going.

The truth is, there are a fair number of points in which anyone who care about animals - from AZA to PETA to ethical hunters - should be in agreement on.  The need to preserve animals in their natural habitat, the need for people to develop a stronger emotional attachment to the natural world, etc.   If we can find ourselves in a position where we agree with people on issues, it'll help to remind everyone involved that the other side isn't - can't be - all bad.  From there, a discussion can be had instead of a screamfest.

We'll never always agree on everything.  Not even (especially not?) the big things.  But it might give us a chance to have a start.

Bathing Beauty Rhino

Attacks from animal right's groups.  Increasing pressure placed upon species in the wild.  The looming specter of mass extinction.  Yeah... it's hard to be an optimist these days.

It's important to be aware of the threats that wildlife faces.  It's equally important not to let oneself be burned  out and give in to despair.  With that in mind, it's more important than ever to celebrate the positive.  From Toronto Zoo, we have this footage of their newborn Indian one-horned rhinoceros taking its first shower.  There is a lot of danger facing this species in the wild, and their future looks grim.  But having one more rhino in the world is always a good start.

  

Anything for Billy...

It's one of my biggest regrets about writing this blog -  I feel like I spend a lot more time than I would like posting about the anti-zoo world.  I originally wanted to start writing because I wanted to share with a larger audience the joy, the magic, and the mission that go into life at a zoo or aquarium.  Unfortunately, these days too many of our organizations find themselves under attack by those who (I like to believe, anyway) are well-meaning but poorly-informed.

We find our latest struggle at the Los Angeles Zoo, where the keepers are facing yet another effort by activists (led, of all people, by Cher) to wrest their male Asian elephant, Billy, from the home he has known for about three decades and send him to a "sanctuary."

Why the quotes around "sanctuary?"  Because... there isn't one.  There are only two options for other facilities to house Billy: the ridiculous, and the impractical, with both being idiotic.  To explain better, I'll share a post from fellow blogger and animal behavior expert Rachel Garner, author of the blog "Why Animals Do The Thing"...

WHAT’S BETTER FOR BILLY? A SANCTUARY THAT MAY WANT $8.1 MILLION FROM LA TAXPAYERS, OR SANCTUARY THAT DOESN’T EXIST?  

Book Review: The Overloaded Ark

"There are certain exquisite moments in life which should be enjoyed to the full, for, unfortunately, they are rare.  I certainly made the most of this one, for both Daniel and the hunter thought I had gone mad.  I executed a war dance in the middle of the road, I whooped so loudly in my excitement that I sent all the hornbills for miles around honking into the forest.  I slapped the hunter on the back, I slapped Daniel on the back,  and I would, if I could have managed it, slapped myself on the back.  After all those months of searching and failure I held a real live Angwantibo in my hands, and delight at the thought went to my head like wine"

When Gerald Durrell, the young zookeeper whose exploits at Whipsnade were recounted in A Bevy of Beasts, received his coming-of-age inheritance from his late father's estate, he knew just what to do with it.  Resigning his job, he found himself a like-minded companion (bird enthusiast John Yealland) and set out to fulfill his lifelong dream of collecting animals for zoos.  Over the next several decades, Durrell would collect extensively in Africa and South America, eventually establishing his own zoo on Jersey Island.  

The Overloaded Ark, the first of many books that Durrell would write over the years (at the urging of his big brother, the famous novelist Lawrence Durrell), is the tale of Gerald's first collecting expedition, to the (then) British colony of Cameroon in West Africa.  In it, Durrell describes his quest to capture (and, sometimes posing a greater challenge, keep alive) some of the rarest, most mysterious animals on the continent, many of which I freely admit that I had never heard of before first opening the book.  They include the giant otter shrew, the giant pouched rat, and - Durrell's Holy Grail, bordering on obsession - the angwantibo, a nocturnal, lemur-like primate that at the time was almost completely unknown to scientists.  There are none of the swashbuckling bravado tales that pepper Frank Buck's animal collecting books, where the protagonists barely escapes a savage mauling every five minutes.  Instead, the stories are told by a very self-deprecating man, looking back at the folly of youth, at adventures with animals that he truly loved.

