Continuing Tragedy

                               Update: The tamarins have been found safe in a Lancaster home

In the latest of the ongoing mysterious crimes at the Dallas Zoo, the habitat for the emperor tamarin monkeys was found cut, with two animals missing - possibly released, possibly stolen.  The zoo had been closed yesterday, the day of the incident, on account of weather, making this even more baffling.  Security and cameras have been increased, but this is still the fourth such act to take place this month.  I know the Dallas Zoo staff are sick with worry as these senseless acts continue to plague their zoo, and my thoughts go out to them during this miserable time.

2 Monkeys Are Apparently Taken From Dallas Zoo in Latest Bizarre Incident

Zoo History: The Three Zoos of Jean Delacour

In the early days of the War in Ukraine, one of the most compelling stories in the media was the plight of the Kyiv Zoo.  A zoo is a difficult facility to manage in the best of times, and in times of warfare, especially of invasion, it can become almost impossible.  Jean Theodore Delacour would certainly agree.

Bon in France in 1890, Delacour was one of the world's leading ornithologists, with a career spanning almost a century.  Young Delacour was from a wealthy family with extensive landholdings and enjoyed trekking through the woods and orchards in search of birds.  Over the course of his life, he actively explored the world searching for rare birds, traveling through Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa, and describing several species.  (One of the most beautiful of his discoveries, alas, was later determined not to be a genuine species, but a hybrid between the silver pheasant and the Vietnam pheasant).  He collected many of these birds and brought them to Picardy, where he used his inheritance from his father to establish a private zoo, heavily focused on birds.  By 1916, his aviaries boasted over 1300 birds of more than 340 species, a variety that would dazzle many modern zoo curators.

The rise of his zoo, unfortunately, also coincided with the Great War.  While away fighting in the French Army, the estate - and the zoo - was completely destroyed.  The horrors of the War left Delacour jaded, vowing never to have his own family so that he wouldn't be affected by such terrible losses.  He left France for England, but eventually returned to France.  He purchased the Chateau de Cleres in Normandy and began to rebuild his zoo.  Within years, it was quickly growing and had such a worldwide reputation that the 9th International Ornithological Congress was held there in 1938.  Delacour went traveling around the world to study and collect birds.

Then, war broke out again.  Again, the zoo was a casualty of war, completely destroyed in 1940 by German bombers.  Once again, Delacour (now too old for combat) fled, this time to America.  By the end of the year, he was in New York, working at the Bronx Zoo and the American Museum of Natural History.  He continued his scientific work in America after the war, later crossing the country to take on the directorship of the natural history museum in Los Angeles.  He immortalized his knowledge of bird life in several highly regarded books, as well as detailing his own personal story in his memoirs.

Once again, however, after peace had been established the pull of the homeland - and zoo-building - proved strong.  Delacour split his time between America and France, working with other conservationists to rebuild his zoo (again at Cleres), assisted by Frank Fooks, his zoo manager before World War II.  Delacour died in 1985 in Los Angeles, with the satisfaction that the third iteration of his zoo (built around the 14th century chateau) was still going strong.  It has, in fact, more birds now than its predecessor did when it was destroyed in World War I, and is still famed for its bird collection.

The third time proved to be the charm.

The Very Helpful Otter

 When your mom says that you can't have dessert unless you clean your room...

Hold Onto Your Stuff...

 I've never been very good with heights, but whenever I visit a zoo that has a skytram (such as at San Diego Zoo or Kansas City Zoo), especially one that passes over animal exhibits, I usually cave in and end up taking it.  In those cases, my biggest worry isn't falling to my death.  Instead, I'm usually more fixated on not dropping anything.  I have major worries about having something slip from my hand or my pocket and fall into an exhibit below.  Not only would I not want to lose my phone, my camera, my wallet, or my keys, but I'd hate for it to fall into an animal's enclosure and potentially have something happen to it that causes the animal to become sick or injured.

Of course, you don't need to be several stories above an exhibit to drop something in.  Nor are all of the foreign objects that find their way into animal enclosures introduced to that environment accidentally.  The zoo histories are full of animals which have sickened or even died from ingesting coins, keys, and other items.  Water-filled exhibits seem to especially attract this sort of thing - something about a body of water compels people to toss things into it.  Hippos, with their wide, gaping mouths, further seem to invite people to toss things into them, and many hippos have chocked on toy balls.

Here with a reminder of the perils of dropping or tossing objects into zoo habitats is Zoo Miami, with a message concerning their Cuban crocodiles Leroy and Princess (spoiler alert, everyone seems to be okay).  Photo credits to Ron Magill.

Species Fact Profile: Vietnam Pheasant (Lophura edwardsi)

                                            Vietnam (Edwards') Pheasant

                                                Lophura edwardsi (Oustalet, 1986)

Range: Central Vietnam  

Habitat:  Forests with closed canopy and dense bamboo growth

Diet:   Unknown in wild - zoo birds fed on commercial grain diet, greens, fruits, and insects

Social Grouping: Solitary, Paired, Small Flocks

Reproduction: Breeding is seen mostly from March through May, males displaying for females by erecting their crests and whirring their wings.  Females lay 4-7 eggs in a scrape nest, sometimes lined with feathers or leaves (captives will use wooded nest boxes floored with sand).  Double-clutching has been achieved in captivity.  Cream or pink-buff eggs are incubated for 24-25 days.  Based on captive observations, some males help raise chicks, others may act aggressively towards them.   Sexually mature by 1 year of age, more often breed at 2 years old

Lifespan: 14 Years

      Conservation Status: IUCN Critically Endangered.  CITES Appendix I.  USFWS Endangered.

