Zoos
House Bonding Committee Tours DECC, Lake Superior Zoo
Lawmakers rounded out their tour of Northland projects at the Lake Superior Zoo. Last year, $400,000 with a $200,000 matching side was appropriated, to update the polar bear exhibit. But not, in light of Bubba the polar bear dying, and the dire need to get the zoo back to its national accreditation, the city is requesting the same money to be used to improve the entire zoo.
Before that stop, the group ate lunch at the DECC, and was briefed on the importance of the expansion there. The request for the 2008 bonding bill is over $40 million, which is up from last year's, due to construction inflation. They also heard about millions for the state's ports, at the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.
http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S209994.shtml?cat=10349
Fresno's Chaffee Zoo Celebrating Successful Season
Despite the death of several stingrays
By Corin Hoggard
09/28/2007 - Attendance is up 28% this summer over last summer. They credit better weather, better marketing and the visiting stingray exhibit for the jump. But there's now a problem with that exhibit.
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=5680947
Dutch zoo breeds own jellyfish
by MT Bureau - September 29, 2007 - 0 comments
Arnhem,
Netherlands -- Marine biologists at a Dutch zoo say they have succeeded in the difficult task of breeding jellyfish in captivity.
Max Janse, head of the marine area inside Burgers' Zoo, said adult jellyfish have a very short lifespan and are almost impossible to import.
Breeding jellyfish is also very difficult. The process developed at the zoo involves a series of breeding tanks for different stages of the life cycle. Janse said creating a real ocean environment is also crucial.
The jellyfish start out as small polyps, then change into red larvae and finally become small transparent jellyfish.
"When you keep jellyfish you have to keep 'reading' the animals," he told Radio Netherlands. "You also have to have a lot of patience and be willing to continually adapt your strategy."
http://www.themoneytimes.com/news/20070929/dutch_zoo_breeds_own_jellyfish-id-1010357.html
Fiberglass caterpillar joins other bugs in zoo garden
By LAURA STEVENS
lstevens@journalandcourier.com
Lafayette Columbian Park Zoo now proudly displays an 11-foot-long fiberglass caterpillar sculpture in the center of its Wal-Mart Butterfly Garden.
The caterpillar joins existing butterfly and ladybug sculptures, all donated by the Wal-Mart Supercenter on County Road 350 South.
"The caterpillar completes the trio," Claudine Laufman, zoo director, said of the new addition to the garden.
The long-awaited molding posed a challenge for donors. This is the second caterpillar created for the zoo.
The first caterpillar broke in half before its arrival.
http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070929/NEWS/709290327/-1/RSS
Zoo welcomes millionth visitor
By Staff reporter
MILESTONE: Mark was the millionth visitor this year
ONE family had a million reasons to celebrate when they visited Chester Zoo.
Dad Andrew Hawkins was overjoyed when son Mark, became the one millionth visitor to pass through the zoo gates this year.
Characters from this year's forthcoming zoo Frost Fair were on hand to welcome the family and present Mark, from Ormskirk, Lancashire, with a cuddly toy and animal adoption.
The milestone also caused celebrations for the zoo as the number of visitors reached the millionth visitor mark a month earlier than last year.
http://www.thisiswirral.co.uk/display.var.1722490.0.zoo_welcomes_millionth_visitor.php
Both pandas now on show at Madrid zoo
By: thinkSPAIN
The female of the pair of pandas loaned by the Chinese government to Madrid Zoo Aquarium is now ready to deal with the huge crowds expected this weekend to see the two bears together since their arrival two weeks ago.
Hua Zui Ba (Coloured Mouth) has taken a bit longer than Bing Xing (Ice Star) to adapt to her new environment, mainly because she is a bit younger, explain keepers at the zoo, who went on to say that "we've been gradually opening up the enclosure to the public during this week and she has reacted very well."
The two pandas will stay in Madrid for at least ten years and it is hoped that Hua Zui Ba, who is four years old and at peak fertility, will be persuaded to mate with Bing Xing (photo) and reproduce. The problem, however, is that female pandas are only in heat once every spring and the ovulation period, only during which is it possible for them to conceive, lasts barely two days.
There have been no pandas in Madrid since the death of Chu Lin in April 1996.
http://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/13829
Hummingbirds join zoo's display
September 29, 2007
BY BILL LAITNER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Hummingbirds are back at the Detroit Zoo.
After a 6-year absence, the tiny birds again are streaking through the Butterfly House.
They can fly as fast as 50 m.p.h., and the zoo's five new ones made a speedy hit with visitors Thursday.