I've always been a big fan of Durrell, his writings, and his work... but there are some aspects which don't age well.  In these days, animal collecting leaves a sour taste in the mouths of many conservationists - the thought of pulling animals out of the wild en mass - and it is true that some of the animals that Durrell collects succumb due to his inability to figure out how to care for them.  He collects many pangolins, for instance, a group of animals that even today are considered very challenging to maintain in a zoological setting.  One has to wonder how many animals never even reached him, succumbing to the stress of capture or killed during capture attempts, either by Durrell or his native assistants.

And there's the other thing...

Durrell may acknowledge it, but he is still writing about Africans from quite a position of privilege - a young white man, no one particular special, but still perfectly comfortable with all of the Cameroon natives in the district calling him "Masa" (Durrell writes much of the dialogue in the pidgin used throughout most of the colonial-era tropics).  He essentially was given the mien of lord and master of the jungle, a role that - at least as he tells it - none of the natives felt inclined to question.  One gets the sense that he was certainly fond of his Cameroonian helpers, but there is a certain air of condescension that colors the book (of course, when you read a lot of his other writings, you realize that he's just as quick to turn that barbed wit on Europeans and Americans as well). 

Knowing and acknowledging both of these relics of the age in which the book was written, it's still perfectly possible to enjoy the story.  Today, much of the language coming from conservationists and zoos is doom and gloom - we're losing this species and that habitat and the oceans are rising and we're all going to die.  It's important to be aware of the dangers that our planet faces and to be prepared to meet them head on.  

Sometimes, however, it just helps to lose yourself in an adventure in nature, when everything seemed new and unspoiled, the jungle seemed to go on forever, and you never knew what wonderful new animal you were going to find just around the next bend in the trail.

The Overloaded Ark at Amazon.com

Shut Down At the Zoo

Today, the US Federal Government entered its third day of a shutdown, as Democrats and Republicans wrangle over immigration and other hot-button issues.  So what does that mean for the only federal zoological facility in the country?

The National Zoo is still open to the public for now - just as well, because there are a lot of federal workers who aren't coming in today, and they might as well have somewhere to go and get out of the house.  This is a change from the most recent shutdown, where a photo of a child standing outside the locked gates of the zoo became one of the most iconic images of the kerfuffle.

Regardless if the zoo is opened or closed, someone needs to be going in - animal care isn't like many other professions, where you can leave the lights off and come back in a few days later to catch up (not making light of everyone else's work, of course).  There is still the added stress of when paychecks will be issued to the keepers, but hopefully this won't go on too long to impact that aspect of their lives.

Ideally, the animals will never even notice that anything different is going on, the zoo will stay open to the public, the government will reopen, and everyone will get paid.

Until then, everyone should know that the zoo is still there, and plugging along as best as they can.

Species Fact Profile: North Island Brown Kiwi (Apteryx mantelli)

North Island Brown Kiwi

Apteryx mantelli (Bartlett, 1852)

Range: North Island of New Zealand
Habitat: Temperate Forest, Scrub
Diet: Earthworms, Insects, and other terrestrial invertebrates
Social Grouping: Pairs are territorial, especially during breeding season
Reproduction: Monogamous (sometimes for life).  May lay at any time of year, but usually June through November.  Nest in hollow logs, burrows, or rock crevices.  Usually single egg (if a second, it is laid up to a month after the first), with up to 3 clutches per year.  Egg incubated by male for 75-90 days (left unattended at night while male goes off nest to feed).  Chicks venture out of nest a week after birth, but stay close to nest until 4-6 weeks old.
Lifespan: 40 Years (Captivity)
Conservation Status: IUCN Endangered

• Body length 40 centimeters.  Weigh 1.5-3.2 kilograms, with females larger than males
• Spiky brown plumage (resembling hair more than feathers), often streaked with reddish-brown.   The long, thin beak is off-white.  The species is flightless, and the wings are extremely small, barely visible.  No tail.
• Nocturnal, spend the day in burrows that are dug with their powerful claws
• Communicate with a whistling call - male call is higher-pitched, faster than female whistle
• Lay one of the largest eggs compared to their body size of any bird species, approximately 15% of the mother's body weight
• Unlike many birds, kiwis have an excellent sense of smell, using smell to find prey.  Their nostrils are located near the tip of the beak.
• Previously considered to be same species as Apteryx australis and Apteryx rowi; some taxonomists still list them as one species
• National bird of New Zealand; New Zealanders often refer to themselves as "Kiwis"
• Tremendous decline in population, having lost as much as 90% of their rang.  Primary threat is the introduction of mammalian predators (dogs, cats, stoats) to New Zealand, where previously none existed.  Habitat loss is also a major threat.  Sometimes killed by poison bait set out to kill invasive possums
• Conservation measures include predator removal, captive-breeding and reintroduction, and head-starting chicks until they are large enough to be safe from predators

