Dr. Mike Cranfield, the Gorilla Doctor

On August 28, 2023, one of the most remarkable zoo veterinarians passed away in Baltimore, Maryland.  Dr. Mike Cranfield, former vet of The Baltimore Zoo, had a career spanning decades.  Some of his earliest years in the field were marked by his groundbreaking work studying assisted reproduction, embryo transfers, and cryogenics in endangered nonhuman primates, helping to pave the way for reproductive technologies that are still used to help save wildlife.  More recently, he spent decades serving as leader of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, providing expert vet care for one of the world's rarest species (the project later expanded its purview to cover other endangered gorillas elsewhere in Africa).  Besides his scientific and veterinary accomplishments, Dr. Cranfield left behind a vast network of colleagues, students, mentees, and friends.  He will be missed.

Only Chance to See

Coming fresh off the news of the closure of the Delbridge Museum at the Great Plains Zoo...

The other day, I took a break from a non-zoo trip to Boston to visit one of my favorite places in the city, the stuffily-named Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.  The Museum is a fairly small, old-fashioned cabinet of curiosities compared to the fancier, glitzier natural history museums out there, which might be why its my favorite.  There isn't really room for fancy dioramas, but I swear, every inch of the space is stuffed with specimens, sometimes almost jumbled as a heap.

The back few rooms are home to an amazing assortment of taxidermized mammals, and it was there that I spent 90% of my all-too-brief visit.

I think what I love the most about these old galleries is that they provide me with the only chance I will likely have of seeing many of these animals in the flesh - even if the flesh isn't actually there, and the skins aren't moving.  Other guests may have been enraptured by the gaping maw of the hippo or the snarling visage of the tiger.  I was spellbound by the extremely rare animals which are not found in any zoos in the country, if not the world.

I was admiring a Sumatran rhino - itself a rhino I've only ever seen once in real life, and doubt I ever will again - when right next to it I was gobsmacked to see the fifth member of the rhino family, one that numbers in the double-digits in the wild and may very well be extinct in my lifetime, the Javan rhino.  Also on display were an indri - the world's largest lemur which has proven extremely difficult to keep alive in zoos -, the giant otter shrew (which I only know from reading Gerald Durrell's first book of animal collecting, The Overloaded Ark), and the quirky little marsupial anteater, the numbat (which, now that I've seen a platypus, is the Australian mammal that I'm most desperate to see in person). 

 And that, of course, doesn't count the extinct animals there, whether they be relatively recent losses (ivory-billed woodpecker, thylacine) or long gone (prehistoric reptiles and mammals).

Seeing wild animals in the wild has always been one of my biggest pleasures in life.  I've always loved zoos for giving me the chance to experience animals that I may not be able to see in the wild.  And, I've come to discover, I love natural history museums for giving me the chance to experience animals that I may not be able to see in the zoo.

Species Fact Profile: Pere David's Deer (Elaphurus davidianus)

                                                                Pere David's Deer (Milu)

                                                       Elaphurus davidianus (A. Milne-Edwards, 1866)

Range: Historical range northeastern and east0central China.  Species became extinct in the wild around 200 AD, but survived in the Imperial Hunting Park.  Today found in two national parks – Beijing Milu Park and Dafeng Milu Natural Reserve

Habitat:  (Assumed natural habitat) Lowland wetlands and marshlands

Diet: Grasses, Aquatic Plants

Social Grouping: Males form harems of females

Reproduction:  Breeding season is in June, at which time males join the females.  Estrus cycle 20 days, may have multiple cycles per breeding season.  Gestation is 280 days, with 1 (sometimes 2) fawns born in April or May (possible embryonic diapause), about 11 kilograms at birth.   Weaned at 10-11 months old.   Females are sexually mature at 2-2.5 years old (but can be as young as 14 months), males about 1 year later.