• Body length 58-65 centimeters, with the male having a tail length of 24-26 centimeters, female shorter.  Weigh 1050-1150 grams.
• Adult males are dark and glossy with a blue iridescent sheen tinged with green on the upper wings.  They also have a short white crest and a slightly longer tail than the females.  Females and juvenile males are a uniform chestnut brown (a little grayer in young birds) and lack the crest and long tail.  In both sexes there is a bare facial patch of red skin; the legs are also red.  Males start to take on their adult coloration at about 12 weeks of age
• Alarm call is described as puk!-puk!-puk!
• Two varieties sometimes described – the nominate, with a white crest and upper tail, and a northern form (previously considered a separate species, L. hatinhensis, now sometimes regarded as a subspecies of Edward’s pheasant), with a variable number of white rectrices.  These different forms may be the result of inbreeding.
• Named after Alphonse Milne-Edwards, zoologist and director of the Paris Museum of Natural History.  Now increasingly being referred to as the Vietnam pheasant
• Estimated 50-250 mature individuals in wild.  Was thought to be extinct already until sighted in 1996, last confirmed sighting in the wild in 2000.  Population decreasing
• It is possible that the species is already extinct in the wild.  If so, it would be the first species of pheasant driven to extinction in the wild in modern times
• Primarily threatened by habitat loss – habitat was almost completely destroyed by herbicide spraying during the Vietnam War.  Remaining patches of habitat are continually threatened by woodcutters, with only small patches of fragmented remaining.  Construction of Ho Chi Minh National Highway bisected the species range.  Deforestation is also causing local climate change, with remaining forests becoming drier.  Remaining habitat/sites of most recent observations have been incorporated into protected areas
• Remaining birds (if any) vulnerable to increased hunted pressure, indiscriminate trapping that mostly targets more common gamebird species
• First collection of the birds into aviculture begun by Jean DeLecour, who organized 7 collecting expeditions between 1922 and 1939, collecting 55-60 birds, which were exported, forming the basis for the current world zoo population.       

Enemy Action at the Dallas Zoo

"Mr. Bond, they have a saying in Chicago.  Once is happenstance.  Twice is coincidence.  Three times is enemy action."

Ian Fleming's criminal mastermind Auric Goldfinger threatened British superspy James Bond with those words, perhaps the most quotable line of any of the Bond novels.  That line was running through my mind as I considered the latest news from the Dallas Zoo.  

Photo Credit: Dallas Zoo

Earlier this week, lappet-faced vulture "Pin" was found deceased at the Zoo in a manner that officials are describing as suspicious and unnatural.  The police have been brought in and a $10,000 dollar reward has been offered for information leading to the apprehension of the perpetrator.  Of course, Dallas was in the news barely a week earlier after a clouded leopard escaped from its enclosure, which seems to have been deliberately cut (the cat was safely recaptured).   Shortly afterwards, a similar cut was discovered at the langur exhibit, though thankfully none of the monkeys escaped.  

You can see where folks might start to see a pattern here.

A lot of theories are being batted around.  An animal rights extremist, perhaps one who got a job at the Zoo so they could cause mischief from within?  A disgruntled employee or ex-employee?  Just some random yahoo who's determined a method for sneaking in and out of the grounds?  I have no idea.  At any rate, the police are involved now, and hopefully they will get to the bottom of this - before this crisis gets even worse for the animals of the Dallas Zoo and the people who care for them.

Lunar New Year

Happy Lunar (Chinese) New Year!  Today we transition from the Year of the Tiger to the Year of the Rabbit.  One Chinese zoo decided to use live animals to illustrate the changing of the years.  The results were... entirely predictable.

The superstitious part of me would worry that this is a sign of an unlucky year.  The even more neurotic part of me looks back at the world over the last twelve months and asks, "What, was that supposed to be a lucky year?"  

This time next year we'll be transitioning to the Year of the Dragon.  Let's give the poor bunny that year off, shall we?

Virtually There

The video below is from Akron Zoo, but I'm seeing more and more zoos and aquariums jumping on the virtual bandwagon.  I have very mixed feelings about this.  One one hand, it allows visitors to have an experience that they might otherwise never be able to have, such as swimming with sharks or interacting with a troop of mountain gorillas.  On the other hand, I worry about the message that it sends - virtual does not equal in person and actually experiencing animals in real life.  Will a day come when everyone is so enraptured with these VR experiences (maybe in private homes by then) that we failed to notice that the animals depicted in them have all gone extinct?

From the News: Houston's Galapagos

Houston Zoo to welcome penguins, sharks at Galapagos Islands exhibit

A few years back, when I heard that the Houston Zoo was preparing a new major exhibit themed on the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, I was extremely excited.  Very little wildlife from Darwin's Enchanted Islands is present in American zoos (or any zoos, really), so I caught myself wondering what it might entail.  It turns out, that this is going to be a but of a theatrical production - with actors standing in for much of the main cast.  

