Delfi's Grains of Golden Sand-Bonobos

Jaguar Genetics

2009-08-11T22:29:00.000-04:00

This female jaguar, Zassi, is enjoying a fish embedded Popsicle at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. She is wild-born, on loan from the country of Guyana, South America, and extremely important to the Species Survival Plan (SSP) population. She had a single male offspring on the first of January, 2009, and if he breeds, Zassi will be a "founder." Ideally, she will need to produce four offspring that all contribute offspring, thus, mathematically, 93.75% of her genetic material will pass on to the captive population.

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens has a long history with jaguars, including the prolific Zorro, a black male from the early seventies, who passed on his melanistic gene into the population. (All black jaguars in this country can be traced back to Zorro.) In 1998, the zoo imported 1.2 (one male and two females) jaguars from Venezuela. This was the first time wild-born jaguars had been brought legally into the US in well over a decade.

At that time, the scientific community believed that there were at least three and maybe four different subspecies of jaguars represented in Venezuela. The Zoo was very careful to select three animals that originated from the same part of the country (the Llanos), so that they would be "pure."

Unfortunately, the male had no interest in breeding and there have been no offspring from any of the Venezuela cats. As it turned out, the efforts to identify animals from one region were not necessary. Newer DNA evidence shows that there are eight subspecies of jaguar and only one from Venezuela: Panthera onca onca.

The two surviving Venezuelan jaguars are too old to breed naturally, but the Zoo has not given up on them. The veterinary department has been collaborating with scientists on artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization. This cutting edge research is providing answers to many questions about the reproductive physiology of the jaguar.

Photo by D. Bear-Hull

Pronghorn Antelope Exam

2009-08-06T21:43:00.000-04:00

The Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City, Kansas was well known for its productive pronghorn antelope herd when I worked there several years ago. Every year, the group was caught up for annual exams, a process that was as efficient and stress-free as possible. Unlike a scenario using chemical tranquilizers, the Kansas pronghorn were processed by bold, experienced keepers who knew how to move quickly and firmly.

The first photo is of the "catch" crew who enter an empty stall where a single animal has been shifted (each antelope is separated to be worked; the rest of the herd is visually separated and remains calm). The catch team use a "baffle" board, which can be seen in the middle left. The baffle board is a four by eight foot sheet of plywood, with handles on one side. It is used as a mobile squeeze chute, where, in seconds, the animal is pushed against the stall wall. Sometimes, pronghorns react to this by dropping to the ground, which this particular animal has done. Staff on the right are reaching down over the board to secure the head.

The second image shows the keepers quickly moving the animal outside of the stall. The head and feet are secured, although this animal was not really struggling. In the third photograph, the exam takes place in the hallway, with the barn doors closed. One of the secrets for hoofed stock handling was a thick mattress, which was comfortable for the animals (and staff!), and seemed to have a calming effect. Note that the head and legs are firmly held (here, the antelope's left front leg is the critical one that must be restrained to prevent her from standing) and that all staff work from behind the pronghorn, to prevent injuries from kicking.

The Lee Richardson zoo vet checked teeth, took blood, vaccinated, and examened each antelope. They were weighed and the hooves were trimmed. One of the benefits of annual checkups is that there can be incidental findings, such as the thick pus-like material oozing from above and between the claws of a hoof. It smelled strong and we all thought it was some kind of infection, possibly from a foreign body in the foot. A gentle squeeze of the other feet showed the same whitish ooze, in exactly the same place! The other pronghorn were similiar -- the material was natural, coming from a scent gland used to mark territory.

In addition to the nasty foot gland odor, pronghorn have a curious body smell that many found objectionable. To me, especially the male seemed sweetish, almost like he was drenched in maple syrup perfume. Pronghorn stiff, hollow (for insulation) hairs are coated with a brownish red oil. When they were worked up, this herd was shedding, so greasy hunks of hair came out by the handfuls, and stuck everywhere.

Everyone had a job to do, and the operation went smoothly. The average time on the mattress was five minutes, and four animals were processed in less than one hour. With experienced handlers, the hand restraint of selected species can be done safely and successfully. Another reason for the success with these particular pronghorn is that they were hand reared by keepers from one day of age and returned to the herd at two months of age. This "imprinting" technique reduced the startle reaction of a species that depends on sight to identify predators. The animals integrate successfully with the herd, and breed, but they do not react violently to people and man-made commotion.

The pronghorn, from the western North American plains, is the sole represenative of its family. It is known for its sprints of over 50 miles per hour and is theorized that a cheetah like cat, now extinct, would have preyed on the pronghorn. Both sexes have bone-cored horns that are shed every year. The pronghorn is known for its brilliant white rump patch which it erects to signal danger. It cannot jump fences, but chooses to crawl under them, and conservation-minded ranchers will use a smooth wire on the bottom rung of barbed-wire fences.

The Money That Encircled the Planet

2009-07-29T22:53:00.001-04:00

These are cowrie shells, from a mollusk (Cypraea moneta) found in the Indian ocean. Cowries represented the first and the most widespread currency (the American dollar is a contender for the golbal title today). The trade is no longer in existence, but the items above show how cowries were used as decoration in Africa. The object is a knife sheath, and consists of two pieces of wood encased in a woven fiber envelope and studded with glass beads and cowries.

What makes a good currency? It needs to be portable, durable, easily divisible, difficult to counterfeit and from a limited source. Cowries met these criteria, although they were relatively heavy in bulk (in Africa, humans carried them across the continent). They are tiny and could be used as "small change" (in the 1700's, it took 25 to 32 cowrie shells to equal one farthing, the smallest currency in Britain).

There is evidence of export of cowries in the years BC, to China. The cowrie in China was so scarce that it was imitated in stone, jade, and gold. It was called "ant nose money" and used as an insert in the dead at burial, to prevent ants from entering the nostrils. Expanded export from the Maldive Islands began around the tenth century and shells were sent by the millions to Asia, Africa, and even Europe and to North America (although they were not used as money), The first cowries may have traveled as ballast in Arab dhows to the eastern coasts of Africa. In later years, the Portuguese and Dutch traded in cowries.

The Maldive Islands are a tiny country of over 1,100 islands, of which only 200 are inhabited. The total land surface of the Maldives is only one and a half times the size of the District of Columbia. The islands are located north of the Equator, south west of India.

The harvested and processing of cowries started with bundles of coconut fronds that were laid out in shallow lagoons. The rotting material collecting on the fronds attracted the mollusks to feed. Then the bundles were pulled out and spread in the sun to kill the animal inside the shells. Then, the cowries were buried in sand to decompose. Finally, the emptied shells were cleaned and shipped to foreign lands. The estimate is that there were 25 million pounds of cowries sent to the African continent between 1700 and 1800.

As other currencies, such metals coins and forged objects became popular, interest in cowries began to decline in the 18th century, although some tribes, such as the Bakuba of central Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) appreciated the porcelain beauty of the shells. They continued to use cowries in their art, attaching them to belts, tapestries, rugs, and masks.

Kinshasa Market Scene

2009-07-28T22:50:00.000-04:00

The Polaroid camera I gave to the market informants enabled me to get snapshots of how business was transacted in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The upper left was of three stolen logs loaded in a metal cart. It would be sold to market women for firewood to brew the hard alcohol called lotoko.

In the top right, the smoked fish in the woven vine basket came from tributaries off of the Zaire River. Each basket weighed from 35 to 45 pounds and cost 650 million Zaires. At a rate of one million Zaires per US dollar, that was just over 72 dollars.

The lower left picture shows another scene at the market: a man has been hired to climb a palm tree to collect the palm nuts. In public places, a tree was "owned" and the fruits belonged to an individual or family. The last picture shows Kela, who sold potted plants and dried arrangements. He had other business on the side -- at the time of this picture he was trying unsuccessfully to sell monkeys to the Russians who were at the port in Matadi.

Tanapox

2009-07-24T22:27:00.001-04:00

This is tanapox, photographed in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While sampling animals for monkeypox virus, I also collected mosquitoes along the banks of the Zaire River in the town of Lisala, where tanapox was seen. The theory was that the tanapox reservoir rested in small mammals (possibly monkeys) and mosquitoes were the vectors.

Tanapox was first described in the late '50s along the Tana River in Kenya, where several hundred people were afflicted. It is found throughout tropical Africa, but is rarely seen. The virus can be cultured only in monkey and human tissue. A near identical disease is found in laboratory monkeys.

Like monkeypox, tanapox is a zoonosis, meaning that it is transmitted from an animal host. It is a double-stranded DNA poxvirus that starts with a fever, followed by a single hard nodule, usually on the extremities. Sometimes there are a few lesions, with a maximum of a dozen. Fortunately, patient recovery and resolution of the lesion(s) is the outcome. Tanapox occurs in males and females, of all ages and is not readily transmitted between people.

Only five cases of tanapox have been seen in the United States. Three of these came from contact with a laboratory animal, and one was a traveler from Sierra Leone. The most recent case was a 21 year-old college student who cared for orphaned chimpanzees for two months at a sanctuary in the Republic of the Congo. She exhibited a fever, swollen lymph glands and a lesion on an elbow and leg. She was first treated for malaria and then a local doctor attempted to aspirate material from a nodule, but it was solid.

Two weeks later, she returned to the states, where tanapox was suggested as a tentative diagnosis, which was confirmed by polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR).

Photo by World Health Organization

Old Kinshasa (Leopoldville) Map

2009-07-22T22:30:00.000-04:00

This old map (someone wrote "1956" on it) was of the city I knew as Kinshasa, Zaire. The country was called the Belgian Congo and the city was then Leopoldville. It is still Kinshasa today, but the country was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997, after a military coup.

The top image of the map is of the west (towards the Atlantic ocean) and the bottom is the eastern portion, including the downtown and the ports along the Congo River (seen as the grey area labeled Fleuve Congo) . The term used for the outlining shantytowns was cite indigene and this is the origin for the word cite,with an accent on the "e." All of the terrain that was blank on the map in the '50s is now occupied by the slums that stretch for miles and miles past the original borders of Kinshasa.

One landmark seen in the middle right section of the bottom map is the small airport called Sabena (for the Belgian airline). This is now the Ndolo airport which has small aircraft and cargo planes. This was also the scene of one of the most disastrous airline accidents ever, in January, 1996. On take-off, an overloaded Russian Antonov overshot the runway and plowed into a nearby market, killing roughly 300 people.

Art on the Edge

2009-07-20T21:45:00.001-04:00

I did a little of this and a little of that to make ends meet in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic of the Congo). The top image, a pen and ink drawing for the Bleu/Blanc magazine, was for an article about the local flies and pet dogs. The canine grimaces in pain as the biting flies buzz around its bleeding ears. The text recommends a daytime shelter (because the flies avoid the dark) and consulting a vet for a repellent product.

The second image, taken from a pencil drawing, depicts the stripped hindquarters of the okapi, a giraffe for the Ituri region of the country. The okapi artwork was used for a school notebook that was distributed by the cellphone company called Telecel.

Art by D. Messinger

A Student's Letter about Bonobos

2009-07-18T22:59:00.001-04:00

The children's magazine received thousands of pieces of mail from readers, who answered the quiz questions, told us about themselves, and even mentioned how much they appreciated Bleu/Blanc.

The above was an opinion to a question on bonobo conservation. After many years, my French is rusty, but I translate the formal, stiff French of a student as the following:

"Yes, bonobos are really in danger of extermination. For my part, to furnish you with what I think, one must analyse what is the cause of their extermination. First, there is the deforestation: yes, as trees play an important role for man, and serves for many uses, notably in the timber industries, etc.... By consequence, we must also hold that if the habitual deforestation continues, there will be enormous consequences for the nature, for the environment, and certainly on the fauna. Thus the people there (the deforesters) must understand the consequences and try to assure the protection of the life of our chimpanzees (bonobos).

"Secondly, the poaching: we must add to poaching; the stupidity and superstition. But when we look at poaching or the hunting of these animals, we must know that this is tied to various reasons, notably thought of as a way of life or a fashion of living. Why is this?

"The communities that live on the borders (of the Park) also called riverains (river people) are poor, and for the most part, they are hit by the unemployment and the lack of sufficient food , in brief, all of these country people are neglected. By the fact that they don't have anything to do, the poaching of these animals notably, the bonobos, have become their job, which is stupid and superstitious.

"This is why the government must take measures for these previous citations, for example, supply jobs equally to these thousands of country people, particularly the riverains. To kill the bonobo for the reason to acquire power from magic rituals, I find this absurd and insignificant. And also, one must have these people know that they themselves are destroying a good part of our fauna... our treasure. Thus, I solicit the intervention of the government as quick as possible, especially for the specific cases, to forbid them seriously in a manner that their (bonobo) protection and conservation will be assured."

What amazes me is that in spite of the wordiness of his letter (students use a flowery French), this student expresses his ideas on risks to bonobos, which includes the use of animal parts for "magic." Typically, bonobo bones (from kills) or fingers and toes (from living infants taken from mothers) were put in babies bath water to "make them strong." He recommends a strong hand of the government to provide jobs and protect the bonobo.

Bonobo Lucy with Wood

2009-07-17T22:39:00.000-04:00

Lucy, a young bonobo at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens uses her teeth to tear apart a hunk of wood on exhibit. The curious and inventive bonobos investigate and use "found" objects in their environment to exercise, explore, and play.

Photo by M. Brickner

Special Edition Bonobo

2009-07-14T21:55:00.000-04:00

The children's magazine, Bleu/Blanc (for the blue and white uniform of students) was designed to create a thirst for reading, through stories, puzzles, cartoons, and quizzes. Natural history subjects on the local fauna and flora were mixed in with topics that were sought after by the readers, like relationships between boys and girls, scholastics, and health.

