CONSERVATION - San Diego's Safari Park, White Rhinos

"NOLA’S DEATH HITS HOME" by KARLA PETERSON, San Diego Union-Tribune 11/23/2015

NOTE:  This is from the online newspaper, so no article link.

She was euthanized at Safari Park, her residence since 1989, leaving 3 northern white rhinos in world.

Nola, one of just four endangered northern white rhinos left in the world, died Sunday at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

The 41-year-old rhino had been under veterinary care for a bacterial infection and age-related health issues.  Her condition took a turn for the worse over the weekend, San Diego Zoo Global said in a statement.  Early Sunday morning, the Safari Park team “made the difficult decision to euthanize her.”

It is a crushing loss for the Safari Park, where Nola had lived since 1989.  The gentle 4,000-pound animal was a favorite with the staff because of her sociable personality and love of back scratches.  She was also a popular attraction for Safari Park visitors, who could always spot her because of her distinctively curved horn.

Nola’s death is also a blow to the northern white rhino sub-species.  After decades of poaching, there are just three northern white rhinos left in the world.  All three — a male and two females— live on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

The source of Nola’s lingering infection was recently traced to a large abscess deep in her pelvic region.  Veterinarians performed a minor surgical procedure to drain the abscess on Nov. 13, and the majority of the infected material was removed.  But her condition began rapidly deteriorating on Saturday, and the decision was made to euthanize her.

“It sounds corny, but with her, every day is a blessing,” lead keeper Jane Kennedy said last month, when she and her fellow Safari Park staff members were keeping an eye on Nola’s condition.  “I would call her a symbol of our purpose.  She truly represents what we are all dedicating our lives to.”

Nola had been caught in Sudan when she was approximately 2 years old.  She came to the Safari Park in 1989 from the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic as part of a breeding program.  But she and her fellow northern whites had already made a big impression on her new hosts.

“I met Nola and her group of rhinos in July of 1986, when I traveled to what was then the Czech Soviet Republic.  The Soviet army was there, and so was this group of northern white rhinos,” said Oliver Ryder, director of genetics, Kleberg Chair, San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.  “The last week I was there, a baby rhino was born.  It made a big impression on me, because these enormous creatures were so gentle and so cautious and curious with this baby rhino.  I was impressed yet again that there is a depth to their lives that we don’t understand.”

The hope was that Nola would mate with Angalifu, the Safari Park’s northern white rhino male.  The mating happened, but there was never a pregnancy.  At one point, staffers sawed off the horns of Nola and fellow female, Noti, to keep them from fighting Angalifu off.  But without herd behavior to spur more frequent mating, there were never any northern white births at the Safari Park.

Two deaths since December

And then, there were fewer northern white rhinos altogether.  Noti died in 2007, and Angalifu died last December.  And in July, Nabire, a female northern white rhino living in the Dvur Kralove Zoo, died at the age of 32.

So when Nola was put on medical watch this year due to a sinus infection, the whole rhino-watching world began to worry.  In May, she began receiving treatment for an abscess on her right hip.  The life expectancy of the white rhino species, which includes northern and southern white rhinos, is 40 to 50 years.  But when Nola’s abscess and the bacterial infection that it caused came back in September, the Safari Park community was on high alert.

“It’s tough.  It’s like having your 90-year-old aunt get sick, and there is nothing you can do except give her basic care and keep her comfortable,” keeper Kennedy said last month, as she watched Nola recline in the shade of her Safari Park enclosure, with her companion southern white rhino, Chuck, nearby.  “When her abscess came back the second time, you could tell she didn’t feel good.  When her attitude sinks, ours has to jump up because we need to help her.”

For Kennedy and her fellow members of Team Nola, helping the rhino was a priority and a privilege.  And the rhino made it easy.  Due to an irregularity in her hooves, Nola needed regular nail trimmings.  The constant interactions with the keepers made her comfortable with human contact and usually a cinch to work with, despite her massive size.

She did not like being in her boma corral, and she was not at all fond of taking her many antibiotic pills.  But she loved her pedicures and her back scratches and hanging out in her 65-acre African Plains habitat with the equally sociable Chuck, who was very eager to track her whereabouts when Nola was getting her abscess drained last week.

“They are like the elderly couple who met late in life and became friends,” Kennedy said of Chuck and Nola.  “I’ve known Nola for 26 years, and she is truly, truly one of the sweetest animals I have ever worked with.”

With neither of the Ol Pejeta northern white females able to give birth naturally due to advanced age or reproductive issues, it is up to science to save the sub-species.  The San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research’s Frozen Zoo contains viable cell cultures from 12 northern white rhinos.  Genetic materials from Nola have been preserved, and the plan was always to collect her ovaries and any viable stem cells upon her death.  With the help of in-vitro fertilization, the hope is to use the recently arrived southern white rhinos living in the Safari Park’s new Rhino Rescue Center as surrogates for a hybrid rhino, which would be created with northern white sperm and southern white eggs.  San Diego Zoo Global has one of the world’s most successful rhino breeding programs.  To date, 94 southern white rhinos, 68 greater one-horned rhinos and 14 black rhinos have been born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  As the genomic research, technology and procedures become more advanced, the goal would be to create complete northern white rhino embryos, which the southern whites would carry to term.  Nola’s legacy will live on, and not just in the hearts and minds of the people who cared for her.  “The white rhinos represent the wild places and prehistoric animals that are still with us,” said Steve Metzler, interim associate curator of mammals, who accompanied the Rhino Rescue Center’s six southern whites on their 22-hour flight from Johannesburg to San Diego.  “It is devastating to think that in just a few hundred years, we can wipe that out.  That is just wrong, and we need to do something about it.”