There will be Galapagos tortoises, it is true.  There will also be California sea lions, standing in for Galapagos sea lions, Humboldt penguins in place of Galapagos penguins, Caribbean rock iguanas subbing for Galapagos land and marine iguanas.  Not a blue-footed booby or flightless cormorant in sight.  There will be an aquarium featuring marine species that can be found in the waters off the islands.

With legal restrictions and permits being what they are, I can't even pretend to be surprised that the zoo isn't important species from the islands to populate the new exhibit.  And, I'd like to be the first to admit, the new exhibit looks like it's going to be incredible, a fine compliment to that other masterpiece of South American exhibitwork Houston opened recently, The Pantanal.  So I'm not honestly disappointed that I won't see marine iguanas in Houston, but I am a little amused.  If a a Galapagos exhibit is filled with stand-ins and has barely a Galapagos species present... is it really a Galapagos exhibit?

Grab a Seat

 

I recently saw these pictures of gorilla Kal from the Denver Zoo and had to share them!  Although they are from rainforests, gorillas, like many zoo animals, are fine to go outside in cold weather (including snow) for periods of time, especially if they have warm indoor places to retire to if they get chilly.  Kal was up for exploring the Colorado winter - provided he didn't have to sink his bare bottom into the snow.  Thankfully, he's a pretty smart guy, and was willing to improvise by bringing his own seat!

That or someone at Denver found some Yeti pictures and is sharing them with us via the Zoo's facebook page.

Friday the 13th at the Dallas Zoo

It's hard for me to guess whether Harrison Edell is going to think of Friday the 13th as an exceptionally unlucky day in the future - or as a very lucky one.  "Unlucky" in the sense that, when the staff at the Dallas Zoo inspected their grounds this last Friday morning, they informed Edell - Vice President for Animal Care and Conservation - that one of their female clouded leopards, Nova, was missing.  The decision was immediately made to close the zoo while an intensive search was conducted, including the use of heat-sensitive drones to scan the treetops for the arboreal cat.  "Lucky" in the sense that, by the end of the day, Nova was found and safely recaptured (though I'm sure that the zoo will continue to be flooded with calls and messages from people claiming to have sighted the animal, because that's how these things work).

Clouded leopards are masters of stealth - I'm pretty sure a full-grown female could hide under a single fallen leaf, if she didn't have any better options, so being loose in the zoo grounds, potentially hopping the perimeter fence - I can't imagine the anxiety that the zoo staff must have being going through.  When I heard the news, I'll admit my first thought was, "Well, that's the last they're seeing of that animal."  It's worth noting that, for all the high-tech gadgetry brought in to search for Nova, she was actually found when zoo staff were alerted to her presence by an alarm-calling squirrel.

Photo Credit: Dallas Zoo, Via Associated Press

Nova is safe and healthy, reunited with her sister... but there isn't a 100% happy ending here yet.  

You see, Nova didn't quite get out on her volition - nor was her escape facilitated by human error.  Instead, it was human mischief.  It appears that a hole was deliberately cut in the mesh of her habitat - and not just her habitat.  Today, zoo staff reported that another hole was found cut in one of the monkey exhibits (though no escapes were reported).  This is a very troubling development.  Whether it was motivated by vandals pulling a prank, a mentally unwell person, or an animal rights activist trying to make a statement (one which could have very easily ended with a flattened clouded leopard being scraped off the nearby interstate) has yet to be determined.  A policer investigation is in progress. 

For now, I'll just take some comfort in the fact that all of the animals are safe and secure, and be heartened by all of the support that the community has shown the zoo during this terrifying day.  If black cats bring bad luck, maybe large, cloudy ones bring good luck?

Old Griffith Park Zoo

If you find yourself in Los Angeles with an eye towards visiting the Zoo, I'd encourage you to take a little time for a detour.  It won't take you long and it won't take you far - just a mile or so from the gates, in a quiet, wooded part of Griffith Park.  It's a peaceful spot, great for birdwatching, or a picnic lunch.  Wrapped around the grove are a series of unusual concrete formations.  You probably wouldn't mistake them for natural rock formations, even if that was the artist's intent.  Elsewhere, a series of heavy iron bars removes any doubt.  You're taking a stroll through the old Griffith Park Zoo.

Many zoos keep a fragment of their former selves on display for educational purposes, but few cities have a feature quiet like Los Angeles (the only other example I can think of is Miami, where the old Crandon Park Zoo was left behind following the construction of Zoo Miami, a few miles off).  It's a fascinating place to explore, especially in association with the nearby zoo, to ponder how far these facilities have come from what they were. I wish there had been some signage to help better interpret and orient the experience.

It's also spooky as heck.  Poking around inside some of the old cages, I almost expected the ghost of a bear to rise up in front of me.  It would definitely be something else to explore them at night time.

Zoo Review: Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Garden, Part II

Continuing our tour of the Los Angeles Zoo, we turn our attention to the three excellent exhibits for great apes.  Campo Gorilla Reserve, Red Ape Rainforest (for orangutans), and Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains each rank as one of the best exhibits I've seen for great apes of their species.  Each offers several vantage points for the animals in spacious, well-furnished yards.  The orangutan exhibit is completely mesh-enclosed, making viewing and photography for difficult than it is for the two African apes, but given the value of mesh for climbing, I can hardly fault it.  The chimp exhibit is the most dramatic of the three, with a rocky cliff background that the chimps can climb, giving them a commanding view of much of the zoo.  Other primates can be found nearby in some of the many roundhouses, including colobus monkeys, sifakas, gibbons, and mandrills.  Also nearby is perhaps the best single-species monkey exhibit I've seen, a huge, jungly habitat for Francois' langurs, which visitors view from the windows of a tree house high above the forest floor.