In the Congolese culture, animals were not valued, so even this special "bonobo" issue had other subjects to intice readers. We had to slip in the animal stories in small doses.

Sedgwick County Zoo Lion Exhibit

2009-07-11T21:25:00.000-04:00

This postcard illustrates a key mission of modern zoos -- to connect the zoogoer to animals in an impactful way. The use of glass enables the public to get very close to wild animals that they will never be able to appreciate in any other way. In the wild, an encounter such at this would be highly dangerous, yet in a zoo, it is a safe "thrill."

Creating a connection to wildlife is a powerful tool for today's zoo. If a zoo links its animal collection to conservation projects in range countries, it comes full circle with an environmental message. The visitor can springboard from emotion (awe, admiration, respect) to actions (sustainable biodiversity). Actions do not have to be dramatic: "green" locally focused behaviors are a first positive step.

Hog Heaven

2009-07-08T21:30:00.000-04:00

You can't put a hog in a zoo--
There's no telling what he will do.
He may get loud
And charge at the crowd
Or just lie there not looking at you.
Roy Blount, Jr

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens has two female warthogs; a three year old female and an eleven year old female, who lost her companion last year. Warthogs are one of my favorite animals, because of their endearing "pigness." I used to raise pigs and enjoy watching the Zoo's warthogs acting like swine every time I visit them.

Pigs have a startle reaction to unusual situations, and they avoid confrontation by fleeing. The first reaction of a warthogs, also, is to try to escape by running away. They run with their tails stiffly raised, like a flag. The younger female is athletic and she sometimes shows off her racing form as she laps the exhibit early in the morning.

The pig family is social, and like all social species, there is always a hierarchy. The two "communicate" their differences head to head, through a series of squeals, grunts, low chattering, and high-pitched groans. They push each other fiercely, as if to test the other's ground hugging frame. The elder places her head high upon the younger's forehead, as if to say, "I'm the top hog here!"

But, after some jousting, the two make their peace, and settle down to the business of the day -- sleeping, plowing up the dirt in the yard, and waiting for the keeper to distribute a treat or two, which comes at odd times, and is pretty much hog heaven.

Photos by J. Reed

Wild Bonobos

2009-07-06T21:29:00.000-04:00

These images are of wild bonobos that are being studied by Dr. Jo Thompson, Director of the Lukuru Wildlife Research Project. The first is a young male with his mother. Males stay with their mothers their entire lives, and their rank in the group is tied to her social status. A high ranking female will raise high ranking sons. (Daughters go "out into the world" when they reach puberty, and join another group).

The second photograph illustrates one of the saving fortunes for the bonobo. Because of its ability to walk upright for many strides, some local Congolese peoples will not kill or eat the bonobo. They tell stories about the closeness of humans to bonobos; that it is an "ancestor," saved the human ancestor, or was, once upon a time, a servant of man.

The last photograph shows two female bonobos in "G-G" rubbing, or "genito-genital" rubbing, one of many different positions and combinations of sex in the species. The species' frequent use of sexual relations (with or without penetration) serves to reduce tension whenever there is stress, such as competition over resources. In bonobo society, males and females, young and old, will pantomime sex as a greeting, as reassurance, or a "thank-you" in exchange for food.

In the bonobo world, females are dominant, and sisterly bonds will compel them to gang up on any male that would dare question their authority. This unique twist in the animal kingdom intrigues primatologists, sexual evolutionary scientists, and the rest of us.

Photos by R. Ross

Three Frogs; Treefrogs

2009-07-04T22:25:00.001-04:00

These awesome frogs are featured on a calender produced by the Amphibian project coordinated by several major international conservation groups and Zoos worldwide. Globally, amphibians are severely threatened by various threats including loss of habitat, pollution, climate change, and an infectious fungus called chytridiomycosis or "chytrid" (pronounced "kit-rid")

The first frog is a spiny-headed Treefrog, from cloud forests of central America. The male calls from pockets of water -- typically bromeliads or tree holes -- high up in the canopy. The female deposits her eggs just above the water line and when the tadpoles hatch, they wiggle free and drop into the water. The mother will return to the pool and lay unfertilized eggs, which her babies feed upon, and they become frogs in 60 days.

The second photograph is of an Ankafana Bright-eyed Frog from Madagascar. Lime-green, it blends with the foliage that it hides in during the day. The Bright-eyed frog is always found along streams in various habitats from degraded secondary to pristine primary forest. Luckily, this frog occurs in protected areas.

The last image is of the striking Australian Lace-lid Treefrog, with its unique eye camouflage, from North Queensland, Australia. It has disappeared from the uplands, but is still found at lower elevations, where it lives along fast-moving streams in the rainforest. The lace-lid was declared an endangered species in 1999, but the reason for its sharp decline is unknown.

Frogs are a diverse, beautiful group of animals that are important to ecosystems both for the prey (mostly insects) that they eat, and for being a food source for vertebrates. This represents a biological diversity crisis second only to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Photos by B. Kubicki, P. Naskrecki, and J. Rowley

Giant Otter in CONNECT

2009-07-01T22:06:00.000-04:00

CONNECT is the monthly magazine of the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). In March, the giant otter was featured on the cover in an announcement about the species being displayed in a new exhibit at the Miami Metrozoo's Amazon & Beyond exhibit. Miami is only the fourth American facility to hold the charismatic giant otters, after the Philadelphia Zoo, the Dallas World Aquarium, and the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.

The $50 million dollar project, now finished after two years of construction, showcases jaguars, howler monkeys, hummingbirds, Orinoco crocodiles, harpy eagles, giant anteaters, and fruit bats on 27 acres, which is divided into three sections -- Cloud Forest, the Amazon Forest, and the Atlantic Forest.

Forest Cobra on Display

2009-06-29T22:50:00.000-04:00

This very dead, vary deadly snake was splayed out for the photographer in the rain forest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the former Zaire) in the mid-eighties. There was not much that the villagers feared more than snakes and all snakes of all species were killed whenever they were encountered.

The western form of the forest cobra is a relatively timid creature that is not known for aggression when encountered by humans. It may flair a narrow hood, but does its best to avoid contact. However, if cornered, or trod upon, a forest cobra's bite packs a venomous punch that can quickly kill an adult human within hours.

This cobra is adapted to wet forests and is known to eat fish, as well as small mammals. It hunts on the ground, but may climb up to 30 feet in trees in search of prey.

Photo by D. Messinger

The Challenges of Field Work

2009-06-27T21:01:00.001-04:00

"As we proceed with the Bososandja forest plans, our goal is to organize and fund a large mammal inventory (using a consistent methodology) for the entire Lukenie-Sankuru forest block and the Lusambo forest block. Only with this data can we make an unequivocal case for the importance of protecting a particular area (the Bososandja). This effort will continue to rely on provincial, territorial, and local (groupement, localité) review, as we have done in the past to ensure that they have a say in the process and geographic boundaries. Critical to the process is formal mapping that will assure that authorities (government and traditional) are very clear what we are discussing."

These words, so straightforward, were recently written by Dr. Jo Thompson, who studies bonobos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. What is not apparent are the physical hardships that are part and parcel of working in the field. One has to deal with slippery log bridges across steams, stinging insects, thorny plants, exhausting days, and lonely nights of solitary work. On the human side, one faces demanding officials, deals with a foreign language and culture, and endures the high costs and unavailability of almost everything. The lack of transportation, communication, and access to health care requires a fearless approach to life. Many may dream romantically about studying wildlife, but few have the ability to do so.

Photo by R. Ross

Twin Tree Kangaroos

2009-06-24T22:57:00.001-04:00

This photo documents twin Matschie's tree kangaroos sharing their mother's pouch. They were born at the Lincoln Children's Zoo in Lincoln, Nebraska in December, 2008, but poked their heads out of the pouch for the first time in June. One of the fraternal twins (on the left) seems to be to be about one week ahead of the other. He opened his eyes earlier, has more fur, and peaked out of the pouch earlier. The babies weigh only about eight ounces.

Twins are rarely reported in kangaroos, so this double surprise is a welcome success for the Matchie's tree kangaroo that is collectively managed by participating member AZA (American Zoo and Aquarium Association) zoos. The species is found in the rainforests of Huon Peninsula of Papua New Guinea, with perhaps only 2,500 animals left. AZA zoos, led by the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle are actively involved in tree kangaroo conservation in the wild.

Photo by Lincoln Children's Zoo

At the Zoo

2009-06-22T22:06:00.000-04:00

In September 1991, with the eruption of the looting and military mutiny across the capital of Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), 15,000 expatriates fled the country, leaving only a few hundred behind. Robert Weller, a journalist with the Associated Press wrote an article about how I repelled the rioters by painting the word AIDS in sheep's blood on the entrance wall of the compound where I worked and lived. I was shown with a bonobo clinging to my neck -- the reason that I stayed was to protect the animals.

Weller wrote, "But the soldiers who ransacked Kinshasa's stores, businesses and residences for three days in September kept clear of the center until French Foreign Legionnaires arrived to restore order and supervise the evacuations. For anyone who couldn't read her "AIDS" warning, it didn't hurt that Messinger also had a reputation locally as a handler of vipers and pythons. Indeed, when the Legionnaires saw the snakes, they left too."

Domestication and the Basenji

2009-06-20T20:07:00.002-04:00

Along with educating the reader, the children's magazine Bleu/Blanc tried to engender a sense of pride in those things Congolese. Few knew that the tough, quiet, little African hunting dog was a pedigreed breed overseas. In fact, small numbers of village dogs were exported from Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) since the thirties. In 1987 and 1988, 19 Basenjis were exported and many of them became foundation stock for the breed.

The story of the Basenji was coupled with an explanation of agriculture and domestication (using a cartoon of a man using his dog Fifi to pull the lawnmower, as a "domestication trial"). A drawing illustrates the pointed ears, forehead wrinkles, short hair, curled tail, and the fact that the breed does not bark.

Tropical Agriculture and Monkeypox

2009-06-17T22:01:00.001-04:00

Showing behemoth tree skeletons left behind after felling and torching a patch of forest, this photograph illustrates "slash and burn" agriculture. The ash enriched soils support a diverse harvest of corn, peanuts, manioc, yams, beans, okra, peppers, squash, amaranth, and bananas.

One of the interesting facts about monkeypox was that the primary cases were mostly children between five and ten years of age. This is the age of boys too young to hunt who accompanied their sisters and the village women to the fields to work. Besides planting, weeding, chopping firewood and harvesting, they also protected the crop from marauding pests, such as baboons and wild pigs.

To occupy their time, and because they were hungry, the young boys would learn life skills by hunting the small mammals, mostly rodents that lived in the vicinity. Mostly, the captures were made by the clever use of snares, traps, and nets. The catch would be butchered, cooked, and eaten out in the field by the boys and girls. The agricultural areas seemed to be the interface between some animal host carrying the monkeypox virus and humans. What was this animal host?

Photo by D. Messinger

Growing Up Jaguar

2009-06-15T21:36:00.000-04:00

The 49th jaguar cub born at the Jacksonville Zoo made his debut on 1 January, 2009, in a hay-bedded, camera monitored den. Staff remotely observed the mother interact with the newborn singleton cub, licking, licking, and licking some more. The reason for the hands-off was that the mother had been wild caught and human reared from a cub in Guyana. Her mothering skills were at first in question, but she proved to be an exemplary parent.

These photographs were taken in an off-exhibit holding yard, where the cub is playing with his mother. In the first, momma still tries to pull him around by the nape of the neck or the head -- she can barely fit her mouth over his broad body. He is about five months old in these images, and like a kitten, his antics are non-stop, punctuated by cat-naps, snuggling with momma, and watching the guests go by. He is also eating an adult meat diet, just like his momma.

Photos by J. Reed

Jo Thompson with Village Chief

2009-06-13T23:09:00.001-04:00

An important factor of long-term success for conservation initiatives in developing countries is having respectful human relationships, based on an understanding of the culture. This grassroots approach is voiced by Jo Thompson, who works directly with, and for, the local population where she studies wild bonobos:

"Having a long-term presence and association with the project identified with one consistent outside international person has strengthened the Project with local people. (True story: in 2003 the Administrateur du Territoire Zone Monkoto told John Hart that he had known me since I was a small child. He came from Dekese and had known me for many years in the Lukuru. Later, John was quick to ask me, in all seriousness, how long I had been working/living in DRCongo. He believed the story literally, but the comment was figurative and demonstrated our deep history together.) This capacity has provided an intimate understanding of both biological and social knowledge. This person-to-person familiarity provided the foundation for working to encourage the revival of traditional land-use practices and, particularly the practice of seasonal hunting laws and rotation of hunting areas.

"....our objectives are focused very closely to the ground and efforts to identify regional threats, facilitate implementation of a locally appropriate framework for protection, and participate with the local people in the conservation of bonobos and their habitat. We strive to change human behaviors that are contrary to bonobo conservation, encourage behaviors that support bonobo conservation, and minimize protected species loss. It is our investment in the long-term relationships with the people of the Lukuru and their own observations of the situation that has motivated them to work for conservation."

Photo by R. Ross

Lucy Bonobo With Frozen Treat

2009-06-10T21:15:00.000-04:00

Lucy, a young bonobo at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, is enjoying a cup of frozen fruit juice, and fruit, provided by the keepers on on hot summer days (today it reached 95 degrees!). The bareness of Lucy's forehead is from were she has been groomed. Bonobos stare intently into the other's eyes while grooming the hair on the forehead -- this physical feature can also be seen in the wild.