Lifespan: 20 Years

      Conservation Status: IUCN Extinct in the Wild

• Length 183-216 centimeters, with an additional 22-35 centimeters tail (pretty long for a deer).  About 1.2 meters tall at the shoulder.  Males weigh 215 kilograms, females 160.  Males differ from females in having shaggier throats.  The tail is relatively long.  The skin between the hooves is naked.  Hooves make a clicking noise with the animal in walking
• Pelage is red to red-brown in the summer, with a black medial stripe on the shoulders, turning to a gray-brown with dark flanks and throat in the winter.  Fawns have white spotting
• Males have antlers that shed annual in December or January, with new ones starting to grow in immediately after shedding, reaching full size in May.  Antlers are 55-80 centimeters long on the curve, fork close to the skin.  The long prong is very straight, the front prong branches off with the prongs facing backwards
• Males compete for access to females during rut, both through displays and actual combat (biting, using antlers, rearing onto hind legs and boxing).  Males maintain harems of females, but often have trouble holding them for too long because they do not eat while defending a harem and as such lose body condition quickly (once leaving the harem, they resume feeding and often put weight back on quickly
• Very fond of water, swim well and often wade up to their shoulders.
• Unknown what the natural predators were due to centuries of semi-captivity before being reintroduced, but presumably were tigers and leopards
• Only member of the genus Elaphurus (but some taxonomists feel it should be part of Cervus).  Genus name comes from the Greek for “Deer-tail,” species name honors Armand David
• Also called milu.  Chinese nickname for the species was sze pu shiang, or “the four unlikes,” as the animal supposedly had the neck of a camel, the tail of a donkey, the antlers of a deer, and the hooves of a cow (sometimes different animals or body parts are mentioned, like the head of a horse).  In legend, the animal helped the sage Jiang Ziya found the Zhou Dynasty
• Species came to the attention of the west in 1865 when Père Armand David, a French missionary, peered over the wall of the Imperial Hunting Park near Peking and saw the deer, which at this point were likely already extinct in the wild.  After securing skin and bones for science, a dozen individuals from the herd were later sent to Europe (History detailed here)
• In 1894, a flood destroyed the Imperial Hunting Park, killing many of the deer; those that survived were eaten during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.  Species was extinct in China by 1939
• The surviving deer in Europe (18 in total, 11 of which bred) were gathered by the 11^th Duke of Bedford, Herbrand Russell, and allowed to breed in safety on his estate at Woburn Abbey.
• · Zoo-bred deer were sent back to China in 1956.  In 1985, a herd was reintroduced to Beijing Milu Park, with another herd being formed in 1986 at Dafeng Milu Park, bulk of animals coming from Whipsnade Wild Animal Park (Zoological Society of London).  By the end of the millennium, there were hundreds in the wild in China, numbering nearly 3000 by 2020.
• Has been introduced to New Zealand for farming and hunting, sometimes hybridized with red deer, producing fertile offspring

So Long, Elon

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has announced that, for reasons I can only speculate about, they are leaving X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.  Normally I wouldn't call this particularly newsworthy, but I did love their sign-off (if you know, you know!).  Be funnier if they did have dolphins, though...

The Burning Basket

A few years ago, a conversation was being held to determine the fate of the Kiwikiu, or Maui parrotbill, an endangered species of Hawaiian honeycreeper.  Much of Hawaii's endemic birdlife has been lost, first when Polynesians arrived on the islands, and much of what remained after Europeans arrived.  Now, habitat loss, diseases, and an influx of invasive species threatens to finish what remains.  With fewer than 150 birds in the world, a proposal was made to pull at least some of the birds and relocate them to conservation breeding centers in the mainland US.

Much as was the case for the California condor, there was a backlash against the idea.  Whereas the condor captive-breeding protest was focused on the concept of the birds being in captivity, the Kiwikiu move was opposed on the grounds that local ornithologists didn't want the birds to leave Hawaii.  Part of the concern was about logistics - death in transit, failure to thrive in zoos outside their range - which are all legitimate concerns.  A lot of it seems to be grounded in culture.  "Place is so important because it's where our culture is rooted, and the same thing for the birds," said Bret Nainoa Mossman, a native Hawaiian ornithologist who spearheaded opposition to the move.  

One Mosquito Bite Can Kill This Endangered Hawaiian Bird - Now Officials Face Tough Choices

Photo Credit: Zach Pezzillo

Unlike the case of the condor, in this case birds were not moved.  There are no parrotbills off of Maui at this time.

Only problem is, Maui is now on fire.  They say don't leave all your eggs in one basket.  But now that basket is on fire.

From what I've heard, the captive facility on Maui that currently houses the birds - managed by the San Diego Zoo - seems to have been spared the flames, despite a close call.  Still, I feel the call was too close.  I can understand Mossman's appreciation of the cultural importance of preserving Hawaii's birdlife, but I can't agree or support his position.  It's elevating those feelings over the survival of the species.  It also seems to disregard that the ultimate goal wouldn't be to create more parrotbills for exhibition in the mainland - it would be to remove birds from danger, and to produce more birds so that the species can be restored in Hawaii and continue to play a role in Hawaiian indigenous culture.  There should still definitely be breeding and conservation programs in Maui - the risk would just be spread out a bit, so an entire species won't be lost in one cataclysmic event.

We (and the Kiwikiu) were lucky this time.  We might not be lucky again.