Zookeeper's Journal: Perhaps the most unbirdlike of birds, the kiwis of New Zealand are sometimes known as "The Honorary Mammals."  For all of their fascinating adaptations (and adorable appearances), the kiwis make poor exhibit animals.  They are nocturnal and cryptic, and the best I've ever seen in a zoo display was a slouching shadowy figure scurrying across the back of a dark exhibit.  So where did I get the picture above?  Back when it was still open, the National Zoo's Bird House used to offer a "Meet a Kiwi" program, where a keeper would bring out a special ambassador kiwi for a few minutes three times a week.  The bird, specially selected for his temperament, would sniff around a small enclosure and eat some worms, all while zoo staff highlighted the unique awesomeness of the kiwi.  The Bird House has since been shut as part of renovations, and when it reopens, it is my understanding that kiwis will not be displayed (though they are still maintained at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute).  Which is a pity - those encounters were probably the only way that I ever would have had to experience close-up one of the world's most remarkable birds.

Zoo Review: Zoo New England - Franklin Park Zoo

The geography of zoos has always puzzled me.  Cities that I never thought of us major metropolises - Cincinnati, Toledo, Omaha, Kansas City - wind up with some magnificent zoos, while some of the biggest, oldest cities in the country... sometimes don't.

Until fairly recently, Boston was definitely a "don't."  Opened in 1912, the Franklin Park Zoo, located in the city's Emerald Necklace of parks, had been in decline for many years - by the 1980's, magazine articles referred to it as one of America's worst zoos.  That all began to change shortly after - an ambitious program of new exhibit construction, changing collection plans, and new management turned the city zoo around completely.  Still a relatively small zoo compared to those found in other major eastern cities, the Franklin Park Zoo of today is a far superior facility to what it was just a few short years ago.

The exhibit which truly heralded the rebirth of the Franklin Park Zoo is its flagship Tropical Forest building.  When it opened in 1989 it was limited solely to African species; it now contains a fairly even mixture of African and South American animals.  Gorillas are the stars here, occupying a large, rocky habitat (one Boston gorilla, a young male named Little Joe, brought Franklin Park some unwanted fame due to a series of escapes he pulled off).  Also found in the building are dwarf crocodiles, giant anteaters, Baird's tapirs, capybara, DeBrazza's monkeys, and cotton-topped tamarins.  Pygmy hippos may be seen either across a moat or from an underwater viewing gallery, while fruit bats and pottos (lemur-like primates) are displayed in nocturnal habitats.  A small reptile gallery is dominated by massive green anacondas.  Flitting about the forest are different species of tropical birds, while larger birds - saddle-billed storks and griffon vultures - are confined to specific enclosures.  Outside, grassy habitats house cranes (including very rarely-exhibited Siberian cranes) and spotted hyenas (but not together).



More African animals can be seen across the zoo in a series of savanna yards.  Maasai giraffes and Grevy's zebra occupy one yard, while just up the path a second yard houses plains zebra, wildebeest, and ostrich in Serengeti Crossing.  A trail sneaking behind the second yard leads to Kalahari Kingdom, where lions may be observed from several vantage points - including through the windshield of a jeep that appears to have crashed through the exhibit's viewing windows.  Nearby, an extra enclosure was squeezed in to accommodate confiscated tigers that were in need of a home.  Scattered around the lions and the zebras are additional habitats for Kori bustard, bongo, red river hog, warthog, and crested porcupines.  Tucked among the animals is a lonely little stone tower.  This is Sargent's Folly, the last remnant of an estate which predated Franklin Park (the zoo and the park itself), dating back to 1840 - a fun little sighting for any history buffs in your party.

