During our descent, I was awed by the wide spectrum of color in the arctic tundra. From the air, I could see the orange, yellow, and green blends across the landscape—in stark contrast to the barren gray I expected. I have seen pictures of the colors and heard stories of tundra beauty but until I took my first breathtaking steps in the tundra, I did not understand what I was missing.

Stepping off the plane, I was greeted with a lashing wind that slapped my face and hands. The wind is fierce on the tundra with a chill factor that makes the 7 Celsius (about 44 Farenheit) feel more like 4 C (39 F). Once we dropped off our duffel bags and received a warm welcome from the Tundra Inn, we ventured out into Churchill to explore. Guided by Stephen, the student ambassador from Churchill, we toured many parts of Churchill including “the Complex” which encloses and connects the elementary school, high school, library, skating rink, gym, pool, and community center. I admire the efficient design that creates a gathering and play place that is protected from the elements in Churchill.

We also explored the shipping port, which is a major part of the Churchill economy (the port exports grains harvested from the central U.S. and Canadian plains). We then headed to Hudson Bay, a beautiful pebbled beach that opens out to the Arctic ocean and is where the polar bears descend onto the ice during the winter. As we were hiking along the beach, however, a natural resource officer from Manitoba Conservation’s Polar Bear Alert System directed us off the beach. We were confused and disappointed that our stroll was cut short until the officer informed us that a polar bear had been sighted less than half a mile from the beach and was heading along the coast in our direction! It was amazing to witness the reaction to the presence of the polar bears in the community, and their dedication to protecting these bears, as well as the visitors, is inspiring. I am even more anticipatory of our adventure on the Tundra Buggies tomorrow after our close call—at least then we can observe the bears up close but out of reach!

Just now as I am writing this blog I got up and ran outside when someone announced, “The northern lights are out!” Tonight we had our first glimpse of the beautiful Northern Lights in both green and purple colors. They are absolutely breathtaking and I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to witness them. I hope to be able to see even more once out on the Tundra Buggy Lodge, away from city lights. I’m a little nervous that we have used up all our luck today, but the tundra is full of surprises. Hope to have something surprising to report tomorrow.

From the “Polar Bear Capital of the World,”
Ronit

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I have to admit that the biggest culture shock for me has been the switch to the metric system. I really appreciate the ease of measuring with metrics because we use it in science classes in the USA, but I am still somewhat unsure about measuring temperature in Celsius. For example, the temperature here in Winnipeg has been around 27 degrees, which I expected to be cold, forgetting that in Celsius, 27 degrees is hot! But I am adjusting; I am beginning to do all my measurements in metrics, now that I have been here for three days. The majority of the camp is in metrics so I am learning quickly and I hope to be completely “fluent” by the end of camp!

Anyway, today we toured Winnipeg, stopping at the Leo Mol Sculpture Gardens in Assiniboine Park and the Assiniboine Zoo. Because we are taking this big trek to see the polar bears in their wild habitat, being at the zoo sparked a discussion about the responsibilities of humans when we have animals in captivity. Many important and eloquent points were made by some of the other campers, a director of a Scandinavian wildlife park, and simply by watching the zoo visitors marvel at the animals. The general consensus seemed to be that captivity provides an important opportunity for education, but the discussion also highlighted the importance of maintaining aspects of an open and realistic environment in the exhibit to protect the natural behaviors of the animal. I am thrilled to be traveling with this amazing group of people, and I cannot wait for more intriguing conversations with my fellow ambassadors.

I have been surprised and excited by how diverse our group is. I must admit that I thought Canadians would be “just like” Americans. I can’t quite put my finger on it but I am enjoying the differences. And of course there are students from Australia and Denmark, and Cesar moved to the U.S. from Guatemala a few years ago!

We are gearing up for our trip to Churchill tomorrow, and you can feel the excitement in the air. We are getting closer and closer….

From just south of the Arctic Circle,

Ronit

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Over the past months, we have worked on crate training with the girls. They eagerly enter the shipping crate when asked and will even hang out there if allowed. Detailed records describing their training, personalities, and medical histories will accompany them to their new home to smooth their transition. We wish the best for them in their new life.

Kamau and Zenda, Mina’s boys, will remain with us for awhile longer. There is a distinct possibility that we soon will have new litters of cubs at Lion Camp, and the boys can be on exhibit so dad Izu can spend more time inside bonding with the new arrivals.

As we say goodbye to Bakari and Abena, we are beginning a new chapter in the lives of the Lion Camp pride. There are exciting days ahead!