SAN DIEGO ZOO - The Bite Club

"Ken and Dixie’s Bite Club" by Jenn Beening, San Diego Zoo Blog 9/4/2014

An African lion’s life is typically all about sleeping, napping and resting… but that isn’t necessarily true for the Safari Park’s Lion Camp rock stars.  Ken and Dixie managed to start a secret Bite Club in their spare time.  Keep reading for the official rules.

The 1st rule of Bite Club is, you don’t talk about Bite Club.

The 2nd rule is, you DO NOT talk about Bite Club.

A few practice chomps or chews are permitted before the bite begins.

Stalking your bite is optional.

If a cub taps out or keepers call for lunch, the bite is over.

Two cubs to a bite.

No paws, no cheap shots.

Bites will go on as long as they have to.

No enrichment or outside items.

Seriously…

If this is your first time at Bite Club, you have to bite.

SAN DIEGO ZOO - Wildlife Photo of the Month

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Conservancy

Oxpeckers at Work
Photo by Leigh-Anne Jacobs

FLORIDA - Ex-Director of San Diego Zoo to Revamp Miami's Jungle Island

"Former director of San Diego Zoo now Jungle Island president" by Madeline O’Leary, Miami Herald 6/28/2013

The former director of the world-renowned San Diego Zoo is taking on troubled Jungle Island, the park announced Thursday.

John Dunlap has been named president of the Watson Island animal-and-garden attraction.  His San Diego-based company, Iconic Attractions, will manage all aspects of the operation.  Longtime owner Bern Levine will retain oversight.

The change has been in the works for the past year, said Ashley Serrate, Jungle Island’s public relations manager.

"Bern wanted to take Jungle Island to the next level and make it world-class destination...[he] decided that [Dunlap] was best fit for that."

In his quest to improve attendance figures and financial performance, Dunlap plans to create new attractions — some involving water — and improve customer service, retail options and catering cuisine.

“It will be a methodical process over a series of years,” he said.  “But you will start seeing changes in the park by the end of this year.”

Since leaving its original Pinecrest location in 1997, Jungle Island has suffered from lower-than-projected attendance, debt and overdue bills.  The park owes more than $26 million to the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County, which have made most of the payments on a $25 million loan backed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Job creation numbers have fallen far short of the 715 positions promised.

But in the past year, the picture has brightened, park officials said.  Last August Jungle Island made an overdue payment of $2 million that was its first on the federal loan, and it is scheduled to pay another $2 million on time this July, according to Serrate.

Still, the park faces a re-branding hurdle that will determine the park’s future, Dunlap said.  One early step will be investing in catering.

“I want to make sure that we are the most-compelling destination with excellent food,” said Dunlap, whose professional background includes hospitality management at several Westin hotels.  “We are already well-known in the city right now for being a unique catering venue, so advancing that is a top priority.”

For events, Dunlap said that he plans to embrace Miami’s climate.  “This city is hot, so new attractions may involve water,” he said.

Dunlap also plans to offer more appealing merchandise — such as shirts and caps — that visitors can connect with and wear regularly.

By boosting its appeal, Dunlap hopes to bump up visitorship — which last year was around 450,000, about 300,000 less than the park originally projected — that in turn will increase jobs from the 426 full-time employees last summer.

“In advancing customer service, increasing retail and developing more events and attractions, we will be able to provide plenty of job opportunities,” he said.

During his five years as director of the San Diego Zoo, from 2008 until May of this year, the zoo’s revenues increased 25 percent and profits rose 33 percent, according to Dunlap.

“The goal is not to create another San Diego,” Dunlap said.  “Jungle Island is completely unique because it’s an oasis in the urban core of Miami.  Its size also allows visitors to be more intimate with animals than they would in other zoos.”

He hopes to spark the same sense of pride among Miamians for Jungle Island that San Diego residents feel for their zoo.

“It’s about creating meaningful plan that will compel people to visit Jungle Island and view it as an iconic family destination in the urban core of Miami,” he said.

APES & MONKEYS - Updates From the San Diego Zoo

"Orangutans Clyde and Cinta" by Tanya Howard, San Diego Zoo Blog 2/8/2013

Clyde is doing really great at the Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure in Salina, Kansas (he moved there in May 2011, see post Changes for Orangutans).  Clyde and Rusa continue to get along well.  Both animal staff and animals alike love Clyde.  He is the only male with whom female Ruse has been paired that she likes!  But who wouldn’t like Clyde?  He is the sweetest male, and all the girls like him (well, except Indah, of course).  There is not any expectation of an offspring from them, though.  Rusa has some reproductive issues that would make getting pregnant very difficult.  A baby would be a happy surprise.  The keeper there was telling me that Clyde is funny about his browse; he is turning his nose up at the Midwest varieties of trees and leaves.