Across from Tropical Forest is the zoo's other major indoor exhibit, Bird World.  This Asian-styled pagoda is a relatively small bird house, consisting of a few habitat-themed galleries: swamp, rainforest, desert, and riverbank.  Among the birds seen inside are tawny frogmouths, boat-billed herons, and aracaris.  More birds are seen outside, either in a row of aviaries attached to the building, in the waterfowl pond, or in a small flamingo pool.  The coolest exhibit, however, is the Andean condor aviary - visitors walk through the center of the massive flight cage in an enclosed walkway, while the giant vultures swoop overhead (or, more accurately, sit and preen while periodically glaring at you... because that's what condors do).

More birds can be seen in the zoo's Australia area, not least of all in the budgie feeding aviary.  Far more exciting for a zoo buff (though probably no one else) are the kiwis, seen in a special nocturnal building.  Mammals can be found in Australia too, of course - a walk-through kangaroo exhibit allows for close-up encounters with the big marsupials.

The zoo's last major exhibit area is the Children Zoo, designed around the concepts of play and exploration.  Visitors young and old enter a number of habitats and meet different animals - red panda climbing through tree branches, cranes and waterfowl milling around a stream in a walk-through aviary, or prairie dogs bustling around their town (where kids can pop up in the middle of the exhibit in a Plexiglas dome).  Many of the displays are interactive and encourage the uses of the senses - one display allows children to climb a replication eagle nest, then use their lofty perch to go on a scavenger hunt for small "animals" hidden around the Children's Zoo.  Next to the Children Zoo is a small interactive barnyard.

Even in the last few years, between my most recent visit and the one prior to that, Franklin Park Zoo has grown and refined itself tremendously.  Some of the new exhibits are quite nice - the Giraffe Savannah, for instance, is one of my favorite displays of African ungulates - spacious, beautiful panoramic views.  There are some educational/interpretive aspects that I also loved.  The Children's Zoo was great, for instance.  And I loved the hidden safari clues that were scattered among the savanna exhibits - a fake impala carcass stashed up in a tree, for instance, showing where a leopard had supposedly stashed its kill, or an ostrich nest, complete with replica eggs that kids could sit on.

Some of the exhibits that were state of the art at the time of their opening, however, are now beginning to show their age.  Bird's World struck me as kind of... empty.  Walking through it, I found myself imaging how I would restock it to make more active multi-species aviaries.  Tropical Forest is the quintessential zoo rainforest building that I don't like.  It's basically a monkey house with lots of fake rocks.  Considering the species involved, I wonder if there is a way to replace some of the smaller habitats with larger, mixed-species ones - for example, forming one large habitat for giant anteater, capybara, and tapir, rather than three smaller ones.  Ideally, the building could be gutted and redone completely, but I can't begin to imagine how much that would cost...

Which isn't to say that I don't like Franklin Park Zoo.  I really do.  It's just that I see the potential for it to do so much.  The zoo has already come so far.  With a little more time and more resources, I'm sure it can accomplish some wonderful things for its visitors and its animals.

Franklin Park Zoo

Saying "No" to Nosey's Law

Last year, a Florida couple - Hugo and Franciszka Liebel - were arrested in Alabama and charged with animal cruelty.  As is often the case in these situations, the animal in question was confiscated and placed in temporary care while the case is being resolved.  What's not usual?  The animal is an African elephant, named Nosey.

Private ownership of large exotic animals - those not in zoos - tends to fly under the radar throughout much of the country.  Most Americans are entirely unaware that there are more tigers living as pets than in zoos.  Whenever private ownership does bubble up to the surface of the news, however, it's seldom in a good way - and there tend to be legal repercussions.  Ohio once had some of the loosest exotic animal ownership laws in the country.  Then came the Zanesville Incident, with big cats and bears running amok through the woods.  Now... not so much.

And so, when Nosey's story broke the news, it wasn't surprising that at least some states would stop to re-examine their own exotic animal laws.  Among those was New Jersey, which was set to pass what became known as "Nosey's Law", officially S2508, which would outlaw the use of animals in traveling acts.  Sounds good, right?

Just to be clear, this is not Nosey. It is an African elephant female that is used for elephant rides at the Natural Bridge Zoo in Natural Bridge, Virginia - though to the best of my knowledge, one that does not leave zoo grounds for traveling exhibitions

The problem with laws like these is that they are seldom written or thought out by people who actually know the issues at hand.  A strict reading of Nosey's Law would have banned not only circus elephants, but any kind of traveling exhibition of animals, which could have outlawed nature outreach programs, including possibly even zoo education departments taking their animals to schools and other settings.