Elephants of Asia dominates the center of the zoo, a sprawling complex that explores the cultural significance of Asia's largest land mammal across the continent.  Elephants, including the famous Billy, who was born here, can be observed foraging, dustbathing, or splashing about underneath a waterfall.    The exhibit is viewed from several overviews scattered around the perimeter of the exhibit, which can actually make seeing the elephants fairly difficult, since you have no idea where they will turn up.  I had to do several checks around the habitat before I finally saw an elephant, and it was late in the day before I finally laid eyes on Billy.  I enjoy a degree of uncertainty and variability at zoo exhibits, plus I had time to kill, so it was no major issue for me, but I could imagine it being frustrating in other circumstances.

Much of Los Angeles Zoo lacks theming, apart from a roughly geographical sense which has become diluted over the years.  A herd of Masai giraffes anchors a nebulous African area, which also features yards of bongo, okapi, and red river hog, as well as more roundhouses of birds, primates, and small mammals.  Continuing along the top of the zoo, more Asian and South American animals begin to appear, including snow leopards, markhor (in a concrete mountain reminiscent of the bighorns'), takin, maned wolf, and mountain tapirs (with the death of the last animals at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Los Angeles is the only holder of this rare Andean ungulate).  There are more roundhouses, including some for birds of prey, such as Stellers sea eagle, Eurasian eagle owl, and Andean condor.  Tigers are the stars of this section in a moated grotto.  It actually amazed me how many of the most common zoo animals Los Angeles lacks these days - tiger, rhino, hippo, bears of any species.  Most of those animals inhabited this area of the zoo, a series of moated dens dating back to the earlier days of the new zoo, when natural was simply synonymous with "bar-free," and could stand for an upgrade.

In contrast, one of the relatively newer sections of the zoo is Rainforest of the Americas.  Many zoos have rainforest buildings, but Los Angeles again takes advantage of its climate to keep species outdoors.  Along a densely planted trail visitors can encounter howler monkeys, toucans, jaguar, Baird's tapir, and a hillside aviary for imposing harpy eagles.  The stars of this section are the giant otters, which occupy a large habitat dominated by a winding water-feature.  Starting at the top pool, visitors can hurry down the path from one viewing area to another, following the animals as they make their way to the bottom of their pool.  There, the visitor can also encounter various South American fish and reptiles in a covered viewing area.

Two enormous walk-through aviaries are nearby, large enough to allow birds the size of white storks the ability to fly.  A children's zoo, featuring some small animals and a goat petting area, rounds out the experience.

Los Angeles has ben working diligently over the past several years to replace some of its oldest architecture and outdated habitats with newer ones, and the results - LAIR, Rainforests of the Americas, Elephants of Asia, and the trio of ape exhibits - have been very impressive.  A new masterplan has been released which, while highly ambitious, will continue to advance the zoo's ability to provide exceptional animal care.  If anything, the zoo suffers from its close proximity - and the inevitable comparisons - to the San Diego Zoo, but even compared to its famous neighbor, I feel that the Los Angeles Zoo has a lot to recommend itself as a great zoo in its own right.

Zoo Review: Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Garden, Part I

Although it is America's second largest city (and is, in its own right, one of America's largest zoos), the Los Angeles Zoo often manages to slide under the radar of many zoo enthusiasts.  This is perhaps due to its relative proximity to the twin zoological attractions of San Diego.  This is unfortunate, because LA's zoo - while not having quite all of the rarities of San Diego - still possesses an amazingly diverse collection in some beautiful habitats (though a few outdated architectural specimens still remain).

  

Located in Griffith Park, this is actually the city's third zoo.  The first, located in Eastlake Park, opened in 1885; if it was still around, it would rank among the oldest zoos in the western states.  The second zoo was opened in 1912, located in Griffith Park (itself one of the wildest parts of the city, with the odd mountain lion known to turn up).  It was closed in 1966, with the current facility opening later that year just a mile away.  The zoo had seen its ups and downs, struggling with infrastructure (it amazes me how some of that more modern infrastructure in zoos seems to crumble right away, while the stuff built at the turn of the last century seems indestructible), almost losing its AZA accreditation at one point.  Being in southern California, the zoo has also had the misfortune of finding itself in the midst of ever-present animal rights attention, most of which has been focused on the zoo's bull Asian elephant, Billy, and celebrity-driven efforts to relocate him from the zoo.  Still, recent years have seen considerable growth and development, and today the zoo is one of the finest I've been to - not top 5, perhaps, but still a great facility.

The entrance sign of the zoo features an enormous image of a California condor, a worthwhile reminder that this is one of the two facilities which helped snatch this bird back from the edge of extinction in the 1980s.  Immediately inside, visitors are treated to Sea Life Cliffs, where California sea lions and harbor seals can be seen both above and below the water.  The path meanders through a series of habitats for a variety of animals with no particular theming.  American alligators (one of which was a local celebrity, having been found living loose in the area) bob in a pool.  Chilean and greater flamingos mill about the edge of another pool, while trumpeter swans swim across the path.  Meerkats scurry in and out of tunnels - this exhibit was supposedly the place where Disney animators came to sketch their ideas for Timon from Disney's The Lion King (this being before Disney developed its own zoo).  Scattered among these exhibits are the main guest services of the park. 