After a few setbacks, Cinta is with all of the orangutans at the St. Louis Zoo (he arrived there in October 2012).  Originally, the staff was planning on introducing Cinta to the mother and daughter there, hoping for a successful pairing with the older female.  Unfortunately, the females had a different idea!  While reevaluating the situation, the staff noticed that Cinta and Robbie, their 19-year-old male, seemed compatible.  They were separate from one another but were sharing food back and forth and hanging out near one another.  Staff never planned on introducing the two males, but they decided to try and then, later on, Robbie and Cinta could together be reintroduced to the girls.

This has proven to the best of solutions.  Cinta and Robbie are now best of friends!  They hang out together and share food.  Just last week, staff put all four together with a much-improved outcome.  Now, whenever there are any problems, Robbie steps in and defends Cinta (not that Cinta needs much help—he is much faster that the girls!  Keepers are very positive about the improvements they have seen and expect things to continue to get better.  We will keep our fingers crossed for a successful pairing!

"What Might Monkeys Be Up To?" by Chia Tan, San Diego Zoo Blog 2/12/2013

February 10 marks the beginning of a new year, the Year of the Snake, according to the Chinese lunar calendar.  I cannot help but reflect on what I have done in the past year and contemplate what I wish to accomplish in this new year.

Last year, my research project focused on an investigation of wild Guizhou snub-nosed monkeys in China using camera traps.  This work was conducted in Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve (FNNR) in collaboration with the reserve’s administration.  We set up a network of over 100 camera traps to monitor, in addition to the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey, many hard-to-see wildlife species in the reserve (see post Monkeys, Leopard Cats, and Bears, Oh My!,).  Some of our unexpected captures were images of Guizhou snub-nosed monkeys moving about in the middle of the night (see article in Primates).  Although these monkeys are considered daytime active species very much like humans, our camera-trap data provided unequivocal proof that they are routinely active after dark.  What might the monkeys be up to?

Guizhou snub-nosed monkeys’ nocturnal habit, we believe, is motivated by the need to acquire as much food as possible.  In other words, the monkeys are up at night because they are hungry.  To some people, this discovery may seem like a non-discovery, but many great scientific discoveries are inherently simple, and they often start out with a simple observation, like the apple that fell on Newton’s head.  But I digress, back to the monkeys.

An important outcome of our camera-trap study, besides showing the behavioral flexibility the monkeys have to cope with living in a highly seasonal environment, is the need for researchers to rethink methodological designs that minimize observer bias.  If we habitually observe diurnal primates during the daytime we, of course, have data that only show them being active during the hours we observe them.  Camera traps, therefore, are excellent devices to augment our data collection.  And, because of the amount of photographs we have, you can count on me spending much of my time this year uncovering more secrets about the animals in Fanjingshan.

An intrinsic part of what I do as a scientist is to assist students with their professional development.  Through mentorship of students, I help foster future colleagues and, in turn, expand my network of collaborators.  This past year several of my students completed their research thesis, attained a higher degree, received scholarships, and/or launched new projects.  James Dopp is a graduate of the University of Vermont who worked with me in Fanjingshan in 2010 through 2012.  He has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to further sharpen his research skills in primate conservation in China.

Kefeng Niu, a resident biologist of FNNR, continued to benefit from my coaching.  In August, he successfully delivered a paper in English at the International Primatological Society Congress.  The Congress also provided Kefeng a chance to meet other professionals, among them, Dr. Marco Gamba, my Italian colleague from the University of Torino.  I introduced Marco and his research on primate vocal communication to Kefeng.  We later invited Marco to join us in Fanjingshan to resume our wonderful discussion about snub-nosed monkey biology with China’s renowned primate expert, Yeqin Yang (see post Saving Monkeys Takes a Team).  And the rest, as they say, is history, because when Marco left Fanjingshan, he had already signed a five-year research agreement with the reserve administration and gained a prospective PhD student, Kefeng Niu.  Mama mia!

Recently, my mentorship pool of students included a junior from High Tech High International.  Her name is Cameron Ishee, and though only 16, she is well on her way to transforming how people perceive and treat animals.  Because of Cameron’s ability to speak Chinese (Mandarin), I asked her to help me create a series of bilingual video lessons for the children in the Little Green Guards program in Guizhou (see post March of the Little Green Guards).  Each episode stars Cameron as Yi Jie Jie (or Big Sister Yi) teaching an English alphabet letter and about half a dozen animal-related words associated with the featured letter.  To make learning memorable and fun, we segue from the classroom lessons into video segments of our Zoo and Safari Park animals.  In doing so, we are achieving several objectives: introducing a world-class animal collection to underprivileged children who would otherwise never have the opportunity to travel to San Diego, and enhancing the school curriculum by teaching these children a highly valued foreign language that only children living in the more affluent urban areas of China are learning.

Our pilot episode is almost complete.  Cameron and I will continue making more episodes this year.  Just a little spoiler alert here, snake will be featured in our upcoming episode:  “S is for Snake.”

PANDAS - Updates From the San Diego Zoo

"Panda Zhen Zhen" by Megan Owen, San Diego Zoo Blog 2/14/2013

Zhen Zhen is now 5 1/2 years old, and our latest news from China indicates that she is doing very well!  The third cub of Bai Yun and Gao, we’ve just learned that she was the first female to come into estrous this year in BiFengXia, and that she bred with two males, Lu Lu and Yuan Yuan.  Zhen Zhen and her big sister, Su Lin, moved to China in September 2010 to be a part of the panda breeding program there.