Colleen Schroeder, 33, of Royal Oak, with her children Weston, 3 1/2 , and Anna, 18 months, peered through a maze of foliage and flitting butterflies for the birds.
"Look up," said zoo gallery guide Sue Tower of Huntington Woods, a retired elementary school teacher.
So mother and kids craned their necks to spot the high-speed aerialists. The Schroeders are zoo regulars, and Weston already knows several types of butterflies, "but now he can learn about the hummingbirds," his mother said.
The Detroit Zoo's last hummingbird died in 2001. The newcomers, natives of Peru, arrived last month by way of Quebec.
They had lived in cages at an aviary that has closed, and they're loving their new freedom to fly, said Tom Schneider, curator of birds at the zoo. .
"We were concerned about their stamina, but they're doing really well," Schneider said.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070929/NEWS05/709290336
Ailing Elephant Left in Isolation at Edmonton Zoo - Write City Council visit site
Animals
Yesterday, the Valley Zoo sent Samantha to a US zoo on a minimum 5 year breeding loan. The move has left Lucy, a wild-caught Asian elephant alone at the Valley Zoo. This leaves Lucy to languish alone, contrary to accredited zoo standards and Albert
http://www.care2.com/news/member/525884267/495671
Free Pregolja-Lonely Elephant Imprisoned in Russian Zoo vi
Pregolja is a female Asian elephant who lives at the Kaliningrad Zoo in Russia. She was born in this zoo in 1970 and has lived there ever since. She has spent 37 years of her life inside the same small and barren enclosure surrounded by rusty steel and
http://www.care2.com/news/member/525884267/495161
From The Sunday Times
September 30, 2007
London Zoo in the good old days: historic archive goes online
THE photographic archive of London Zoo, one of the world’s most important such collections, is to be published for the first time, with the pictures offered for sale to fund conservation, writes Holly Watt.
From tomorrow, the Zoological Society of London will place photographs on its website. These will include elephants walking through docks in Camden, north London, and a tiger cub pictured in 1914 with a disgruntled-looking peccary, a pig-like animal from South America.
In another photograph, two zookeepers trim an elephant’s feet and, from 1920, there is a snapshot of a llama pulling a cart holding a family of three.
In one image, almost 140 years old, a seal is lying sleepily on the lap of a zookeeper, while another from the 1860s shows an orangutan sitting on a stool.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2558257.ece
Needle in body for over six months, rhino dies in city zoo (Lots of Pop-Ups with this site)
Tenzing Lamsang
Posted online: Sunday , September 30, 2007 at 12:00:00
Updated: Sunday , September 30, 2007 at 12:36
New Delhi, September 29 Goyana, a seven-year-old female rhino at Delhi zoo, died on Saturday from heart infection eventually caused by a needle lodged in its body for over six months.
Zoo authorities blamed the death on a sedating attempt that went wrong when Goyana was at the San Diego zoo in the US, from which they obtained the animal through an exchange programme. It was brought to Delhi zoo this April.
Dr N Paneer Selvam, a vet at Delhi zoo, said the needle broke off from a drug-loaded dart San Diego zoo staff used on the rhino and lodged itself in a soft region of the neck. Vets there tried to remove it but failed.
Because of muscle movements, the needle made its way from the neck to the abdomen and caused infection in the anterior two of the rhino's four stomach bags, said Dr Selvam. He said that moving about in the stomach bags the needle pierced the heart and this led to pericarditis, or infection of the membrane surrounding the heart, from which the rhino died.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Needle-in-body-for-over-six-months-rhino-dies-in-city-zoo/222695/
San Diego Zoo is clearing way for $44 million project that also will be home to lions and jaguars
Source & © Jeanette Steele
The result will be a bigger home for the zoo's three elephants, plus a relocation of six Asian elephants from the zoo-owned Wild Animal Park near Escondido. Together, the nine elephants will have a 2.5-acre space with see-through barns that will allow vi
2007-09-29 - San Diego, United States
The San Diego Zoo has started demolishing 7 acres of old exhibits there to make way for Elephant Odyssey, the blockbuster $44 million project that will house elephants, lions and jaguars. In total, 10 percent of the zoos display area is off limits while bulldozers take out 50-year-old exhibits that once held giraffes, zebras and antelope. Construction will start early next year and last 18 months.
http://www.elephant-news.com/index.php?id=2794
Zoo talk to discuss jaguars, expanding Sonora reserve
Kate Nolan
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 29, 2007 07:56 AM
NORTHEAST VALLEY - Only four or five jaguars have been seen in Arizona in this century, according to Arizona Game and Fish biologist Bill Van Pelt.
