Species Fact Profile: Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox)

Fossa (Fosa)

Cryptoprocta ferox (Bennett, 1833)

Range: Madagascar (except from Central Plateau)
Habitat: Forest (include deciduous forest, rainforest, and spiny forest)
Diet: Small mammals (including lemurs), birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects
Social Grouping: Solitary, Territorial. 
Reproduction: Polyandrous.  Mating season is September through October; 1-6 (usually 2-4) young are born after a 3 month gestation period.  Young are blind and toothless, weigh about 100 grams each.  Weaned at 4-5 months old, then venture out of den.  Independent at 15-20 months, full adult size at 4 years
Lifespan: 20 years
Conservation Status: IUCN Vulnerable, CITES Appendix II

• Largest living carnivore on Madagascar.  Long, slender, cat-like build with blunt face and large, round ears.  Head-and-body length 61-80 centimeters with a tail of equal length.  Stand 37 centimeters at the shoulder.    Weigh 7-12 kilograms.  Males are slightly larger than females
• Coat is short, thick, and reddish-brown, though some individuals are almost black, which the Malagasy sometimes regard as a separate species.  There are also reports of white fossa, especially in southwestern Madagascar
• Excellent climbers, with semi-retractable claws and very flexible ankles, able to run down tree-trunks head-first.  Have been observed swinging upside down from their back legs while grasping branches.  Able to pursue lemurs through the trees
• Active by both day and night, with peaks in early morning, late afternoon, and late at night.  Females with young may use the same dens for several nights, but otherwise they do not
• Generally considered solitary and territorial, but there has been at least one observation of cooperative hunting, in which three fossa hunted, killed, and shared a sifaka; it is possible that this behavior was more common back when Madagascar was home to the now-extinct giant lemurs
• Male home ranges are up to 26 square kilometers, females about half of that, with some overlap.  Home ranges may grow larger in the dry season, when prey is scarcer.  Territories marked with scent glands.  Typically only aggressive towards each other during the breeding season, when males may fight
• Latin name Cryptoprocta translates to "hidden anus", referring to the small pouch which conceals the anus, and ferox, meaning "fierce" or "wild," referring to the animal's reputation as being very fierce among the Malagasy people.  The origin of the common name is unknown - possibilities include posa (Bornean for "cat") or pusa (Malayan for "weasel")
• Along with other Malagasy carnivores, the fossa was once listed as part of the civet family.  They are now typically treated as a separate family, Eupleriadae
• Traditionally were greatly feared throughout Madagascar, believed to take domestic animals and even feared as a potential predator of small children.  Sometimes killed for bushmeat or for revenge for livestock predations.  Primary threat is habitat loss.  Can also be impacted by diseases introduced from domestic dogs and cats
• Depicted as the villains in the 2005 DreamWorks movie Madagascar

Rhino vs. Zoo Vehicle

A German safari park staff member got quite the rough ride when a rhino took exception to a zebra-striped staff vehicle driving through its enclosure.  No one was hurt, though the rhino will be enjoying accommodations elsewhere, as it is being sent to another facility.  Fair enough.  If I was the keeper involved, I'd have a hard time not taking this personally for the rest of my working relationship with the animal.

End of the Summer

Well, it's Labor Day Weekend coming at this, which means that summer is just about over.  Soon, all of the kids will be back at school.  Vacationing families will be replaced with field trips.  Monday through Friday will get a little bit quieter (outside of the Education Department).  Morning commutes will get lousier.  For keepers with kids, after hours will get even more hectic.


In another few months, it'll have gone from miserably hot to miserably cold, and it'll be time to prepare for the onset of winter.  For now, however, I'm going to just enjoy the start of fall.  It's one of the better times of year to work at the zoo, and it certainly doesn't last long.

Zoo History: Willie Don's Dive

“The mayor sputtered.  The crowd went wild”

-          The Baltimore Sun

The spectacular new OdySea Aquarium outside of Phoenix is but one of the many new aquariums that have popped up around the nation in the past few years.  Many cities have opened new aquariums (which, unlike zoos, tend to be compact, year-round attractions) in order to revitalize downtown areas and serve as anchors for development and tourism.   This current renaissance mirrors a spree of development that took place in the 1980s and early 1990s.  Among the cities that opened new aquariums at that time was Baltimore.

Following some less-than-flattering comments from the President, Baltimore – its charms and its warts – was in the news a great deal last year.   The city has had its ups and downs before, and in the late 1970s, it was decidedly a “down.”  In a bold plan to revitalize Charm City, Mayor William Donald Schaefer spearheaded a campaign to restore Baltimore’s iconic Inner Harbor.  What had once brought the city wealth and success through trade, Schaefer now envisioned as a bustling hub of dining, shopping, and entertainment.  As a crown jewel for the new Baltimore, he wanted an aquarium.

Baltimore had previously had an aquarium… sort of.  A small pump house in Druid Hill Park had served as an aquarium before its abandonment; it was later re-purposed as a reptile house by The Baltimore Zoo, before closing its doors for good in 2004.  What Schaefer envisioned was nothing like that, no series of small fish tanks.  Inspired during a recent trip to Boston by the New England Aquarium, itself a fairly new facility, he wanted something big and iconic, with sharks and dolphins and sea turtles, and he was determined to get it.  And he was willing to stake his reputation on it.

Schaefer famously declared that the aquarium was going to make its scheduled opening date of June 1, 1981, otherwise he was going to jump into the seal pool.  Construction being construction, the deadline came and went.  Many politicians might have said that they were speaking metaphorically.  Schaefer went out and got a bathing suit.  “I’m a man of my word,” he simply said.

On July 15, Schaefer, accompanied by Aquarium Board Chairman Frank Gunther Jr, took the plunge.  Inflatable duck in hand, clad in an old-timey striped bathing suit, Schaefer waded into the seal pool, even going completely underwater at one point, until only his straw boated hat was left floating on the surface.  A model dressed in a mermaid costume reclined on a rock in the middle of the habitat, who swam over and gave the mayor a peck on the cheek.