Thankfully, we have Chris Christie (I honestly never thought I would type that sentence) who, to the surprise of many, vetoed the bill.  Now, Christie did so as one of his last acts as governor of New Jersey, but lawmakers are pledging to tighten up the bill, making its language more in line with their original intent (and clearly exempting zoos and aquariums) before they send it to the new governor.  Still, that was a close one.

This goes to show that it is extremely important for zoos and aquariums to keep up on upcoming legislation, lest things become passed into law which could inadvertently harm their programs or collections.  Even the best intentions can make for bad laws when implemented by well-meaning but misinformed people - and it's a heck of a lot easier to stop a law from being passed than to change it or repeal it after the fact.

Hawaii: Nuking the Zoo?

This past year, zoos and aquariums across the country have had to cope with (almost) everything - fires, floods, terrorism, mass-shootings, and, most recently, record-shattering cold.  Think we haven't scraped the bottom of the barrel yet?

Well, we haven't yet - though for about a half an hour today, it looked like we might have.

An alert was sent out across Hawaii today announcing the ballistic missiles had been launched (presumably from North Korea) and were on their way to destroy the state.  People were all advised to take shelter.  What I would have loved to have known is - what happened at the Honolulu Zoo?  Or the Waikiki Aquarium, for that matter?

Did some staff flee the facility to try and get back to their families?  Was there a frenzy of activity in trying to move some animals to secure locations?  If so, how do you carry out such a frantic plan on a moment's notice?  Were there visitors panicking in the zoo, trying either to rush for the exits or cram into what looked like a safe place?

In the end, it was all a false alarm.  But now, it's just a reminder that there's always something else to worry about...

Sporcle Quiz: Famous Gorillas

So far on this blog, I've written about Willie B., Colo, Harambe, Jambo and Binti Jua, and, most recently, Bushman.  It turns out, there are a lot of famous gorillas out there - some of them real, some existing only on screen or in print.  See how well you know them with this latest Sporcle quiz!

Famous Gorillas

Meanwhile, Back Outside..

Welcome to the Jungle

In one of my first blog posts, I noted that zoos and aquariums sometimes suffer from a certain... lack of creativity.  This can best be demonstrated by the sometimes repetitive nature of exhibits at many facilities.  The same geographic areas tend to be represented in the same manner, often with the same species.  Then, one facility will come up with a bold new idea... and then it is copied by everyone else.

Among those exhibits which has become a bit of a cliché is the indoor rainforest.  And like many ideas that have been repeated over and over again, the results are a mixed bag.

It's difficult to say where the first zoo indoor rainforest was created.  People have been maintaining greenhouses for millennia, since Roman times, at least, partially for food production, but just as often for recreation and aesthetics.  It doesn't take too much  imagination to add some small animals - birds, especially - to the concept.   In the zoo profession, there are very few ideas applicable to birds which don't eventually find themselves applied to small mammals - small primates, squirrels, bats.  Gradually, the concept just... grew.

Two of the first American zoo rainforests originated in Kansas, first at the Topeka Zoo, followed a few years later with the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita.  Both of these exhibits consisted on walk-through aviaries filled with a variety of tropical birds, living alongside monkeys, bats, squirrels, sloths, and other small mammals.  Pools housed rainforest (often Amazonian) fish, along with crocodilians. 

The exhibits were critical successes and were replicated over and over again from the 70's until the present - Jungleworld at the Bronx Zoo, Lied Jungle at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, and Amazonia at the Smithsonian National Zoo being famous examples.  The trend has continued - Buffalo Zoo (a place where everyone probably could use an escape to the tropics at this time of year) recently opened its Rainforest Falls.  The Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, is currently undergoing a massive renovation of its rainforest building.

The best zoo exhibits try to recreate the experience of encountering animals in the wild.  The problem is that, truth be told, you never see animals in the rainforest in the wild.  Almost never - I spent a week of hiking through an East African rainforest.  I hiked by myself and with a group, by day and night, on game trails and going off the beaten path.  I saw a wild animal larger than my hand once - when I happened to look up and see some colobus monkeys, by chance.   There are countless species in the rainforest - but they are almost all cryptic.  When you look around, you see a wall of green.  Not the best zoo exhibit.

