Zoo Logic

When the plea for help went out across the US for medical professionals to lend their talents to the city hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, like nearly 100 thousand of his colleagues, Ohio surgeon Dr. Ray Gagliardi answered the call. Dr. Ray shares his insights into the myriad of ways the deadly disease attacks the human body making it much more than just a respiratory illness.   That Sounds W...

John Lukas is president of the Okapi Conservation Project which works in the Democratic Republic of Congo to study, protect and preserve the elusive large mammal known as okapi, nicknamed the ghost of the forest. Despite its large size for a forest-dwelling species, the okapi, a relative of the giraffe, was only recently described by western civilization in the early 1900's. Its great mass enables...

The Director of Research for the Dolphin Research Center, Dr. Kelly Jaakkola is back describing a recent Connecticut bill intended to ban all relevant activities surrounding cetaceans living in human care. The bill's timing coincides with a federal import permit application by the state's only marine mammal facility, the Mystic Aquarium, seeking to add a handful of beluga whales born at a crowded...

The National Marine Mammal Foundation  has been studying chronic effects from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the largest oil spills in history. The NMMF's Director of Medicine, Dr. Forrest Gomez describes some of the findings from field research and wild population assessments on cetacean health and reproduction, particularly for bottlenose dolphins. The data shows do...

San Antonio Zoo CEO Tim Morrow describes recent acquisitions, animal habitat improvements, and the William Smith Zoo School for preschool children at the historic zoo. In a story playing out at zoological facilities across the nation and world, Tim also describes the sudden financial and staffing challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented to this non-profit facility that is entirely depen...

With the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, wildlife conservationist Julie Scardina introduces us to the work of Wild Earth Allies and its executive director, Katie Frohardt. WEA has conservation interests around the globe with a keen interest in Central Africa and the preservation of gorillas. With the aid of scientists experienced at successfully studying and conserving mountain gorillas from the br...

As the oldest animal welfare organization in the US, American Humane and its CEO Dr. Robin Ganzert work to improve welfare across the companion, military, farm, entertainment, and zoological animal world. As the SARS-CoV-2 spread continues to affect the lives of animals and people around the globe, American Humane is stepping up to provide online materials and support to organizations and animals...

University of Minnesota researcher and former VP of Science and Conservation for Lincoln Park Zoo,  Dominic Travis , DVM specializes in wildlife epidemiology. His primary area of interest is understanding the interface between humans, domestic animals and wildlife species, and how that interface affects our health, food safety, and conservation. How has our polarized political environment in an el...

Following a personal message of unity to zoo fans and professionals everywhere from Jungle Jack Hanna, the CEO of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums ( WAZA ) describes the impact of COVID-19 on its nearly 300 member facilities. As the global alliance of regional associations, national federations, zoos and aquariums, dedicated to the care and conservation of animals and their habitats aro...

As the rest of the country became aware of the virus spreading in hard hit Washington state, the Seattle Aquarium was one of the first zoological facilities in the U.S. to announce it was closing to the public. Fortunately for the aquarium, their new Director of Life Sciences, Grant Abel, is all too familiar with dealing with regional pandemics from his previous posts in Asia. Grant describes the...

Director of Conservation for San Antonio zoo, Dr. Dante' Fenolio, says zoos are unique in their ability to take funds designated by families for entertainment and repurpose them for conservation research. This is especially important for overlooked species like the reticulated flatwoods salamander, which his team successfully hatched recently for the first time ever, because zoos are willing to in...

As a species, the odds of survival are stacked against cheetahs.  From habitat loss and fragmentation, high infant mortality rates, poaching for the pet trade, and conflicts with humans Cheetahs face a myriad of threats. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium has been supporting cheetah conservation, reproductive research, and public education through its ambassador program for over 20 years. Recently they...

Animal trainer Ken Ramirez has worked with dozens of species living in zoos and the wild.  In part 2 of our conversation, Ken describes his years long effort to use behavioral science to teach a large herd of wild African elephants to avoid a centuries-old migratory route through a conflict zone.  It's a hopeful example of  the growing role for modern training methods in wildlife conservation and...

For over 40 years, author, consultant, zoological manager, behaviorist, and teacher, Ken Ramirez has explored and observed the natural world with a keen eye for animal training. There are few wild and domestic species living in human care that haven't benefited from his work as a positive reinforcement-based animal trainer. His new book available at ClickerTraining is a series of essays entitled T...

The Odysea Aquarium's annual and free Conservation Expo features many rescue, research, conservation and education focused organizations at work in the desert southwest and around the US.  We talk with the director of the Scottsdale Community College's Center for Native and Urban Wildlife about its community outreach mission.  Also, the Arizona Game and Fish Department operates several fish hatche...

February 24th marks the 10-year anniversary of the tragic passing of marine mammal trainer, Dawn Brancheau. Her loss was felt not only by family and friends, but throughout the zoological community and the general public. We celebrate the life of Dawn, the passion she had for animals and training, and the work of the foundation created in her honor with people that knew her well: a close friend, a...

We visited the Odysea Aquarium's third annual Conservation Expo featuring animal, research, higher education, and conservation related organizations working throughout the state of Arizona to preserve terrestrial and aquatic species and habitat at home and around the world. The free public event is part of the aquarium's education mission designed to increase awareness and support of nonprofit gro...

Whether you are thrilled or terrified by them, people of all ages seem drawn to ectotherms like rattlesnakes. The Rattlesnake Conservancy works to change the public narrative about the value of these animals by educating communities, professionals, and first responders on how to safely handle and live alongside them. The conservancy also conducts and supports conservation research into various env...

The historic wildfires underway across Australia threaten the existence of some of the most iconic species on earth. The fires have already consumed thousands of homes over a total area nearly equal to the size of the state of Indiana. Scientist estimate over 1 billion animals may have perished to date, including tens of thousands of individual animals from already threatened and endangered specie...

Conservation education has been a passion for Susan and David Kleven since they met on the campus of America's Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College. Upon graduation and with the help of family they launched Animal Edutainment based in Texas to help teach wildlife and conservation education to school children and the general public. After working side by side for several years, Sue accepted the role as...

Historically, the availability of large zoo animal enrichment items that are safe and won't splinter, break teeth, or harm acrylic view panels has been limited to the creativity of zookeepers as they repurpose materials like tires, telephone poles, firehoses, and hard plastic barrels or gas tanks. Over the next few years, a new company spearheaded by a team led by the same creative mind that found...

Medieval Times is an international family dinner theatre experience featuring trained Andalusian horses and falcons. To lean more about how the animals and performers are trained and learn to work together, we talked with two animal professionals from the newest Medieval Times castle located in Arizona. According to the company's website, the guest experience is based upon authentic Medieval histo...

For more than 30 years, Steve Martin has created complex and conservation minded free-flight bird shows for zoological facilities across the globe. He trains animals and zoo professionals with positive reinforcement and believes in preparing them for the chaos of the real world by not "training in a vacuum."  Steve believes in making one's own luck by taking chances, being willing to try something...

Zoo to You founder David Jackson describes being on the road with wild and endangered species and the process of reward-based desensitization training necessary to ensure great animal welfare for all their animal ambassadors. According to the  Zoo to You  website, their mission is "Giving a worldwide voice to wildlife by providing a permanent, loving home for displaced, abused, abandoned or perman...

SeaWorld's Dr. Hendrik Nollens discusses the company's recent funding announcements regarding efforts to save species like the endangered North Atlantic right whale from entanglements with fishing gear.  With only about 400 of these animals left, SeaWorld is teaming up with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to help engineers deploy and test the efficacy of new underwater buoy designs that w...