I should probably mention that the seal pool at this time was currently occupied by a mixed company of gray and harbor seals, all of whom seemed to take the political grandstanding in stride.

The aquarium – what became the National Aquarium inBaltimore – opened up later that summer, less than a month after the mayor’s swim. 

William Donald Schaefer went on to serve as Governor of Maryland, then Comptroller, an icon of state politics until his death in 2011.  The seal pool has since vanished, lost during the construction of the aquarium’s Australian expansion about a decade ago.   The aquarium no longer houses seals.  This isn’t to say that there is no trace of Schaefer’s escapades.

This April, the National Aquarium unveiled its new mural, “Schaefer’s Splash,” just inside the main entrance.  Among the guests to celebrate was one Deborah Lee Walker.  Some visitors might have noticed a more than passing resemblance between her and the mermaid depicted in the mural, and sure enough, she had been sitting on that rock that day, surrounded by Schaefer and the seals.

I don’t know if a stunt like Schaefer’s would go over well today.  There is always an element of danger and liability in allowing members of the public to interact with animals (even during Schaefer’s splash, an aquarium staffer was bobbing along ready to intervene should Ike, the aquarium’s big bull grey seal, decide that he wanted to chomp the mayor on the leg).  At the moment, it was probably what both the aquarium and Baltimore as a whole needed.

Aquariums and zoos are important for conservation and education and research – but they can also serve as important symbols of civic pride.  They can give a community something to unite behind and root for.  They can serve as pillars of a community.

Surely that was worth a cold dip on a July morning?  Schaefer seemed to think so.  When asked about his dive by reporters after climbing out, he replied, “Given the chance, I’d do it again.”

Fire in the Jungle

"Out on the water, the dolphin-men emerge.  Joyously, each joins his lover, reenacting the promises by which we now the fullness of the world.  The botos swim, the dancers dance.  But in the western sky, the Amazon is burning."

- Sy Montgomery, Journey of the Pink Dolphins

It took a while to make the news.  The fires at Paris’ Notre Dame were front page news around the world almost as soon as the first smoke was sighted.  The world’s largest rainforest was burning for weeks before the world finally began to pay attention.

Well, we’re paying attention now.

Whenever there is a tremendous disaster, there is a tendency for inaccurate or exaggerated media to spread.  I’ve seen pictures of orangutans and tigers from Indonesia, displaced by palm oil plantations being labelled as refugees of the Amazon fires.  I’ve read dire predictions of how we’re all about to asphyxiate from the loss oxygen produced by the burning of the trees.   I dislike the hyperbole, because the untruths cover up a very basic message.  This is bad.  We don’t need to exaggerate how bad it is, because it’s already bad enough.

It’s not, at this point, an unprecedented bad – the Amazon is constantly being burned away, but it is worse than previous years.  And it shows no signs of stopping.

It’s a disaster, albeit not a natural one.  The fires are, directly or not, the children of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who campaigned on the platform of opening up the Amazon for development.  Bolsonaro first tried to downplay the seriousness of the fire, then said it was a good thing because it cleared away the forest for Brazilians to use, then darkly insinuated that it was set up environmentalists and/or indigenous people in order to undermine his administration.  Now, shamed and scolded on all sides, he is begrudgingly taking steps to fight the fire.  Other South American countries are pitching in, as are various international nonprofits.  The loss will still be staggering.

Given the enormous degree of biodiversity and specialization found in the Amazon, it is a certainty that some species will be driven to extinction by this calamity.  Not jaguars, or tapirs, or Amazon river dolphins, or any of the most famous, celebrated denizens of the forest, but important ones nonetheless.  That’s also overlooking the damage that will occur to local water systems and microclimates.

The Amazon is not California or Canada, a habitat that is continually shaped by naturally occurring fires which help rejuvenate the ecosystem.  It is a fragile ecosystem, bound to existence only by a thin layer of topsoil, which, when exposed by clearcutting or fire, disappears into the wind.  That is the reason that rainforest destruction continues so constantly.  When you clear a patch of jungle for farming, it doesn’t stay good farmland for long.  Pretty soon, you’re left with infertile dust, and back to the jungle you must go, ax in hand.

Most of the ways that the average citizen can help involve financial contributions, but be wary – in situations like this, it can be counted on with certainty that unscrupulous people will set up sham charities to siphon off funds for themselves.  Make sure the organization you are contributing to is reputable – examples include the Rainforest Trust, the Rainforest Foundation and the Aazon Conservation Association, among others.    During the recent G7 meeting, the leaders of the world’s biggest economies pledged their support.

Many zoos and aquariums feature Amazonian wildlife.  At this time, each and every one of them, independently or as part of their joint associations (AZA, Wildlife Conservation Society, etc) should raise their voices in explaining what is at stake in this fires, and what poor decision making led to their being set.

The Amazon will, as a whole, survive these fires.  But what about the ones that are set next year, and the year after?  There’s going to come a time when humanity is going to have to acknowledge what we are at risk of losing and commit to protecting that which remains.  

It might as well be now. 

Zoo Review: OdySea Aquarium, Part II

Continuing the exploration of OdySea, visitors descend to the second floor.  The journey is carried out through a tunnel-enclosed escalator, which passes through a large tank of small sharks, rays, and other fish.  It’s a cool experience, but not, perhaps, the best opportunity to really observe the animals.  For that, visitors can step off the escalator and take a seat at the Deep Ocean Theater, where they can rest and watch the marine life cruise by through giant windows.