Marcia Redding is a senior keeper at the Wild Animal Park.

Read Marcia’ previous blog, Lion Cubs Form New Pride.

More images have been added to our Lion Photo Gallery!

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This is a bit unusual for Bai Yun. For the most part, we would expect her cub to remain in the den for another few months. The infant has barely opened its eyes and is not capable of much more than a short burst of crawling. Clearly, our baby can still benefit from the security of a den. So what is going on here?

It is not uncommon for a wild panda mother to leave the birthing den before the end of the denning phase. Usually, she does so to move the infant to a new denning site. The birthing den may become soiled over time, or begin to concentrate odors from mom and cub, or may become an unsafe location for the baby to remain. In such instances, it is prudent for a panda dam to move the cub to a new, fresh location for the remainder of the denning phase, until the cub becomes more mobile. In some cases, panda mothers have been known to switch dens more than once before abandoning dens all together.

With Bai Yun’s first two cubs, she was offered multiple dens to select from at the time of birth. Both times, she chose the current birthing den to have her infant in. Unfortunately, she used the alternate dens only as latrines once the cubs were born. For that reason, we chose not to offer her an alternative site in 2005. Things went swimmingly that year despite the reduced denning options, and Bai Yun did not abandon the den with Su Lin until December of that first year.

This time around we opted not to provide alternate dens again. Things were moving along smoothly, until Bai Yun threw a curve ball at us, showing signs over the last week that she was in the process of abandoning the birthing den. What was Bai Yun trying to tell us? Why was the birthing den no longer satisfactory to her?

Our first step was to provide the bedroom near her den with an extra-thorough cleaning to ensure there were no unsatisfactory odors there. Since she did not utilize the den much after that, we opted to clean out most of the nesting material inside, hoping to eliminate any issues she might have. Keepers did find a small piece of Bai Yun’s fecal matter that may have been dragged in on her fur. After cleaning out the den yesterday, Bai Yun spent more time sequestered inside during the day, but she continued to camp out with the cub overnight.

We are in the process of putting together a lair, a more open den-like structure, in the event Bai Yun is telling us she is ready to move into that phase of her relationship with the cub. This lair will be placed in her garden room, as far from the old den as possible to allow for a complete change of scenery. Time will tell if Bai Yun warms to it. If not, that is okay too… the cub was very content resting under the stars with momma, and today’s veterinary check confirmed the cub is healthy and growing. Bai Yun will certainly continue to care for the cub in the way she sees best, and we are confident that she knows what she is doing. If the cub’s girth is any measure, she hasn’t gone wrong thus far!

Suzanne Hall is a senior research technician with the Giant Panda Unit of Applied Animal Ecology/CRES.

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Alas, the rains did not begin until long after the Zoo had closed. But as predicted, Mei Sheng and Su Lin apparently had a wild time! I arrived Saturday morning to find Su Lin sleeping very soundly in the elm tree, and workers from our Construction and Maintenance Department fastening yet another tree guard over the one on the poplar tree in Sheng’s enclosure. Tree guards, you’ll recall, are smooth wrappings placed on tree trunks or branches to keep the bears from climbing too high or too close to the enclosure’s edge. Mei Sheng managed to figure out how to get over and around the ones in his first outdoor area, but so far hadn’t circumvented the large one on that poplar… until the rains came and generated that spunky energy! Looking up the tree, you can see the trail of broken and bent branches going up nearly 40 feet!

The early morning keeper, in fact, could not visually locate him that morning until she stood on the roof of the bedroom building and saw him peering down at her. What a guy! We’re going to miss his antics when he leaves us next month.

Don’t think for a moment that Su Lin missed out on all the fun. Her exhibit, too, was littered with bent and broken branches from several trees, and the evidence points to her and her brother hanging in the poplar trees across the dividing wall from one another in their respective enclosures. What a time they apparently had through the night, these gregarious, rain-inspired, subadults. Sad that no one was there to witness the fun. But there’s no reason for them to give up all their secrets.

Hmmm - it reminds me a bit of The Cat In The Hat. The grownups are away, sooooo……

Ellie Rosenbaum is a panda narrator at the San Diego Zoo.
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Last year, Fred Bercovitch and I trialled some GPS (global positioning system) radio collars on the koalas on St. Bees Island. These collars were bought with money donated to us by the Ocelots program at the San Diego Zoo. We hope these collars will enable us to follow the koalas on the island much more closely so that we can see if individual koalas are avoiding, or are attracted to, other koalas. Thanks to another wonderful donation of money through the San Diego Zoo, we were able to buy 10 more of these collars this year, and my plan for my recent field trip was to deploy as many of these as I could before the koalas started breeding this year.