While we can’t tell at this point whether or not these breeding encounters were successful (i.e., will result in a pregnancy), all reports suggest that her behavior was perfect.  We are hopeful that she’ll have cubs later this summer, and we’ll keep you posted!  Congratulations to Zhen Zhen!

"A Tree for Panda Yun Zi" by Jennifer Becerra, San Diego Zoo Blog 2/15/2013

It’s official!  We are going to start building Yun Zi’s artificial tree very soon!  We have talked to our wonderful contractors and have decided on its design and placement.  It is going to look like a large bonsai tree and will be around 15 feet (4.5 meters) tall.  We are very excited and thankful for the donations from all the panda fans that went into this!  Our Horticulture Team added a new Chinese elm tree in Yun Zi’s exhibit as well on Thursday, February 14.

We will be taking down Yun Zi’s current climbing structure to make room for the 6-foot (1.8 meter) base of the artificial tree.  The tree will take approximately four weeks to build on site (yes, it will be built in the exhibit!) as long as weather conditions are ideal (no rain).  As a keeper, I really enjoy exhibit renovations, and to help design something like this tree is amazing.  I am really excited to see how all the pandas will enjoy it and use it (as you know, we sometimes rotate the pandas into different exhibit areas).

There is a lot of preparation that is being done to Yun Zi’s exhibit currently, so please be patient with us and understand that he will have to be off exhibit during this entire process.  Gao Gao will remain on exhibit as long as he seems comfortable during the building phase of the tree (Gao Gao’s exhibit is right next to Yun Zi’s).  Yun Zi will be in the indoor bedrooms close to his keepers, and during the day he will have access to the outdoor habitat next to Bai Yun and Xiao Liwu’s north exhibit.  When you are visiting Mom and cub, look up in the trees and you might see Yun Zi!

SAN DIEGO ZOO - Newest Panda Has a Name

"100 Days After Birth, San Diego Panda Gets Name" by AP, ABC News, 11/13/2012

There is a new little gift at the San Diego Zoo that's going to get very big.

The zoo's youngest giant panda was officially named Xiao Liwu (ZHEE'-ow LEE'-woo), Chinese for "little gift," at a ceremony Tuesday. He is on the small side, but is strong and cooperative, said Dr. Ron Swaisgood, a member of the zoo's panda team.

The cub was born on July 29 and was named 100 days after its birth, according to Chinese zoo tradition. Officials said the cub weighs 9.2 pounds and stretches more than 23 inches long from nose to tail.

Zoo officials got 7,000 suggested names, chose their top six and put them up for a vote. More than 35,000 zoo visitors voted on names that meant Little Gift, Miracle, Raindrop, Big Ocean or Big Sea, Brave Son and Water Dragon.

Xiao Liwu's mother is Bai Yun (bye-yuhn) which means White Cloud and father Gao Gao (gow-gow), which means Tall Tall. The cub is Bai Yun's sixth. She turned 21 in July, making her the oldest giant panda known to give birth.

Through participation in a panda exchange breeding program with China, researchers "have gone from zero to 100 overnight in understanding the species," Swaisgood said. That's very beneficial for conservation because "it's hard to conserve what we do not understand."

He called the panda the world's "best loved species."

Before the program, the future of the species was bleak, he said, because the death rate exceeded the birth rate. But in 2010, "we met the 200 individuals needed to preserve the genetic diversity of the species," Swaisgood said to applause from the audience.

Swaisgood described efforts by scientists in China to track wild pandas. A wild panda will leave about 50 droppings a day, he said, and scientists can learn a lot from that, including information about DNA, hormones and diet.

Swaisgood said those taking part in the breeding program have done a good job.

"There is a feeling of hope that things are turning around for the species and it has a brighter future than it did 20 years ago," he said.

SAN DIEGO ZOO - Field Projects, Pocket Mice

"Pocket Mice Arrive" by Debra Shier, San Diego Zoo 8/28/2012

They’re here! On July 20, we transferred the first critically endangered pocket mice to the new Pacific Pocket Mouse Conservation Breeding Facility, located in an off-exhibit area at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The first group of 10 was taken in June from the Dana Point Headlands and had been in quarantine for 30 days in the Safari Park’s Harter Veterinary Medical Center.

They are doing quite well so far. While in quarantine, all of the 10 gained weight and looked bright eyed. On Friday, after being transferred to their new cages, these Dana Point animals were extremely active, sand bathing and getting to know their new neighbors by standing right against the divider to the adjacent cage and digging.

We have them housed in what I call “social cages,” which are multiple individual mouse cages in one larger housing. There are dividers that are clear and slotted to allow the mice to be able to see and smell each other. We house them in this way because they are solitary in the wild and are aggressive with each other unless they are breeding, but this socialization reduces aggression and keeps females reproductive.

The 10 founders from the Santa Margarita population were in quarantine at our veterinary center and were transferred to the pocket mouse facility on August 3. Meanwhile, Maryke and Rachel are out in the field each night trying to trap founders from the last extant population in San Mateo South.