Next, visitors will pass through a room of conventional aquarium tanks, featuring species that do best housed alone or in small community groups, such as lobsters and seahorses.  At every aquarium I’ve been to, a lot of focus is placed on the massive tanks of sharks and sea turtles and schooling fish, but I feel that these smaller jewel-case exhibits can be a lot more fun and can provide a more intimate view into the lives of smaller, secretive fish and invertebrates.  Perhaps the most popular of these is the giant Pacific octopus display.  Continuing down the hall, the path leads through a tunnel that passes through a Great Barrier Reef display, before coming to a halt at what is likely the most memorable encounter of the facility.

OdySea Voyager is billed as “The World’s Only Rotating Aquarium Experience.”  That’s not entirely accurate.  The aquariums themselves don’t rotate.  You do.  Taking your seats in a theater-like room, your narrated tour slowly circles through four large marine habitats, stopping at each for a brief educational presentation.  The twenty-minute tour is free with admission to the aquarium.  The first stop features goliath groupers, stingrays, and other large fish.  The second houses non-releasable sea turtles, with a focus on how these turtles came to be under human care.  The third displays California sea lions; the sea lions are visible only underwater; presumably the land portion of their environment is above the eye level of the theater.  And then, as a grand finale, the last tank displays the sand tigers and other sharks.  Of the four exhibits, only the sharks are visible without going on the ride (though some sea turtles may be seen in the Deep Ocean tank – the one that the escalator goes through).  The sharks can be watched through windows just outside the theater… and, of course, from the bathroom.

I will admit, as cool as the experience was, I wish that the OdySea Voyager did allow visitors to experience it at their own pace.  There were some exhibits that I wished I could move through more quickly, and others that I would rather have spent more time at.  Also, it would have been nice to have the chance to opt in or out of the cartoony, very much made-for-kids narration, in which we are supposedly on a submarine exploring the ocean depths.   It also would be cool to have the opportunity to see the sea lions on land – they are marine mammals, to be sure, but land is still an important part of their lives that it would be good for visitors to be able to observe their behavior above the surface.   I know Voyager is the aquarium’s signature exhibit and I’m sure that many kids love the ride, the thrill of watching new habitats slowly glide into view while they watch from their seats; maybe some even really get into the narration.  I also feel, however, that different visitors process and interpret exhibits their own way, and it would be nice to allow them the opportunity to experience these animals at their own pace (to their credit, the aquarium is also unique in being certified for its autism inclusiveness, showing that they are being mindful of the needs of various guests).

Especially compared to zoos, were in somewhat of an aquarium renaissance now, with new facilities under construction around the country.  Many are fairly small facilities, such as the SEA LIFE Aquariums.  Others, like the soon-to-open facilities in St. Louis and Gulfport, Mississippi, are massive.  Even among these, OdySea certainly has made a splash (pun intended) with its innovative, interactive exhibits.

OdySea easily took its place as one of the most memorable aquariums I’ve seen.  I did find myself wondering about the sustainability of maintaining such large aquatic habitats in the desert.  It is a new aquarium, and that’s the thing about sustainability – you find out if it works as you go.  At the same time, that’s probably what makes OdySea so special.  Americans living in the middle of the desert can now get a peek into the world under the seas.  Based on the rave reviews they’ve received, their future seems bright, and talks of expansions are underway.

None that include dolphins, of course.

OdySea Aquarium

Zoo Review: OdySea Aquarium, Part I

When I visited Denver’s Downtown Aquarium last year, some of the literature that I read boasted that it was the biggest aquarium between the Mississippi River and the West Coast.  I suspect that the literature might have been a little out of date.  In 2016, Scottsdale, Arizona (just outside of Phoenix) made a splash with the opening of OdySea, an enormous new aquarium.  With over 2 MILLION gallons of water in its exhibits, it is the largest aquarium in the very arid southwest.  For visitors hailing from the desert regions around Phoenix, OdySea is a transport to an entirely new world.

Before we begin the tour, however, a moment to address the cetacean in the room.  The quickest way to annoy a staff member at OdySea?  Ask about the dolphins.  You see, OdySea is a part of an entertainment complex which also, until recently, featured a dolphin facility.  The dolphins were sent away and the facility shuttered after a series of deaths.  The dolphins were not a part of OdySea, which hasn’t stopped the aquarium from getting a lot of flak from people about them.  I don’t know, but to me it feels like going to a mall food court and complaining to the staff at Taco Bell that your Whopper (purchased at the Burger King next door) was awful.  So, in conclusion, no matter how you feel about dolphins in aquariums, there are not and never were any at OdySea (I’m only emphasizing this because I feel a great swell of sympathy for whoever manages their facebook page and has to politely and patiently answer this question several times a day).

Even compared to zoos, aquariums tend to be somewhat formulaic – the same animals in the same types of exhibits.  I think the reason that I’ve always loved the Shedd Aquarium is that it felt so different from other aquariums to me.  Well, OdySea is in a different class as well.  Open entering the building, you are greeted by a series of massive, globular aquariums hanging from the ceiling.  It’s as close to being immersed in water with water as you can get without getting wet.  Oh, and make sure you use the bathroom before you start your tour.

At most aquariums, I wouldn’t think to mention the bathroom.  Here at OdySea, they are spectacular, officially ranked “America’s Best Restroom”.  Both restrooms on the first floor have windows into the main shark tank, which means that if you glance up while washing your hands, you could find yourself eye-to-eye with a sand tiger shark cruising silently past you.  Of course, if you were in a bathroom and suddenly confronted with a shark, maybe a toilet would be a safer place to be stationed.  Side note: I’ve never been so not-weirded out to be in the bathroom and suddenly have everyone else in the room pull out their cameras.

