Zoo Logic

Starting her career in a more traditional zoo setting in the 1970's, Dr. Laurie Marker has dedicated her professional life to preserving cheetahs in the wild. After what is now Namibia gained independence from South Africa in 1990, she moved to the southern African nation to help reduce the hundreds of cheetahs killed by ranchers and farmers each year. Through the foundation she founded and leads...

Enrichment is a frequently tossed around term but what actually is it?  How is it being used today and is that application appropriate or even effective?  We are on location at the AZA annual conference hosted by Columbus Zoo & Aquarium with applied animal behavior experts Chuck Tompkins and Erin Ivory to discuss the current use of enrichment, how to better maximize its positive impact on animal w...

As the executive director of the Community Conservation Fund for Africa or CCFA , Taryn Gillson works to help build community development through funding generated by ecotourism. Their goal is to assist communities participating in and benefiting from conservation. CCFA is the foundation of the ecotourism leading experts at  Mantis following their merger with hotel management giant, Accor . Even m...

Marine biologist Dr. Holley Muraco returns to Zoo Logic to discuss her recent work rehabilitating orphaned beavers. This iconic and unique species was integral to the early history and commerce of western Europeans in North America and narrowly managed to avoid extinction.  Holley also discusses her work monitoring the health of coastal Mississippi, largely via its resident dolphin population, thr...

It's part 2 of our conversation with Dolphin Quest co-founder, Dr. Jay Sweeney beginning with efforts to increase awareness and basic research of at-risk small cetaceans around the globe. Jay discusses some of the other research DQ has supported over its history including some pioneering work studying the off-shore bottlenose dolphins of Bermuda and their amazing adaptations to their deep sea habi...

Founded nearly a quarter of a century ago, Mantis is a boutique hotel group with a focus on conservation and sustainable eco-tourism. Mantis founder, Adrian Gardiner, born in Zambia, took his childhood interest in wildlife and began a life-long journey towards restoring and rewinding thousands of acres of degraded farmland in South Africa. Among the many boutique hotels Mantis has developed around...

Most zoological professionals would rather spend each day focusing on providing great welfare for their animals than keeping tabs on restrictive bills moving through Congress or the state legislature. Unfortunately, today's environment necessitates that everyone proactively engage in the legislative and lobbying process in order to prevent anti-zoo groups and their false narratives from convincing...

Our ability to rescue, treat, and hopefully, return stranded marine mammals to sea has greatly improved over the past few decades with advancements in husbandry, medicine, and veterinary care. However, our ability to also behaviorally treat animals, especially juveniles during critical learning periods, to better prepare them physically and mentally for the wild has understandably lagged behind ov...

As the son of one of the first female marine biologists in the world and certainly at Southern California's Scripp's Institute of Oceanography, Dr. Jay Sweeney grew up surrounded by aquatic life, surfing, and scientific discovery. Long before he co-founded Dolphin Quest and helped launch the public animal interactive experience with Dr. Rae Stone we know today, Jay worked with SeaWorld and the US...

Going on an African safari is a dream for many but what should travelers know about their destination before booking with a tour operator?  We spoke to the team from Rickshaw Travels Rwanda about the growth of sustainable ecotourism in the small mountainous country as well as other popular East African locations. While there are many similarities among range countries, each differs not only by the...

Dr. Susan G. Friedman, professor emeritus from the Department of Psychology at Utah State University is well known among the zoological community for her expertise in behavior change and learning. She consults for a variety of animal organizations and facilities, is a frequent speaker at professional meetings, and her written work has been translated into well over a dozen languages. According to...

Many people, perhaps most including some scientists, think Monarch Butterflies are in trouble. It turns out, according to Monarch expert and researcher, Andy Davis, PhD from the UGA Odum School of Ecology that Monarch populations over the past decade are stable and may even be climbing. So what began as a Zoo Logic conversation about threats to Monarchs quickly turned into a discussion about the i...