With its gorgeous weather year-round, it's not surprising that Los Angeles Zoo doesn't have much in the way of indoor exhibits.  The main exception is The LAIR - (Living Amphibians, Invertebrates, and Reptiles).  This two-building complex opened in 2012.  The first building houses a variety of mostly tropical species from across the world, including some rarely encountered gems such as Chinese giant salamanders, Gray's monitor lizards, and Mangshan vipers, among more commonly displayed (but still excellent) species.  Exhibits range from small jewel-case displays for frogs to large, mixed species habitats with fish, turtles, and lizards.  As is often the case with newly built reptile houses, there is a behind-the-scenes component, with views of how keepers care for the animals.  The second building is desert-themed, featuring animals of both the surrounding southern California environments and around the world, such as horned lizards, scorpions, and Gila monsters.  In a nod towards the Los Angeles climate, some reptiles are kept outdoors, including a variety of tortoises.  Gharials and tomistoma share habitats with giant Asian turtles in a pair of swampy yards that flank the exhibit complex.

Like San Diego, Los Angeles boasts of an excellent collection of Australian wildlife.  Koalas are the unquestioned stars here, perched in trees in the middle of yards shared with kangaroos and wallabies.  Wombats have a building nearby, while southern cassowary have a shaded yard around the corner.  The Australian theme is loosely extended to include Indonesia, and the entire exhibit is wrapped around a towering flight cage of rhinoceros hornbills, which share their habitat with rarely-exhibited yellow-footed rock wallabies.  It can be difficult to see the birds sometimes because they are able to obtain such height (I wish there had been an elevated viewing deck), but it easily ranks as what I think must be the best exhibit for the birds themselves that I've ever seen.  Nearby, a small side path leads visitors in between habitats of two of the world's largest lizard species - the Komodo dragon of Indonesia and the (much less commonly seen) perentie goanna of Australia.

Nearby is a loop of mostly hoofstock yards.  It's a remnant of the older zoo, but represents a habitat type rarely seen in zoos these days, and I was glad to see it again.  In spacious paddocks visitors may spot a variety of ungulates, most desert-adapted, such as pronghorn, Chacoan peccary, gerenuk, addax, and Grevy's zebra.  In the center of this rough loop is a habitat of African wild dogs, as well as an artificial mountain for desert bighorn (no one will ever suggest that this mountain is even comparable to the majestic exhibit for this species at The Living Desert, but it seems to meet the animals needs).

Also here, visitors can get their first experience with one of LA's signature zoo features - the round house.  These structures are found all over the zoo grounds, tucked away in little corners, sometimes featured more prominently.  Each round house is a roughly semi-circular loop of caging in which visitors stand in the center, being mostly surrounded by animals.  Sometimes the loop is one large enclosure, sometimes divided into multiple habitats.  These are sometimes considered one of the older, more dated relics of the zoo and not everyone is a far.  I enjoyed them very much, provided that the occupants were of an approriate size.  I think what I enjoyed was the unexpected thrill of not knowing what I'd find in them.  Some held birds, such as turacos and curassows.  Some held mammals, such as primates of various sizes, small carnivores, hyraxes, even very small ungulates.  Each felt like an intimate little encounter, removed from the rest of the zoo.

I'll continue with the tour of the Los Angeles Zoo tomorrow!

Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Garden

In Defense of Leaning

"If you have time to lean, you have time to clean..."

Ray Kroc, the American entrepreneur who is responsible for turning McDonalds from a small hamburger stand to a globe-straddling behemoth, if often cited as the originator of this quote.  It's been a beloved staple of managers ever since.  The message is clear - if you're on the clock, you should be doing something.  Get busy.  At the very least, look busy.

In a zoo or aquarium, there is always lots of do, and yes, much of it involves cleaning (and not just the enclosures).  There are floors to sweep, supplies to organize, paperwork to do, and projects to research.  All very important work.  Especially as an entry-level keeper new on the job, there were days when I felt like I ran myself ragged trying to keep up with all of the chores I had to do.

What I later learned was, sometimes the secret to being a good keeper to not do anything for a while.  Sometimes, the trick is just to sit and watch your animals. 

If you're only interacting with animals when you're servicing their habitats, feeding them, or training and enriching them, you don't know what's really going on with them.  You don't know what they are doing or how they are behaving for most of their day.  Many species can be pretty skittish and not come out when you're too close or otherwise taking up their attention. They may be in hiding, or just completely zeroed in on you.  You might miss signs of an illness or injury because the animal doesn't emerge from its nest box until you're gone.  Two animals might be fighting often, but you don't see it because they're so keyed in on you when you're nearby.  That weird noise or limp or whatever that you thought might be a one-off while you were caring for the animals?  Maybe it's really doing it all the time.

The point is, the more time you spend observing the animals, the more information you have about them.  The more information you have, the better care that you'll be able to provide.  Ideally, you want to vary things up, not always having these sessions at the same time of day or in the same circumstances (busy vs slow, early vs late, sunny vs rainy) to get a more complete picture of what your animals are up to.