Heading up the escalator, you will find yourself in the freshwater section of the aquarium.  Here you can admire endangered native trout in an exhibit by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, meet the sturgeons in a touch tank, and watch small crocodilians and turtles above water and below.   The collection is an impressive selection of river fish from around the world, including piranhas from South America, blind cavefish, and paddlefish swimming beneath the wheel of a recreated millpond.  Terrestrial side exhibits feature toucans, parrots, and sloths, who double-function as ambassador animals – if the exhibit seems empty, just keep strolling, because you might suddenly find yourself meeting the animal elsewhere in the building.  The freshwater section cumulates in an exhibit of Asian small-clawed otters, which can be observed swimming below the surface, frolicking on land, or snoozing inside their den.

Continuing along the hallway, there is a stingray touch pool.  Past that is the exhibit for African penguins, with a small seating area providing a theater-like view of the birds swimming underwater.  Like an increasing number of zoos and aquariums, OdySea offers penguin encounters as an educational feature and revenue generator.  Small groups can arrange to have access to the penguin exhibit, accompanied by a staff interpreter to learn more about the black-and-white birds.   Having worked with penguins many times I passed the opportunity by, but there happened to be a group in session when I was passing the exhibit, and I have to admit, watching them briefly made me smile.  I’ve spent so much of my life with zoo animals that sometimes, to my embarrassment, the encounters seem almost commonplace to me.  It’s good to see someone else from outside the field experience moments like this sometimes and recapture a little bit of that wonder and magic.  For a keeper or an aquarist, meeting a penguin or touching a stingray is… well, Tuesday.  For a visitor, it can be an experience that they remember for the rest of their lives.

Past the penguins, an escalator descends back to the ground floor of the aquarium – but not the exit.  Here, there is an entirely separate floor of animals and exhibits to explore – including one of the most innovative aquarium experiences I’ve ever seen.  To be continued...

OdySea Aquarium

From the News: Could Endangered Species Act changes affect animals in Memphis Zoo conservation projects?

Could Endangered Species Act changes affect animals in Memphis Zoo conservation projects?

They say every cloud has its silver lining.  At least on crumb of good news that can come out of the proposed efforts to weaken the Endangered Species Act is that is gives the zoo and aquarium community a chance to step up not only their conservation methods, but also their communication strategies.  We need to work harder to pick up any slack that the government is starting to drop in the fight to conserve endangered species, as well as to reach out to the public and remind them of the ways in which they can help.

The Business of Saving Species

I've found the uproar over proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act reassuring.  With so much else going on in the world, from tension in the Middle East/North Korea/everywhere else to the easily-rattled economy, it's nice to see that people can still take a little time out of their day to be worried about endangered species.

I'm just a little skeptical about how long the concern will last.

Don't get me wrong.  Organizations like Wildlife Conservation Society, Defenders of Wildlife, and Sierra Club will stay vocal and keep applying pressure.  For the rest of the public, however, I suspect that this will soon be drowned out by the latest political outrage, which should be due any minute now.  Then, 95% of us will move on, leaving the other 5% to slog on.

The "Environment," as a nebulous, deity-like entity, has never been a key issue for most political campaigners, and I don't expect to see the 2020 election season being much different.  Today, when we talk about the environment, it mostly means climate change.  To be sure, climate change is one of the key global challenges facing wildlife around the world.  On the other hand, it sometimes seems that when we talk about it, we focus so much on the forest that we lose sight of the individual trees.  Those trees, of course, being individual species... some of which are having axes taken to them as we speak.

It would be disingenuous to pretend that, even if we somehow miraculously address climate change, all of our other conservation worries will be resolved.  Some are not even threatened by climate change.  Some species may actually benefit from it.  Each endangered species is endangered in its own way, and each needs its own tailored plan for recovery, unique to its circumstances.  That's the beauty of the Endangered Species Act.

Zoos and aquariums can, for understandable reasons, be hesitant to get too political, for fear of alienating a large chunk of the public that we serve and the politicians and government agencies that we have to work with.   What we've seen in Africa and Southeast Asia and Latin America about species conservation holds true here - conservation only works when we have buy-in and support from local communities.   What we need is to get that buy-in.  Neutrality is not an option.

The solution is to utilize the assets that we have - our animals, our audiences, and our passion.  Use native species - endangered or otherwise - to highlight the beauty and uniqueness of America's wild heritage.  For some species - American bison, American alligator, trumpeter swan, bald eagle - we can share great stories about successful recoveries of nearly-lost species.  For others (California condor, red wolf, whooping crane, black-footed ferret) those stories are still ongoing, their success in the hands of the American people.  Don't treat it is a political issue, framing it in a way that makes visitors think of themselves as Democrats or Republicans.  That's a surefire way to make people dig in their heels and close their ears and minds.

Frame it as a moral issue, a patriotic issue - these animals are a part of our country, a part of our communities, and a part of our national identity.  To lose them would be to lose a part of what makes us America.

Endangering the Endangered

Earlier this week, the Trump Administration shocked (well, not really) the conservation community by announcing sweeping changes to the implementation of the Endangered Species Act.  The ESA, signed into law in 1973 by Richard Nixon, is credited with having helped save many of America's most iconic species for extinction, including the grizzly bear, the American alligator, and, of course, the bald eagle.  The Trump Administration proposes changes that will limit the protection many of these species could receive in the future.

Among the implications of these changes are an increased emphasis on the economic implications of listing a species as endangered.  Economics will always play a factor in how we protect an endangered species, but it should never be a factor in acknowledging if a species is endangered or not.  I fear that one of the primary targets of this change is the white whale of America's battle for natural resources - the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  If arguments can be made that species there aren't endangered and aren't in need of protection, it makes it that much easier to open this magnificent yet fragile landscape - America's version of the Serengeti - to oil drilling.



Speaking of the Arctic and fossil fuels, the proposed changes would limit protection concerns to immediate, pressing issues, rather than conservation for "the foreseeable future."  What's that all about - climate change.  It seeks to reduce protections for species that will be adversely impacted by climate change.  An example of a species that will be negatively impacted is the wolverine.  With less snow, there will be fewer denning sites of these spunky carnivores.