SAN DIEGO ZOO - Bears, Summer Intern's View

"Summer Intern Enjoys Opportunities" by Michael Forney, San Diego Zoo 8/28/2012

As a kid, I used to visit the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park every summer with my grandmother, so you can imagine my excitement when I was told I would be conducting research here as a summer fellow through the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research! Before arriving in June, I was contacted by my soon-to-be mentors, Russ Van Horn and Megan Owen, who outlined the details of the project I would be working on: collecting behavioral data from video footage of Andean bears.

Like many people, I had never heard about Andean, or spectacled, bears prior to this summer. So before traveling down to San Diego—I recently graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno—I made sure to read up on this often overlooked bear species. I didn’t find as much as you’d think. Surprisingly, relatively little is known about Andean bears, especially in the wild where it is often difficult to see them in the lush cloud forests they call home. Hence, the purpose of my project.

The video clips that I’ve inventoried and collected data from this summer were taken from a field site in Peru located in one of the few remaining tropical dry forests. The landscape allows for unparalleled viewing of the elusive bears and the chance to gain greater insight into Andean bears’ daily activity patterns, mother/cub interactions, and other behaviors. For further information on this project, see The Bear Necessities in Peru.

In addition to being involved with an amazing project that is drawing attention to the conservation of this threatened species—the Andean bear is listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List—I have had a chance to witness the tremendous conservation, research, and animal-care efforts put forth by the entire staff here. Some of my experiences include:

• Watering over 10,000 native grass seedlings at the Skinner Reserve in Temecula (I can’t tell you how many watering cans I refilled and carried over two days.)
• Monitoring Bai-Yun and her new cub in the video room (The cub is definitely cuter than it was a few weeks ago if you haven’t seen it yet.)
• Visiting the Zoo’s Jennings Center for Zoological Medicine while the veterinarians and technicians treated Houdini, the Zoo’s female Andean bear.
• Feeding a giraffe on the Park’s Caravan Safari (If you haven’t seen their tongues, they are incredibly long and quite slobbery)

This summer has provided me with so many unique and wonderful opportunities and experiences. I would recommend interning with the San Diego Zoo to anyone interested, especially with regard to the summer research fellowship opportunities. All you have to do is check out the San Diego Zoo job search site around the beginning of January when they post the applications for the Institute fellowships. In a few weeks I will be leaving for Ecuador to volunteer teaching English, but I know I will always remember this summer. I hope to share some of the information I’ve learned about the bears with the children I meet, since they are fortunate enough to have Andean bears in their country, and perhaps volunteer with local conservation groups. While I’m down there, if I’m lucky I might just be able to catch a glimpse of an Andean bear!

SAN DIEGO ZOO - Pandas, Bai Yun's Newest 'Cuteness'

"Panda Cub: 704 Grams" by Megan Owen, San Diego Zoo 8/23/2012

All is well!

This morning, at about 7:15, we had our first opportunity to examine Bai Yun’s newest cub. For the past week or so, Bai Yun has developed a regular habit of leaving the den to get breakfast in her sun room. Today, we took advantage of Bai Yun’s breakfast outing to get our first real look at the cub. The exam lasted only 3 minutes, but in that time our veterinarians were able to determine that the 25-day-old cub is healthy and weighs in at a robust 704 grams (24.8 ounces or 1.55 pounds). For comparison, Yun Zi weighed 1,259 grams (2.8 pounds) at 29 days (see Baby’s First Exam), Zhen Zhen weighed 1,020 grams or 2.2 pounds at 26 days, and Su Lin was 618 grams (22 ounces) at 22 days. The cub was quiet at the outset of the exam, but soon enough gave us a great display of its strong lungs!

Veterinarians were able to do a quick, yet thorough, exam of the cub’s limbs, mouth, ears, and more, and we’re happy to report that everything looks good! While it may be a few more weeks before we know what the cub’s sex is, or whether or not it has webbed toes or a spot on its tail, today was an important step in confirming that this cub has the most important quality that a panda cub can have: good health!

Bai Yun also showed us her best maternal behavior. She began eating her breakfast away from the cub, in the sun room, as usual, when the cub emitted a loud squawk during the exam. Bai Yun made it clear that she wanted to return to the den to be with the cub, so the exam was halted. Her maternal behavior continues to be exemplary and, clearly, she is doing a great job taking care of her latest cub. We are all so lucky to see this amazing mother in action!

First Exam

SAN DIEGO ZOO - Cats, Lions Life

M'Bari

"Lions: The Good Life" by Jacob Shanks, San Diego Zoo 8/24/2012

We’ve had a lot of interest in an update on the San Diego Zoo’s largest field pair, and since we just passed the three-year anniversary for the two lions here, it seemed like an appropriate time. When I think about the last few years for M’Bari and Etosha, the phrase “smooth sailing” comes to mind (see The Pride of Elephant Odyssey). The last three years with these two have been pretty tranquil. More than anyone, I think that the lions have enjoyed the quiet constants in their lives. At nearly nine years old, much of the playful behaviors of their days at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s Lion Camp have been replaced with more mature endeavors.