Photo by M. Brickner

Eggs for Apes

2009-06-08T22:30:00.000-04:00

James Brooks is twelve years old. He has been campaigning for apes through a project called 1000classrooms that he started a year ago, in conjunction with the Canadian Ape Alliance. His idea is to get 1,000 Western classrooms to each donate three dollars (only pennies per child) to pay for a dozen eggs in Africa.

The eggs are sold by park ranger widows in the Kahuzi Biega Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, so the purchase helps the local economy by supporting a poultry collective, while providing nutritious meals for the children. The goal of "eggs for kids" is to give each child and teacher one egg to eat per day.

As James explains, the project helps with fighting poverty, promoting education, improving health through nutrition, creating global partnerships, and encouraging environmental sustainability. Kahuzi Biega is the park where tourists go to visit the eastern lowland gorillas. Eggs for kids will indirectly help peoples from around the world appreciate indigenous wildlife including flagship species like gorillas.

James interest in apes was first sparked when he was only eight, when he learned about Kanzi, the bonobo who communicates via sign language. Since then he has become more involved with ape issues. He has recently been announced as one of "Twenty Under Twenty" for 2008. This award is given to twenty youth by the Canadian non-profit called Youth in Motion, to honor innovation, leadership, and achievement.

James has recently visited the bonobos at the San Diego Zoo. He says that one of his goals is to see he wants to see all of the bonobos in the United States. We hope to see him someday at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens!

For more information on James' project, see http://www.1000classrooms.org/

Birds Appreciate Enrichment

2009-06-06T22:54:00.000-04:00

These images are highlights of the monthly special enrichment day at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, and provides insights into normal animal behavior. These birds -- a hadada ibis and a harpy eagle -- naturally manipulate the "toys" provided as they would manipulate items in the wild.

The hadada ibis is a widespread African species that feeds by tweezers-like probing in soil with its long, sensitive bill. When the bill touches a prey item, there is a rapid, almost instantaneous "bill snap." If the prey is small, the ibis may do a head toss, flipping it in the air, then neatly catching it. Or, it drops it, while simultaneously moving the head forward, so that the food item ends up in the mouth.

If, however, the hadada ibis finds something too big to handle easily, it uses the bill like a tool. It will hammer, shake, rip, and otherwise dismember the prey so it can be swallowed in pieces. Our hadada in the photo uses its bill to pull the cheerios off of the sting, to eat them one by one.

The harpy eagle weighs up to twenty pounds, one of the largest raptors in the world. Harpies live in deep forests in central and South America and they hunt by perching quietly and waiting for monkeys, sloths, birds, iguanas, or large rodents to pass by. They then ambush the prey in a swift, surprise flight. The bird's talons are up to five inches long and extremely powerful.

The harpy in the image above is excited when given a new item to play with, such as the pinata football. He will use his talons to grab and crush the cardboard, just as he would kill a prey item in the wild.

Photos by D. Bear-Hull

Bonobo Meals in Kinshasa

2009-06-03T20:40:00.001-04:00

The bonobos in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) received, to the best of our ability, a nutritious diet. We used ovens normally used to sterilize laboratory glassware to bake a bread that was made from wheat flour mixed with powdered milk and a vitamin/mineral "premix." We also added a small amount of blood or meat meal.

The "bread" was the concentrate base that provided protein and essential vitamins and minerals for optimal health and growth for the young bonobos. Small amounts of calorie dense, starchy, or high protein foods such as eggs, peanuts, manioc, corn, cooked rice, squash, and pumpkin were also eaten. The bonobos were given imported whole grains, raisins, cereals, and bird seed that was blended together. This was called the "scatter mix" because it was spread out on the ground for the animals to pick through, as an occupational activity.

The bulk of the diet consisted of locally available fruits and leafy greens. These included papaya, oranges, bananas, sugar cane, pineapple, spinach, hibiscus leaves, amaranth leaves and a wide variety of other indigenous fruits, greens, and vegetables. The goal of of the diet was to provide 25 different foodstuffs per day. The diverse array of local products made this a reasonable goal, but one that varied in composition tremendously throughout the seasons.

Imported foods, such as apples, were too expensive to feed the bonobos. Other foods such as carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes, and watermelon were grown for sale to expatriates, but they were largely too costly for animal food.

The dishes above are being prepared, to be stored in a refrigerator until use. The plates represented the three "squares" given per day to each animal. They were topped off with the more bulky greens that were given at odd intervals. The bonobos were fed five or six times per day.

Photo by D. Messinger

Manatee and Calf Return to the Wild

2009-06-01T22:49:00.000-04:00

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens has a very successful, very active volunteer team of employees who help officials with stranded, injured, or otherwise compromised marine mammals in northeast Florida. In this case, a mother and calf were found cold stressed, this past February, near an outfall of a water plant (the water here is a degree or two warmer than the surrounding river. Manatees have an uncanny ability to find these spots -- but they quickly become death traps, because they cannot endure the winter temperatures for long and there is little food for them).

The Zoo team helped to rescue the pair and transport them to Sea World in Orlando, where they were successfully rehabilitated. Finally, four and a half months later, on the 28 of May, the two animals were returned to the area, to be released back to the wild not far from where they had been originally found. In the photo, the calf is carried in a sling to the edge of Julington Creek.

State officials, Sea World biologists, and four members of the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens team all shared in the exhilaration of having made a difference for wild animals. As reported by J. Fleming, a keeper and team member:

"A quick plan of action was shared by the Sea World leader and we quickly got to work, The calf weighed ~ 400 pounds, while the cow weighed over 1,500 lbs, (she's huge)! After unloading them onto the boat ramp and into the shallows, the cow, named Bella, swam off followed shortly thereafter by the calf, Edward. We saw them surface for air as they swam away in a western direction. It was an awesome experience and a privilege to a part of a positive outcome."

Photo by: H. Zirhut

It Takes a Village to Save a Species

2009-05-30T21:23:00.000-04:00

Dr. Jo Thompson, PhD, studies bonobos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She involves the local people in grassroots decisions about protecting the bonobo, and she provides benefits like employment and community improvement. The photos show Thompson with her workers and the park guards that she supports. From a recent email, Jo writes about how she works at obtaining consensus from the villagers.

"For now we continue to support the work of ICCN in the Anga Secteur of Parc National de la Salonga, strengthen our relationship with the Iyaelima people living exclusively inside the national park, continue lobbying and monitoring across the whole of the Lukuru zone of influence and maintain our focused energies around the Bososandja forest block. In addition, we meet annually with the greater population of the region; a formal reunion with the local population, representatives of all clans, traditional chiefs, and authorities.

"This typically involves a three-day commitment of exchange. We update the communities on the activities of the Lukuru Project, discuss their ideas about our role, and exchange assurances. The population reports on their conservation activities and challenges. So for example, last year we discussed the problem of poachers around Yasa for commercial bushmeat trade.

"The annual meetings involve a lot of back-and-forth, emotion and shared humor. Over the course of the days of meeting, the population sequesters themselves periodically to talk amongst themselves and then come back to me formally with thoughts. Often their requests are either out of the purview of the Lukuru Project or unrealistic. But, we always strive to have a common outcome.

"Some of the current obligations made on behalf of the Lukuru Project are:

1) I have agreed to bring an engineer to Yasa to evaluate the suitability for sinking a tube well.

2) I have agreed to research the process of making soap. There will be further discussion about this based on what I learn.

3) The population has requested that the Lukuru Project have a professional garde formation. I have agreed to recruit addition personnel for the Bososandja. This will entail formal training and equipping.

4) The population wants assistance to build houses to help host guests in the future.

5) I have agreed to provide tin roofing for the school and help develop the curriculum. They requested that I build a house for the Lukuru Project in the village."

Photos by R. Ross

Meta, the Crocodile Girl

2009-05-27T21:18:00.000-04:00

Meta, Fille de Croco, was the first "conservation tale" told in Bleu/Blanc. This story, told as a cartoon, was in a series, with each episode ending in a cliffhanger that built interest in reading the upcoming issue.

The story is somewhat familiar: Meta, an orphan, was overworked and mistreated by her aunt. She lost a plate while washing dishes at the river, and was told to not come home until she found it. Despondent, the girl ended up searching for the plate on the savanna, where she had adventures with helpful crocodiles, elephants, and zebras. The story ends well, with Meta finding plates to take back to the village.

The artwork and story of Meta was a cut above anything locally available, and that translated to a large readership for Bleu/Blanc. It was estimated that every magazine was shared with friends, family, and neighbors, with at least ten readers per issue.

Lowry Park Zoo Manatee video

2009-05-25T22:13:00.000-04:00

The Lowry Park Zoo is one of the places were injured, incapacitated, or infant manatees are transported to be rehabilitated. Some of the animals are returned to the wild at the same site that they were taken, and fitted with tracking devices to monitor their progress. Other manatees have such debilitating wounds that they must remain in captivity, so they are placed on permanent exhibit loan to any one of several institutions that can hold them.

A large network of collaborating specialists participate in the surveillance, research, rescue, transport, rehabilitation, and finally, release or long-term care of these slow moving mammals. Those animals on exhibit in zoos serve as educational messages about how human interaction is harmful to manatees (the most common natural hazard is red tide).

Mankind is responsible for the outflow of warmed water from industry or water treatment plants that can prevent normal migration for winter, causing cold stress and death. Manatees can get caught in or ingest fishing equipment. By far, the most dangerous thing for manatees are boats. White propeller scars on the back of animals or missing parts of flippers and tails attest to the cruel reality of "boat strike" injuries.

The video shows one, then two more manatees feeding on romaine lettuce, and then the same animals from above, in the public area of Lowry Park Zoo. The propeller scars are clearly seen. At the Zoo, severely compromised animals in rehabilitation are kept in "medical" tanks off exhibit.

Video by: D. Messinger

Columbus Zoo Conservation Report

2009-05-24T21:37:00.000-04:00

To meet American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) standards, member institutions must include conservation as a key element in their mission statement. Some facilities now produce annual conservation reports that show how the institution is helping conserve wild populations.

The above is an annual conservation report from the Columbus Zoo, a leader in in situ (range country) conservation. The beautifully illustrated booklet features the bonobo. AZA zoos and aquariums are supporting sustainable biodiversity and are sharing their stories with members and visitors.

To learn more about Lola ya Bonobo, see http://www.friendsofbonobos.org/index.htm

Florida Panther in a Tree

2009-05-21T21:43:00.001-04:00

White Oak Conservation Center, in north-east Florida, is a first-class research and breeding facility devoted to wildlife and habitat preservation. Located on 7,400 acres, with 600 acres developed for animals, the Center is an American Zoo and Aquarium (AZA) related facility with projects around the world, as well as locally.

White Oak is the only place in the country where injured or sick Florida panthers are nursed back to health and then rehabilitated back to the wild, in collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This endangered cat, high up in a tree, is seen in a 17 acre fenced pen. From this pen, a dozen total have been radio-collared and returned to the location of their capture. The hard stare of the cat belies its precarious position in only 5% of the original home range, in South Florida, where there is little suitable habitat left.

This species is not without controversy, because its status as a "subspecies" is not clear. Some scientists claim that all of the North American panthers (cougar, mountain lion, catamount, puma are synonyms) should be lumped into one species. At an estimated population of only 80 to 100 animals, the probable inbreeding has been mitigated by the infusion of Texas cougar genes. Consequences of inbreeding in the Florida panther has been cardiac disease and low sperm counts in males.

For more information about the White Oak Conservation Center, visit http://www.wocenter.org/index.asp?id=wocc/animals.asp

Photos by: D. Loeb

Truck Stuck

2009-05-20T21:42:00.000-04:00

Traveling the "bush" for six months, stopping in remote villages to conduct research on monkeypox, meant that one needed to carry all needed supplies and equipment, including a portable short-wave radio to keep in touch with the World Health Office in the capital. Negotiating impassible roads in the center of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) meant that the equipment included metal skids, shovels, an electric wench, and a chainsaw for situations.

The top photograph shows the Toyota high-centering in a sandy road in Bandundu. Digging, putting grass, skids, or other traction under the wheels or using the "come-along" were all options. Often, when the ruts were very deep, the best tactic was to strike out across the virgin savanna on a parallel track. The unbroken grass provided good traction for a new road, but, over time, the ruts would get deeper and more eroded, until that, too, was abandoned for another path. In some places, there would be a dozen side-by-side roads, wandering and twisting through the savanna, in various stages of wear. It was a challenge to chose the best road.

The middle picture shows where we fell through a small bridge over a stream. Here, it was impossible to extricate ourselves, so after a few hours, we managed to signal our distress to a village, a few miles distant. The villagers were all to happy to enjoy the excitement of a passing vehicle, busted through a rotten spot on their bridge. Joking and laughing at their fortune, they picked up the truck's rear end and placed it back on better timbers.

Where was I? I was knee deep in the water, cooling off, taking pictures, and laughing at the absurdity of it all. I suspected that the villagers may had actually set up the bridge as a truck trap. There were so few vehicles passing in this area -- only a couple a month -- that perhaps this was the local taxation. Being Zaire, it was not out of bounds for Zairians to go to extraordinary lengths for a few dollars.

The last image is of the "one that didn't make it." Mungbau, the driver had to stop and get his picture taken by the upside down cab and trailer of what must have been a horrific accident. Usually, the metal from abandoned trucks was pulled off and recycled, but this area was too remote for such piracy.

Photos by: D. Messinger

Red Katydid

2009-05-18T21:30:00.000-04:00

This bright red katydid had fallen out of the trees overhead in a forested area near Lodja, in the center of Zaire, now the Democratic of the Congo. I was awed by the brilliant, deep, solid red of the insect, and snapped a picture. I never saw another one.