My colleague, Sean FitzGibbon, and two volunteers (Ben and Jay) met me in Mackay for the trip to the island. The weather was too rough for our planned boat trip, so we flew by small plane to a nearby island and then took a quick dash in a “tinnie” (that is Australian for a small aluminium boat with an outboard motor on it) across the channel to St. Bees.

The four of us spent over a week on St. Bees Island, looking for koalas to catch and collar in the area where I am doing most of my radio-tracking studies. In that time we caught 18 individuals, including some big males that had been avoiding me for some time. We caught “Digger,” a big male that the crew from the San Diego Zoo had watched bellowing last year, but who had previously proved too clever for our catch teams (see blog, Koala Field Project: A Koala Chorus). We also caught “Trotsky,” a big male that seems to have moved into Jackaroo’s old range (see blog, Jackaroo’s Journey). We have now deployed all 10 GPS collars (5 on males and 5 on females) and are collecting locations from these koalas every 2 hours, every day of the week.

I was really happy with the trip; it was beyond my expectations to get all the collars out, let alone collar 5 males and 5 females. There are still koalas in my study area without collars, but I am now sure that we have caught all the koalas that regularly use the area this year. In a few weeks I will be back on the island watching and listening to the koalas, and then in November I hope to begin downloading data from the GPS collars and replacing the batteries to cover the summer period.

I am very interested in the spatial dynamics of this group of animals, but the information we are collecting is also useful for presenting new questions to us and, hopefully, answering them. For example, the results from our trial collars last year were very interesting: the koalas were much more active during the day than we thought they would be. However, it seems that this activity might depend on the type of trees that the koalas use. The koalas that use rain forest trees seem to move less within the trees than do the koalas using the eucalypts. We think this is because the rain forest trees provide better shade, so the koalas remain shaded regardless of the sun’s position in the sky.

I will be interested to know how much difference there is between males and females in terms of daily travels. It will be interesting to see if some males move further than others, or whether the smaller males stay away from the big ones, or stay close to them (maybe in the hope of encountering females).

There seems to be no end to the planning and preparation that goes into the field work we do. Sometimes things just don’t work out, the weather can be bad and the koalas can seem to be too clever to be caught. I am sure I will be complaining at some stage in the future, but right now everything is going right to plan. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the collars are doing their bit, because if they do, I am sure I will have some fascinating results to talk about before too long.

Bill Ellis is a Conservation Research Postdoctoral Fellow in the Behavioral Biology Division at CRES.

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Usually shifting her into her holding pen is fairly easy. It’s then trying to get her into a crate that can be a challenge. We use a small, rectangular, hard plastic crate with sliding doors on either end. My goal was to place the crate inside the holding pen and directly in front of the door. This way, when she shifted inside she would have to pass through the crate to get to her food. I wasn’t exactly sure what she would think of this.

With great surprise, she hesitated only briefly and came in on the first day of trying this. By the second day, there was no hesitation at all and she was waiting by the door as soon as she saw me. For the next step, I put the one door back on the crate so that now, when she comes into holding, she is actually coming inside the crate. Of course, anytime she did so and didn’t run right out, she was reinforced with a treat. Again, she acclimated quickly and soon would come right in and sit while I fed her in the crate.

The final step is to actually be able to shut the other door while she’s inside. I figured I could probably do this once, but then I thought for sure she would remember that and not want to shift inside the next day. Fortunately, that was not the case. I have been able to successfully shut her in the crate several times now without receiving the cold shoulder treatment. I’ve even left her in the crate for short durations, like while I clean her exhibit.

While I can’t “crate” her everyday, I can include this as an intermittent part of her routine. That way, the next time she needs to go to the hospital for vaccinations or there’s an emergency, the task will hopefully be less stressful on her and on us. And then afterwards, maybe we can go back to our normal routine without having to rebuild the trust again. Of course, there’s no telling what will happen if it coincides with one of her stubborn streaks!

Kelly Murphy is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

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Our not-so-giant panda is growing by leaps and bounds! I watched her closely on Sunday and Monday night (my data collection nights until late next month) and was amazed. She is so big now that it is hard for Bai Yun to lie down and hold the baby up off the ground. Invariably, when she is picked up, parts of her slop over momma’s paws and flop onto the ground. Only when sitting in an upright posture can Bai Yun seem to contain the cub on her body!