As a result, many zoo rainforest exhibits have a tendency to look... well, not very much like a rainforest.  A lot of them have gotten the idea that if you pour enough concrete and make it look like reddish mud, you can get away with a lot.  The end result is some boring exhibits, separated by pretty planters, all in a hot, foggy dome.  You see this most often when zoos try having too many large animals in their rainforests.  Indoor exhibits almost always tend to be smaller than outdoor ones, so this strategy can also have implications for animal welfare.  It's not necessarily my viewpoint, but I've definitely worked with some keepers (and to a degree, I still do) who view keeping an animal indoors to be an ungodly sin... but that's a whole different issue.

It was probably experiences with exhibits like the aforementioned - poured concrete, fake trees, cheesy waterfall, a series of neat little paddocks, all in an indoor row - which led me to be prepared to dislike Jungleworld and Lied Jungle so much before I saw them... only, to be fair, to be blown away when I actually saw them with my own eyes.  That being said, not everyone has the budget of WCS to make a rainforest dream a reality.

On the other hand, the best examples of the exhibit that I've seen have been the most understated - the birds, a few monkeys and sloths, turtles and fish in pools, all having full access almost everywhere.  That recreates the one aspect of the real rainforest that I enjoyed the most - the unpredictability, never knowing what was going to pop up where.   

Species Fact Profile: Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber)

Scarlet Ibis

Eudocimus ruber (Linnaeus, 1758)

Range: Northern South America
Habitat: Wetlands, Mangroves
Diet: Crustaceans, Aquatic Insects, Mollusks, Frogs, Small Fish
Social Grouping: Large Colonies
Reproduction: Nest colonially, beginning in mid-September.  Polygynous breeders.  3-5 glossy eggs laid in each nest, hatching after 19-23 days.  Chicks are altricial.  Chicks fledge after 35 days and are independent at 75 days
Lifespan: 30 Years (Captivity)
Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern, CITES Appendix II

• Body length 55-75 centimeters.  Wingspan 52-56 centimeters.  Weight 600-900 grams.  Slightly webbed feet, long, thin, down-curved beak
• Coloration is bright red, with blue-black wing tips.  Adults are more brightly colored than juveniles.  Color will fade in captive birds unless their diet is supplemented, often with beetroot or carrot
• Nomadic, flying between interior wetlands and coastal habitats in search of food or in response to changes in water level.  
• Vagrant ibises have been reported throughout the Caribbean and parts of the United States
• Primary predators include wild cats and birds of prey.  It is believed that protection from predators is the main reason for the colonial behavior of the species
• Often encountered in mxed-species foraging flocks with herons, spoonbills, storks, and ducks.  Have been observed following cattle and other large animals, feeding on insects disturbed by their movements
• Sometimes considered to be the same species as the American white ibis (Eudocimus albus)
• Feathers were used for ornamentation by Indian tribes in pre-Colombian South America  Also hunted for meat and eggs
• Sometimes considered a nuisances due to their foraging (tearing up lawns, agricultural fields, golf courses), especially when they gather in large numbers
• One of the two national birds of Trinidad and Tobago (the other being the rufous-vented chachalaca, or "cocrico")

An Escape to the Tropics

With the onset of a particularly brutal winter, zoos have been cropping up in the media with some regularity.  Most of it has to do with answering that oft-asked question, "What do the animals do in the winter?", with special discussions of how zoos keep their animals safe and warm.  On the other hand, it's also popular to show videos of cold-weather animals -polar bears, Amur tigers, river otters - playing in the snow.

Heck with that.  There's a better way to spend winter at the zoo.  Indoors.  In the tropics.

Some of my happiest zoo winter memories have involved wandering indoor rainforests, giant greenhouses with towering trees - real and artificial - and blossoming greenery on both sides of the path.  It's been a great sensory experience - the smell of the rich potting soil and the leaf litter, the brightness of the colors (at least after you've defogged your glasses) compared to the dreary grey outside, the sounds of birds and monkeys chattering overhead.  In the winter months, when there are typically far fewer visitors to the zoo, it's not uncommon to have such a building all to oneself. 