From the News: Spotless Giraffe Born

Spotless Giraffe Born at Tennessee Zoo, Believed To Be Only One in the World

Giraffes are one of the most popular, widely-kept zoo animals in the world, and are bred with considerable frequency.  As many as are housed and born in zoos, it's not surprising that an occasional unique calf in born.  Recently, Brights Zoo in Limestone, Tennessee, welcomed an extraordinary calf - one that, instead of the usual net-like pattern for which giraffes are known, was born one solid color (instead of being spotless, it could almost be said that the animal is one giant spot).  The female calf is believed to be the first solid-color giraffe born in over fifty years.

The ancients named the giraffe Camelopard, or "camel leopard", referring to an animal shaped like a camel but spotted like a leopard.  I wonder what they would have made of this baby.

Sioux Falls and the Motionless Zoo

In the 1980s, Dr. Theodore Reed, Director of the Smithsonian National Zoo, popularized his concept of the BioPark.  The BioPark would be the combination of a zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, and natural history museum, so basically my four favorite things in the world all wrapped up in one place.  The concept has always enchanted me, but never really seems to have caught on.  There are some zoos which are combined with aquariums, or botanical gardens, but in most of these cases, the aquatic or botanical collection seems small and tacked on, sort of an afterthought.  And I've rarely seen a zoo lean into the natural history side of the concept.

One such facility, which has always intrigued me and which I'd been very excited to visit, is the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  To give it its proper name, it's actually the Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum of Natural History... but I guess that's slated to change soon.  For the past forty years, the zoo has housed over 150 mounted specimens, originally collected by hunter-businessman Henry Brockhouse ("Delbridge" was the lawyer who bought the collection at an estate sale and deonated it to the city to enjoy).  As was common in that era, specimens were preserved using toxic chemicals, which can be hazardous to humans.  The decision has been made to close the Delbridge Museum and ship out the collection in the near future.

Zoo closes Delbridge Museum

Zoo details what led up to Delbridge Museum closure, what's next

Many local residents are sad to see the collection go - as am I.  While I greatly prefer seeing live animals, both in the zoo and in their natural environment, seeing preserved specimens also has great educational value.  The museum also gives visitors the chance to see animals that the zoo does not/never will have, such as giant panda and walrus, in an educational setting.  I still hope to visit the zoo at some point in the future, but I'll admit, I'm a fair bit less excited now.  I feel like it's about to lose something that truly made this a unique facility.  Sort of like how I felt when the National Zoo closed its unique, incredible Invertebrate House.  Granted, the fate of each, individual specimen hasn't been decided yet - maybe a few can be saved for historical/legacy purposes in Sioux Falls, while others could find new homes at other museums?

The BioPark concept won't be completely lost at Great Plains, however - the zoo will be adding an aquarium and insectarium in the near future.  Lots of places have done that, though - how many zoos have had something like the Delbridge Museum?  I'm sorry to see it go.

The Passing of Toki

Yesterday, the Miami Seaquarium announced the death of Tokitae/Lolita, the orca who had been at the center of so much controversy over her life.  Toki had been slated for relocation to a sea pen in her birth waters off the Pacific Northwest, a move which delighted some, happy to see her restored to (close enough to) her natural habitat, and enraging others, who were sure that the move would kill the elderly, change-averse animal.

We’ll never know, at any rate. 

I know that this animal touched the lives of a lot of people over the past several years, from the indigenous communities who felt bound to her to the keepers and trainers who were with her day in and out.  Her passing closes a major chapter in the lives of many people.  It also closes a chapter for the Seaquarium, which has almost been defined by this animal (often in a negative light) for so long.

My condolences to all who knew her, cared for her, and wanted what was best for her - even if they couldn’t agree as to what that was.

Documentary Review: Tiger 24 - The Making of a Man-Eater

Warren Pereira set out to make a straightforward nature documentary about tigers.  Little did he know that his star subject was about to hijack the plot and steer it towards the true crime genre.

For years, the undisputed king of India's Ranthambhore National Park was Tiger- 24.   Known to the rangers and local people as Ustad, the male Bengal tiger occupied a swath of territory that bordered the park and included a trail which local people used to access a temple for worship.  A tiger is an intimidating animal under any circumstance, but park rangers and villagers alike had good reason to be extra fearful of Ustad.  The animal had already been implicated in the deaths of three humans.

After Ustad was deemed to be responsible for the killing of a fourth human in five years, park guard Rampal Saini, the local authorities decided enough was enough.  Historically, this would have been the point at which a hunter was drafted to go out and slay the tiger.  Mindful of the tiger's status as both an endangered species and as the national animal of India, a different approach was taken.  Ustad was instead captured and relocated to a zoo in India.  If he had been shot and killed, the story, while upsetting, would have ended then and there.  With the animal still alive, however, there remained the possibility of undoing his removal.  A vocal group of activists dedicated themselves to having the tiger returned to Ranthambhore.