Katydids are relatives of crickets, and can be distinguished from grasshoppers by their antennae that are as long or longer then their body. Their ovipositors (egg-laying tube) are also very long. They sing at night, with a raspy sound that is created from rubbing the forewings together. The name may come from "katy-did, katy-didn't."

It is not a surprise that I have never identified this insect. The Amazon is the home to 2,000 different species of katydids, so the tropical rainforest of the Congo could have at as many species as well. Various colors have been described for tropical katydids, including green, brown, white, pink, and yellow. Not red.

Curious Jays

2009-05-16T21:32:00.000-04:00

This captivating photograph was taken in a free flight aviary called the "Emerald Forest"at the "Range of the Jaguar"exhibit at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. The two birds on the camera are plush-crested jays, which are South American representatives of the raven, crow, jay, rook, magpie, and jackdaw family otherwise known as "corvid."

Plush-crested jays are named for the stiff feathers on their heads. They have metallic purple-blue feathers, and light blue, wide eyebrows that give them a questioning demeanor. They are vocal and are known to mimic other birds in the wild. It is no surprise that they are bold and will investigate anything new in their environment.

Corvids are extremely intelligent, inquisitive birds that are equated to mammalian primates. However their brains do not have a complex cortex, rather another part of the brain, called the hyper-striatum, is highly developed. Larger corvids, such as ravens, are known to be able to count, up to seven!

A anecdote goes that hunters would go into a blind to shoot birds, and when this happened, the birds learned to make themselves scarce. When a hunter or two would leave the blind, the birds still wouldn't come back; they knew the number inside and wouldn't come back until ALL the men had exited the blind.

The photo was taken by Marian Brickner, who had the tables turned by the jays, who found her big lens an inviting and exciting object of exploration.

An Abandoned Village

2009-05-13T22:53:00.000-04:00

This village, photographed in the vicinity of Djolu, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) was at the edge of the secondary forest on a tertiary road. As explained, the entire village had been abandoned when the chief had died -- the people had picked up all of their belongings and moved to a new site. It was said that a village might also move when the local resources had been exhausted as the result of too much human pressure on the fragile ecosystem.

That is one of the reasons that the maps I saw were so inaccurate. Villages named no longer existed as depicted, or they had moved to another place, and were the same name, or the name had been changed to "big such-and-such" or "new such-and-such." A perfect case of recycling, the left behind houses decayed and melted back into the earth, and eventually the land was engulfed again by forest.

Photo by D. Messinger

Otter in the Tube!

2009-05-11T22:14:00.000-04:00

These three giant otters are enjoying taking turns in a carpet tube given as "enrichment." They are brothers, of two different litters, born at the Philadelphia Zoo, and placed on loan to the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. After these photographs were taken, one of the siblings was transferred to the Dallas World Aquarium, to be paired with a female for breeding.

Giant otters love tight spaces, the more cramped the better. When I visited the Philadelphia Zoo in 2007, the staff showed off a small wooden box, about two feet on each side. They said that it was amazing that all of their giant otters -- parents, and cubs from both litters -- would crowd into the den to sleep.

Photos by M. Beshel

Lucy Bonobo Agile on Roof

2009-05-09T22:48:00.000-04:00

Lucy, a young bonobo at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens carefully descends the rooftop at the highest point of the resting platform and shade structure on exhibit. Bonobos are extremely agile and they do not appear to fear heights.

Photo by M. Brickner

Dancing with Bats

2009-05-06T22:35:00.001-04:00

I always like the top photo, because it looks like I am doing some kind of barefoot water ballet. Instead, Moseli, a nurse, and I were mist-netting for bats. I was a volunteer in the Peace Corps, on loan to the World Health Organization (WHO). We were trying to determine the wild animal reservoir for the virus that caused monkeypox in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

The mist net was so fine, that it was nearly invisible to the eye, and was typically strung across streams, which were used by many species of bats as highways (as opposed to dense forests, where there were many impediments to flights). A mist net could be bunched up into the size of a fist, and it was easily torn by the captured bats, which we extricated with care.

The bottom photo is Moseli holding a male hammer-headed bat, the largest bat in Africa. The males, weighing up to one pound, are twice the size of the females. They are sexually dimorphic, with males having large square heads, and a huge larynx that extends into the thorax, displacing the lungs and heart. The voice box is used to produce the loud calls to attract females.

Hammer-headed bats meet at "leks," or mating arenas, for copulation. The males gather first, in small groups, where they spread out and establish their territory. They call loudly, with honking, croaking squawks. The females follow the sounds that can be heard from a great distance and come to the lek to select their mate.

Lekking (from Swedish "to play") is a promiscuous mating system that is either classical, where visual cues are used, like the tail display of peafowl or exploded, where the attractant is vocal, such as that of the hammer-headed bat.

Lucy Bonobo Nursing Mom

2009-05-04T21:16:00.000-04:00

Lucy, a five-year old bonobo at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is still nursing her mother, Lorel. Although it seems like a long time for weaning, five years is not unusual for this highly social, highly intelligent ape. A lengthy dependency on mother insures enough time to learn bonobo skills, but it also means that each female can only give birth to a small number of offspring (nursing inhibits pregnancy) in the wild.

In the past, captive bonobo babies were taken from their mothers to be raised by humans, partly because the females, no longer lactating, would become pregnant again, and partly to attract visitors. "Pulling" infants, with the exception of legitimate medical reasons, is no longer allowed by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) bonobo Species Survival Plan (SSP).

Photo by M. Brickner

Lucy Tight-Walking Rope

2009-05-02T22:03:00.001-04:00

Lucy, a young bonobo at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, shows off her astonishing sense of balance in this series of photographs. Not only does she agilely balance her way up a rope, but she does it with a ball in her left hand!

Photos by M. Brickner

Trappping Rats Around a Village

2009-04-29T22:50:00.000-04:00

The focus of the search for the wild animal reservoir of monkeypox was on rodents that lived around the villages and in the nearby agricultural fields. Mungbau, the chauffeur, is seen with the live traps that we loaned out to the village youth to set in the surrounding area. They were given in batches of ten to fifteen traps per trapper.

Mungbau, (with the supervision of the team's pet genet), is checking each trap to make sure that they are in order before they are handed out. The traps were numbered to help track them. The local hunters were easy to train, and we paid them for their knowledge of the forest and the wildlife via the catch they brought in each day.

The villagers used their own bait and knew how to mount traps high up in trees, along waterways, around trails, and in brush piles. They had a much higher catch than we could have realized if we had done the work ourselves. The rats were identified, euthanized, and processed for their organs and blood for identification of monkeypox virus and antibodies.

Photo by D. Messinger

Water Conservation in the Savanna

2009-04-27T21:51:00.000-04:00

While a Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I had the opportunity to travel widely. I learned to appreciate the geographical, political, and cultural contrasts in that huge nation, the third largest on the African continent.

Although the Congo is known for rainforest in the center "basin," the north, east, and, especially south, has large stretches of scrub land and savanna, where water is scarce. In such a landscape the villages are few and far between. Here, the people are linked to the nearest permanent water, which might be a sweaty, hot, one-hour trek. In these places, bathing and washing clothes was done at the "source" while drinking and cooking water had to be hauled back to the huts. Water was transported in pots, pails, pans, and gourds, carried on women's (and girl's) heads. .

Water was so precious that I once stopped to take a picture of an ingenious method used for a thatched roof in the southern Bandundu region of the Congo. The thirsty people had fashioned a sort of gutter with split giant bamboo. A leaf spout connected it to a gourd. One also notices the use of bamboo and grass instead of the wood and clay from the wet regions to the north.

Photo by D. Messinger

Bonobo Lucy Walking with Ball

2009-04-24T21:30:00.001-04:00

Lucy, a five year old bonobo at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens shows off her ability to stand upright while she passes a ball behind her back, then continues to carry it in front. Her capacity to walk upright while manipulating a large object is unique, and something that the local peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo comment on as being "human-like."

Photo by M. Brickner

Rain Rain Go Away

2009-04-22T22:12:00.003-04:00

The world's rainforests straddle a narrow belt along the equator, and represent only six percent of the earth's landmass. I do not know exactly how much it rained where I was, but I guessed that it must have been around 100 inches a year. There was the "big wet" which was around six months long, the "little wet," around three months long, and the "dry" season, also three months long.

Traveling and working among the local peoples of Zaire, now the Democratic of the Congo, slowed me down and made me appreciate the elements. For example, no matter the urgency, everything came to a halt when it rained. Weather it was working, or meeting, or going to school, conducting business, or taking a trip -- nothing happened when it rained.

The above photographs shows a village, where I was cooped up in a hut for several days, while it rained, and rained, and rained. I was working with the local people, trapping small mammals for a monkeypox study, and we were all stuck. Such was the life of the village -- people were not bored; they sat around and talked, sang, worked on small projects, ate, and slept. The kids fiddled around with small home made toys or helped the women with indoor tasks.

Sometimes I use these images in presentations to describe the life in a Congolese village. The last photo comes with the remark, "Well, at least we had running water!"

Photos by D. Messinger

Monkeypox Office at Night

2009-04-20T22:33:00.001-04:00

In this photo, I am preparing the notes from the day's work, during a long field trip in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to study human habits in relationship to the rodents found around the villages and agricultural areas. Because there was no electricity where I worked, lighting was limited to kerosene lanterns.

The large notebook mapped out the location of nests, and distance from a point along a transect, of the rope squirrels that we were studying. Due to many variables, the time spent in an single location was too short to learn actual density of the squirrels, but this was a quick way to get relative density indications for various areas that I studied.

The folding table belonged to our team and was the "office." This photo was taken outdoors, in front of the main house of the village chief. Like other local activities such as cooking, relaxing, working, and visiting, my study was not done in a hut. Mud huts were primarily for sleeping and for escaping the torrential equatorial rains.

One of the things not seen was my audience. The people -- adults, kids, and assorted dogs and chickens hung around to see what I was doing. They would quietly talk, work, or play and keep me company, partially as a favor. In the culture, being alone was anathema. And I was a stranger, doing strange, and unfathomable things, that would be talked about for years. I always had onlooking eyes, even here in the soft nighttime air under the stars.

Thank You, Forest Doctor!

2009-04-18T16:08:00.007-04:00

In the early 1990's, The Zairian Institute for the Conservation of Nature sponsored a educational pamphlet tied to a census of eastern lowland gorillas led by Jeff Hall of the Wildlife Conservation Society (Bronx Zoo). Kizito and I wrote and illustrated a culturally sensitive story that talked about gorillas and elephants. We used a play on words with "Monganga" which was the word for "Doctor" as well as the brand name of a popular bar soap.

The cover featured a forest scene with a village family. The riches of the forest were symbolically represented with a spear, fish, and a basket heaped with the harvest. The text reads:

"WE SHARE THE FOREST We have known our forest for many, many years. It is our home and will be the home of our children and children's children. The forest is bountiful to those who understand it. Here we find everything we need. We hunt and fish for the animals that feed us. Our forest gives us medicine, fruit, rope, nuts, paints, and candles.

"In return, we share the forest with other creatures. We need to take good care of our land so it will continue to sustain us. The following pages will describe the two largest animals we find in the forest. See how they are part of our world.

(Page two) "THE GIFT OF THE ELEPHANT The elephant is the largest animal in the forest. He is also its great protector. He could be called "Monganga Ya Zamba" (Forest Doctor) for the care he gives it.

"He is practically the master constructor of the forest, if you like. He knocks down trees to eat, which makes clearings for the sun to penetrate and start new plant life.

"But the greatest gift of our doctor is in his droppings. For these contain large seeds of giant fruits which only the elephant is capable of eating. These seeds are not digested, but deposited in the dung, which is ideal for germination. Some trees in our forest can only be planted by first passing through an elephant. (The illustration here is of a seeding thinking, "Thanks, forest doctor!" as it sprouts up from an elephant pile, complete with flies).

(Page three) "The gorilla is renown the world over for his huge size, his strength, and his intelligence. In truth, the gorilla does not use his enormous powers for aggression. The dominant male will charge anything that endangers his family. But he stops short, only to threaten with a roar. His size alone is enough to deter enemies.

"Gorilla infants pass their childhood with few worries. They spend their first years learning how to be a gorilla. They follow the family's examples to learn what is edible, what to fear and avoid (like snakes and toxic plants) and most importantly, how to become good parents themselves. Gorillas eat leaves, fruits, shoots, stems, flowers, and ants.

(Page four) "This man is a zoologist. His name is Sabuni and he is studying the relationship between large mammals and plants. In this image you can see that Sabuni has a certain rapport with an adult male gorilla! This is, because, near Bukavu and near Goma, specialists have habituated some groups to the presence of humans. Quietly and calmly approached, the gorillas do not flee.

"Often the zoologist wonders about the use of the surrounding forest. How will man take care of it in the next century, he asks? What will happen to us that depend on the forest if gorillas and elephants were no more?"

Our pamphlet was a labor of love. It was printed in Swahili and tested for interpretation by the intended audience. Humans and the relationship with and benefit from the forest was emphasized. It was printed in at a Kinshasa printer, and used only two colors, green and black, which meant delicate half-tones done by hand to achieve the greys and light greens. It. Even the spacing of the text around the half circle above the gorilla had to be adjusted one letter at a time on a template, due to lack of sophisticated computer software.

Lucy Bonobo Bonded to Mother

2009-04-15T21:59:00.000-04:00

Lucy, a five year old bonobo at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is still bonded to her mother, as seen in the top photo where Lucy has her arm draped over Lorel's back. In the middle, the two each have an arm over the other, while Lorel carries a coconut in her other hand. In the bottom image, the two have reverted to a earlier time when the mother carries her baby, piggy-back style. Lucy is getting too heavy for this, but the behavior is still seen from time to time. The weaning of a young bonobo is a slow, gentle process.