So go ahead, indulge yourself and lean a little - maybe on the railing at the front of the exhibit (from which you can also answer questions for the public!), or from a discreet place behind the scenes.  You're not slacking.  You're taking some time to familiarize yourself with your charges and be a better keeper.

That cluttered storage closet can wait.

The End of the Beginning at Jurong

I've traveled pretty extensively within the United States for the sole purpose of going to a specific zoo, sometimes specifically to see a single species.  I've never travelled internationally for that purpose, however.  International travel is much more difficult and expensive, and while I'll certainly tack on a zoo or two on the infrequent occasions when I go abroad, I've never planned a trip expressly for that purpose.

There are only three countries that I can think of for which I might be tempted to organize a trip with the primary goal of going to see zoos.  The United Kingdom, home to the history-rich London Zoo, Whipsnade, and Gerald Durrell's facility in Jersey, to say nothing of other great collections.  Germany, home to many of the world's finest and most historically significant zoos.  And Singapore.

Singapore, a city which is also an independent nation at the tip of the Malaysia Peninsula, is home to four excellent zoos that, together, make up the Mandai Wildlife Group, formerly known as Wildlife Reserves Singapore.  There is the excellent conventional zoo, the River Wonders, and the nocturnal-themed Night Safari.  There is also the facility that I've always been the most fascinated in.  As of last week, it no longer exists.

Founded in 1971, Jurong Bird Park was the largest bird collection in Asia; it was rivaled only by Germany's Walsrode Bird Park.  Its 50 acres were filled with a variety of birdlife found in few other collections on earth spread throughout multiple gorgeous aviaries - 5,000 individuals of 400 species at one count.  Half a dozen species each of penguins and pelicans, massive flocks of flamingos and other colonial birds, and the only Philippine eagles on display outside of their native islands were among the stars here.  Pictures that I saw of elevated walkways snaking through lush aviaries and over cascading waterfalls (the tallest of which was 35 meters)  made a distinct impression on me.  It's a park that can best be described with superlatives - the biggest this, the tallest that, the most of this, the first to do that.  The grounds themselves are home to a variety of wild animals from smooth-coated otters to colugos, the bizarre gliding mammals sometimes known as "flying lemurs."  And to think that we have to make do with squirrels...

The Jurong story isn't quite ending.  The birds are all being moved to a new facility, to be called Bird Paradise, closer to the rest of the Mandai Wildlife Reserves.  Together, they will form one massive complex of wildlife attractions that will only enhance Singapore's reputation as a zoological mecca.  I'm sure that, at some point, I'll make my way to see it, and I know that I'll find it spectacular.  Since the park was first built in the 1970s, so much as been learned about avian husbandry and welfare that can be incorporated into the new facilities.

At the same time, part of me is sad that I never go to see Jurong itself in its storied, legendary glory.  It's like a little piece of history is closed off now, that I won't be able to experience.  Seeing birds is one thing.  Experiencing an institution is entirely another.

 

Species Fact Profile: California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus)

                                                        California Condor

                                                Gymnogyps californianus (Shaw, 1797)

Range: Historically occurred throughout North America’s Pacific coast, from southern Canada into Mexico.  By the mid-20^th century regulated to California.  Extinct in the wild in 1987, but since reintroduced to California, Arizona, and Utah, with additional reintroduction sites planned  

Habitat:  Rocky Shrubland, Oak Savanna, Coniferous Forest, usually found in association with cliffs or large trees, which serve as nest sites

Diet:   Carrion (primarily larger mammals, including marine mammals)

Social Grouping: Not inherently social, or flocking, but have some social structure and pecking order at gatherings

Reproduction: Reach sexual maturity at 6 years old (usually first breeding at 8 years old).  Males perform displays for females, with the head turning bright red and the neck feathers puffed out, then spreading the wings and approaching the female.  If she accepts, she will lower her head.  They usually may pair for life.  Nest on simple scrapes in caves.  Do not nest communally, and will defend nest site aggressively.  Female lays a single bluish-white egg every other year, from January through April.  Eggs weigh 280 grams, measure 9-12 centimeters long by 6-7 centimeters wide.  If the egg is lost, the parents will double-clutch and lay a replacement.  Incubation 53-60 days.  Chicks may take up to a week to completely hatch.  Covered with fuzzy gray down until they reach adult size.  Able to fly at 5-6 months old, but usually remain with parents until second year

Lifespan: 50 Years

      Conservation Status: IUCN Critically Endangered.  CITES Appendix I.  USFWS Endangered.