M’Bari is a guy who appreciates his routine. As a creature of habit myself, I often feel a kinship with his way of life. His time spent on exhibit involves copious amounts of sleep broken up by the occasional need to eat, drink, or remind all of his adoring fans that he is big and you are in his house. During Nighttime Zoo, our guests get a special treat as he wakes from his slumber to enjoy his evening stroll. His evening routine includes patrolling his territory, calling loudly, and scent marking anything (or anyone) unlucky enough to get in his path.

M’Bari is maintaining much of the great husbandry behaviors he learned as a little guy through daily training sessions. He recently received his necessary vaccinations through a voluntary process in which he places his hip up against the fence to accept an injection. M’Bari is a great student…as long as you remember that he is the KING.

Etosha is definitely my choice for Miss Congeniality. This girl is as sweet as pie! Etosha is always happy to see her keepers, and she is always happy to see food. Her daily training sessions are met with great enthusiasm as she works to get the treats from the bucket to her mouth as quickly as possible. Etosha is also a champion sleeper, but she does take the opportunity to get a rise out of M’Bari from time to time. Particularly just following morning feedings, we see her rambunctious side come out. She stalks slowly toward M’Bari, creeping around the rockwork, and as quickly as her legs will take her, she rushes in and jumps on his back. M’Bari, feeling way too dignified for this kind of play, shuts these sessions down quickly by moving away and giving a little growl.

After three years working with Etosha, I am still amazed at just how well she can read her long-time mate. I often tell guests that we can read M’Bari pretty well, but Etosha can read him like a book. She always knows just how much she can get away with. Whether it be jumping on his back, choosing to lie down right in his spot, or pushing him aside to get to treats, she knows what he will tolerate and when she should lay low.

I would like to invite you all to come by and spend some time with M’Bari and Etosha. Whether you catch a feeding, a quick play session, or silent slumber, you will surely take away a sense of awe and maybe even a reminder to enjoy the quiet constants in your own life.

SAN DIEGO - Zoo's Clouded Leopards

Here comes No-Name

"Clouded Leopards: Getting to Know You" by Maureen O. Duryee, San Diego Zoo 6/13/2012

Excerpt

Maureen is spending three weeks at a zoo in Thailand to learn about their breeding program for clouded leopards.

It’s 4:45 a.m. Why am I up so early? I still have jet lag (Thailand is 14 hours ahead of San Diego). A fantastically bright lightening storm just ended, and I need some time to wrap my mind around taking a very cold shower. I’ve acquired 3 new bug bites from my recent activities, bringing the total to 15, a new record, even for me. There are two constants here in Thailand: daily rainstorms and bug bites. Our day now begins at the breeding center at 6:30 a.m. Ken and I are taking advantage of the quiet mornings as well as the calm evenings to increase the contact time between the two breeding pairs we are managing. This makes for a very long but very rewarding 12-hour work day.

It is amazing how quickly these cats learn the routines we have set in place. After one short session, we heard chuffing from both male clouded leopards when we arrived to open their pens into the adjoining females’ yard. Chuffing is a vocalization large cats make when they seem content; purring would be the equivalent from a small cat. Dawk Mai and No Name bred in the tree the first time they were put together. It did not take. Since then we have put these cats together two more times, and they have attempted to breed three or four more times. Each contact offered a different set of circumstances.

Usually No Name coolly waits for Dawk Mai to approach him on the ground; he has now abandoned mating in the tree. This strategy has worked well for him, except the hangup seems to be getting himself to line up properly; he either comes in too high or she is too low. A female clouded leopard’s estrous cycle can last from three to nine days and profoundly affects the female’s attitude. It is important in a captive breeding situation to maximize time spent together, for obvious reasons. We have found 30-minute sessions work well for this pair. Dawk Mai approaches No Name, an attempt at breeding occurs, and then the couple separates. The Khao Kheow Open Zoo’s director is so thrilled by this breeding activity that he has promised to name an eventual cub after the San Diego Zoo.

The second set of leopards we are working with is completely different. Sen Yai (meaning “big noodle”) is a 24-pound (11 kilograms) 2-year-old female who has never bred before. Her potential mate, named Sak-Daa (meaning “power”), is an 8-year-old male who weighs 46 pounds (21 kilograms). He has never bred before either. Sak-Daa is the son of wild-born No Name, which means he has important genes.

Pairing virgin older cats is risky. There are a variety of things that can go wrong during the introduction, but the valuable cubs this pair could produce far outweigh the dangers involved. Careful planning and accurate behavioral observation are important. Before each introduction, the female clouded leopard must show signs of willingness: body posture that is low to the ground, tail in the air or off to the side, bedroom eyes, and cheek rubbing. She presents this posture to him over and over again, with the fence as a barrier between them.

We lift a small sliding door very slowly, but only when she is watching. Thus far Sak-Daa takes after his gentle giant father and confidently saunters through the opening before spending time on the floor of the pen smelling Sen Yai’s urine. The male approaches the female to breed based on the information he gathers from her urine and her behavior. Since both cats don’t really know what they are doing, Ken and I must be available to halt or promote the different responses the two have toward one another. We do this by talking to them and/or chuffing to them, the same way they would communicate with each other.