Tiger 24: The Making of a Man-Eater is a fascinating case study of man's relationship with apex predators.  On the one hand you have idealistic folks who want this individual tiger to have the quality of life that he always had, who argue that fatalities such as that of Rampal Saini are the price of living alongside large carnivores, or who question whether Ustad could be definitively pinned to the attack.  On the other hand, you have local people who wonder how many times that they are expected to sacrifice friends or family to the same cat (note: I did feel slightly icky with the scenes of Pereira interviewing the family of the latest victim - it just felt somewhat exploitative).  

I will give Pereira credit for trying to balance the documentary by bringing in both sides for (heated) discussions, though I do feel that he is somewhat biased towards the pro-release side.  Maybe it's the zookeeper in me being a little defensive, but I did find the pro-release side to be somewhat lacking in their arguments, showing a considerable amount of naivety.  I got something of a chuckle when one tiger biologist, upon hearing that the activists were upset that a full forensic analysis wasn't done of Rampal Saini's remains to 100% conclusively prove that Ustad was the killer, went on an irate tirade about the ridiculousness of expecting such a thing from the underfunded, understaffed Forest Department.  More irritatingly, it just didn't seem like they really understood tiger biology.  To me, when I heard that another male tiger had moved into Ustad's territory and paired up with his mate, that was the end of the matter.  The longer that Ustad was out of his habitat, the less likely he would have a place to return to.

Pereira is correct, in the end, when he states that it is possible for different people to look at the same information and come to different conclusions, all while wanting what is best both for Ustad, Ranthambhore, and the local peoples.  Conservation, animal rights, and human safety are all very emotional topics, and it can be impossible to leave emotion out of any discussions pertaining to them.  I'm not surprised that things got heated.

Patience is a Virtue

Well, someone is angling for the title of "favorite child."  The Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, NY shared this video of one of their Amur tiger cubs trying to show off to mom "Zeya" just how fierce he is.  After a while of watching mom indulge in these shenanigans, the cub's twin sister decided it was time to come to the defense.  Behaviors like this are pretty cute to watch, but they also have practical purposes, allowing cubs to practice pouncing, swatting, and chasing skills that they will need later in life, either to secure prey or to defend territories.  It's good to have a patient audience to practice with...

Small Town, ZooSA

It had only taken me about an hour to get through Lehigh Valley Zoo.  I'd considered it a pleasant enough hour - it let me break up a drive, stretch my legs, and see some animals.  None of them were animals that I hadn't seen before, though a few were fairly uncommon and unfamiliar to me.  This was towards the beginning of this year, and it was my first new facility of 2023.  I already had plans in place to visit several other, larger institutions - for work or for fun - over the next few months, so Lehigh was kind of an afterthought to me.  Enjoyable enough, but maybe not super memorable or exciting.

Now, if I'd actually lived in this town - or in the immediate surroundings - and Lehigh Valley Zoo was "my" zoo growing up, the one I went to regularly, either on field trips or family visits? I'd have loved that little place fiercely.  I'd have dueled to the death any smug blogger who maligned it, or who dared to make a comparison to bigger zoos elsewhere in the region with more impressive exhibits or collections.  

There's a charm in a small town zoo - one which is hours away from another, bigger zoo, one that's tucked away in a city park, or in some former farmland.  Or at least, there can be charm, if they do it right.  A small zoo that focuses on smaller animals in suitable, appropriate habitats, with maybe a small number of the bigger guys as a main attraction, can make for a wonderful visit.  It doesn't matter if the animals featured aren't super rarities, or are species found at tons of other zoos.  If you live in that small town and don't go to the big cities very often, you won't have seen all of those other zoos, so that wallaby, that meerkat, that lemur is just as exotic and fascinating to you as some super-rarity at a megazoo.  Likewise, it can be fun to take a break from the theming - the fake termite mounds and ruined temples and what not, to forget any attempt to transport you to a different world, and just enjoy a serene walk in a shaded, tree-filled park down paved walkways, meandering among the animals.  At a small zoo, there's less rush, less of a feeling that you need to run, as fast as you can, if you're going to see everything.

Especially if you go on a weekday, or outside of the summer, you can have a degree of peace and intimacy and quiet that's hard to replicate at larger zoos.

I did feel that at Lehigh Valley Zoo, where I was the only visitor I saw that day.  I've also felt it at Bergen County Zoo, Salisbury Zoo, Mill Mountain Zoo, Oglebay's Good Zoo, and Brandywine Zoo - though the latter doesn't quite fit, as Wilmington is a bit larger of a town, and is virtually in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

They aren't big.  They aren't flashy.  They don't have as many of the must-see unique animals.  But they can provide excellent habitats for animals that are within their capabilities, and can make meaningful contributions to zoo-based conservation programs that way.  More importantly, they can be places to make memories and establish connections with animals and with nature, far from the madding crowd, as it were.  And moments like that are when conservationists and animal-lovers are born.