These moments provide some of the most special zoo experiences - being transported to another world, as different from our own urban or suburban one as the surface of the moon.  The tropical rainforests, as everyone has had beaten into their heads, are some of the most imperiled ecosystems on the planet.  We all know that.  But knowing and caring are two very different things.  And nothing promotes caring like a chance for pure, unadultered wonder...

And a little gratitude for having a place to come in to get out of the cold.

From the News: Calgary Zoo Moves Its Penguins Indoors to Keep Warm

Canada Is So Freezing Cold, the Calgary Zoo Moved Its Penguins Indoors to Keep Warm

I spent the last half-hour of this work day standing on a frozen section of creek, pounding away at the ice that I was (ill-advisedly) standing on with a sledgehammer.  My mission?  To open up the creek beneath me so that our zoo's swans and cranes could have access to open water.  At one point, I bent down and picked up a recently dislodged section of ice.  It was four inches thick.  It was at that point, I realized... it's really cold.

I'm glad to see that the Calgary Zoo agrees with that assessment.  I'd also like to point on that the penguins mentioned in this article aren't Humboldt or African penguins, species native to the temperate zone which are commonly kept in zoos.  These are king penguins, found in the sub-Antarctic - penguins made for some of the coldest, least pleasant weather on earth.

While admitting that their birds are probably physically capable of standing up to Canada's worst, the Calgary Zoo does have reason to play it a little cautious this time - they have a chick in their flock.  Hopefully, baby's future winters are a little more enjoyable than this one.

Zoo History: The Bushman's Tale

For the American zoos of the early twentieth century, the Holy Grail of collection specimens was a gorilla... and much like acquiring the Grail itself, this seemed impossible.  Occasionally, a gorilla would arrive in the New World, but inevitably, they perished shortly after.  A lack of knowledge about their care and diet, inappropriate enclosures and social groupings, inadequate veterinary care, and the stress of a transoceanic voyage all conspired to take their toll. 

Such was the track record of the apes in American zoos that, in his guidebook to the Bronx Zoo, Director William T. Hornaday told readers that, if his zoo should ever acquire a gorilla, interested parties were encouraged to come and see it immediately... because it would probably die very soon.

The keeping of gorillas seemed a fantasy - at least until Bushman came to Chicago.

Click here for a story from the Daily Mail, describing how a young missionary in Cameroon helped raise Bushman... and reunited with him, decades later.  

In 1929, a trio of young gorillas was obtained in what was then called French Cameroon by animal dealer Julius L. Buck.  As Buck prepared his shipment for America, he decided that the youngest of the three was too young to safely make the hard voyage across the Atlantic.  Instead, he decided to leave the baby ape with some missionaries in Yaounde, vowing to return for him when he was bigger and stronger. 

It was one of Buck's better decisions.  The other two gorillas died on their journey (as was the case for many wild animals exported to the US and Europe in those days), while the youngster left in Cameroon thrived.  By the time Buck returned to Cameroon to reclaim the ape, the youngster was hale and healthy, comfortable around people (he would have had to have been - he was nursed by a local woman that the missionaries had hired).  Another young Cameroonian was employed to accompany the gorilla back to America as a companion and playmate.  Today, gorillas are maintained in species-appropriate groups in zoos, and while Buck couldn't provide any other gorillas for the youngster, it was an important step in recognizing that apes needed companionship to thrive.

The gorilla had originally been offered for sale to an American socialite, Madame Abreu, but a disagreement over price left that deal void.  Instead, Buck began to shop the young gorilla to various zoos.  None originally took much interest in the offer - why spend money on a species with such a poor record of survival in zoos? - but Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo finally accepted.  The two-year old male sold for $3500, a portion of which was sent to the Yaounde missionaries.  They used their cut to purchase a stained-glass Nativity scene for their church - featuring all Africans.

Madame Abreau's loss was Chicago's gain.  For the next two decades - an unprecedented record for gorillas - Bushman entertained millions of visitors at Lincoln Park, providing countless Americans with their first encounter ever with a live gorilla.  Under the care of keeper Eddie Robinson, Bushman grew into a big, powerful male.  He enjoyed wrestling with his keepers (until he became too big to do so safely), playing football (though he had a regrettable tendency to end games by simply bursting the ball), and playing with a tire.  On one memorable occasion, he got loose in the back of the Monkey House, and was only herded back to safety when keepers frightened him into his enclosure with the use of a small snake.

