As much as we would love to share our Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program’s daily news and exciting events on this Web log, breeding season leaves little time for writing. However, I must find the time to tell you about one particular event this breeding season that illustrates what an amazing group of people we work with.
Part 3 in a series about the Bird Breeding Complex (BBC) at the Wild Animal Park.
Read Part 2, BBC: Bird of Paradise and Kingfisher Chicks.
We participate in a local recovery program for the light-footed clapper rail Rallus longirostris levipes, an endangered bird native to San Diego that inhabits coastal wetlands. We have two pairs of wild clapper rails in the second string of the BBC, called “BBC B,” that have been here since September 2005. They are very shy and usually I can only get a good look at them after everyone has left for lunch. It is quiet then and they come out to catch fish in the pool.
The San Diego Zoo’s Horticulture Department has been working on our “Reforestation” project for a few years now. One of the things that is so important when planting young trees is to think about the fact that they will be there, hopefully, for a very long time. We have been working on creating just that type of long-term happy tree in the Zoo’s Monkey Trails and Forest Tales habitat for the few years. The African mahogany trees Khaya nyasica will represent a major part of the canopy in the area. Thirteen trees were planted in 2004 during Monkey Trails’ construction from 36-inch box trees. When they went in the ground, they had already been in our nursery for a few growing seasons.
First, I’d like to thank everyone for all your kind and supportive words with regards to our polar bear, Shikari. (See A Tribute to Shikari.) It has definitely been a difficult time for many of us. Her illness came about quickly and she deteriorated so rapidly that we felt euthanasia was the most humane thing for her. Numerous tests were performed in an effort to determine the cause of her illness. The results of these tests indicate that inflammation in Shikari’s brain (encephalitis) was caused by a virus. Investigations concerning further characterization of the virus are ongoing. I am happy, however, to report that our other three bears seem healthy and well. And our concern for them minimizes some with each passing day.
Part 2 in a series about the Bird Breeding Complex (BBC) at the Wild Animal Park.
Read Part 1, BBC: Shoebill Stork Introduction.
Exciting things are happening in the second enclosure of the BBC, called BBC B. We have two parent-raised fledglings: Micronesian kingfishers Todiramphus cinnamomina and superb birds of paradise Lophorina superba. This is the first successful breeding for this pair of superb birds of paradise and the female is being very attentive to her chick. The chick is a male; he hatched on May 2 and fledged on May 22, 2007. The sire, adorned with an iridescent blue breast shield and black cape, is in an adjacent enclosure. They are separated because most birds of paradise are polygamous and males take no part in nest building or raising chicks.
If you have visited the hippopotamuses at the San Diego Zoo lately, you’ve most likely noticed that Jazi, our four-year old, is no longer in the pool with mom Funani. For about a month, Jazi was in the hippo barn getting used to stepping in and walking through a very large crate. All of the hard work of Jazi’s keepers paid off when, on the morning of May 20, she walked into her crate and the doors closed for the final time here in San Diego. (Jazi is pictured with her mom, enjoying a fruitsicle.)
It’s been a while since I updated you on the progress of Marcella and Bulan, our Bornean sun bear dam and cub (see Suzanne’s blog, Sun Bear Cub Debuts on Exhibit). Things have gone very well for them since they transitioned out to the Sun Bear Forest exhibit in March. Though initially very cautious and often found in close contact with her mother, Bulan has now blossomed into a very independent little bear that is making her presence known.
As some of our virtual visitors have observed, Mei Sheng is once again back on exhibit next door to his sister, Su Lin. It’s been a joy to see him out again, despite his occasional appearances high up in the poplar trees in the “off exhibit” area. With Su Lin and Bai Yun separating in late winter, and the subsequent reintoduction and mating season, it’s been many months since we panda narrators have seen him and we’re surprised at how he’s changed!
When important people are given honorary academic degrees or prestigious awards, the audience is often well dressed, quiet, and listen attentively as the awardee stands behind a lectern and gives a speech. However, when Richard Farrar, the director of the San Diego Zoo, was welcomed into the Samburu family, the ceremony was anything but quiet and sedate!
Bai Yun is settling into her new living arrangements well. She has always enjoyed being in what is now a behind-the-scenes area, the classroom exhibit, with the nearby bedroom, garden room, and sunroom. Those long-time visitors to the San Diego Zoo may remember this classroom exhibit as one of our original panda exhibits, and Bai Yun has had access to this area on and off since her arrival here in 1996.
The Samburu women were dressed in their best outfits. We met them near the river bank and they led us in a procession, chanting and dancing all the way, to the sandy side of the river. After we arrived, the moran, or warriors, who were also dressed in their best outfits, began their part of the welcoming tradition. If you think that basketball players can jump high, you should have see the moran hopping two to three feet off the ground!! However, the ceremony was not for us to observe – because we were becoming Samburu, we had to participate. So we joined in the swaying, chanting, dancing, and jumping. If you think that all the Zoo director does is sit behind a desk and push paperwork, you need to guess again. Richard was hopping along with his new Samburu brothers, arm in arm!! After the dancing, all four of us were given bright red patterned kushombiri, or Samburu robes, to mark our welcome into the community. Truly, sisi familia moja, or “we are one family.”