Photos by M. Brickner

The Snorting Gazelle

2009-04-13T22:09:00.000-04:00

Speke's gazelles were named after John Speke, an African explorer who looked for the source of the Nile, but ended up naming a bird, a rodent, and an antelope. Speke's are endangered, and the wild numbers are estimated in the low ten thousands. They are found in small, fragmented populations in the horn of Africa, (Somalia and Ethiopia). The largest threat to their survival is the loss of grazing due to the encroachment of livestock.

This little female Speke's gazelle was born at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens last week. She is getting a daily catch-up and weighing (she is around three pounds; the scale reads in metric) for the first week of life, following a protocol established by the St. Louis Zoo.

Only four founding animals had been imported into this country in the late 60's and early 70's, so the resulting inbreeding led to problems including low birth weights, lack of viability, and low fertility. In the 1980's, under guidance of the SSP (Species Survival Plan) the St. Louis Zoo instituted a risky, but critically important program to rapidly breed all of the animals, to produce a large number of offspring, quickly. Over one hundred Speke's gazelles have been born at the St. Louis Zoo. Those with fatal defects did not survive, but the others had not inherited the harmful genes. The plan worked and over two to three generations, the problems had largely disappeared.

The most noticeable feature of this nearly two foot tall antelope is the three to five folds of skin that form the bridge of the nose. This can be inflated into a resonating chamber for the loud, explosive gunshot sneeze that the gazelle uses in alarm. It is also thought to be used to help in cooling because Speke's gazelles live in hot, dry semi-desert habitat. They are also crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) to help conserve moisture.

Both sexes have S shaped horns, but the male's is noticeably heavier at the base. The gestation is six to seven months and the single, (rarely twin) offspring is weaned at two to three months, Their lifespan is twelve years.

Our little female is staying in an off-exhibit area that is visible from the train. She is often hidden in the grass (a protection defense to avoid predation), but has already started playing, and "pronking" about the yard, with all four feet raised off of the ground in a series of high bounds (also adaptive, to escape predation when being chased).

Photos by Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens

Elvira Jaguar: Mistress of the Night

2009-04-11T23:51:00.002-04:00

Martin Main, Ph.D., from the University of Florida, and Ph.D graduate student, Emiliano Ramalho, study jaguars in a flooded rainforest in central Brazil. Jaguars are nocturnal, elusive and solitary, and little is know about their population density. The Amazon basin is critical to jaguar conservation because it holds the greatest numbers of animals. The Amazon contains large stretches of intact habitat that communicates with other important ecosystems.

Main's team captured the beautiful female jaguar pictured above on Halloween, 2008. Fittingly, she was named "Elvira," and fitted with a GPS collar that will record her location every two hours for a year. The data collected will establish her range and movement with the change in water levels that flood up to 36 feet every year. (The area is so inundated that Mr. Ramalho stays in a floating research camp.)

Typically, infrared "camera traps" are used to photograph and identify individual free-ranging wild animals. Scat (feces) is also collected to study prey species eaten. The jaguar is a top predator that also takes domestic stock, and is killed by ranchers and villagers. Mitigating jaguar/human conflict will become a primary concern of conservationists, as the human population is ever increasing in central Brazil.

Dr. Main is also looking at other, complimentary techniques to camera trapping and radio collaring. Another student has done trials at the The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens with non-invasive collection of hairs, which will provide DNA material that will provide information on parentage and familial relationships.

For further information:
http://international.ifas.ufl.edu/focus_newsletters/2009/February2009/Jaguar.shtml

Photo by M. Main

A Prickle of a Porcupine

2009-04-08T21:54:00.001-04:00

This photo is of a young brush-tailed African porcupine. Newborns are precocial, being well-developed, but of small size. They are born with soft hair that hardens over a week or two. This animal weighed about a pound, and already had the quill development of an adult. The brush-tailed porcupine is not well known outside of west and central Africa where it ranges, because it is rarely seen in captivity. An adult weighs six to eight pounds, while the better known black and white African crested porcupine is much larger, at 40 to 60 pounds.

Unlike its name "porcupine" which means "quill pig," porcupines are not pigs, but rodents. Due to their taste for roots and tubers, they have a light, sweet meat that is favored by local populations, and they are frequently hunted. In Zaire, porcupines were flushed by dogs, to be captured by small hoop nets on the trails that the animals would use as escape routes.

The meat is so favored that one project in Gabon has tried farm raising brush-tailed porcupines, with limited success. The fact that they only produce one or two offspring, with a relatively long gestation of 100 or more days is not promising for efficient production (compared to rabbits, for example, that can produce 6 to 10 young after only a one month gestation).

The brush-tailed porcupine has short quills and a tuft of flattened, pale quills at the end of its tail. Like all porcupines, its defensive behavior is to turn around, stamp its front feet and raise and shake the quills to produce a menacing rattle and increase its body "size." The animal will also hiss, and growl. Finally, if the aggressor is not convinced, the porcupine will back up rapidly and ram the offender, leaving some quills behind.

The brush-tailed porcupine lives in burrows, and is strictly nocturnal. It travels in small family groups and is mostly terrestrial, but can climb, or swim, with webbed feet. In researching the natural history of the species, the most interesting fact I uncovered was that a group of porcupines is called a "prickle," an apropos description for such an unusual evolutionary survival tactic.

Photo by D. Messinger

Telecel Bon Voyage

2009-04-06T23:16:00.000-04:00

To make ends meet, Kizito and I created ads for Telecel, a telecommunications company. At that time, in the mid 1990's, Telecel ran a monopoly in the capital, and did not really need to advertise. But Jim Galan, the American director, had a soft spot for our conservation projects and orphaned bonobos. He paid for a dozen one page cartoons and then hired us to manage the postings in the local newspapers.

This four color ad fit in with the "social marketing" that we used for our copy. Each told a good story, gave some interesting lesson (here, it was geography), and advanced our overall goal of creating interest in reading.

In Bon Voyage, TELECEL, a jumbo jet is deplaning passengers. The first pane announces, "A tropical morning....the arrival from Europe." Then we see a man, dressed in a puffy jacket with a Topeka Zoo and happy face patches, waving good-by to the air hostesses, "See you next time, my dears!"

In the crush of passengers, he exclaims, "AWESOME! HO! My brother is here!"

The two meet, the loud bother greeting the conservatively dressed brother with, "What's up, Bro?"

They hug, and the brother asks, "How was the trip?" "FANTASTIC!" (The man likes to talk in capital letters.)

The next scene is a depiction of the crazy hubbub at the Kinshasa airport, where the two brothers are seen as tiny figures in the background, laughing.

In the third row, left pane, the two are waiting for their baggage. The loud brother throws out his arms, "I was in London, Madrid, Athens, New Delhi, Paris, Brussels...!!"

He continues, admonishing his stay at home brother, "...you need to get out and breathe the air of progress in exotic places, isn't that so, brother!?! His brother raises one eyebrow and responds softly, "Maybe..."

While the loud brother is laughing in an uproar, we notice the other brother's hand holding a cellular telephone that suddenly begins ringing, "Lo lo lo lo! Lo lo lo lo!"

A finger punches a button, while the loud brother, tears still in his eye from laughing, shows surprise on his face.

The quiet brother answers the phone, saying, "Hello... Los Angeles?... O.K.! I'll call Singapore immediately to confirm... Good bye!"

The loud brother, eyes wider, listens to this conversation. Then, with a broad wink, the quiet brother says, "You see, brother... I travel too, with TELECEL!"

The Animals in Our Lives

2009-04-04T22:39:00.001-04:00

These cats, from the left, are Kiki, Hurricane, Momacita, and Halloween, a mother and three daughters. They are Sphynx, a hairless breed developed from a natural mutation in a few barn kittens found in Toronto, in the 1970's. An unusual fact about felines is that their skin reflects the color of the fur, which can be easily seen in the Sphynx. In our case, we have tortoiseshells, blue (grey), and calico varieties.

Besides the felines, we have a Doberman and a mixed American bulldog that was rescued from the pound. The cats and dogs get along, and make for a happy, healthy family. Scientific studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control have shown that pets decrease the incidence and severity of depression, reduces heart disease and lowers levels of LDL ("bad" cholesterol).

The American Veterinary Medical Association has reported that the elderly in nursing homes with well-cared for resident animals have less infections, fewer hospitalizations, and 30% lower staff turnover than homes without animals.

Pets are a marvelous way for humans to build character. They increase opportunities for exercise and serve as an ice breaker for conversation. Pets teach selflessness, responsibility, love, sharing, biology, life, and death. For children, the death of a pet teaches coping skills for the loss of human life.

Pets allow us to see the world through rose colored glasses. Who is the best secret keeper, always happy to see you, and loves you unconditionally? Your pet, of course.

At times we all need a bright spot in our lives when the general outlook becomes cloudy with the demands of work, school, children, finances, and trying to hold it all together. Animals are the bright spot -- a dog cheers us up when he lays his head in our lap, and we relax when a cat curls up and purrs like a motor.

What can you do if you don't have the ability, desire, or resources to have a pet of your own? You can reap benefits by volunteering at the local shelter, interacting with a neighbor's pet, or watching animals in nature. Animals are natural teachers, and even butterflies and other insects have fascinating lives that reveal themselves with close observation.

Whether feathered, scaled, furry, slimy, or (in some cases), hairless, animals enhance our lives. If nothing else, upload an aquarium screen saver on your computer monitor and watch the fish swim.

Photo by M. Brickner

Hands on Bonobo "Exam"

2009-04-01T22:30:00.001-04:00

Cooperative participation in medical exams is a primary goal in modern captive ape management. Here, a keeper is focusing on a single bonobo at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. A first "anti-distraction" technique is to train these highly social animals to separate from the group. Once animals understand the challenge of training, they often find it so engaging that they may squeal in delight in anticipation of a turn with the keeper.

The photos show preparation for a cardiac, teeth, mouth, gums, and tongue check. The Zoo's two veterinarians stop in frequently to familiarize the animals with their presence, which is something that is needed for "house calls" from a doctor, with the backup training by the keeper.

Photos by M. Brickner

Giant Otter with Whiskers

2009-03-30T21:30:00.004-04:00

Giant otters are diurnal, which means that they are active throughout the day -- except for brief periods of napping -- which provides quite a show for the visiting public at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. They cavort in their pool and dry their fur in the sand on the banks. These two brothers were born at the Philadelphia zoo, and are on loan to the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.

The lower photograph shows the long vibrissae (whiskers) that help the otter "feel" the slightest shift in current that signals either obstacles to avoid, or prey to catch in the murky rivers of South America where they live.

Photos by M. Brickner

Oh, La, La, We've Moved!

2009-03-27T22:00:00.002-04:00

When the six bonobos left Africa on loan, Kizito drew the animals traveling to Europe. Rosie carrying a backpack, is seen in front, followed by mother Zuani with the baby Liboso on her back. Hani and Molaso are hauling suitcases, and, in the rear, Mwindu is dancing to a boom box, without a care on his mind.

The letter that accompanied the tongue-in-cheek cartoon was mailed to all of the bonobo friends that I had made over the years. It was to inform them that the bonobos had arrived safely in Holland, and that a 25 year collaborative contract had been signed, to provide long-term funding for bonobos in the Democratic of the Congo:

"A change of address! We finally left our cramped quarters at I.N.R.B. in Kinshasa on 2 March 1998 for a two story condo in Apenheul Primate park in Holland. The maids here tidy up daily and provide room service, starting with hot tea every morning.

"Balanced meals include succulent delicacies like kiwi, chicory, persimmon, celery, and grapes. The beds are special -- imagine choosing between straw lofts, canvas hammocks, thick rubber shelves, swinging nets and giant hanging Baskets! Our rooms (We wouldn't call them cages) are full of climbing poles, games, ropes, puzzles, swings, and toys. The floor is deep in wood chips so we can dig. Our new caretakers have promised a vacation each summer on an island complete with trees, pond, grass, stream, boulders, herb garden, marsh...what more could a bonobo ask for?

"Here in Holland, we've already made new friends with four resident bonobos -- Mobukisi, Joey, Lomela, and Jill, who is expecting. Speaking of which, with the excitement of getting ready to leave, I didn't have time to announce our new arrival...yes, I'm a mother now! Liboso (for the "first one" born in captivity in the Congo) entered this world in mid-January. Some people were surprised that I had no trouble, as I am still slight in frame at only 17 kg! (37 pounds). All my bonobo girlfriends want to help raise my baby.

"News from the rest of us -- Molaso is jealous of my little family and has gone off of birth control. (She had problems with spontaneous abortions and the doctor had put her on the pill.) Rosie is a typical teenager with new friends and Mwindu and Hani are glad to have guys to hang out with. A real clown, Mwindu has already come up with new twists on "catch me!"

"Part of the reason for our move is that we've been promoted! We are now "Bonobo Ambassadors" for a half million annual Apenhuel visitors. The job is strictly 9 to 5, and pretty relaxing, just being ourselves, and doing what bonobos do naturally. We can take a break from work anytime we want by going downstairs to escape the gaze of our admiring public. The only thing we miss is sugarcane, but all in all, there are no complaints.

"Well, that is not quite true. We miss our neighbors in Kinshasa, but we heard that they will be moving soon to better accommodations. On the serious side, Apenheul will provide permanent care for the bonobos left behind at I.N.R.B. Our hearts will always be in the Congo and because of this, Apenheul has guaranteed support for research and studies to benefit bonobos and other Congolese animals for the next quarter century. So we six fortunate ones feel like a catalyst for a lot of future good happenings in our homeland!"