As the first gorilla that survived for any length of time in an American zoo, Bushman was a star.  He was one of the most sought after attractions during the 1930's World's Fair in Chicago.  He was deemed such a boon to American morale during World War II that he was given a citation from the USO - and a new tire to play with, this one from Hitler's personal car. 

Bushman was Chicago's beloved son until the end of his days.  When he sickened in 1950, thousands came to pay their respects - prematurely, it turned out.  Bushman lived another three years.

There are several disappointing aspects of Bushman's story.  He was almost certainly collected from Africa at the expense of his mother's life.  He was never given a troop, or even a female, to have companions of his own species (Lincoln Park Zoo searched for other gorillas, but unsuccessfully).  His enclosure and diet would seem very inappropriate by today's standards... though at least the zoo came to terms with the fact that gorillas are herbivores, something which had eluded many earlier caretakers.

Bushman's story does have a positive legacy, though.  He showed the world that gorillas could be maintained in zoos, and Lincoln Park's success gave other facilities the push to improve their efforts to care for these apes.  Perhaps more than any other gorilla, Bushman helped begin the change in public perception of the species.  The movie King Kong had already begun to make its mark on the American imagination.  During the midst of Bushman's reign at Lincoln Park Zoo, another gorilla cropped up in the American scene - Gargantua, an acid-scarred ape exhibited by Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey, advertised as "The World's Most Terrifying Living Creature!"  While the circus played up the savagery of the species, Bushman gave Chicago a glimpse of a different gorilla - a gentle, giant vegetarian, one that, left undisturbed, posed no threat to man.

Today, Bushman's remains are on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.  His greatest legacy, however, is the thriving gorilla troop in a naturalistic environment at Lincoln Park Zoo's Regenstein Habitat for African Apes.  Lincoln Park Zoo is now one of the world's leaders in the conservation and research of chimpanzees and gorillas, in America and abroad.  And that legacy began with a playful baby that the zoo decided to take a chance on.

New Year's Day

Happy New Year!

Like many zookeepers, I have a slight inclination to the obsessive compulsive.  And I don't mean that in the way that most people say that they are OCD.  I mean that I really have some things that I need to be done, correctly, in order, for my brain to let me function.  The locks all have to be checked again at the end of the day.  Certain things get cleaned on a certain schedule.  Details concerning the provision of enrichment.  

None of this is in a written protocol anywhere.  It's just stamped into my brain.  Sometimes I wish it wasn't.  It's led to a few (well, okay, a lot) of late nights, well past closing time and completely off the clock, just so I can get things done "right."

No two keepers have the same obsessive fixes.  I work with one keeper who is completely obsessed with pools.  He just cannot tolerate a postage-stamp sized spot of algae in giant pool.  I can live with that spot of algae, as long as the water is clean.  I can't live with bird poop caked all on the perches in our exhibits.  That doesn't seem to phase him in the least.

One of my mental quirks is an obsession with timing, and proper beginnings.  I like things to be neat that way.  I'll tell myself in the morning, "From 9 to 10 I'll do these exhibits, from 10 to 11 those ones."  I like to start and finish projects at neat time increments.  If I finish one exhibit at 1:52, I have a hard time sometimes not postponing the next one until 2.   I like to implement changes - a new diet, a new enrichment calendar, on the first of the month.   Whenever possible, I like to start new medications on the first day of the workweek.  

There's no sane reason for it.  It's just... neater.

As you can probably imagine, then, New Year's Day is a big deal for me.  It's like my annual reset button at work, when I plan to kick off all sorts of new projects and keeper resolutions.  Some of them I actually keep.  The danger of this mindset is, if you aren't careful, it can lead to sloppiness later on.  Not just at work, either - I wonder how many people binge-eat donuts in mid-December, telling themselves it'll be fine, because they are going to start dieting on January 1st.

Having a fixation of neat beginnings sometimes helps to motivate me with a clean start.  It (sort of) works for me.  But it's important to be willing to make improvements throughout the year in order to improve the care of the animals as much as possible.

A March 18th New Year's Resolution isn't nearly as neat or clean-sounding as one on January 1st... but it's a lot better than waiting until next January.