It has been the goal of the Puaiohi Release Program to establish this rare thrush in every corner of the Alakai Wilderness Area on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Over the past 7 years we have released 94 birds in the Halepaakai and the Kawaikoi River drainages. But, we still aspire to establish puaiohi in the most remote corners of the Alakai.

Because the birds don’t have the benefit of a guidebook and map to the Alakai when they are released, it has become apparent that if we want them to set up house in the farthest reaches of the Alakai, we may have to take them there ourselves. After the birds are acclimated in the “hacking” aviaries in the Halepaakai, they will be air-lifted by helicopter in their new travel box and lowered to biologists waiting in the more remote and isolated area. This will allow us to “seed” puaiohi where they will have the best chance to survive; good habitat and minimal competition from wild puaiohi and from those captive birds that have been released in the preceding years. This air-lift technique will allow the program to spread the puaiohi throughout the Alakai… even in the most remote parts of the Wilderness Area.

Alan Lieberman is the program director for the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program.

Here’s more information about the puaiohi and a photo!

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In essence, Jeannine uses some very high-tech receivers and 24 satellites to plot different points around the Zoo. The satellites send information to the receiver so that Jeannine can plot where exactly on the face of the Earth the receiver is. Each time Jeannine moves the receiver, she collects a new set of points. These points are joined together to measure and map everything from exhibit boundaries to plant locations to the sewage system. Each point is identified and transferred to a computer where special software pieces it all together and maps it. Whew! Simple, right? Eventually, the entire San Diego Zoo and everything in it will be mapped. We’ll be able to find water valves and electrical trunk lines and the coffee cart and will even be able to track down where the poop trucks park!

Our group was based at the elephant exhibit, where Jeannine set up her equipment and started collecting points around the exhibit’s perimeter. Tembo, the Zoo’s African elephant, was very interested in what we were up to and stuck very close during our work! Once finished, we examined maps that had been made from the points Jeannine had collected previously and were able to gather quite a lot of data—the exhibit’s shape (polygon), square footage (nearly 15,000 square feet or 1,390 square meters!), and occupants (elephants) were all listed.

Some of our participants have had previous experience using hand-held GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) units, which rely on the same satellites for information, to participate in a worldwide game called geocaching. We used the units, which were generously donated by Garmin International, to find some caches during our fall campout at San Onofre, and learned that caches are hidden on every continent in the world! There are even a handful of them stashed in and around the Zoo!

Thanks, Jeannine, for a fascinating afternoon filled with high-tech science!

Cindy Spiva-Evans is an educator at the San Diego Zoo.

Girls In Science is a program for Roosevelt Middle School girls which creates science-based experiences with professional women at the San Diego Zoo. The program is funded through the generosity of the Wells Fargo Foundation.

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The Browse Team is responsible for growing and harvesting various plants to use as dietary supplements for certain animal residents. Many of the plants are found right on San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal Park grounds, but certain species are grown at our off-site browse farm or harvested from multiple locations around San Diego County. My job would be to help harvest eucalyptus for the koalas and plant new saplings to replace trees that had died. Browse gardeners typically start their day at 5:30 am. For me, that meant getting up at 4 a.m. every morning and dressing in layers to stay warm. It was quite an adjustment from my regular tour bus schedule.

That first day, I helped box up ficus branches for shipment to the Cincinnati Zoo. The fresh supply and variety of ficus species helps keep their Sumatran rhinos in prime condition and has contributed to their breeding success in Cincinnati.

Packing the boxes is dusty, sticky work. I wore a mask and coveralls to keep the latex sap from staining my uniform. Using hand snips and loppers, three of us trimmed the branches to fit in the cardboard florist boxes. Each box weighed about 40 pounds (18 kilograms) when filled and was taped shut securely. When wet from rain, the branches are placed in plastic bags before going in the boxes to keep the cardboard intact. We’re currently shipping 54 boxes a week. That’s an increase of 30% from a few months ago. The young female in Cincinnati is getting bigger and her appetite is increasing with her size. It’s very satisfying to realize that our hard work is benefiting these unique and endangered animals.