Arizona is on the periphery of the range of the endangered Sonoran jaguar, but Arizonans can play a role in its recovery, Van Pelt said.
One way is to learn about them and contribute to their support at an Oct. 7 Phoenix Zoo event.
The fundraiser will be held 5-7 p.m. at the zoo's Stone House Pavilion in Phoenix.
Jaguar experts will talk about the need to expand the Northern Jaguar Reserve in Sonora, Mexico.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0928sr-jaguar0929ON.html
The Jedi returns to Binghamton zoo
9/30/2007 5:47 PM
By: Web Staff
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- It was the Return of the Jedi-- well sort of.
Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, R2-D2 and other characters from "Star Wars" joined the usual list of attractions at the zoo on Sunday. Fans from all across upstate New York came to Binghamton to help raise money for the zoo.
Though the "Star Wars" epic began in the '70s, the recently released movies have created a new generation of fans.
http://www.news10now.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=121594
Lion goes crazy at the Naples Zoo
Samba the the Male lion at the Naples Zoo responds to the growl of a Tiger in a neighboring cage.
http://www.livevideo.com/video/trigirl/50B5581EE6664BC2BD08CB1FE50129BC/lion-goes-crazy-at-the-naples-.aspx
National Zoo Scientists Working to Save One of the World's Microscopic Species
The Smithsonian's National Zoo recently acquired 12,000 new animals-microscopic Elkhorn coral larvae harvested by National Zoo scientists in Puerto Rico. As part of an international collaborative program to raise the threatened species, National Zoo scientists hope to one day return the animals, once they are grown, to their wild ocean habitat.
In August, Zoo Reproductive Scientist Dr. Mary Hagedorn and Invertebrates Keeper Mike Henley traveled to Puerto Rico with marine scientists involved with SECORE (SExual COral REproduction) to collect and artificially inseminate coral. Hagedorn is pioneering the cyropreservation (freezing, storing and thawing) of coral sperm and eggs. Working in collaboration with SECORE, she is trying to create a genome resource bank, which will help preserve the genetic diversity of coral.
http://newsblaze.com/story/20070930165714tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.html
Melbourne in worldwide fight to save the tiger
Steve Butcher
October 1, 2007
IMAGINE this tiger being trapped, shot or poisoned, then skinned, boned, chopped, broiled or ground to dust, simply for profit.
The tiger is rapidly facing extinction because of human appetite for its body parts and the forests that support it.
Melbourne Zoo's five Sumatran tigers, including its three cubs — now almost a year old — are a family crucial to an international captive breeding program and efforts to save the subspecies in the wild.
The zoo supports Fauna and Flora International in conservation efforts in Sumatra to preserve habitat for tigers, of which about 400 survive. Indonesia's other tigers — the Balinese and Javan — have become extinct. All funds, including $1000 raised by zoo staff who rattled tins outside the MCG after AFL club Richmond joined the fight, support efforts in Sumatra, where illegal logging and poaching are causing constant pressure.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/fight-to-save-the-tiger/2007/09/30/1191090945543.html
Home-school children get zoo program
Starting Tuesday, Nashville Zoo will offer a new series of education programs designed for home-school children.
The programs are grouped into three age-appropriate programs and will be offered on the first Tuesday of each month (January 2008 will be offered on the second Tuesday).
These engaging programs encourage home-school students to learn about the importance of conservation by exploring the world of animals through animal presentations and artifacts.
* Animal Wrappers (for ages 4 to 8) features fur, feathers, skin, scales, exoskeletons and an overall introduction into animal classification.
* Surviving the Wild (for ages 9 to 13) explores diverse survival mechanisms in the animal kingdom. Kids will discover why turtles have shells, why bird beaks are so different, and more.
* Working With Wildlife (for ages 14 to 18) addresses animal-related careers and is designed specifically for middle school students. All programs are aligned with Tennessee State Standards.
The 45-minute programs cost $6 per student and include one chaperone with each group of students (one or more). Additional chaperones are $7 each.
Admission to Nashville Zoo is included with the program cost, putting the price in line with the zoo's education group rate policy.
For more information about the home school programs, please call the education department at (615) 833-1534 extension 142 or visit the zoo's Web site at www.nashvillezoo.org/homeschool.
Submitted by Jim Bartoo, public relations, Nashville Zoo.
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070930/COMMUNITY/709300321
Family zoo package, New York City
Experience fall in New York City with Buckingham Hotel's Central Park Zoo package.