Zoo Review: Lehigh Valley Zoo

It took me quite a while to finally make my way to this small, mid-Atlantic zoo - because it was easily one of the more remote facilities I've visited.  Tucked away in the hills of central Pennsylvania, nestled in the bend of a creek, it was not an easy place to find.  Its remoteness, I gathered, was part of the point.  The zoo traces its origins back to 1906, when local industrialist Harry Clay Trexler began buying up farmland - over 1100 acres before he died - to create an eastern game preserve for bison, elk, and deer (mindful of this heritage, the road that the zoo sits on is Game Preserve Road).  The construction of the actual zoo itself didn't begin until the 1970s.

Today, the zoo is roughly divided into two portions.  The largest part by far is the original Trexler Nature Preserve.  Visitors for Jordan Creek in their car and drive off into open ranges grazed by herds of bison and elk.  The remainder of the grounds (about 30 acres) is a small-to-mid-sized, conventional zoo.

The zoo is roughly circular in shape, with a looping path that leads past the exhibits.  The first that most visitors see upon entering is a pool for a small colony of African penguins - it's by no means the worst penguin colony I've seen, but I find it harder and harder to be impressed by small exhibits of small groups like this after having seen much larger colonies at other zoos, which provide a lot more opportunities to observe natural behavior.  The path then leads past a series of wood-and-wire enclosures for a variety of North American raptors, ravens, porcupines, and small carnivores, such as foxes and bobcats.  I was most drawn to this zoo by the chance to observe fishers, North American weasel-relatives that are perhaps most easily described as "tree-otters," which I've only seen once before (and inactive then).  The fisher that I saw here was very active and playful, and I spent a good amount of time watching it.  This section also holds one of the most attractive exhibits in the zoo, a spacious yard for Mexican gray wolves, which can be observed from a viewing blind.

From here, the path leads past a series of open hoofstock yards - nothing to compete with the spaciousness of the bison preserve, but perfectly serviceable.  Aoudad, or barbary sheep, have a mountain in their enclosure, though I was slightly frustrated by the poor viewing opportunities through the fencing.  Zebras, eland, scimitar-horned oryx, ostrich, kangaroos, and emus are also found on this trail.  Also present are another of the zoo's star species, Maasai giraffes, with the obligatory feeding deck.

The trail winds up with a small domestic area, a few more small enclosures of North American species (including rarely-seen ringtails, which I did not see on this visit), a lorikeet aviary, and a pool for North American river otters with stadium-seating.  There is also the small Reptile and Amphibian Discovery (RAD) Center, with a few terrariums of fairly common zoo reptile house species.  With that, you're back at the penguins and the exit.

At the time of my visit, the zoo was finishing up with its new Madagascar habitat, which will feature crowned lemurs and leopard tortoises.  I can't say that I found Lehigh Valley Zoo to exciting, and I don't know if I would repeat the trip out there anytime soon, though if I was again passing through I'd be sure to stop by and see what's changed (I admit that it was a cold day that I passed through on, so I was probably not seeing the place to its best advantage).  For the members of the local community, however - over an hour from Philadelphia, the nearest large zoo - it would definitely be a worthwhile community asset, especially when viewed in association with its unique game preserve.

Lehigh Valley Zoo

Flight of the Sihek

Zoos and aquariums do a lot of great conservation work, but historically there's been a struggle to convey those stories to the greater public.  I think that a major part of the challenge has been that some of the most critical conservation stories have involved species which might not be as familiar to the general public as lions, tigers, and pandas.  Take the story of the sihek, or Micronesian kingfisher.  It's one of the rarest birds in the world, driven to extinction in the wild by the invasive brown tree snake and only still in existence because of zoos and other breeding facilities.  Now, we are standing on the cusp of seeing that species restored to living wild.  

Sharing this story is more than a feel-good PR piece for zoos.  It's a reminder that we have a chance to save even the most imperiled of creatures - and that we have a responsibility to do so as well.

Raised by the Zoo

Many zookeepers are a fairly young group, often recruited right out of college, and I was no exception when I started in the field.  My first weeks walking around grounds at my first job, dressed in my brand new uniform, I'd see coworkers from other departments, folks that I hadn't met yet, slow down and study me as they'd walk by, trying to figure out what I was.  Another newbie keeper?  A high school intern?  A kid working concessions?  It was too hard for them to tell at that quick glance.