Currently, species which are classified as "Threatened" receive the same legal protection as those listed as "Endangered."  That will change.  I find this very frustrating, as we've seen again and again, the best way to save an endangered species is to NOT LET IT BECOME ENDANGERED.

I'm grateful that many non-profits and wildlife organizations, zoos and aquariums among them, are speaking out against these disastrous policies.  I've been lucky enough to see many of America's rarest and most unique animals in the wild, and work with many more in a zoo setting.  To lose any of them to these changes, to sacrifice them to greed or antipathy or to score a few points with one's political base in the build up to an election, I find repugnant.

The United States has been blessed with some of the most magnificent, diverse wildlife and wild places in the world.  In our less than 250 year history, we've already lost so much.  Don't let us lose any more.  Call your Representatives and Senators.  Make your voice heard.

Statement from the San Diego Zoo concerning proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act

"Bear Butt Boogy" at Akron Zoo

Visitors to the Akron Zoo were delighted to watch on of the grizzly bears blissfully scratching its butt right by the viewing window.  For all of the conservation work we do, all of the rehabilitation and rescue, all of the research, all of the educational resources we make available to the public, it still comes down to this: our ability to reach people and make them care about wildlife is determined by our ability to give them the opportunity to develop meaningful, personal connections with the individual animals in our zoos.  Watching this bear butt boogy is a memory that these visitors will keep with them for a long time, longer than any nature documentary or website ever could.

Book Review: Churchill's Menagerie - Winston Churchill and the Animal Kingdom

“It is difficult to believe that twenty-one years ago there was only derelict downland where [Zoological Society of London’s Whipsnade Zoo] now stands, and the change that has been wrought is evidence of the increasing knowledge of and interest in animals that is becoming so much a part of our daily life.”

I’m going to be blunt – I never really saw Winston Churchill as zookeeper material.  Plenty of other leaders throughout history have loved keeping and caring for exotic animals, but something about the famous, bulldog-faced British prime minister flashing his “V for Victory” sign never really struck me as someone likely to shovel manure and wrangle animals.  Apparently, I was wrong.  It turns out Winston Churchill was a lifelong aficionado of wildlife, which he interacted with in a variety of ways, from pet owner to hunter to zookeeper.

An overview of the former prime minister’s history with the animal kingdom can be found in Churchill’s Menagerie: Winston Churchill and the Animal Kingdom, by Churchill historian Piers Brendon.  Brendon has sifted through decades of correspondence, journals, and newspaper articles to show his readers the many, many ways in which the most famous of modern Britons saw and interacted with the world of wildlife.  The book is arranged alphabetically by species, from the Albatross to the Worm, with a final chapter detailing Zoos.

Winston Churchill is best known as a statesman and an orator, so it perhaps won’t surprise the reader to see that most of his animal interactions were of a rhetorical nature.  His speeches are full of animal analogies (mostly insults), hurled at Hitler, Stalin, the Irish Republican Army, the Sudanese dervishes, and anyone else who found themselves in the old man’s oratorical crosshairs.  Many of these zoological slurs – “snakes,” “hyenas,” “rats,” etc – were commonplace enough in their era, or today.  Others were informed in part by Churchill’s experiences abroad, including his hunting expeditions in Africa.

Among the literal animals in Churchill’s life, there are of course the dogs and horses that would have been the companions of any upper class Englishman, as well as the rabbits and foxes and gamebirds that he hunted.  As one of the premier politicians and recognizable men in the world, however – especially one in an era of tremendous global uncertainty surrounding both of the World Wars – Churchill had exposure to a host of other animals that crossed his path.

In recent decades Americans may have become familiar with China’s Panda Diplomacy, and sure enough they predated Nixon’s visit to China in the 1970s.  When England acquired its first panda in 1938, Winston Churchill was one of the first to see it.  Likewise, after World War II, Churchill accepted a pair of Chinese alligators as a token of goodwill from the Chinese government.  Churchill certainly understood the value of animals as symbols.  Well aware of the legend that Britain will only be able to hold the Rock of Gibraltar as long as it is home to its tailless Barbary macaques, Churchill made arrangements for their protection when their numbers began to dwindle, even securing new “recruits” from North Africa to bolster their numbers.  And perhaps in one of the most bizarre, but seldom-reported, anecdotes of World War II, Churchill, in the interests of British morale, set out to smuggle a platypus for the London Zoo.  What’s amazing is that he almost succeeded – the bizarre little beast was almost to England, when the ship caring it was forced to drop some depth charges to repel a submarine, and the shock killed it.  The little platypus, whose body was donated to the Royal College of Surgeons, was named Winston.

Some of the wild animals in Churchill’s life were gifts not to the nation, but to him, personally.  Among these were a lion and a leopard, owned by Churchill but prudently kept at the London Zoo, where he would come to visit them and feed them.  Other, less dangerous animals found a home on his estate.  When the pressures of statesmanship bore down on him, Churchill could take refuge by his lake, watching his beloved black swans cruise their domain.  It was his dearest wish to build up a big flock of the birds, but the consulting staff of the zoo broke it to him gently that the birds wouldn’t tolerate being in flocks year round.

Winston Churchill loved some animals and hated others.  He cosseted some as pets and shot others for sport, and ate others still.  In this, he was no different from the average person of his age, or any age, really.  Churchill’s Menagerie offers an unexpected look into what many of us thought was a life we already knew very well.  It also invites us to consider the many varied roles that animals play in our lives.

Churchill's Menagerie: Winston Churchill and the Animal Kingdom at Amazon.com

Mind the Tail...

One of the first things that a new keeper is taught when working with lizards, geckos and skinks among them (but with a few exceptions) - if you ever do have to pick one up, don't do it by the tail.  Because if you do, things like this happen.