Patti Turkle is a bus driver/guide at the San Diego Zoo.

Here’s more information about our plants and gardens.

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This is an expected development. Our previous panda cubs were often found resting high in the trees for hours on end. Sometimes it meant our visitors were unable to see them well from the viewing areas on the ground. That may also happen with Su Lin. But take heart! Climbing high serves a purpose for the little panda, and we are happy that we are able to provide her with the environment she needs to express her natural behavior.

In the wild, a panda mother and her young have conflicting agendas. The cub still needs to rest a lot during the day, and the panda mother needs to feed on lots of bamboo in order to maintain her milk supply for her offspring. This conflict means that panda cubs are often alone for many hours at a time as momma wanders in search of fresh bamboo.

Small panda cubs are at risk of predation from other carnivores such as leopards. Since a cub isn’t capable of defending itself well in a physical encounter, the best defensive option for the little one is to climb. The cover of the trees may help a youngster escape a predator’s notice. By getting up high, the young panda is less vulnerable in an assault by leopards, who would have to attack from below. The cub can wait out the presence of a leopard until momma returns home. An adult panda outweighs any other carnivore in the mountains of Sichuan, and a leopard will not chance a battle with the panda mother.

Su Lin, like her siblings before her, is not a wild panda. Yet she has all of the same instincts of her wild brethren. When she is ready to settle in for a long nap she prefers to climb high, where she feels safe and secure. Although Bai Yun is never far away, Mother Nature insists that the young panda seek the security of the high branches.

We have some good climbing trees in the exhibit Su Lin shares with Bai Yun. However, not all branches are ideal for climbing. Some of the branches are weak, and some extend over areas- such as the public queue- that we wouldn’t want the pandas to fall into. We have therefore blocked off some branches with metal collars, which are intended to prevent the bears from getting further along a specific branch. Fortunately for Su Lin, most of the branches in her area are not collared, which leaves her with many options for those long naps in the trees.

Suzanne Hall is the panda research technician for the San Diego Zoo’s Office of Giant Panda Conservation.

View giant pandas on Panda Cam.

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Elmo and Sugar Plum are miniature horses. Elmo is a 9-year-old male and
Sugar Plum, believe it or not, is 29 (only a few years younger than me). She is one of the oldest animals in the Children’s Zoo.

You may have seen us walking around the Zoo. Elmo always wants to run, and being so young, he is full of energy and, I assure you, very strong. When we first began walking our horses, Elmo was a little hard to handle, but with time, he learned that it wasn’t okay to try to drag me all around the Zoo (he would have loved for me to wear rollerblades).

On our walks we’ll pass by the gorillas and orangutans. It’s here that Elmo will drop and roll around on one side and then the other. He doesn’t mind that kids are anxiously waiting to pet him and take pictures with him. He just continues to roll till he’s had enough. Then he gets up and shakes off and is ready for petting. Sometimes, when we’re lucky, the orangutans will come over and take a look at his antics; if we’re REALLY lucky, they lick the glass. If you happen to be around, get the camera ready!

Although she is up in years, Sugar Plum can be feisty; she doesn’t hesitate to give Elmo a few good back kicks when he gets out of line. Elmo quickly learned not to push her around.

I’m also happy to say that Elmo and Sugar Plum will soon have a new friend in their stall. We are expecting the arrival of Katie. She is an 8-year-old miniature horse and measures 29 inches (74 centimeters) at the withers. She is currently in quarantine and is expected to arrive at the Children’s Zoo’s Petting Paddock by the end of the month, if all goes well. I also hear that Bob Cisneros, senior hospital keeper, is in love with her (we won’t mention it to his wife). Since our animals go through a period of introduction and adaptation when they first arrive at a new area, Katie may not be on exhibit until maybe a few weeks after her arrival. I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

Lety Cotero is a keeper in the San Diego Zoo’s Children’s Zoo.