As young as I probably looked then, I started off in the zoo world even younger.  I was barely a preteen when I started volunteering.  I think I spent every free moment of my high school years at the zoo.  Things were a little less (well, a lot less) regulated back in those days, and I still can't believe some of the things that they let me get away with back then, or had me do.

Now, a decade and a half later, I look at entry level keepers and gasp to myself.  They're just kids!

But neither they - nor the young teen volunteers - are even the youngest faces I see when I walk around the back of the zoo.

It's not entirely uncommon to occasionally run into the children of zoo employees (I mean, those employees that aren't essentially children themselves) visiting their parents at work.  Some become fairly frequent visitors, to the point that I joke that they spend more time in the zoo than some of the animals do.  Especially at some of the smaller, privately-owned, unaccredited facilities that I've known and worked at, it's not uncommon for the zoo to become a family business, with kids working at the zoo at a very young age and being expected to take over from their parents when they grow up.  This was commonly how things were - and to a degree, still are - among animal handlers and other performers in circuses, and there has traditionally been quite a bit of overlap in the cultures of circuses and zoos.

It's kind of wild to spend time in the company of kids who, essentially, grew up in zoos.  I was once challenged by a very young girl to see which of us could name all of the world's crane species fastest (I maintain that I let her win).  One older man I've work with fondly recalled being chased screaming across his father's zoo by an angry male mandrill as a small child after it busted loose from its cage.  Another told me how he'd been sent to school with egg-salad sandwiches for lunch ostrich egg salad sandwiches.  When other kids accused him of lying about his lunch, he'd brought an entire hard-boiled ostrich egg to school the next day.  Another zoo director told me how his teen son, when he'd been much younger, had developed a special bond with a sick, elderly rhino, and would spend hours sitting in the barn with the rhino, talking to him to keep him company.  When I mentioned that story to the son, now a jaded mid-teen, the boy actually teared up a bit at the memory.

I was very curious as to what it would be like for those kids growing up among animals.  Would they fall head over heels in love with the animals?  Get bored or frustrated by their unconventional upbringing.  Or would the frequent exposure to animals leave them jaded?  I've known some folks who have followed their parents' footsteps and become keepers as well.  Others who've run and never looked back... or at the very least expressed zero interest in working with animals.  One zoo-man told me that it took a lot to impress his kids when they visited a zoo later on, as they'd become accustomed to up-close encounters and behind-the-scenes access. 

For myself, I considered my time at the zoo to be the most magical, memorable part of my high school years.  I can't imagine ever having grown disillusioned with it... and probably would have loved it if my introduction to life in the zoo had started a decade or so earlier.

The Flamingo Impression

I always appreciate it when I see the most disturbing thing I'm going to see in the day before 9AM.  It's good to know that the day should be relatively normal after that.

Species Fact Profile: African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus)

                              African Wild Dog/African Painted Wolf/Cape Hunting Dog

                                                       Lycaon pictus (Temminck, 1820)

Range: Historically distributed across much of sub-Saharan Africa, excluding only rainforests and very dry deserts.  Today very patchy distribution, mostly remaining in southern and south-eastern Africa.  Almost completely extirpated from West Africa

Habitat:  Short-grass plains, semi-desert, bushy savannah, upland forest

Diet: Primarily mid-sized antelope, sometimes larger (buffalo, eland) or smaller (hares, lizards) prey.  Rarely scavenge

Social Grouping: Packs of up to 30 individuals

Reproduction: Breeding is seasonal in southern Africa, year-round in East Africa.  Each pack consists of a dominant breeding pair, though sometimes other females may breed.   Litters of 10-11 (sometimes up to 21 – biggest litters of any canids) pups are born after a gestation period of 71-73 days in an underground den (i.e., aardvark burrow), where they remain for the first three months.  Sexual maturity reached at 2 years, but due to sexual suppression, few breed this young. 

Lifespan: 10 Years

      Conservation Status: IUCN Endangered.  USFWS Endangered.