We are on day 6 of introductions, putting the cats together twice a day for a total of 12 interactions. The progress is remarkable! Sak-Daa has closed the gap from not being able to approach Sen Yai to napping two feet from her. While we would like them to actually breed instead of sleep, we realize successful breeding may take several estrous cycles; she must trust him to let this happen. Male clouded leopards bite the back of the female’s neck while breeding, holding her in place until the act is complete. A great deal of trust needs to be established between the pair before breeding can safely occur. Taking the time to let them get to know one another and ALWAYS ending sessions on a positive note helps build trust.

Where did the day go? It’s now time for dinner, which means another very cold shower before meeting up with other staff members. They have taken me into their family, so much so that they make a special meal just for me, without the hot spices. I love this place!

Maureen O. Duryee is a senior animal trainer at the San Diego Zoo.

SAN DIEGO - From the Cute-and-Fuzzy-File, Pandas

Gao Gao the youngster

"Gao Gao Getting Big Big" by Juli Thatcher, San Diego Zoo 6/13/2012

As many of you may remember, adult panda Gao Gao has been having digestive-tract issues for the last year or so, which has led to some strange behavior. He’s had several days when he hasn’t wanted to rise in the morning and has been unresponsive to his keeper’s calls. This behavior is actually pretty common in pandas living in managed-care facilities and occurs in conjunction with the passing of a mucous stool. However, on these days when our boy was “sleeping in,” he would not pass a mucous stool. On other days, we saw lots of his “tongue flicking” behavior, which is biting his tongue and flicking it routinely.

On October 6, 2011, Gao Gao had exploratory surgery in an effort to determine the source of his discomfort (see post Gao Gao: Road to Recovery). The exploratory surgery was used to look for any obstructions that could have caused some of his discomfort. While he was under anesthesia, veterinarians were able to check out every bit of Gao, including his teeth. They discovered that his back molars were very worn down, that some existing bridgework between two of his molars needed repairing, and that one of his canines was loose. Aha! The reason for his tongue flicking and possibly the reason for his digestive issues.

If a panda is lucky enough to die of old age in the wild, the cause of its death is most often starvation. Years of eating bamboo (an extremely strong grass, remember, from which flooring and furniture is made) wear down a bear’s teeth pretty well. When a panda cannot properly break down food in its mouth, the food cannot then be properly digested. Gao is very lucky to live in a managed-care situation, where he has had the necessary dental work and has a team that can adjust his diet. As a result, of course, our poor old man has had to give up some of his favorite foods. But never fear! He’s gained some new ones.

We’ve been steaming “bamboo bread” for Gao Gao, which he receives three times a day as part of his new diet. The bread is made up of ground leaf eater biscuits, dried and ground bamboo stems and leaves, water, and a small bit of gelatin to act as an adhesive. The bread is a soft, palatable food that delivers the same nutrition that bamboo can provide. Basically, it’s easier for him to chew and digest… and boy, does he ever! Our Gao has become a bread addict. Having the bamboo bread in his diet has helped him become “Big Big,” for sure. His latest weight was 174 pounds (79 kilograms), the largest he’s been in many years!

Gao’s also getting bamboo that is smaller in diameter. We have a one-centimeter rule when making up his bamboo diet, meaning any piece that we give him has to be one centimeter in diameter or smaller. We can’t just give him tiny pieces, though. Pandas spend up to 12 hours eating, a large portion of which means stripping the outer green layer off of the bamboo. If he’s only given tiny pieces of bamboo, he doesn’t really have the opportunity to do that. So, we also take large pieces of bambusa oldhamii culm and split it into pieces that are one-centimeter wide. The culm can be any thickness, so long as it’s not too difficult for us to split (by hand, mind you). He gets 60 pieces a day, split into tiny bits by his keepers. Talk about spoiled!

Since his diet changes, Gao had a bout of passing too many mucous stools in a row. Then he had a bout of having episodes similar to those he was having prior to his surgery. We continue to tweak his diet and change the bamboo-bread recipe. We will continue to do so until it’s just right. So far, though, it seems we’re on the right track, and our old man is as sweet and handsome as he ever was.

Juli Thatcher is a senior panda keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous post, Panda Cam, Panda Trek.

SAN DIEGO - At the Zoo, Cats and Bears

"Monkeys, Leopard Cats, and Bears, Oh My!" by Chia Tan, San Diego Zoo 6/13/2012

“Follow, observe, and record,” was the first directive I learned starting out as a field primatologist. For years I did exactly that; all day long in Madagascar, from the moment the lemurs awoke before sunrise till they retired at the end of the day after sunset. And I took great pride in my ability to habituate these primates, follow them up and down mountain slopes through dense vegetation, and observe and record their behavior with just a pair of binoculars, a notebook, and a pen.

This simple standard methodology, though it can be successfully applied to studying many primate species, is not well suited for snub-nosed monkey research in China. Why? Free-ranging Chinese snub-nosed monkeys are notoriously difficult to follow because they live in groups containing hundreds of individuals and are not tolerant of human observers. Also, unlike most primate species that inhabit tropical environments, these monkeys range into the temperate zone in areas where snowfall occurs four to five months of the year. In other words, collecting behavioral data on free-ranging Chinese snub-nosed monkeys through direct observation was a tremendous challenge for researchers, until recently.