The family package includes a two-night stay for four in a deluxe suite, four tickets (two adults, two children) to the Central Park Zoo, two collectible stuffed animals from the zoo gift shop, and a family pack of afternoon snacks to take on your zoo trip.
The package costs $379 per night based on a two-night minimum and is subject to availability.
Book online at www.
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/203572
Rare gator Mardi to 'treat' zoo visitors through Halloween
By MARGIE KACOHA
Daily News Staff Writer
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Being an alligator, Mardi is not likely to perform any tricks, but the rare reptile will remain at the Palm Beach Zoo through Halloween, looking like a huge white-chocolate treat.
The 9-foot, 250-pound alligator, visiting the Palm Beaches since June, was due back at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans at the end of September. But renovations continue at his Big Easy home, extending his stay at the bayou digs constructed just for him in West Palm Beach.
"He's very popular," zoo spokeswoman Gail Eaton said. "People ask for him. He's a rock star. School kids are crazy about him."
According to Eaton, the number of zoo visitors is up this summer compared with last year. August figures showed an increase of 46 percent over the same period in 2006. As the end of September approaches, figures indicate a 67 percent increase in attendance compared with September 2006.
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/content/news/Mardi0930.html
Foreign experts want to help TT zoo
Sunday, September 30 2007
The Zoological Society of Trinidad and Tobago (ZSTT) was represented at the recently convened Association of American Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) annual conference by the President, Gupte Lutchmedial and First Vice President, Ben de la Rosa.
The conference which saw representatives from all the member zoos and aquariums of the AZA from across the USA and Canada ran from the 17th to the 21st of September 2007. Attendees also included affiliates from institutions such as the ZSTT and the Cheetah Conservation Fund of Kenya and many other zoos and aquariums around the world.
In addition to the wealth of information transfer on modern zoo and aquarium management attendees were afforded the unique opportunity of meeting with and networking with most of the leaders in modern research and development of wildlife conservation and husbandry.
The ZSTT representatives took advantage of the occasion to forge alliances with key proponents of modern zoo construction and management. This will be critical to ensuring that the upgrade of the Emperor Valley Zoo benefits from new strategies and innovations in the housing and care of its collection of animals at the facility.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,65103.html
Looking for Little Joe
Finding education, dedication at Franklin Park Zoo
By Sam Allis, Globe Columnist September 30, 2007
I'm looking through triple-pane glass at Little Joe. He was born in captivity, like virtually all zoo animals today, but I'm convinced he gets subliminal bursts of something more. Some vast somewhere he can't quite see. Call it a nostalgia for something that never was.
Joe sits inert, then lopes slowly across to another spot in the gorilla quarters. Chews on a piece of straw. Lies on his back and holds his ankles and stares up at the new roof and beyond. Locks eyes with you to take your measure and make you ponder, ever so briefly, the whole concept of zoos.
You know zoos are invaluable tools to educate us about the richness of life on earth. You see the delight of kids taking a gander at their first camel, which remains one of the damnedest looking things I've ever seen.
But despite the best efforts of excellent staff at the Franklin Park Zoo to provide a great environment for these guys, you can't miss the claustrophobia of it all for a great ape. Little Joe, remember, flew the coop because he wanted breathing room. He wanted more.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/30/looking_for_little_joe/
Oregon Zoo elephant Rose-Tu is pregnant
Posted by The Oregonian October 01, 2007 12:23PM
Rose-Tu is eating for two.
The Oregon Zoo announced today that its 13-year-old Asian elephant, Rose-Tu, is pregnant and should deliver a calf between Sept. 4 and 24, 2008.
Zookeepers figure she conceived between Dec. 4 and 6, 2006, when she was allowed to roam the elephant yard with Tusko, a 36-year-old bull the zoo acquired on a breeding loan in 2005.
"A baby," said Mike Keele, "signifies a major impact on the life of the herd. It's incredibly enriching."
Keele, the zoo's deputy director and a former elephant keeper, said visitors may not notice subtle changes in Rose-Tu as her pregnancy progresses. Mammary glands near her front legs have grown a little, but otherwise she looks about as she always does.
Rose-Tu was the last elephant born at the zoo. Since 1962, when Packy was born, the zoo has has added 27 calves to the dwindling population.
In the past few years, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums has encouraged its members, including the Oregon Zoo, to step up breeding programs to balance a captive population that is aging and declining.
If all goes well with Rose-Tu, Keele said, the zoo may try next spring to breed Tusko with Chendra, also 13.