• Largest African canid.  Head to body length 84-130 meters, 31-43 centimeters of tail.  Weight 18-28 kilograms.  Lightly built with long, slim legs and large, rounded ears.  Males are slightly heavier (3-7%)  than females.
• Coloration is a patchwork of irregular black, yellow, brown, and white blotches.  Almost all individuals have a yellow-brown head with a black mask, black ears, as well as a white tip to the tail.  Other than that, coat pattern varies widely and can be used to identify individual dogs    
• Hunt in packs, running down prey until a first dog is able to seize it.   A chase can last for several kilometers, with the dogs running 55 kilometers per hour.  Then, the rest of the pack grabs a hold and brings the prey animal to the ground, where it is disemboweled.  Packs sometimes split up to pursue multiple individual prey animals when hunting.  Hunting success is relatively high; 70% success, versus less than 25% for lions
• Lone wild dogs have extremely difficult time capturing their normal prey and an almost impossible time defending kills from other carnivores
• Packs form when small, same-sex groups (usually siblings) break off from their natal groups and merge with a same-sex group from another natal group.  Sometimes, two smaller mixed-sex packs merge.
• Very vocal with a number of unique vocalizations for complex communications.  Includes a bell-like cooing call, which is for contact, and a twittering birdlike call for rallying a pack
• Home range size can be as small as 50 square kilometers for a pack that is feeding young pups in a den to over 1300 square kilometers, very large for their body size.  Packs will infrequently but aggressively defend their territories from other packs.  Enormous home ranges, low population density, and tendency to wander out of even the largest protected areas are major conservation challenges for this species         
• Mother and pups (weaning at 4 weeks, finished by 8 weeks) fed on regurgitated meat.  Wild dogs will also regurgitate for sick/injured pack members, as well as for greeting ceremonies when they see each other after separation
• Wild dogs have antagonistic relationships with lions and spotted hyenas, which may steal kills and kill adults and pups.  Leopards and crocodiles may also kill wild dogs and their pups.  Possible that their wide-ranging behavior is meant to help avoid these rivals    
• Originally considered a species of hyena.  Latin name translates to “Painted Wolf.”  They are also sometimes called African hunting dogs, Cape hunting dogs, painted dogs, or several other variants of these names.  Some biologists are trying to rebrand the species as “painted wolf” due to the negative connotation of “wild dog”
• Historically eastern and southern subspecies were proposed, other sources proposed five (Cape, East African, West African, Chad, and Somali).  Now regarded as single unit
•   Small role in African folklore and culture compared to other large carnivores.  San people believe the moon cursed the hare to be eternally pursued by wild dogs for thwarting the gift of immortality for all animals.  San also viewed the wild dog as the ultimate hunter.  The Ndebele tell the tale of a wild dog hunting zebra, impala, and other ungulates as revenge for their inadvertent role in the death of wild dog’s mate        
• Primary threat is loss of habitat; even the largest national parks are too small to sustain very large populations of wild dogs, which are then penned up alongside lions, spotted hyenas, and other rivals, which outcompete them
• Very susceptible to rabies, distemper, and other diseases, which can be spread by feral dogs.  Rabies is believed to have been responsible for the extinction of the species in the Serengeti
• Severely despised by European colonist, who thought wild dogs were cruel and savage.  Deliberately exterminated as it was believed that otherwise they would kill all of the antelope and other game species, a belief which was officially practiced through the 1970s and still subscribed to by some game managers today
• There has been some success in reintroducing captive-bred wild dogs into the wild.  Early efforts failed due to poor hunting skills and naivety towards the danger posed by lions and hyenas, but success has been achieved with mixed packs of wild and captive born animals

Zookeeper's Journal: Both in the wild and in the zoo, the African wild dog is often overshadowed by its larger or more famous rivals – lions and hyenas, leopards and cheetahs.  Historically, the species was fairly uncommon in zoos; I didn’t see my first wild dog until the late 1990s.  Since then, the species has become much more common, with packs being established at many zoos.  In some of these facilities, most notably Denver Zoo’s Predator Ridge, it is featured in rotating exhibits alongside lions and hyenas as a form of enrichment.   I was lucky enough to see the species in the wild during a trip to South Africa in 2012.  Our guide got word of the dogs on the move and we were able to intercept them as a pack was reuniting at the den site.  I was amazed at how… indifferent they seemed as we drove among them, and got some great photographs of the pack.   Ironically, at the same time that I was admiring those wild dogs in South Africa, the species was making the news in the US, and not in a positive light.  A small boy fell into the enclosure of the African wild dogs at the Pittsburgh Zoo and was killed immediately by the pack; one dog had to be destroyed so that the body could be reclaimed.  The pack was later sent to another facility over fears for their safety from hostile members of the public.  I cannot imagine that death by African wild dog would be a pleasant way to go.  I remember talking with some keepers from one facility which had just added a small pack of the canids.  They were accustomed to going in with their wolves, so thought nothing of going in with their wild dogs… at least, not until they tried it for the first time.  Upon entering the enclosure for the first time, the pack, which had been sleeping in a heap in the corner, immediately sprang to life, fanning out and assuming positions to surround the keepers (they wisely decided to go in numbers for their first try) and cut off exit.  Thankfully, the keepers read the room and got out quickly, before the dogs had the opportunity to decide whether or not they were serious.  You don’t get a 70-90% efficiency hunt rate by being slackers.

An Ice Age Reunion

 Pixie and Brutus presents...