The cub is also very content. Bai Yun was out of the den on Monday night for nearly an hour and 30 minutes, eating and resting, and the cub was quietly resting during her absence. Some of you have asked if the quietness might reflect some sort of developmental delay. I am not a vet, but in my opinion this is just a personality trait with our youngster. I also observed her during a nursing bout on Sunday in which she seemed insistent on nursing on the upper right of Bai Yun’s four nipples, while Bai Yun kept nosing the cub over to the upper left. I am not sure why Bai Yun was doing this (perhaps that side was more engorged? Or less tender?), but the cub wasn’t having any of it. She squawked repeatedly each time momma tried to decide for her where she should nurse. She furiously head-bobbed her way back to the preferred nipple in a determined fashion each time momma released her grip. Ultimately, Bai Yun gave up, and the cub finally satisfied her belly in a manner that suited her. This cub makes plenty of noise, and shows lots of spunk, when the chips are down. Behaviorally, she seems right on track to me. I guess I would describe her as a slow-burner: a cub who is mellow most of the time, but willing to fire up for the right reasons.

Bai Yun has taken the cub out of the den at least once, but only for a very brief time. Our rotund little girl has rolled her way out of the den more than once as well, with Bai Yun always retrieving her and returning her to the sanctity of the den. But though the cub can, with some effort, roll over now, it will be some time before she leaves the den under her own power. For comparison, Su Lin didn’t do this until sometime in December 2005. I think it’s fair to say, though, that Su Lin could have left the den earlier – she was physically capable of it - but she chose to remain sequestered. We’ll see if our current little bear grows up with a similar affinity for the quiet of the space in which she was born.

Speaking of change, as I write this I find myself correcting my lingo repeatedly. I have to keep reminding myself to replace “it” with words like “she” and “her.” See, even I am having trouble keeping up with the rapid pace of change around here!

Suzanne Hall is a senior research technician with the Giant Panda Unit of Applied Animal Ecology/CRES.

Listen to a new iZoofari Chat with panda keeper Kathy Hawk, posted September 21.

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Hearing and recording specific vocalizations is just the beginning; we must also take note of other related behaviors to understand a call’s behavioral context. Often such associations are relatively easy to understand, such as the production of an alarm call in response to seeing a predator. However, vocalizations can also occur in relation to complex social situations revealing not only the caller’s behavioral state but also how other group members are affected by it. In learning to listen, we can begin to understand the day-to-day lives of each species in the Zoological Society of San Diego’s collection – how active they are, how they interact socially, and what makes them successful reproductively.

To date, we have been using such techniques to understand the role of calls in the development of territoriality and lifelong monogamous bonds in Gabriella’s crested gibbons (see blog, Singing in the Rain), early development of mother-infant bonds in African elephants (see blog, How Do You Weigh an Elephant?), and male mating vocalizations in cheetahs (see blog, Cheetah Dictionary). All of these bioacoustic studies examine a species’ entire vocal repertoire, including how the animal uses its vocal tract to form the sounds. Delving into this world of sound has also revealed that many animals produce additional sounds for communication without having to use of their vocal cords. For example, the chimpanzees of Ebo forest in Cameroon (see blog, Sounds from Cameroon’s Ebo Forest) use branches to beat out rhythms on tree buttresses, and lowland mountain gorillas beat on their chests to communicate in a similar manner.

Recently, we have begun studying another African species, the shoebill stork (in collaboration with Michael Mace and the Wild Animal Park’s Bird Department), primarily because of its unusual approach to attracting potential mates. Both male and female shoebills have an almost prehistoric appearance with a stocky body, large gray feathers, and an enormous shoe-like hooked bill. They communicate by clapping or ‘clattering’ their large bills together in rapid succession. Typically, shoebill pairs will duet in this manner with the male beginning his song with a bout of clattering, which is often followed by very distinctive head waving, bowing, and, finally, a soft, high-pitched moan. In turn, the female will return his call by clattering her bill and mirroring his behavior. It is thought that such duetting is a prerequisite to monogamous bonding and ultimately breeding. It is hoped that through continuous observation and recording of shoebill behavior we will be able to build upon previous work with this species undertaken by a previous Summer Fellow at CRES (see blog, Shoebill Chatter), understand more about their social dynamics, and ultimately aid breeding success. Our shoebills can be seen (and heard) bill clattering at the Mombasa Lagoon at the Wild Animal Park.

Listen to a male shoebill’s clatter

Matt Anderson is a scientist in the Behavioral Biology Division/CRES.

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