Bonobo Dunkin' Biscuits

2009-03-25T21:31:00.002-04:00

From behind a post, one sees a bonobo hand and floating monkey biscuits. Lorel, an adult female bonobo at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, has just thrown part of her meal into the exhibit moat to soften them. The bonobos regularly soak their biscuits, so we can guess that they prefer the texture and the flavor of the wet biscuits over the dry ones.

In the second photograph, Lorel is gathering her meal, and in the bottom, she has one biscuit in her mouth while she harvests the rest. Bonobos are so curious and intelligent that they "test" and utilize everything in their environment to maximize their sense of well-being.

Photos by M. Brickner

Conservation Commerce in Zimbabwe

2009-03-23T22:48:00.003-04:00

Wendy Blakeley was my room mate at the Zoos and Aquariums Committing to Conservation (ZACC) Conference in January, in Houston. She works with "conservation commerce," in conjunction with a painted dog (years ago they were called "African Wild Dogs") project in Zimbabwe.

"Conservation commerce" is the latest buzzword in the conservation world, because it represents a real link between the haves and have-nots, and can be a deciding factor in that ever-elusive human element in the protection of wildlife and habitat. Without local community buy-in, outside interests will surely fail.

Simply put, a product that has some intrinsic value is produced by a community, and then shipped to distant markets for sale. Profits stay local. This, tied with educational messages, tacit understandings, and specific incentives (such as additional perks for no poaching incidents) will lead to an equitable trade off of jobs gained from animals protected.

The first photograph shows Wendy with her wares, which were sold to the ZACC delegates, some of whom were purchasing for their own facilities' gift shops. Items included jewelry, beaded work, and realistic wood carvings of painted dogs (second image).

The Painted Dog project has some interesting twists. A material used to create animal art is the wire from collected snares (third photograph of a snare-wire sculpture). This use provides a double incentive to collect the illegal snares, and can be viewed as anti-litter, as well as anti-poaching.

One of the challenges in the past has been a lack of knowledge of marketing, importing, logistics, and retailing of articles. Up until now, conservation commerce has been mostly individual field researchers bringing products back in suitcases. Clearly, this hit and miss method, although altruistic, led to frustrations. A broader approach, in consultation with marketing experts, will result in more sustainable benefit to local conservation efforts.

The painted dog project has many goals including research, rehabilitation, education, and alternative sources of income. Their goal is to have a "stable" of zoos that exhibit painted dogs or other African carnivores, that will retail the art and jewelry made in Zimbabwe. Today, some knowledgeable customers are seeking unique merchandise that will directly benefit wild animals.
For more information, see http://www.painteddog.org/

The Fascinating Congolese Animals

2009-03-20T22:29:00.002-04:00

This was the first page of a draft cartoon that was called "The Fascinating Animals of Zaire" (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Kizito and I collaborated on the story and artwork in 1992.

In the tale, the main character, named Biselenge (a self-portrait of the artist), says, "In Kinshasa where I grew up, I was a kid without ambition. I went to school, I liked playing with my friends, and...in short, for me, that was all there was to life."

In the cartoon, Kizito's dad, seeing the boy coming home from a game of ball, exclaims, "Biselenge! Come here! You've been playing with your worthless friends again? He grabs Biselenge by the ear and says, "Playing, always playing, never time for homework! Well then, I think I'll send you to your uncle in Kisangani. He at least, will keep you under his eye."

Biselenge says, "It was at Kisangani where I got the taste of nature. I devoted my studies to zoology. Animals became my passion." He continues against views of a chimp and a herd of zebra, "I could observe animals for hours, whether they were in a zoo, or in complete liberty in the wild."

In the final panel, Biselenge is talking against the main street in downtown Kinshasa. One can almost smell the smells and feel the frenzy of the hustle. A thief with a stolen wallet is darting from behind a truck and a cop has stopped a dented yellow cab, while a scantily clad woman turns her head at honking.

Biselenge says, "I returned to Kinshasa, but everything has changed! Too much life for me: the crowds, the noise, the dust, the vehicle fumes....I suffocate. I miss the open spaces."

This booklet was designed to appeal to urban youth living in Kinshasa, the capital. We wanted the reader identify with a local kid who comes home, and then goes on to talk about unique and interesting local wildlife.

Bonobo "Kissing" a Ball

2009-03-18T22:29:00.003-04:00

Lucy is a five year old bonobo living at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. She is seen here pursing her lips at a heavy plastic ball that the keepers have provided for enrichment. It would be anthropomorphic to suggest that she is kissing it, but in reality, a young bonobo's sense of curiosity and exploration can be likened to that of a adolescent human. Lucy may be testing the roundness of a hole in the ball, or feeling the texture of the plastic against her lips, or even tasting the taste of whatever the ball has rolled in.

In fact, the keepers say that this picture was of Lucy after she had dipped the ball in the moat, to fill it with water. The bonobos often use their toys to collect water to drink. After drinking, Lucy passed the ball behind her. She walked a few steps with it held it close against her back with her long arms. She also laid on her back, and balanced the ball on her outstretched feet. This sequence of behavior lasted only a minute and a half.

Photo by M. Brickner

Second Exam for Jaguar Cub

2009-03-16T22:01:00.000-04:00

This past Friday, the un-named jaguar cub was caught up for his second exam and vaccinations. He is still small enough to be captured and restrained with thick leather gloves, seen in the first photograph. Although at first he growled, hissed, and spat, within minutes he calmed down and seemed resigned to the procedure, in the middle image. (Note that his eyes are changing from baby blue to adult golden yellow.)

In the bottom scene, the team, after taking blood, and giving the shots and a dewormer, is transferring the cub to a plastic dog kennel, which was then weighed. The cub now is 7 kilograms, or around 15 pounds.

The entire procedure was done quickly, so that the mother was not stressed. She had been lured to a second den with meat, and kept distracted with food for the entire procedure. Staff is now planning the steps to introduce the mother and cub to the exhibit sometime in early April. This grand event will be a treat for Jacksonville Zoo goers! At that time, his name, which was auctioned off at an ExZOOberation event, will be announced by the lucky winners.

Photos by D. Messinger

The Most Famous Thumb in the World

2009-03-14T22:18:00.000-04:00

In 1993, after the second uprising in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), the Skansen Aquarium in Stockholm supported the orphaned bonobos I was caring for in Kinshasa. Skansen is a small facility located on the grounds of the Skansen Institution, an open air museum that was founded in 1891.

The Skansen aquarium is known for its fresh and salt-water life, reptiles, rain forest exhibit, small mammals, and primates. They have bred hundreds of pygmy marmosets, and the offspring are scattered in zoos around the world. The pygmy marmoset put Skansen on the map, and a baby marmoset on the director's thumb made it on the cover of Reader's Digest. The director's thumb and "passenger" became Skansen Aquarium's logo.

Cat Wants a Wife

2009-03-11T21:41:00.003-04:00

For many years, I made ends meet in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) by providing health care for expatriate pets. I saved the actual note above, stained and blurred, to illustrate a funny story in Grains of Golden Sand:

"Spaying and neutering were the most requested surgeries for pets in Kinshasa. Because no invasion of the body cavity is called for, castrating tomcats is a simple procedure and I had been doing it for years. But spaying females was abdominal surgery and this was another thing altogether. By 1994, I was asked so often for this operation that I knew I had to make the effort to master the technique.

"Fortuitously, the American Embassy Recreation and Welfare Association, AERWA, was swarming with wild cats. As a favor, I agreed to trap them. I caught more than 30 cats and euthanized the weak and sick ones. A few males were neutered and released, and I “practiced” spaying a half-dozen females. They all survived and were released back at the club. I then spayed two of the institute’s cats and a few for a doctor friend. We were in the neutering business. Of the 60 cats and a dozen dogs that I spayed, all survived. A compulsive note-taker, I kept an anesthesia record of each operation, total surgery time, and even the type of sutures used.

"Surgery added new dimensions to my knowledge of medicine and rounded out our clinic’s ability to help animals. My earnings permitted me to cover personal expenses and even save for travel home once a year. I kept a few letters from satisfied “customers,” and my favorite is the felt-penned explanation that arrived one morning with a yowling tom in a pink plastic airline crate.

"Good morning, how are you? I’m sending you “Mimo,” his vaccination card is with you. He needs to be “Castré.” I don’t know how to tell ya in English, he wants a wife so he’s feeling hot. This morning he wants to kill himself from my verandah. Since yesterday 20:00 I’m not giving him food. If you can make the operation for him today I will appreciate. If not, please keep him until tomorrow, I send food, because I’m afraid he’ll kill himself.

"It was requests like that, so easy to “fix,” that made me realize that caring for pets was a contribution, no matter how minor, to the overall health of the restricted expatriate existence in Kinshasa. After all, who else could have prevented lovesick tomcats from committing suicide by leaping off high-rise apartment balconies?"

Manatees in Guyana Zoo

2009-03-09T22:27:00.000-04:00

It was drizzling rain in Georgetown, Guyana, when we visited the Guyana Zoo in January 2006 to solidify collaboration between the Jacksonville Zoo and various conservation entities in the South American country once called British Guyana. The Guyana Zoo is located on a small site within a larger city park complex.

One of the most interesting sights at the zoo was a body of water (where the public could walk right up to the edge!) full of manatees. While we were there, zookeepers dumped vegetation into the shallows and the lumbering beasts gathered, and almost exited the pond, in their haste to eat. Dr. Nick Kapustin, Senior Veterinarian at the Jacksonville Zoo, is photographing an animal at the water's edge.

The West Indian manatee is considered to be a single species that ranges from Florida to north east Brazil. Taxonomists believe that the DNA evidence points to three subspecies, with the Florida subspecies being the largest (can weigh over 3,000 pounds) and the most studied. All of them are endangered, from hunting in South America to boat strikes in the United States.

Manatees are slow-moving, non-aggressive, nearly hairless animals that have no hind limbs. They consume up to ten percent of their weight daily in aquatic vegetation and sea grasses. They can tolerate brackish waters and have a maximum life span of around 50 years. Manatees are generally solitary, with the exception of the mating herds. Calves stay with their mothers for two years.

Photos by J. Fletcher, Times Union

Jaguar: Momma's Little Cub

2009-03-07T23:06:00.002-05:00

The little male jaguar at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is around nine weeks old in the above video. He has gotten to that rough and tumble stage, where his anxious mother is having a devil of a time in keeping him corralled. He is stepping over the doorway leading to the outdoors in an off-exhibit, dirt-floored holding pen with a giant plastic tube, logs, and other play toys.

The unnamed cub has started playing with all of the toys available, but he especially likes his mother's tail. Occasionally, she is seen trying to herd him back inside, but he won't have it. Sometimes she puts her huge mouth over his shoulders, as if to scruff him, and carry him back inside. But he is too big to lift now, and she gives up.

The Zoo is planning an event to celebrate the new arrival, when he goes out on exhibit, within the month.

Video by S. Staaden

A Real Dragon in the Window

2009-03-04T23:13:00.000-05:00

Last week, the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens moved two Komodo dragons -- one from a holding area, and another from the hospital quarantine, to their new exhibit for a member preview. The grand opening of the Asian Bamboo Gardens and Komodo Dragon Exhibit will be Friday, the 6th of March.

The Zoo has two Komodo males, both on loan from other accredited institutions. One is nearly seven feet long, and weighs around 80 pounds. The larger animal is nine feet long and weighs nearly 120 pounds. The photographs show the larger male being shifted into the transport crate. The custom-built box is designed with multiple openings for veterinary access. For example, the base of the tail can be manipulated for blood draws, and there is room below to insert X-ray cassettes.

I was there when the Komodo was lured into the crate (you can see his head to the lower right). Instead of forcing him to enter, a red laser light was jiggled to shine on the bottom of the crate. The dragon associates the red dot light with food (rats, mice, silversides fish as a special treat), so, with a flickering of his forked tongue, the animal was neatly enticed into the box. Wooden yokes were inserted before and behind his legs to position him so he couldn't move for blood sampling.

In the middle photograph, the dragon has just been released into the outdoor exhibit, planted to resemble the sparse, scrub look of the Komodo islands. He assumes the usual alert, head-up pose of a dragon that is surveying the landscape for moving objects. In the wild, Komodo dragons are effective hunters that have been known to go after deer, wild boars, domestic stock including horses, and even humans.

A bite from a Komodo dragon, even if not immediately fatal, often leads to death from infection, a strategy that fits right in with the carrion-eating habits of the giant lizards. Dragons mouths are teaming with bacteria that are inoculated into the bite wounds. The dragon has a keen sense of smell (guided by the forked tongue that carries chemical particles to the Jacobson's organ, located at the base of the brain, which "tastes" the air.) The dragon simply follows the trail to the dead or dying prey.

Not all is rosy for Komodos -- they are endangered, with only a few thousand remaining in nature. Baby Komodos, hatched from eggs, are eaten by the adults, so they have adapted to climb trees, where the older, heavy-bodied animals cannot follow.

The final photograph shows the Komodo dragon coming inside for the first time. He is extremely intelligent and responded to the keeper, who opened the shift door and called his name. Testing the air, the dragon gingerly entered the heated stall. He investigated the pen, checking out the pool and eyeing the staff who crowded around to admire him. The dragon quickly found and flattened out his body to catch the warmth of an overhead spot heater. Like their mythical namesakes, dragons like it hot -- one hundred degrees is a nice basking temperature.