• Body length 110-140 centimeters, with a wingspan of 2.5-3 meters (largest wingspan of any North American bird), with unverified reports of spans of 3.5 meters.  Weigh 7-14 kilograms (8-9 on average).  Unlike many birds of prey, females of this species are smaller than males.  Beak is sharp and powerful; unlike Old World vultures, talons are straight and blunt, more suitable for walking than they are for grasping
• Sexes alike, with uniform black plumage except for a large triangular white patch on the underside of each wing.  The feet and legs are gray.  The head and neck are bare of feathers (except for sparse black feathers on the forehead), with skin color varying from yellow to red-orange, with a black ruff of feathers around the base of the neck.  The bill is ivory-colored.  Juveniles are mottled brown with grayish heads, obtaining adult coloration at 4-5 years of age
• Only calls being hisses and grunts, inaudible unless close
• Some difficulty in gaining flight (they lack large sternums), but once aloft than they soar for miles without flapping their wings, reaching speeds of 90 kilometers per hour and heights of 4,600 meters.  May travel up to 250 kilometers in search of food (not migratory, but occupy large home ranges with preferred roosting spots).  Prefer to roost up high (on cliff ledges, in trees) so that they can take to the air easily again (spend more of their time roosting than flying).  Use thermals to soar        
• Bathe frequently and may spend hours each day preening.  Defecate on their legs (urohidrosis) to cool themselves when they are hot     
• In October 2021, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park reported the hatching of two unfertilized eggs through parthenogenesis, a first for the species.  Genetic testing confirmed that the chicks had no genetic contribution from a male (chicks hatched decades earlier, genetic status was just confirmed in 2021 – one died at age 2, one at age 8, indicating possible health problems)
• Adults have no significant natural predators.  Ravens may take eggs, and golden eagles and bears may take young condors.  If threatened, they will regurgitate at the predator.
• No sense of smell, so prey is detected by sight.  Keep an eye out for smaller vultures, which may circle a carcass but be waiting for a condor to come and open it with its more powerful beak.  May gorge themselves and then go as long as two weeks between feeds
• Only living member of the genus Gymnogyps (previously placed in Vultur with the Andean condor).  Genus name translates to “Naked Vulture,” species name references California.  “Condor” comes from the Quechua name for the Andean condor
• Pleistocene range saw this genus/species widespread over North America, as far east as Florida, as well as on Cuba.  No recognized living subspecies, but some fossils may represent extinct subspecies.  Range is believed to have contracted in the modern area with the loss of prehistoric megafauna food base and changes in climate
• Species was naturally rare due to limited range, slow reproductive rate.  Decline was driven by poaching, lead poisoning (from eating animals which contained lead shot), DDT poisoning, collision with power lines, loss of habitat, and egg collection
• Population declined to the point that the decision was made to capture all remaining California condors and bring them into captivity for an emergency breeding program, which was met with considerable opposition from animal rights groups.  The last wild condor was captured in 1987, being one of 22 members of the species in existence (read more here).
• Captive breeding facilities were provided at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and Los Angeles Zoo.  Staff used double-clutching to increase chick production, raising some chicks with puppets to prevent them from imprinting on humans
• In 1988, trial releases of female Andean condors took place in southern California.  Based on their success, those birds were recaptured (later re-released in South America). 
• In 1991 and 1992, the first releases of California condors occurred in Big Sur, Pinnacles National Park, and Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge, all in California.  An Arizona release site was established in 1996 at Vermilion Cliffs, near the Grand Canyon.  Numbers are increasing, both through births and the reintroduction of additional captive-bred individuals
• Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act of 2008 requires hunters to use non-lead ammunition within condor range.  Captive condors are trained to avoid power-lines prior to release.  Biologists supplement release sites with “clean” carcasses to help avoid lead contamination.  Condor Watch volunteers monitor footage of released birds
•  The species was culturally significant to many Native Americans; the Wiyot of California believe the condor recreated humanity after they were wiped out by a flood, the Chumash believe it was once a white bird that burned itself black by flying too close to a fire, and the Yokut said that it caused the lunar cycle by eating the moon, and its wings caused eclipses.  Condor bones, paintings, and feather headdresses have been found in Native American graves
• Species was encountered by Lewis and Clark during their voyage to the Pacific, near the Columbia River.  In 2005, a condor appeared on the commemorative state quarter of California, with John Muir

The Center of it All

Reading Through the Lion Gate, Gary Bruce's excellent history of the Berlin Zoo, I was struck by how... different the feeling I got from that old Berlin Zoo was compared to the feeling I get from my own zoo.  Or any zoo that I've been to, including the largest and most famous.  Berlin's zoo wasn't just an amazing collection of animals.  It was, in many ways, the heart of the city.

The Zoo had, at a time, the largest restaurant in Germany, with more staff employed in the restaurant alone than in some mid-sized American zoos today.  It was the site of concerts and lectures.  It was a popular meeting place.  Its art and architecture was some of the finest, most elaborate, and most discussed in the city, from the delicate friezes of the Antelope House to the towering temple of the Elephant House.  It was, in short, the social and cultural hub of the city.  The Zoo, to many Germans of the era, was Berlin.

Photo Credit: Manual Cohen Photography

It's hard to think of any US zoo taking on a similar role in the psyche of a city.  

Part of it is a reflection of the changing times.  We as a society are less civic-minded with less focus on our city institutions.  Travel is much easier and cheaper, meaning that we can move around more easily to see other attractions in other cities, states, and countries.  We are all connected online and on our phones, which means that we may have deeper, more meaningful connections to people hundreds of miles away than we are our close neighbors.  Even the most famous zoos of our age don't seem to have the cultural pull that the Berlin Zoo had in those days.

It makes me a little nostalgic for something I never saw.

Sure, the mission of the zoo has changed over the years, with more emphasis on conservation and education than on civic glory and amusement.  And yes, mobilization and globalization cut both ways, which is why on a busy day I can see people from several states or countries coming through the gates.  But it would be special to have our institution... I don't know... elevated.  To get the sense that we weren't just another local attraction, but that we were an institution.  An icon.  One that was so closely tied to the identity of our community as to be almost indistinguishable.