In my first job as a zookeeper post-college, my curator had a tank of green tree skinks from the Philippines that he was very fond of... and that it was my job to care for.  They were very lovely.  They were also lightning fast and tended to dash out as soon as you nudged the lid of the tank open even a little bit.  Every time he saw me go to feed them, he would cheerfully remind me of how miserable he would make my life if I let them go... or if, in catching them, I caused them to shed their tails.  

The process is called "Autotomy" or "Self Amputation."  The idea is that the tail is left twitching around and holding the interest of the potential predator while the lizard itself skedaddles for the horizon.  I suppose that both the predator and the would-be prey walk away as winners in this case.  The lizard because... well, because it walks away at all, and the predator because getting to eat a tail is better than getting to eat nothing at all, I suppose.

Now, for many lizards, if you do this, the tail will grow back.   Some of them may even grow back two.  For others, this is a "one and done" kind of deal.  At the very least, it's not the kind of party trick that a lizard would want to do for fun.  It can be biologically expensive to grow a new tail.  Plus, your balance is probably off if you are used to having one, and you can't use it for combat or defense until/if a new one grows in.

Tails tend to be delicate structures for many animals and not the ideal place to handle them.  For some arboreal animals with very strong, muscular tails, the opposite can be true - for a binturong or a prehensile-tailed porcupine, the tail serves as a handy built-in leash.

Going back to my curator as his tree skinks, they happened to be a species that would regenerate their tails if they were dropped.  That didn't matter to him.  Even though they would grow back, it would ruin the aesthetic in his view.

Aficionados of Marvel comics might recall lizard autotomy in regards to one of Spiderman's most enduring villains.  Scientist Curt Connors wants to regrow his lost arm and, knowing of the ability of lizards to regenerate their tails, devices a formula to replicate the phenomena in himself.  It works, in that it grows his arm back.  It also doesn't, in that it turns him into a giant humanoid lizard with a desire to lead reptiles in conquering the world.

I mean, I've heard worse plans...

Species Fact Profile: Tree Pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis)

Tree Pangolin (White-Bellied Pangolin, Three-Cusped Pangolin)

Phataginus (Manis) tricuspis (Rafinesque, 1821)

Range: West and Central Africa

Habitat: Lowland Rainforest, Wooded Savannah

Diet: Ants, Termites

Social Grouping: Solitary.  Males have larger home ranges than females, with their home ranges overlapping those of several females.  Females typically do not overlap

Reproduction: Breed year round.  Males and females come together only to breed.  Single offspring born after 150 day gestation period.  Infant is carried on the back of the mother, near the base of the tail.  Weaned at three months old, independent at five months

Lifespan: 10-15 Years

Conservation Status: IUCN Vulnerable, CITES Appendix I

• Body length 30-45 centimeters.  Weigh 4.5-14 kilograms.  Elongated snouts.  Males are slightly larger than females.
• Except for the face, underbelly, and insides of the legs, the body is covered with three-cusped brown or yellow scales.
• Can walk on its hind legs, but usually walks on all four, walking on its front knuckles to protect its claws from damage.  Good climbers, often found in trees.  Also good swimmers, filling themselves with air to increase buoyancy before entering the water.
• Primarily nocturnal – poor sense of sight, but good sense of smell
• When threatened, rolls into a ball, leaving only its tough, scaly skin exposed to predators.  Their hides are soft at birth, but begin to harden within a few days.  Mothers with young may curl up around the infant as well.  It may also secrete a foul-smelling musk when startled.
• Catches insects using its 25-70 centimeter long tongue, which is coated with mucous.  Sometimes feed on insects that are on the ground, other times break into nests using their powerful claws
• Intensely hunted for bushmeat, as well as for local traditional medicine.  Increasingly seen in international trade, sent to Asia to satisfy markets for pangolin scales there that dwindling Asian pangolin populations cannot satisfy.  Populations believed to have declined by 25%. 
• Tolerant of habitat modification, if left unharassed will live on agricultural land

Zookeeper’s Journal: Until quite recently, I viewed the pangolins in the same way that I think animal-lovers one-hundred years earlier viewed gorillas – as rare, near-mythic creatures that I had very little chance of ever seeing in a zoo.  They had an abysmal track record in zoos – many animal collectors simply wouldn’t deal with them, as few would survive long enough to make it to America or Europe, where few zoos would be willing to buy them.  Their poor survivorship under human care proved to be a major issue in recent years.  Pangolins are one of the most heavily-trafficked groups of animals in the world, and when illegal shipments were seized and found to contain live ones (not that often), the prognosis of saving the animal was usually slim.  The challenges mostly seemed to be associated with providing a diet to replace live ants and termites.  I remember seeing my first pangolin at the San Diego Zoo (where it was only publicly displayed for a brief demonstration once a day) and thinking that I’d probably never see another one again.  Times have changed dramatically.  Following a recent import, pangolins can be found in half-a-dozen US zoos, some of which are even having breeding success.  Hopefully, future rescues of confiscated pangolins can be used to develop a sustainable captive population as insurance against extinction and raise awareness of the plight of these endangered, unique little animals

Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

It was one of the more awkward staff meetings that I had ever had... and that was saying something.

One of our new keepers (not just "new" to our zoo, but brand new to the field as well) interrupted with a proposal.  He wanted our zoo's scantly-funded conservation committee to pay to send him to Australia to volunteer at a cassowary reserve.   For the record, we did not, never had, and never planned to have cassowary at the zoo.  We also never sent keepers abroad - or even more than an hour away - to do field work.  We also had almost nothing left in our budget - the meeting had actually been called to come up with new fundraising ideas.

To put it mildly, he seemed somewhat discouraged by the end of the meeting.  It was all that some of our staff could do to keep for laughing in incredulity.  None of the measured reasons we gave him seemed to satisfy him that this wasn't feasible.  He also didn't seem impressed with the reason that I offered.  Buying him a plane ticket (round trip, presumably) and covering his meals and lodging for two or three weeks in Australia would take a lot of money.  Even if we had that sort of money, would it be a better investment to send the money to Australia directly rather than send a not-terribly-experienced keeper to... do what exactly?