Longtime trainer and conservationist Julie Scardina reflects on her time filming Mountain Gorillas with Jack Hanna in Rwanda a mere decade after the 1994 genocide. Julie has since trekked to view these great apes many times across their range in nearby Uganda.   Since her retirement as ambassador for SeaWorld & Busch Gardens where she helped manage their Conservation Fund, Julie leads Mission Wild...

In a zoological podcast first, the hosts of 4 animal training and welfare related shows, including Zoo Logic , join together to discuss how their respective programs came about, future goals, as well as, content similarities and differences. Guests include Ryan Cartlidge of The Animal Training Academy podcast, Shane Corbett of the recently launched Animal Behavior Conversations podcast from the An...

On a recent extended visit to a zoo, one topic that arose among some of the keeper staff concerned the individual animal well-being pros and cons of hand-rearing predator species versus managing them as parent-raised animals. Historically, many zoos have preferred to let young predatory species, especially elusive felines, be reared entirely by the parent, with minimal contact with human caregiver...

After more than seven years of planning, construction, collection planning, staffing and transports, an international team has opened the massive all-new indoor  SeaWorld Yas Island, Abu Dhabi . General Curator, Rob Yordi, has been a major part of the process from the earliest days of specialized teams drawing up next generation exhibit designs to launching operations a few weeks ago. Rob discusse...

War, genocide, human population growth, food insecurity, poaching, limited range, climate change and land use policies are just some of the reasons why mountain gorillas have been on the brink of extinction for decades. A reality made more stark given the subspecies was only "discovered" by the West as recently as 1902. Today, the Mountain Gorilla, made part of the public consciousness by the embe...

Recently, a group of scientists and animal facilities announced  a cooperative program called the Marine Mammal Research Network to match researchers and students with institutions interested in conducting investigations for the conservation and welfare benefit of wild populations and those living in human care. Dr Jason Bruck returns to discuss the group's formation and goals, as well as, how int...

Recently, labor journalist Asher Elbein published a story in Undark Magazine describing a legal settlement in favor of a primate researcher claiming sexual assault and retaliation against an accredited zoo director and the  Association of Zoos and Aquariums . What is the remedy when an organization created to assist facility and individual members, and at the same time hold them accountable to hig...

Known for its snarky videos and scathing websites directed at exposing animal rights groups, Berman and Co may have new leadership, but its purpose remains: speaking truth to power and revealing the hypocrisy of those bent on eliminating zoos, aquariums and animals in human care. The organization's new executive director, Jack Hubbard, discusses their new website   EnvironmentandWelfare.com , whic...

A few chapters in to A Future in Flames , by returning guest Dr. Danielle Clode, one realizes that Australia has a unique relationship with wildfire unlike any other large land mass. On the one hand, wildfire has helped shaped the continent and the plant and animal life we know today. At the same time, this isolated continent's natural and anthropogenic-driven evolution, especially over the last 1...

Three leaders behind some of today's top animal record-keeping software management systems discuss their joint effort to establish data portability as the new standard for zoos, aquariums and related organizations. On the surface, David Kleven, Mark Simmons and Tony Niemann are competitors in the electronic animal record-keeping arena. Behind the scenes, however, these three recognize the greater...

With so many competing outside voices claiming to know what is best for the 57-year-old orca named Toki, we knew it was important to better understand the unique individual behind the stage name Lolita by those who actually cared for her daily for decades. Experienced animal professionals Heather Keenan and Marni Wood spent decades at  Miami Seaquarium caring for and building relationships based o...

The social and traditional media response in the wake of news that owners of Miami Seaquarium have partnered with groups bent on returning ailing 57 year old Lolita to her home waters of the Pacific Northwest after more than 50 years in human care has been extraordinary. With few details about how such a project would be completed and sustained safely and successfully for her and the few remaining...

Late last week the zoological world was blindsided by the announcement that the owners of Miami Seaquarium had entered into an agreement with anti-zoo organizations and a wealthy philanthropist from the NFL to return the oldest orca in human care named Lolita (a.k.a. Tokitae) to her original range in the Pacific Northwest. Against the backdrop of the disastrous results of how Keiko (Free Willy) wa...