An argument could be made (and is made, by some), the zoos and aquariums should focus solely on their mission - wildlife conservation, education - and that anything deviating from that message (say, a concert series) distracts from the mission.  It is true that when you expand yourself into a cultural sphere there is always the potential for problems.  I remember one recent US zoo which found itself dealing with angry social media posts after hosting a drag story time last year - besides the hostility that drag performances seem to instill in some people, there were other folks asking what possible connection there was between drag queens and animals to begin with.  Could the zoo have maintained a little more peace and quiet by "staying in their lane" as some community members suggested? Sure.  So why bother with it?

It isn't a question of vanity, or self-importance, or wanting to be taken seriously.  It's a sense that the future success of the zoo and its mission will always be dependent on community support.  When the zoo itself is front and center in the minds and hearts of the community, even if it's for something largely not related to animals, the mission follows.  Granted, the zoo should never do something that's contrary to its mission just to get attention or funding.  But by expanding its appeal to people who might not at first glance be too interested in animals, the zoo can broaden its base of support and better position itself to carry out the goals that are central to its purpose.

Book Review: Through the Lion Gate - A History of the Berlin Zoo

At the beginning of the Second World War, the Berlin Zoo was the jewel of the German capital, to say nothing of the most revered and highly esteemed zoo in the world.  At the end of the War, it was a charnel house and a wasteland, the bombed out ruin of what had once been one of the most magnificent zoos ever built.  The story of the birth, growth, death, and rebirth of that institution is told captivatingly by Gary Bruce in his Through the Lion Gate: A History of the Berlin Zoo.

While every zoo has its animal stories, not every zoo has the political and sociological stories of the Berlin Zoo, and it is upon these themes that Bruce focuses most heavily (I myself would have enjoyed reading a bit more about the animals, not instead of the stories that he does share, but in addition to).  The historical emphasis is a bit uneven, with most of the telling being focused on two major periods that make Berlin and other German zoos somewhat unique historically.  

First, there is the story of the anthropological exhibits, first conceived by the German animal dealer and collector Carl Hagenbeck, which brought peoples from around the world to Berlin and other European cities as essentially living museum displays (or, if you want to be blunt, as human zoo exhibits).  The stories of how these diverse people came to Germany, what their lives there were like, and how they experienced their travels is related with considerable detail.  I think that too often there is an attempt to brush away these stories as quirks of history instead of examining how they related to the broader context of the times that they were apart of.  Bruce does an excellent job of analyzing this period of the Zoo's history with respect and introspect.

Secondly, Bruce (using extensive access to archives not previously analyzed by historians) explores the relationship between the Zoo and the Nazi Party, including its eventual expulsion of the Jewish members who helped build the Berlin Zoo into the incredible institution which had become the envy of the world.  Lutz Heck, the Zoo's director (described in The Zookeeper's Wife, portrayed less-accurately in its film adaptation) was an early member of the Party and placed his facility at the disposal of Hitler's regime.  From banning Jewish members to trying to emphasis Germany's perceived superiority through the "recreation" of extinct primordial "pure" German animals, Heck was an enthusiastic participant in the ideology of the Reich.  Not surprisingly, in the years after the War his legacy has become an increasingly problematic one for the Zoo.

Less emphasis is given on the immediate postwar era, when the rebuilt Berlin Zoo had to compete with the upstart rival across the Wall in Russian-occupied East Berlin (though The Zookeepers' War by Jan Mohnhaupt is an excellent recount of those years).

Compared to other zoo history books which I've read, such as William Bridge's Gathering of Animals (Bronx Zoo) and Isobel Charman's The Zoo (London Zoo), there was less focus on the animal side of operations in this book that I'd expected.  This is a bit of a shame, because as one of the world's largest and richest zoos, Berlin's collection saw a variety of species seldom or never before seen in Europe, and it would have been interesting to learn more about those animals, how they came to Germany and how they lived there.  Berlin is a unique zoo, historically speaking, and perhaps it's better that Bruce focuses on that uniqueness.  

A laundry list of interesting animals and cute stories would be very fun for a zoo enthusiast to read.  At the same time, it might also distract from the story that needs to be told - how, like any other cultural institution, a zoo can reflect its nation's identity and politics.  And sometimes, that reflection can show something pretty dark.

Through the Lion Gate: A History of the Berlin Zoo at Amazon.com

Minority Perspective

It's a common cliché that people go into the zoo and aquarium field because they like animals more than they like people.  That cliché is often true.  I generally do.

There's a world of difference, however, between preferring to be around animals over people and not caring about people at all.  Many of the animal care professionals I know are very empathetic folks.  That said, our field has, in the past (and present) not always been as responsive or aware of the experiences of all members of our community.  We don't always do the best job of letting all voices be heard over the background noise of our profession.

I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce a new blog, The Minority Perspective, shared by the Minorities in Aquarium & Zoo Science.  This first piece is by Shannon Farmer, a Black zoo educator involved in conservation outreach.  I hope that some of the readers here will enjoy her outlook on the field, which will be different from mine based on different life experiences.  

Zoos and aquariums, I've always believed, are for everyone - people from all walks of life, all socio-economic statuses, all races and religions and sexes and gender identities.  All of those people, be they visitors or employees, will experience this incredible, animal-filled world of ours differently.  All of those people have voices worth hearing and stories worth sharing.

The Minority Perspective