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It requires a lot of continuous study to learn as much as we can about the plant and animal collections here at the Zoo, including new babies or animals that have arrived from another facility. With nearly 8,000 kinds of plants and 4,000 animals here on grounds, there’s always something to learn!

Panda keepers, too, do more than meets the eye. Yes, cleaning and caring for the giant pandas is a part of their daily routine, but they care for a number of other animals in that area of the Zoo, including western tufted deer and Siberian musk deer living across from the panda area near Speedramp 1, and northern crested porcupines and three-banded armadillos that live near the base of Speedramp 2. As part of the Sun Bear Forest Team, they are called upon to assist with major projects throughout Bear and Cat canyons, in addition to their normal responsibilities. Keepers, too, spend a lot of time reading and learning about their charges and developing new and interesting enrichment items for them.

“How can I get a job at the Zoo?” Job postings can be found here on our Web site and job fairs are held seasonally for food service and gift shop positions. It surprises people to know, though, that only about 10 percent of the employees here ever work directly with animals. Other employees work in Food Service, Construction and Maintenance, Information Services, Merchandising, Horticulture, Buildings and Grounds - all areas necessary to keep the Zoo running smoothly for our animals and our guests.We hope that all of you will have a chance to come and see this for yourselves, but if not, keep checking our Web site for more information and updates on what’s happening at the Zoo.

Ellie Rosenbaum is an panda narrator/educator at the San Diego Zoo.

Here’s more information about the different jobs it takes to run a zoo.

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So what was the weighing and measuring like? Su Lin has grown so much and is no longer the sleepy little fur ball. She seems convinced that we are there simply for her to play with. Luckily for us, rubbing and scratching her tummy works wonders to get her distracted while we take measurements. Su Lin weighs 19.4 pounds (8.8 kilograms) and is 34 inches (86.5 centimeters) long. She is so very much fun and quite confident in all she does. But it is during the time we have handling her we are so reminded that she is a wild animal. Her teeth and claws, although just used in play right now, could cause great harm as she gets bigger!

We use the relationships we form through training to work with our pandas to get the incredible information we use to help with their care and conservation. We have begun some training with Su Lin to encourage her to come when we call her in hopes that she will come out of the trees for more regularly scheduled exams. So please keep in mind as you fall in love with our “little bit of something sweet” that she truly is a beautiful, intelligent, and wild animal. Fall in love with this beauty, not just the cute adorable face.

Posted by the San Diego Zoo’s giant panda keepers.

View giant pandas on Panda Cam.

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Chuma, on the other hand, has a hard time even walking out onto the stage of the San Diego Zoo’s Hunte Amphitheater that he has known all his life when there is a large audience present. Let’s not even attempt to ask him to leave the safety of his crate to meet rowdy second graders. It takes time to foster a relationship with Chuma, but worth its weight in gold when he takes refuge in your lap to relax for a nap on a cold afternoon!

Servals are a medium-size cat from Africa but possess the longest legs for their size. Their very long legs aid them in walking in tall grass and help them spring into the air. Theses hunters are a natural vector control, eating mostly rodents, but birds are a favorite meal as well as small reptiles making up the remainder of their diet. Servals are capable of jumping 12 feet (3.6 meters) into the air to catch a flying bird.

Teaching Jabari to jump in front of visitors wasn’t a monumental accomplishment, but letting go of the lure was. We purchased simple cat toys at a local pet store to find a favorite toy. It happened to be a feather attached to a plastic stick. The feather was brightly colored and would captivate Jabari’s attention every time we used it. The trainer using the toy needed to be careful when and where he or she made it present because Jabari’s desire to jump was not backed up with thinking “Where am I going to land after I launch myself into the air?” Therefore, we would set the stage by clearing the area for him to launch, land, and launch again. After Jabari destroyed a few too many of these purchased lures, we started making them ourselves out of the shed bird feathers from the show area. Emu feathers are lightweight and gently glide through the air, and are a big favorite of Jabari’s. In order to retrieve the toy, Jabari has learned the term “leave it.” He obliges every time because he is rewarded with his favorite food, hardboiled egg, and he knows the game will commence again. Jumping Jabari is not only a joy for the trainer operating the toy, but for the viewers as well. Come by the Hunte Amphitheater and watch for yourself sometime soon.