In some cases, sending staff to volunteer abroad is a very worthwhile investment.  In some cases, such as the recent radiated tortoise confiscation in Madagascar, there is a need for lots of experienced caretakers to come in and help with the situation.  The same with oil spills or stranding events or anything else that requires skill and training.

In other cases, it can be very beneficial to send staff with nonessential skills abroad.  Such experiences can be a great way to hone professional skills, reward hard-working staff members, and help keepers grow.

There never is an amazing amount of conservation funding available.  Conservation partners need to prioritize their expenditures carefully for maximum benefit.  It should be used to help support wildlife conservation, and that can include fostering the next generation of conservation biologists.

It does not, it turns out, stretch far enough to cover vacations in Oz.

The Road to Hell

“I am here to entreat you to use your money, your status, and your education to travel in Latin America.  Come to look, come to climb our mountains, to enjoy our flowers.  Come to study.  But do not come to help.”

-To Hell With Good Intentions, Bishop Ivan Illich

 For those who can afford the experience, traveling the world, whether to see wildlife in its natural habitat, to see beautiful landscapes, or to interact with people from different cultures, can be an incredible experience.   I consider myself very fortunate to have had a few such opportunities, and if I had the time and (most importantly) the money, I would probably go abroad two or three or four times a year.  Of course, being able to travel for leisure usually is indicative of coming from a position of considerable privilege.  It’s not surprising, then, that many people who want to go abroad may look for opportunities to volunteer while they are there.

We Need To Talk About Voluntourism

Not that long ago, I was reading the article linked above, which describe the author’s disillusionment with her “volunteer” experience helping in a Southeast Asian orphanage.  Well, I guess I shouldn’t put “volunteer” in quotation marks – she wasn’t getting paid, and she really was going over to try and make a difference.  I suppose I should have said “helping.”  During her time there, she began to suspect that the charity that she was helping was simply a money-making operation, designed to let westerners feel good about themselves while using poor children from the developing world as props.

The article was aimed at college students who go abroad for spring breaks, or religious groups who go on missions.  It reminded me of the stories you’d hear of parents blinding or crippling their children to make them more pitiful beggars, helping them get more charity.   It also made me think of the animal equivalent.

Depending on where you go in the world, there are lots of ecotourism opportunities, some ethical, some… less so.  Among the later, there are places that have discovered that if they call themselves “sanctuaries” and offer to let western tourists “help out,” they can bring in money and defend themselves against accusations of exploitation.  For example, a center in Africa might find itself in possession of lots of lion cubs, which it needs help from paying guests to bottle feed.  Visitors will come, pay for the pleasure of feeding cubs and playing with them, snuggling with them for selfies, and then go home feeling that “they made a difference” and that the experience “changed their lives.”  In reality, they were simply the paying guests of a glorified puppy mill.

Such a scheme only works as a business model if there is a constant supply of cubs – which means breeding, which means clearing out older animals to make room for the young.  And where do the older ones go?  The answer may not be pleasant – a canned hunt, perhaps?  Some other unsavory aspect of the wildlife trade?  Dumped out into the wild with no real survival skills?

As with Bishop Illich, who I quoted at the top of this post, I don’t want to discourage people from traveling and experiencing wildlife and wild places.  I strongly encourage it.  Supporting ecotourism can help build communities, lift local people out of poverty, and give them an incentive to protect native species that they might be forced to otherwise monetize in order to support themselves and their families.  It’s possible to find experiences that help experience the natural world and help communities without exploiting animals or perpetuating illegal or unethical practices.  When deciding on whether or not to visit a zoo that I’ve never heard of, especially in a country without an accrediting body, I try to research it firsthand to make sure that it’s in line with my personal ethics. 

I would do no less for a tourism opportunity abroad.

Hands-On Wild

I was a fairly good student in college, far better, at least, than I was in high school.  I was attentive in class, I studied regularly, I was thorough with homework, and I did well on tests and projects.  In high school, given the choice, I would have stayed home everyday.  In college, with no one there taking attendance or making me get out of bed, I only played hooky once... and it was worth it.

At the invitation of a professor that I had met, a fellow undergrad and I drove two or three hours from campus, off into the middle of nowhere.  From there, we trekked into the woods until we found ourselves at the entrance of a seemingly small hole in the ground.  Creeping in carefully, the beam of our flashlights eventually lit up two squirmy black balls of fur... and the sleeping bear that was their mother.

These weren't just any college shenanigans that we were engaged in that day.  My friend and I were assisting our professor, who in turn was assisting a state agency in doing a survey of denning black bears.  We watched as he darted the female (just to make sure), then hauled her out into the open air to take blood samples, recheck her radio collar, and give a quick health assessment.  Then, we took care of the cubs, weighing them and measuring them and trying hard to make it look like we weren't just there for the cuddles.  When everything was done, we placed everyone back in the den as neatly as we found them, then set off for the next one.

Both in college and at work, I've had a few opportunities to help biologists in the field.  Many zoos and aquariums have relationships with their local agencies to assist in projects, whether its banding pelicans, surveying shorebirds, or measuring hellbenders or indigo snakes.  The government biologists benefit from the assistance of helpers who are trained in spotting animals, working around animals, and, when the job calls for it, safely handling animals.  It also helps that these volunteers are less likely than laypeople to be fazed by the cold, heat, rain, or the inevitable urine or feces that are a part of working with animals.  The zoo staff, in turn, benefit from the chance to connect their day-to-day work with hands on conservation.  It's one thing to know that you're part of a zoo that supports conservation programs financially in Africa or Asia or Latin America.  It's another to do something with your own hands.