Last year my colleagues at Fanjingshan nature reserve and I began using camera traps in our research of the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey (see post Saving Monkeys Takes a Team). And as you can tell by the title of this post, the captured images included not only the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey but also another rare macaque species, the Tibetan macaque, as well as leopard cats, bears, and other elusive mammals, indicating the reserve still harbors a rich community of wildlife! We are in the process of sorting through thousands of camera-trap images, but I’ve included some exciting examples here.

Indeed, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and these images convey much information about the behavior of wild animals. However, we need to be mindful that camera traps are tools for collecting supplemental data; they cannot be used to replace researchers. It is important for researchers to spend quality time with their study animals in the field to obtain data firsthand that provide the contextual information necessary for the observed behaviors. All those years of me running after lemurs and monkeys in the forest, therefore, was not done in vain. Through direct observation, I have gained an understanding about primates in situ.

This understanding has helped me interpret the camera-trap images and infer the motivations of the monkeys’ behaviors in a biologically meaningful way. I must admit I was not a huge fan of camera-trap technology initially, but I am thoroughly impressed with the images captured so far. I give it a “thumbs up!”

Chia Tan is a scientist with the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.

ZOO NEWS - Avian Disease

"The ABCs of Avian Disease" By Bruce Rideout DVM PHD, San Diego Zoo Blog

Like most wildlife veterinarians, I chose this profession because I love animals and wanted to make a difference. So, nothing makes me more frustrated than seeing a disease take a high toll on our animals and being unable to help.

Avian tuberculosis was one such disease – even though it is uncommon, it takes a high toll on innocent bystanders each time a case occurs, and until now, there wasn’t much we could do to help.

The problem with avian tuberculosis is that it has always been considered a highly contagious disease, but one that spreads slowly and is very difficult to detect, much like human tuberculosis. As a result, when a case of avian tuberculosis is identified, the traditional management recommendation was to humanely euthanize all exposed birds because some of them might go on to spread the disease even further.

Unfortunately, many of these exposed birds turned out to be perfectly healthy and were euthanized unnecessarily, but we had no way of knowing that beforehand. So we decided to make avian tuberculosis our top research priority several years ago. We wanted to find out the best way to prevent this disease, so we could avoid these devastating consequences for exposed birds.

As we investigated the transmission of this disease, we discovered something amazing and unexpected: contrary to 100 years of dogma, avian tuberculosis does not appear to be a highly contagious disease. Our results so far suggest that avian tuberculosis is acquired primarily from soil and water in the environment, not from other infected birds.

Apparently, it is an environmental disease and not at all like human tuberculosis. This means that an infected bird does not pose a significant risk of infection to other birds, so none of the exposed birds need to be euthanized.

We now recommend that the disease be called avian mycobacteriosis to avoid confusion with human tuberculosis, and we recommend that it be managed as a preventable environmental disease.

When I presented these results at the annual meeting of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians, a zoo veterinarian later told me that she ran out into the hallway as soon as she heard the results and called her associate veterinarian to cancel the scheduled euthanasia of a very valuable bird that had been exposed to avian mycobacteriosis. That was one of the most rewarding moments in my career. Nothing makes a veterinarian feel better than saving a life.

The next phase of our research is taking us into new territory. Many physicians believe that their immunocompromised patients, such as those on cancer chemotherapy, should euthanize or get rid of their pet birds because of the risk that they will acquire avian mycobacteriosis from them.

But there is mounting evidence that human cases of avian mycobacteriosis are also acquired from the environment, not directly from birds. In order to confirm this, and thereby prevent the unnecessary euthanasia of healthy pet birds, we plan to obtain DNA fingerprints of mycobacteria from birds and humans to show that human infections are not acquired from birds. Stay tuned!

THE LIGHT SIDE - San Diego Zoo

OK, a break from politics. Here are 3 articles from the San Diego Zoo blog.

"Kinah’s Hot Summer Days"

Nothing beats a swim for cooling off on a hot day. As mentioned in the earlier posted blog, Kinah Learns To Swim, Ituiri Forest’s local celebrity swamp monkey enjoys taking a dip as well! She has become quite the efficient swimmer. You can find her leaping in the water with gusto (cannonball!), leisurely paddling around, or holding her breath for submerged dives. She is often accompanied by her buddy, Jaribu, a quite attentive juvenile male. They actively wrestle, frolic, and dunk each other in the water. Then, just as quickly as they jump into the water, they’re out in a flash to sun themselves and dry off.

"Okapi Calf’s Big Adventure, Day One"

On August 9, Safarani and her calf, Sukari, made their way out of the maternity yard where they had been since the youngster was born on July 10 (see previous blog, Okapi Calf To See a Bigger World!). Safarani was most anxious to get back out into the larger exhibit space; we realized after watching her for a little while after the move that it was because she loves to eat all the plantings around the exhibit, something she’s not had access to for a couple of months. Now we know who’s been mowing through those plantings!

And of course, "Starting To See Black and White"

Our new panda cub is now a week old and it has changed so much already. One of the most striking changes that we see during the first few weeks of life is the development of the pandas’ trademark black-and-white coloring on the skin. Well, at about 12:30 p.m. today we got a great view of the cub nestled calmly in the crook of Bai Yun’s neck and there they were: the first signs of the black ears, eye-patches, and limbs! Look closely at the cub the next time Bai Yun gives us a peek. The black coloring should intensify dramatically over the coming week.

There's more in the first two articles