Photos by D. Messinger

ZACC In Situ Conservation Conference

2009-03-02T22:27:00.000-05:00

Every two years, zoo professionals and field researchers hold a meeting about in situ (occurring in range countries) conservation projects. This year, the "Zoos and Aquariums committing to Conservation" (ZACC) meeting was hosted by the Houston Zoo, from 22 to 26 January, 2009. Nearly 200 attendees representing 135 organizations from 27 countries met to share stories about unique solutions for habitat and wildlife protection.

Unlike many other professional meetings, the ZACC sessions are held consecutively, which means that all of the presentations are available to the delegates. As conservation is based on passion, it is important to have personal contacts with the field researchers, and ZACC is a great venue to meet field researchers. Savvy zoos send their conservation decision makers to "shop" among a smorgasbord of projects ("I found a great jaguar project to compliment our exhibit, now I need something for South American birds").

The ZACC conference is one of my favorite meetings. I learned about work on the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit, California condors, Attwater's Prairie chickens, and the discovery that bats that have taken up residence in urban bridges actually seem to have greater survivorship than individuals of the same species that roost in caves.

For the African continent, there were presentations on wattled cranes, ungulate migration routes in Tanzania, Gabon ecotourism, bonobos, and cheetahs. For Asian conservation, the delegates learned about Przewalski's horses, snow leopards, sun bears, and sea turtles in Sri Lanka. For Central and South America, there was research presented on cotton-top tamarins, lowland tapirs, amphibian conservation in Panama, and yellow-tailed woolly monkeys.

There were also presentations on carbon offsetting, new guidelines from the IUCN species survival commission, the global amphibian crisis, emerging wildlife conservation heroes, artists for conservation, and sustainable conservation commerce.

Through sponsorships, the conference also awards funding to worthwhile field projects, that are also presented at the meeting. The grantees for 2009 include:

A community wood fuel project in Uganda, where inexpensive, locally produced stoves use less wood, thus sparing trees.

Using health care incentives to protect wild orangutans in Sumatra.

Satellite tracking and social behavior of the Bornean elephant in Malaysia.

Protecting snow leopards through an insurance compensation scheme in India.

An integrated approach to ecosystem conservation in the Rift Valley of Kenya.

Improving the infrastructure of ostrich breeding in Niger.

Scarlet macaw conservation in Guatemala.

The first ZACC conference was held in 1995 at the Columbus Zoo in an effort to build a global network for wildlife conservation by linking zoos, aquariums, and stakeholders in in situ projects. The next meeting, will be hosted by the Woodland Park Zoo, in Seattle, Washington, in 2011. (ZACC has become so successful and popular, that European Zoos are planning a similar meeting in the "even" years.)

Video of Giant Otters Eating Fish

2009-02-28T17:04:00.000-05:00

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens exhibits a sibling pair of giant otters in the Emerald Forest aviary of the Range of the Jaguar. These males, born at the Philadelphia Zoo, are active throughout the day. They are fed several species of whole, freshwater fish to approximate their natural diet.

The otters are fed up to five times per day, at random intervals. During the public hours, the keepers climbs a staircase to a landing behind the exhibit and throws the fish to the animals. The spectacle of the otters balancing on their broad tails, and leaping and catching their diet is a real treat. As the feeding is unannounced, this video shows what lucky guests can see, if they happen to be at the right place, at the right time.

Video by D. Messinger

Malaria and Geckos

2009-02-25T21:26:00.000-05:00

In Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), The Bleu/Blanc magazine integrated message of civics, health, scholarship, and conservation. On this page, there are four separate messages, of which the first two are letters to the editor -- "you are the future of the planet" and "don't cheat." The next section is about malaria, a potentially fatal disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes.

The article suggests that cans that collect water outdoors will permit mosquitoes to breed, and collecting and burying these containers will reduce malaria. The drawing shares the idea that geckos are beneficial because they eat mosquitoes. The geckos are talking about all of the mosquitoes they are eating, in a scene littered with opened food containers.

In the Congolese culture, geckos (and all amphibians and reptiles, besides) are universally hated, and often killed. The lesson that a reptile fits within a food chain that can have a positive effect on humans is one way to change attitudes about animals that are typically seen to be evil.

Dwarf Galago Baby

2009-02-23T21:32:00.000-05:00

This little animal is a young Demodoffs galago, a primitive primate, photographed in the deep rainforest of the Equateur region in Zaire (now the Democratic of the Congo). Galagos, of a dozen species, are also known as bushbabies, due to their cries that sound like human babies.

With a 5 inch body and 7 inch tail, the tiny Demodoffs is one of the world's smallest primates. Its enormous eyes are adapted to see at night, where it forages for fruit, bark, tree gums, leaves, and bird eggs. Its independently mobile ears can catch the sound of insects, a favorite food.

In Africa, I mostly knew galagos from hearing them at night, and seeing the bright glint from their eye shine. Galago eyes have a reflecting surface called a tapetum, that is designed to capture light. During the day, the pupils become a vertical slit, like a cat's. They and have a moist nose that has a groove communicating with the brain's Jacobson's organ, which is specialized for the sense of smell.

Another unusual characteristic is the incisors that have grooves, like a comb, along with a similar structure at the front of the tongue. These two -- along with a long nail on the second toe of the foot, work together to clean the fur during self-grooming.

Demodofs galagos are social, and travel in groups of a dozen or more by climbing, hopping, and leaping in the deep forest in which they live. They build leaf-nests or bed down in leaf tangles for sleeping during the day. Galagos breed once a year and have one or two babies, that are carried by the mother for two weeks. After that, the babies become more independent, and are weaned in four months. They live ten years.

Photo by D. Messinger

First Jaguar of 2009

2009-02-21T22:26:00.010-05:00

Featured above is ten pounds of hissing, spitting, and growling jaguar, born on the first of January, 2009. He is being given his "baby" exam and vaccinations on Valentine's day. As a kitten, the little boy was too naive to claw or bite, but for his next shots, the staff of the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is certain that he will be more than a handful.

For good reason, the Zoo has been cagey about announcing the birth, due to the fact that the mother, "Zassi," was a first time mom. Since she had been reared by humans in Guyana, it was not clear that she would have the necessary maternal skills. Only two keepers have been allowed to work in the jaguar building, with no other staff permitted. The area had been roped off from any outside distraction of traffic.

Since the breeding of Zassi with Tuco, a young male from the Houston Zoo, it has been months of planning, anticipation, and waiting. At first, no one was sure that she was even pregnant because, until the very end, she had no weight gain. But in the meantime, a birthing den was placed in a jaguar birthing "suite," with a private outdoor exercise yard. A remote video camera was installed in the wooden box, to be able to monitor the process.

With no disruption in routine, and with the attention of the favorite keepers, Zassi has proven to be an excellent mother. She is almost too protective, preventing her curious cub from going outside. (That should change soon, as the exuberance of the kitten will outpace her concern).

Before the keeper and the vet caught the unnamed cub in thick protective gloves, the mother had been secured in another area, and she was distracted with food. The cub was weighed, checked for vitals, sexed, and given feline vaccinations. Within minutes, it was returned to the mother, and quickly calmed down.

As a zoologist, I have always admired the cats of the world. Seeing the blue eyes of this feisty, innocent baby is a special treat.

Photos by Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens

Working Women in the Congo

2009-02-18T21:30:00.000-05:00

These African women, on their way to the agricultural fields with empty baskets slung over their shoulders like back-packs, were already worn out from a lifetime of hard labor. The woman in the foreground is carrying a mat, while the other has a staff to lean. Both were barefoot, posing for my photo near leaves for a roof laid out to dry.

In the subsistence culture of Zaire (now the Democratic of the Congo), the women worked from sun-up to sundown. Depending on how far away the fields were meant a hour to several hours walk (distant fields might not be tended daily, but at critical times, the family would camp out on site). The baskets were filled with the harvest, which would include beans, peanuts, squash, corn, manioc, bananas, and local greens. One important product -- firewood -- was cut and transported to the village in the backpack baskets. Full packs weighed between 50 and 75 pounds.

Children helped their mother in her daily duties. They would help weed and chase off animal pests that were constantly testing and tasting the harvest. Children also played "house" and "hunting" and boys would practice building snares, and ferreting out nests, looking for small animals such as rats, squirrels, porcupines, and bats, which would be cooked and eaten on site.

Men did not work in the fields. Their only contribution to cropping was that they cut down and burned the biggest trees in the so-called "slash and burn" system (the ash from the fire gave a fertilizer boost to the normally poor forest soil). Another contribution of the men was the meat brought in by periodic hunting.

Photo by D. Messinger

"Thank You, Forest Doctor!"

2009-02-16T22:02:00.000-05:00

These two pages were taken from a pamphlet created for the New York Zoological Society, for a gorilla survey being conducted by Jeff Hall, in Eastern Zaire (now the Democratic of the Congo). It was printed in Kinshasa in Swahili, using only two colors (black and green). The shading effect that gave depth to the artwork was done using dotted screens (Kizito and I learned this technique, by trial and error.) The text was typed over and over, to make the words fit on the plastic overlay template that was attached to the artwork.

The description on the gorilla explains the foods eaten, the family life, and behaviors. For the elephant, we chose to discuss the growth and fertilization of seedlings in elephant manure, as this was a tangible benefit for the forest, and by consequence, to local peoples. The elephant was said to be a "doctor" because of its effect on the health of the forest ecosystem, by planting trees, by creating ponds and clearings, and by making trails that other animals use.

Our visual joke was a pile of elephant dung, with a young plant saying, "Thank you, forest doctor!"

Trees Against a Yellow Sky

2009-02-13T20:21:00.000-05:00

I spent fourteen years in Africa, longer than any other place I have lived in. Although I have been gone for ten years, I have pangs of homesickness, when I look at my old photographs. In the shot above, the eroded path on the red clay road was leading out of the village called Omendjadi. The "town" was Lodja, which was about 35 miles away, or four hours by vehicle. The high, arching trees were remnants of a cut-down forest.

We were all volunteer teachers, in the local agricultural high school. Two of us were with the Peace Corps, which supplied training and support to their volunteers. European countries also had a similar type of service, where young people could volunteer in lieu of the compulsory military service. The two men on the trail were French and Belgian volunteers.

We were scouting for a big termite mound on that weekend day. We had a great interest in the natural world, and particularly, insects. Life was simple, and, without any contact with the outside world, we amused ourselves with walks.

Photo by D. Messinger

Otter Looking for Love in All the (Right) Places

2009-02-11T21:36:00.000-05:00

This past week, a wild otter found its way into the otter "digs" at the Play Park exhibit of the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. This past Monday morning, the keeper was surprised to discover an extra animal in the exhibit that houses a male and two female North American river otters.

The exhibit is designed to keep otters in, with unclimbable walls in the back and a glass walled stream in the front. It wasn't designed to keep otters out and apparently, this animal had jumped into the exhibit from the berm above.

Historically, otters had become rare due to hunting for their beautiful pelts, but a restocking and protection program over the past 20 years has re-introduced the species back into its range. The Jacksonville Zoo is located on the Trout River and occasionally, wild otters are seen in the area.

But what was the otter doing that led it to the Zoo's open-air exhibit? In the north, spring's warming trend and lengthening days are thought to be triggers for the breeding season. It was suggested that this male -- an adult, at 21 pounds, was attracted by the scent of the Zoo's females. He may have noticed a steep bank, and slid down, or dove into the water, only realizing too late that he was trapped on exhibit.

Within minutes, the frightened animal was coaxed into a crate, while Florida wildlife officials were informed of the "break-in." The mammal curator snapped the above photograph. He emailed the photo to staff, as an "APB," in case anyone would see it again, and recognize this first offender. That same afternoon, on the state's recommendation, the wild otter was released at the Trout river.

The Jacksonville Times Union ran a story about the errant otter, and the tale was also picked up by the Wall Street Journal. Zoo staff thinks that a story of a lonely otter looking for love at the zoo was well-themed for Valentines. As a result of this unusual occurance, the back of the exhibit was "otterfied" to be off limits.

Photo by C. Miller

Wattle and Daub

2009-02-09T21:22:00.000-05:00

The side of this house in remote Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) shows the construction technique called "wattle and daub." This environmentally friendly technique has been used worldwide and is at least 6,000 years old. Wattle and daub uses a framework of wooden timbers typically "infilled" with a combination of clay, soil, sand, dung, straw, and other fibers. The material is durable, as long as it is kept dry, and there is 700 year old wattle and daub in existence.

The wattle is the term for the timber, seen exposed above. The upright, load bearing timbers are "staves," while the lattice of horizontal timbers are called "withies." The deteriorated building illustrates the result of the equatorial rainfall on wattle and daub in the tropics, along with the use of leaves or thatch roofing. Termites also are a problem, as they eat the wood from within. Usually, the buildings last only a few decades before they melt back into the earth.

Photo by D. Messinger

Bonobo Jumanji at the Jacksonville Zoo

2009-02-08T21:54:00.003-05:00

The bonobo Jumanji (he is the spitting image of his dad) is the 12 year old son of Akili. Father and son as well as Jumanji's mom (Marilyn-Lori) and sister (Muhdeblu) have recently come to the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens from the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

"JuJuBe" or "Juge" as the keepers call him, is very intelligent, but a bit insecure. He has been a good father to two offspring, but he sometimes acts like a bratty teenager. Jumanji is close to his mother but has a hard time making friends within the bonobo group.

Jumanji is focused and enthusiastic for training, and he loves to trade items to the keepers for food. He knows over 30 separate behaviors and will sometimes test the trainers. He starts acting silly when he is bored with the training sessions.

