Before the tour started Jeanne, our Photo Caravan guide, told us about some of the critters we would be seeing on our journey and passed around various horns and antlers for us to examine. Then we hopped aboard the caravan truck that would take us right into two of the Park’s amazingly large field exhibits.

The first animals to greet us were the stately giraffes. Eagerly surrounding our truck, the giraffes graciously accepted high-fiber biscuits right out of our hands. What a thrill to get almost eye to eye with these majestic creatures, and to feel their strong tongues gently wrap around each biscuit I had to offer! I wanted so badly to touch them—it would have been easy as they were so close—but Jeanne had told us giraffes don’t like to be petted, so I complied.

The truck then rumbled on through the East Africa field exhibit, stopping often to show us herds of wildebeest, gazelles, waterbucks, and gaurs. Jeanne pointed out a baby gazelle tucked up against a palm tree by its mother for safety and explained different strategies mother animals use to protect their young. Other fun stuff I learned: wildebeest saliva actually helps grass grow; and the Park has a special machine that sucks up pellet-shaped droppings just like those machines that suck up golf balls on the driving range!

My favorite stop was in the Asian Plains exhibit to feed Jakichu, nicknamed Jackie, a pregnant Indian rhino. Jackie stood right next to the truck with her huge mouth wide open, willing to accept any and all apple slices dropped into it. She even let us touch her rubbery upper lip and thick horn, as long as we kept those apples coming!

Debbie Andreen is the San Diego Zoo’s Web site editor.

The Duchess was in town as the spokesperson for Weight Watchers International, Inc. During her presentation on January 18 in the Zoo’s Wegeforth Bowl she shared some tips for a healthy lifestyle with visitors and employees, with the help of some of our animal ambassadors. Jake the sea lion demonstrated how swimming keeps him fit; Akela the timber wolf and Nala, his domestic dog friend, highlighted walking as a fun way to exercise, especially if you have a walking partner; then a flock of 10 macaws flew over the audience, demonstrating that flying burns some calories, too!

Sarah Ferguson was game for anything the animal trainers had planned for her. Nelson, another sea lion, planted a kiss on the Duchess’ cheek and allowed her to feed him whole fish. Jokingly wondering if she should call “Here, kitty, kitty,” the Duchess watched in awe as Jezebel, a Harris’ hawk, swooped down onto her gloved hand for a raw meat treat.

Weight Watchers has a chapter for Zoo employees. In fact, it was Children’s Zoo keeper Melinda Sage who inspired the day’s event. Melinda told the weight-loss organization that the Zoo would accept donations of used scales. Keeping an accurate weight on each animal is part of a keeper’s many duties, and the spider monkeys in her care didn’t like to share a scale with so many other critters. At the event, the Duchess and Weight Watchers presented a very surprised Melinda with five new scales for the Zoo’s use—I’m impressed!

Debbie Andreen is the San Diego Zoo’s Web site editor.

Saturday, January 8, was cold and wet. But CRES staff members were warm and welcoming as curious guests like me entered the brand-new Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Conservation Research, a $22-million state-of-the-art facility located next to the Paul Harter Veterinary Medical Center at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park. A descriptive map of the building complex allowed us to explore at our leisure without getting lost: the Center is, after all, two-stories and 50,000 square feet (4,645 square meters) of space!

Displays were set up in the labs to show some of the varied projects CRES researchers are working on. We could peer through powerful microscopes to view items like a small macaw feather or a tail hair from a Przewalski’s horse (feathers and hair are good sources for extracting DNA), or seeds from native silver puffs that have been collected for future use in the Wild Animal Park’s Seed Bank program. The most popular display was in the Endocrine Lab. “Who’s Dung Is It?” had preserved samples of fecal material from different species, challenging us to determine which animals “did the dirty deed!” This good-natured activity also showed us that “poop-scooping” is a harmless and noninvasive way to collect hormonal information from animals.

The Beckman Center has many “green” features: the building’s carpeting, structural steel, and concrete block are all made out of recycled materials. I especially liked how the whole building wraps around a lovely outdoor courtyard. This openness gives all the interior office spaces a soothing outdoor view. (Don’t worry, the labs, meeting rooms, and staff library have fabulous exterior vistas!) Every division of CRES has so much more space now: many divisions posted photos of their former working quarters for comparison. It was obvious that CRES staff members are grateful to the Beckman Foundation and others who made this new facility possible.

The best part of the open house for most of us was the chance to meet with CRES staff, who were all very willing to share what they do and graciously answered questions, gave tours of their labs, or explained current projects. When asked his thoughts about the new Center, Dr. Tom Jensen, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Reproductive Physiology Division, summed it up by saying, “I can get so much more done here with all the space. This new building has inspired me to work on even more projects!”

Debbie Andreen is the San Diego Zoo’s Web site editor

Tissues were collected postmortem from the po`ouli, selecting organs from sites that had the most potential to grow new cells in vitro (literally in glass). Each tissue sample was cleaned, diced, divided, and incubated in various media broths to maximize the potential for growth. Avian tissues are notoriously difficult to grow, unlike mammalian cells that grow with relative ease in the incubators. After several agonizing weeks of meticulous care and frustratingly slow cell growth, the cells from the tissues surrounding the po`ouli’s eye finally began to grow and divide into new cells (pictured are these cells, called “fibroblasts”). Each cell contains the chromosomes that are literally the essence of the po`ouli. Each cell contains the complete DNA complement of a po`ouli Melamprosops phaeosoma. There are still many steps to take before these cells can be “lifted” from the broth, cryopreserved in the Frozen Zoo®, and then someday, thawed and reconstituted, long after this generation of conservationists and technicians are gone…but this first step is significant. The po`ouli may never be seen again as a living, breathing creature sharing our world of humid rain forests in Hawaii, but these living cells will always serve as a genetic reminder of what once was.

Alan Lieberman is the program director for the San Diego Zoo’s Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program.