Maureen O. Duryee is an animal trainer at the San Diego Zoo’s Hunte Amphitheater.

Here’s more information about animal shows at the San Diego Zoo.

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The Zoo houses six Masai giraffes, and the girls enjoyed having the opportunity to feed and get to know them. One of our big challenges was learning how to tell the individuals apart—Silver is the adult male, or bull, and is very dark. Abby is the tallest and blondest female. Bahati is an adult female with long, black hairs growing from the tip of her tail. Nakuru, also known as Nicki, is often mistaken for a youngster, but is in fact a very petite adult. Amani is a very dark female toddler, and at 1 1/2 years, is nearly as tall as Nicki. The youngest in the group is a very blond male named Hodari, who was born November 9—his mom Bahati’s birthday!

Our visit occurred late in the afternoon, so the herd was ready for snacks when we arrived. We learned that the Zoo’s giraffes are fed an Australian species of acacia (Acacia cyclopsis) rather than the types they would naturally encounter in Africa, because the keepers prefer to feed out food that doesn’t have four- to five-inch thorns growing out of it! The giraffes don’t seem to mind the foreign browse at all, and also receive alfalfa and leaf eater biscuits throughout the day.

Thanks to the giraffe keeper team for allowing us to visit so late in the day! We had a lovely time and snapped some great photos!

Cindy Spiva-Evans is an educator at the San Diego Zoo.

Girls In Science is a program for Roosevelt Middle School girls which creates science-based experiences with professional women at the San Diego Zoo. The program is funded through the generosity of the Wells Fargo Foundation.

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Su Lin seems to enjoy all parts of the bamboo in different ways. Sometimes she likes to play with the bamboo stalks, treating them like little sticks that she carries in her mouth and turns over and over in her little paws. She plays with shreds of culm, the remnants of the large, thick pieces of bamboo that are favored by Bai Yun. Perhaps the most endearing is when Su Lin chooses to sit side by side with her momma, mimicking her movements as she wraps her paws around bamboo leaf and stuffs it in her mouth.

As entertaining as all of this play may be, it serves a real purpose: it teaches Su Lin how to manipulate her future food source. Although right now she depends on mother’s milk to provide her with all of her sustenance, she will need to learn to be a proficient bamboo feeder before she is weaned at about 18 months to two years of age.

Our volunteer corps of observers is on the lookout for the transition from milk to bamboo. This transition will be a gradual one. Currently, Su Lin can be seen holding bamboo stalk and carefully grabbing leaves, which she puts in her mouth. She bites the leaf a few times, then moves on to another leaf or stem to mouth. Soon, however, the leaf in her mouth will remain there for extended periods as she chews it to a pulp. After working on each leaf wad for as much as twenty minutes, she’ll spit it out and grab another. Eventually, as her best bamboo-processing teeth grow in and her skill set improves, she will stop spitting out the leaves and try swallowing them from time to time. By the end of her first year we will be observing regular bouts of extended bamboo consumption from our little girl.

Improvements in bamboo feeding proficiency don’t stop once the cub is weaned. For example, we have seen improvements in Mei Sheng’s bamboo handling in the last year. Since these animals spend so much of their time working to ingest bamboo, you can imagine how important it is that they become really good at it. There is a real skill to managing this food source, and apparently it takes years of practice to become very efficient. I hope you enjoy watching Su Lin and Mei Sheng as they fine-tune their abilities!

Suzanne Hall is the panda research technican for the San Diego Zoo’s Office of Giant Panda Conservation.

View giant pandas on Panda Cam.

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