The Stupid Season

Winter, at most zoos in the United States, is something of the slow season.  Especially at zoos without lots of indoor exhibits (and excepting those that are in the hottest parts of the country), it's when we tend to have the lowest visitor numbers, many animals are less active, and in general life is as quiet and calm as it gets when you work in a zoo.  Fall and spring are what I think of as "the stressful seasons."  These are the times of year with a lot of activity.  Breeding and birthing among the animals, lots of transfers between institutions, field trips, construction - there's a lot going on.  These are the busiest, most productive times of the year, and early spring and late fall tend to be my favorite times of the year.

Summer is the stupid season.

It's wretchedly hot, which not only makes the animals as slow and soggy and bugs caught in sap, but it makes every movement of the keepers a sleepy, sweat-soaked torment.  A lot of activities are put on hold at this time of year to reduce stress - not many animal transfers, for example, take place in the hotter months.  Unlike the winter, however, we can't just roll down the gates and wait it out.  Because summer tends to be the busiest time of year for visitors.  It's when we see the greatest number of folks on vacation, for one thing.

And whether they're coming from just down the street or the other side of the globe, a lot of these folks seem to leave their brains at home.

I used to find field trip season to be the most stressful time of year with visitors, due to the ratio of children to adults.  But no, now I'm settled that it's the summer tourist season.  Some people (a small minority, I wish to point out - most of our guests are lovely) seem to think that if they're on vacation, their fun takes priority over all else, all rules be damned.  They get hot and cranky, however, and don't always understand that animals might not want to be active in this sort of weather.  This is when we have the most fence-hopping, animal harassing, and other obnoxious behaviors which can negatively impact people and animals.  Just yesterday, a teenage visitor climbed a tree past a barrier at the Columbus Zoo to get a better view of a cheetah.  Just minutes later, an adult visitor at that same exhibit crossed a barrier and tumbled 15 feet down into an enclosure.  Thankfully, no one - human or animal was harmed.

To top incidents like this off, we have to worry about the health of the visitors in the weather - lots of sun stroke and heat exhaustion.  I swear, I have seen a mother with a baby that must hav just gotten out of the hospital from being born a day or two earlier, prancing around the zoo on a 100 degree day in the full sun.

It's early August now, which means that some folks are in their last hurrah of summer, trying to squeeze in a few last adventures before the school year starts.  Personally, I'm looking forward to welcoming the field trips back.  If I make a blogpost in a few weeks complaining about how exhausting those can be, feel free to throw this post in my face.

Father, Son, and Giraffe

I have absolutely no context for this photo, other than it appeared in an "Old Photos" facebook group.  The caption simply says, "A father helping his son feed a giraffe at London Zoo," with no information on the date, the photographer, or the identity of the family in question... or what they're feeding, which is what I'm most curious about.   

A little digging around online and I turned up some more info.  The man in question is a circus strongman, Paul Remos, with his boys in 1950, but I'm not able to confirm this - though the profession would certainly explain his ability to hold the child like that.  To be fair, with balance like that, the kid looks like he's got a future in the circus as well.  Now, what the picture doesn't tell us is whether or not the little one got a turn as well.

Sun Bear Shenanigans

A zoo in eastern China has been forced to put our a statement confirming that yes, its bears are actually bears.  As opposed to what, you may wonder?  Apparently, many visitors have suspected that their sun bears are actually human actors in costumes.  

Now, to be fair, there have been plenty of times that I've thought a sun bear looked like a person in a bear costume doing a lousy job of pretending to be a bear.  They don't look especially bearish - more like some sort of weird pig-dog hybrid, and their movements and postures are just kind of goofy.

Photo Credit: Hangzhou Zoo

Also, it's not like a Chinese zoo hasn't pulled a scam like this before.  A Tibetan mastiff was once passed off as a very unconvincing lion.  Nor are these shenanigans all Chinese in origin.  A Palestinian zoo was found to have been painting stripes on a donkey in a "build your own zebra" scheme that didn't seem to fool too many people. 

Likewise, I've seen plenty of visitors to American zoos convinced that animals - especially reptiles - are fake.  Visitors to my zoo one day were particularly positive that the crocodiles weren't real.  At the time, the crocs were hanging out in the back corner of the exhibit, barely visible, underneath a waterfall that left them as little more than dark, blurry shapes beneath the roiling surface of the water.  If they were fake, I argued back (with mixed success), wouldn't we at least have placed them somewhere were people could at least kind of see them?

Hangzhou Zoo released a statement (ostensibly written by one of the sun bears) to defend their honor and the authenticity of their bears.  I don't know if that'll really convince anyone, though.  After all, isn't that the exact sort of thing that a person in a bear costume would say if they were trying to trick us?