--Katy Muldoon
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/10/oregon_zoo_elephant_rosetu_is.html
'Unseen' images found in London Zoo archive -
Monday 1st October 2007
Chris Cheesman
An historic album of London Zoo photographs, which has been digitally restored for online viewing, contains images 'never seen' before, a spokeswoman has revealed to Amateur Photographer.
http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Unseen_images_found_in_London_Zoo_archive_news_146811.html
Zoo World Celebrating Customers With $1 Admission
Posted: 6:38 AM Oct 1, 2007
Last Updated: 7:47 PM Oct 1, 2007
Reporter: Elyse Molstad
Email Address: elyse.molstad@wjhg.com
Zoo World is lowering admission prices this weekend to say thanks to all its' supporters.
More than 7,500 people came out Saturday for this weekend's annual Zoobilee.
The event drops the zoo's admission price to only a $1, regular admission starts at $9.95.
This year visitors got to try their hand at the dunking booth and get photographed with some of the zoo's most exotic animals.
Zoo World is a non-profit educational facility. Zoobilee will continue Sunday from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m
http://www.wjhg.com/news/headlines/10141471.html
3rd polar bear arrives in Pittsburgh from Ohio zoo
The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - Koda Rogers and Nuka McFeely have a new friend.
Marty, their fellow polar bear, has moved in.
Marty made the trip from the Toledo Zoo in Ohio on Thursday, joining the other two furry white males at the Pittsburgh Zoo.
But visitors will have to wait to see the latest addition to Pittsburgh's polar bear population.
Zoo officials say animals often become stressed when moved around. To reduce the tension, Marty will stay behind-the-scenes for about a month getting to know his new digs and caretakers.
http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20071001_ap_3rdpolarbeararrivesinpittsburghfromohiozoo.html
Zoo shows off amazing animal pics
Lots of amazing pictures of some really cute animals are being shown off by the bosses of London Zoo.
The London Zoological Society has put lots of photos online for the first time, and is hoping to raise money by selling copies of them.
Among the pics people can look at is one from 1914 when a tiny tiger cub and a baby bear met each other.
There are also some very strange images of zebras and llamas pulling people around in carriages.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7020000/newsid_7021500/7021565.stm
Chahinkapa Zoo prepares for winter
When winter is on its way in North Dakota, everyone can feel it and have winter coats, scarves and hats ready. When the snow and bitter cold temperatures arrive, everyone can throw coats on or take refuge in a warm place. The animals at Chahinkapa Zoo aren't much different.
The Chahinkapa Zoo will be open to the public until the end of October and only open by appointment after that. With only a month left, zoo staff is beginning to prepare animals for the onset of winter.
"We don't send our animals away," said Chahinkapa Zoo Director Kathy Diekman. "We keep them here, they're ours."As it gets cooler, there are several animals that won't be on exhibit, but others are native animals or from countries with colder climates and can handle the cold winter.
http://www.wahpetondailynews.com/articles/2007/10/01/news/news02.txt
Wildlife still fascinates zookeeper after 40 years
By Marc Ramirez
Seattle Times staff reporter
Not many people have had a Japanese macaque jump on their heads, but Wally English has.
One of about 60 zookeepers at Woodland Park Zoo, English is celebrating his 40th year on staff, which puts him at Woodland Park — and in the path of many a wild animal — longer than anyone.
Well, almost anyone — there's Gertie, a 43-year-old hippo. "She's the only one on the grounds with more seniority than me," says English, 65.
When he started at the zoo in 1967, you could have mistaken English for Peter Fonda in "Easy Rider," and though his hair these days is wispy and gray-blond, the soft-spoken Seattle native is as fascinated with wildlife as he was at 5 years old. For about a decade, he's assisted with the zoo's pond-turtle conservation effort and taken care of endangered birds.
He's seen his job change as zoos themselves have been transformed from circuslike menageries to conservation-minded environments.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003915568_zookeeper01.html
Zoo's lemurs more spunky than spooky
By TOM GALUSHA
SPECIAL TO THE CHIEFTAIN
The Romans feared lemures, the spirits of the dead. Lamenting plaintively, lemures wandered by night in search of light, glaring at the living with glowing eyes. French researchers on Madagascar noticed animals that reminded them of these ghosts with loud calls and eyes glowing red at night, so they called them "lemurs."
Actually, the German name, halb-affen, "half-apes," better describes these unique primates belonging to a group called prosimians, for they occupy a stage between ancient, tree-shrew-like insectivores from which true monkeys and apes sprang and supplanted the once worldwide lemurs.
http://www.chieftain.com/life/1191218682/3
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