Some zoos even allow their staff the opportunity to go abroad to assist in field work.  Among the opportunities that are available to keepers is the chance to volunteer with SANCCOB, the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds.  Zoo professionals from across the world travel to South Africa to help rehabilitate and release African penguins, cormorants, and other seabirds.  Earlier this year, there was also considerable need for helpers to assist with rehabilitating abandoned flamingo chicks.

On a smaller, more local scale, zoos can get their staff, their volunteers, and their communities involved in local conservation projects, such as Citizen Scientist monitoring of local amphibian populations or restoring local habitats by removing invasive plants and replacing them with native ones.  Having the chance to get your hands in nature, working up a sweat and knowing that you are making a difference, not only provides the immediate benefit to the animals and their habitat.  It helps create a sense of involvement and investment in conservation.  In an age of overwhelming doom and gloom messaging about the future of our planet, it can also be a poignant reminder that a small group of dedicated individuals can make a difference.

Sporcle Quiz: Sporcle at the Zoo - Hippopotamus

Enjoy the next game in our Sporcle at the Zoo series, this time dedicated to one of my all-time favorite animals, the hippopotamus!

Sporcle at the Zoo - Hippopotamus

A New Breed of Zoo

A topic that I've been following with some interest lately has been the proposal of some US zoos to completely relocate and build themselves back up from the ground.  The potential to grow and develop without being handicapped by the limitations of past architechture is very interesting to me, and I hope that it results in some great new strides forward in animal welfare and conservation. 

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one interested in this.  Among the zoos most actively planning their move is the Sacramento Zoo.  Sactown Magazine has given some thought to what their future zoo should look like, both structurally and philosophically, and the future looks exciting... dare I say, wild?

A New Breed of Zoo

PS: There are OVER A DOZEN HIPPOS in this drawing... I don't know about the author, but I would totally fly cross-country to see a herd that size hippos

The Fashionable Zookeeper

"'I Did In Fact Try To Clean Your Suit With Spot Remover, Sir," said Mr. Pump.  "But Since It Was Effectively Just One Large Spot, It Removed The Whole Suit.'

'I liked that suit!  At least you could have saved it for dusters, or something.'

'I'm Sorry Sir, I'd Assumed That Dusters Had Been Saved For Your Suit."

- Going Postal, Terry Pratchett

When I was in college, I volunteered at a wildlife rehab center, where I came to meet a girl that I was interested in.   That semester, our center was involved with an important trustee event on campus, and as a thank you for our assistance (mostly giving tours of our facility to potential alumni donors), we received a few tickets to a fancy dinner that the university was hosting.  I asked her to go as my date, and she accepted.

The night of the dinner, I was waiting for her outside the banquet hall, wondering if she had gotten cold feet.  We were supposed to have met 15 minutes earlier, and, to my surprise, she wasn't there.  Punctuality had always been a characteristic of her, so I couldn't imagine what was keeping her.   Finally, I pulled out my cell to give her a call... and heard her ring tone, five feet behind me.  When I turned, there she was, wearing a nice skirt and blouse, her hair neatly done (well I was wearing a jacket and tie).  She hadn't been late.  She'd been there just as long as I had, waiting for me.  We'd been close enough to touch, but hadn't recognized each other.

It turns out, even though we both knew we were going to a fancy function, neither of us had been able to imagine the other dressed up.  I've had that experience a few times since when we've had keepers-nights-out and I've seen my coworkers dressed up for the evening.

While many of the animals we care for have made their contributions to the fashion industry (python skins, leopard coats, alpaca fleece, ostrich plumes) - generally unwillingly - zookeepers are not known for their tremendous sense of fashion.  We are blessed to work in a field where, on most days, you know exactly what you are going to wear, and that thankfully it isn't the khaki safari costumes that TV shows and movies often portray us in.  Usually, it's a pair of khaki shorts or long pants, a trusty pair of boots, and a T-shirt or polo shirt with the facility's logo.

Some zoos go the extra mile and give their staff rain-gear and winter coats.  With others, you're lucky to get a spare shirt.

As one might expect, our clothing, which isn't chosen for high fashion, doesn't stay presentable for long.  There are rips and tears, a colorful (and odoriferous) assortment of stains, and, after a while, a baked-in stench that no laundry detergent can conquer.  I had one shirt that, towards the end, was so badly off that it couldn't be folded.  I've made a point over the years of sorting my uniforms into three piles.  There are normal ones.  There are "dress" ones, which I save for special events, important behind-the-scenes tours, news interviews, and the like.  There are ones which I save for other "special" occasions - such as when I knew I'd be wrangling pigs out of a muddy sty.

I've written previously on this blog about footwear and socks, so now I'll close with a note about the second most important of keeper fashion - pockets.  Pockets are life.  There is a reason that zookeepers are almost singlehandedly keeping the cargo-short industry afloat. You need pockets for the things normal people use them for, as well as fecal sample cups, your Leatherman tool and/or a knife, your clicker or whistle for training, favorite snacks for animals, and half of the keys which have been made in the history of the world.  Anything can go into a pocket, which can make for some interesting discoveries before, during, or after laundry ("Oh... that's where I put that uneaten mouse...").  It's a bit maddening, because with so many pockets (all of which are necessary) you can spend forever trying to remember which pocket something disappeared into.

This is a special source of irritation to the ladies, who make up the majority of the zookeeping profession, since most women's' pants lack sufficient pockets.  It's bad enough that they have to deal with hay in their bras, an experience, they have assured me, which is like having a wad of sandpaper vigorously scrubbed against your chest all day.   The options they face are a) deal with no pockets, or b) wear men's pants, which may not fit quite right.  Hopefully, some enterprising keeper out there will start a fashion line for zookeepers, designing clothes that are comfortable, practical, and stylish.

I know I'd buy them.  I can always use more pockets too.