Photo by San Diego Wild Animal Park

500 Proof Liqueur

2009-02-04T22:40:00.002-05:00

These Poloroids are snapshots in time that illustrated the everyday lives of the people of Kinshasa, in Zaire (now the Democratic of the Congo). The first, an image of a smiling, seated woman, seems mundane. In fact, the photographer told me that she was the famous "Maman GOODYEAR." That wasn't her real name, of course.

Goodyear was her nickname, given in respect for her ability to, like the tire commercial, "Goodyear tires go everywhere." Maman GOODYEAR made her living bringing farm and forest products from the village to sale in Kinshasa. With the money made, she would purchase supplies, like soap, salt, matches, and cigarettes that could, in turn, be transported back and sold in the interior.

The upper right picture shows another business, run by a woman from West Africa. In this case, the brightly colored, stripped plastic sacks hold manioc tubers for sale. She also sold "magic" and medicine -- one popular product was a grey clay sought by pregnant women to ease their huger for minerals lacking in the diet.

The lower two images were of a home-made factory that made the local strong liqueur called "lotoko." The boy in front of the corn and manioc mash covered barrels is helping mind the fire. The last image is of the actual still, with the middle barrel over the fire and the pipes running through the water-cooled end barrel to drip into the white plastic bottle. A plastic tub floating in the water is used to pour water over the pipes to help in the distillation.

"Lotoko" was a bitter, dirty-tasting, strong alcohol, called "500-proof." Local advice was that it contained dangerous trace elements from the barrels, because the metal was not certified for food preparation. However, it was cheap and easy to make.

Bonobo Blood Work

2009-02-02T21:53:00.000-05:00

Under light anesthesia, sick bonobos in Kinshasa, Zaire were examined in an effort to diagnose and treat their conditions. Blood work on orphaned babies, as pictured above, usually revealed anemia, which was related to a protein deficient diet.

Photo by B. Messinger

Bonobo Akili at the Jacksonville Zoo

2009-01-31T22:21:00.000-05:00

Akili, a 28 year old male bonobo from the San Diego Wild Animal Park, recently arrived at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens to serve as the primary breeding male for Lorel, Kuni, and Lori. He weighs just over 100 pounds and is the father of three offspring. Akili has not sired any babies since Jumanji, due to to social group changes at his former home.

The keepers say that Akili is very good with the young bonobos, but he is an outsider with his current group. Akili chooses to sleep apart from the others at night. He is suspicious, and will need attention and work. Once he accepts and trusts a keeper, he is a willing pupil.

Photo by San Diego Wild Animal Park

Okapi Guard Patch

2009-01-29T21:25:00.000-05:00

This was the Zairian park guard patch. It featured a printed design of an okapi against a green outline of the country. The two brown and red designs on the side were the "fist and flame" taken from the national flag, and the material was folded over and hand-sewn on the back.

By the late nineties, I had been looking for years for this patch, probably because they were all worn out and were not being replaced. During the tumultuous years, the basics, such as uniforms for park guards, were ignored. On day, I met an official in a Bandundu Park, who offered to sell some grimy animal posters. "No," I said, "but you wouldn't happen to have a Park patch?"

"Actually, I do," he said, and he opened a dusty cabinet that contained a dozen old books and a few patches. The man said that they had been taken off of old uniforms. I gave around three dollars for the pieces above.

After the takeover by Kabila, and the renaming of the nation, everything changed. All of the old were destroyed and replaced by the new logo, featuring an okapi head. My patch has become a rare collectible.

Rat-Trap Cat

2009-01-28T22:21:00.000-05:00

Around the bonobos, this cat was our idea of pest control. He slept during the day, and patrolled for rats and mice at night. In Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), cats were feared and abused, because of a rumor that they carried tuberculosis in their fur. (This disease misconception came from cats' purr, the sound that people imagined came from damaged, tubercular lungs).

Outdoor cats are controversial, because they are indiscriminate hunters, taking rodents as well as song birds. However, over 30 years of research has shown that it is impossible to eliminate feral cats, because the "holes" created by their removal are quickly filled by new cats moving in. The best alternative is to neuter, vaccinate, and feed the ferals, thus creating a permanent, managed colony.

In Jacksonville, the city's Animal Control is now promoting such a program, and the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is following this lead by monitoring a vet-checked population of resident cats. Any animals that hunt song birds will be found homes.

Photo by D. Messinger

"International Conservation Project"

2009-01-27T21:44:00.000-05:00

Dr. J.J. Salaun, the French Director of the INRB, seen with a baby red forest hog, was an animal lover. He wrote a "certificate" that the resident Pan panicus, (bonobos) did not belong to the institute, and that they were being held for an international conservation project.

The document went on to say that the animals' maintenance and food was assured by Mademoiselle D. Messinger. Knowing that, at the time, there was no such "international conservation" project, it was foresighted, and courageous of Dr. Salaun to protect the bonobos with this creative document.

In fact, within a few months, the French were forced to abandon the institute. Fortunately, I was able to use Salaun's paper to show INRB's successors and government officials that the original plan for the bonobos was conservation. The culture's respect for signed and stamped paperwork stood me in good stead.

Parrots and Peanuts for Sale

2009-01-26T22:17:00.000-05:00

These Polaroids were taken to document transactions in the markets of Kinshasa. The top is a type of hard shelled fruit, laid out on a rough wooden table from the region called Bandundu. The fruit, sold in packets, is counted out and laid out in neat piles.

The mundane looking wood has an interesting story. The bark is called "Ngola," which is from the tree that gives the red color, which has cultural significance. (The bark is ground into powder, mixed with palm oil, and molded into solid blocks of "red," to be smeared on bodies or artifacts). At the market where this photo was taken, petty thieves steal by chipping off bark pieces with machetes. The red shavings were sold to Malian women who used the color to make "fetishes," (magic).

The photo on the bottom right is a smiling woman with unshelled peanuts. She buys peanuts, transported from agricultural regions, a sack at a time. She sells raw peanuts, or she may grill and shell them for a higher price. Peanuts were a staple of palm oil based sauces for meat.

The final image was of two market sellers with a cage full of fledgling African grey parrots. The birds all had dark eyes of young birds. These birds came from near Mbandaka, a center on the Congo river. According to the middlemen, the parrot trapping season should have been closed during the two month nesting season, due to the high mortality.

Village Names for Bonobos

2009-01-25T22:47:00.000-05:00

Zaire (now the Democratic of the Congo) is said to have 400 different dialects. One of the tactics I used to get people to open up, was to show interest in village culture and language. I asked people bringing apes to Kinshasa what their name for their animal was. I listed a name as "verified" if it was confirmed by two different interviews, or was a name documented in the literature. Some of the names sounded similar, such as "Elia," "Eja," and "Edia." Other names were "Keza," "Yatole," "Emana," and "Mbanda."

Anywhere in Zaire, there was an overlay of several languages. There was the dialect, a regional language, and French, the official national language. Lingala was one the country's regional languages, so the Lingala "Mokomboso" was used throughout bonobo territory for the species.

The French language distinguished between the "white-faced chimpanzee," and the "black-faced chimpanzee," (bonobo). It was confusing, because many villagers only knew their kind of local "chimpanzee" and were not aware that there were actually two species. That is why I tried to interview people from known localities, with animals of known species, to determine the actual local names.

Lions at the Zoo in Kinshasa

2009-01-24T22:37:00.000-05:00

In the draft of "The Fascinating Animals of Zaire," the main character, seen in the white lab coat says, "Happily, I found a job that I liked. In the center of the town, there is a "taste" of nature. It is here that I can do my personal work, to show to the citizens of Kinshasa the fascinating animals of Zaire. This is Zoo-Kin."

With the visitors (the little girl is hiding behind her momma's skirt), the text reads, "Is the lion the king of the animals? Everything leads to this impression: his majestic look, his impressive mane.... but what do the two females behind me say! It is the females who hunt, who assure the survival and education of the clan, during which, the Mr, well fed, can sleep 22 hours out of 24. He reigns, but he does not govern!"

Boom Boom, the Story of a Bear

2009-01-22T22:27:00.000-05:00

The San Diego Zoo had a distinct advantage because it was located in a port town. And moreover, it was located in a Navy port town. Because of this, the zoo benefited from donations of wild animals brought in from exotic destinations from all over the world. (This was years before the 1973 treaty between nations governing the movement of wild species across international borders.)

A few years ago, I wrote a story about an Asiatic Bear that lived at the Lee Richardson Zoo, for the local newspaper. I had dug up the fascinating history from military documents donated by the daughter of a former Lee Richardson zoo director:

"In 1965, The Navy Seabees donated a sun bear named Boo Boo to the San Diego Zoo. A year later, the re-deployed Seabees were determined to find a mate for the first bear. They purchased another, from Montagnard tribes in rain forests located 150 miles northwest of Saigon. They named it Boom Boom.

"Bear Boom Boom, service Number is 000 00 01, served as Battalion mascot to the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion TEN, known as the men-of-TEN, at Camp Hoover, in Da Nang, Vietnam from September to December 1966.

"It was noted that Boom Boom was given a cage with tree, swing, and bath. He was fed dog food, which he greatly enjoyed and was taken on daily walks by his handlers. He escaped once, which led “25 Seabees on a merry half hour chase.”

"An enclosed photograph showed a leashed bear turning in irritation against his handler. A second man is wearing a thick pair of welder’s gloves, supposedly to protect against teeth and claws.

"Boom Boom was not an ideal recruit. As noted in the enlisted performance evaluation of his service record, “Assigned 2.0 in Professional Performance. BEAR has failed to entertain anyone. He takes no interest in his tasks and sees fit to just eat, sleep and in general vegetate all day.

“Assigned 2.6 in Military Behavior. BEAR resists all commands and at time becomes belligerent when approached. Further, he has not complied with MCB TEN Notice 1000 in that he will not keep his hair cut to less than 1”.

“BEAR has failed to perform his assigned tasks to any degree of satisfaction. He has not adapted himself to the military way of life. He neither accepts nor tries to carry out regulations or lawful commands He always appears in a complete uniform, but does not maintain a military bearing.

“BEAR often slouches and lets his abdominal muscles relax thereby looking like a slob. He has failed to correct his speech and writing deficiencies and it is suggested he attend the English class now in session.

“Bear has not tried to lose weight voluntarily, and thus it is recommended he be ordered to eat at the Fat Bear’s Table. Assigned 1.0 in Adaptability, BEAR is a loner. He does not try to make friends or get along with personnel in this Battalion.

“It is recommended that he see Dr. BATTLE at “C” MED for psychiatric treatment, because he attempted to strike the Medical Officer while he was performing required medical treatment – immunization.”

"Boom Boom Bear was originally enlisted for a two-years, but upon verbal orders of the commanding officer, he was “transferred under guard” to the San Diego Zoo where he was ordered to report “for processing and proper classification.”

"There was a problem. Boom Boom was an Asiatic black bear and the intended mate was a sun bear. The embarrassed military noted that they would henceforth carry photos of the proper bear species. In May 1967, the Navy gave permission for Boom Boom to be transferred to the Lee Richardson Zoo.

"So that is the true story of how Boom Boom came to Kansas. He lived at the Lee Richardson Zoo for 31 years, making him one of the longest lived Asiatic black bears in captivity."

Marilyn-Lori Bonobo at Jacksonville Zoo

2009-01-21T22:07:00.000-05:00

Marilyn-Lori is a mature breeding female who arrived at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens from the San Diego Wild Animal Park with a recommendation to breed with either of two males (Akili, also from San Diego, or Mabruki, newly arrived from the Fort Worth Zoo). Twenty-one year old Lori (or “Lor”) is an excellent mother, with her two offspring who have traveled to Jacksonville with her (Jumanji and Muhdeblu).

Bonobos have distinctive personalities, and Lori is no exception. She is thought to be insecure at times, and shows impatience by clapping her hands. The keepers like the fact that Lori will take medicine from a syringe or spoon and that she drinks politely with a straw from a cup or bottle. She is a extremely intelligent, quick learner and already knows 27 training behaviors.

Photo by: San Diego Wild Animal Park

Bonobos in the Backyard

2009-01-20T22:30:00.002-05:00

Behind the animalerie where the orphaned bonobos lived was a bamboo grove, grassy yard, and a few trees. When the bonobos were young, they would get playtime outside, where they could run about and climb the trees. Always, they were accompanied by a caretaker.

Photos by D. Messinger

Pony Mare and Foal

2009-01-19T21:28:00.000-05:00

When I was twelve, the family moved to a farm south of Austin, Texas. There, I was given a old Thoroughbred gelding, and a pony mare, named Missy by some neighbors. From Grains of Golden Sand:

"The pony was a half-wild creature that had never been trained properly. Because my father had left the military to return to school, we were poor, and with six kids, always on a tight budget. The family had little money to care for horses properly or to buy grain, a saddle, or even a decent fence. None of this mattered. I was determined to make it work.

"My parents bought enough wire to construct a triangular pen anchored by three cedars where the animals could be kept, with ten bales of hay as my Christmas present. On weekends, I rode a half-mile to the main road whose shoulders presented a lush crop of weedy Johnson grass. There, cutting my fingers until they bled on the serrated blades, I pulled grass by hand, tied it into bundles and hauled it home. No sacrifice was too great. Every morning I arose at 5:30 to care for my beasts before school. Those were the best years of my childhood.

"Horses set me free. I fashioned rope bridles and rode bareback. I became an explorer and rediscovered America. As a rancher, I scoured the range searching for lost steers. I was a hungry Indian scouting for bison. I stood on my steeds’ backs to steal the out-of-reach peaches and plums within a ten-mile radius. I imagined what it would be like to take a cayuse and follow the railroad right-of-way across America. I’d read about the Pan-American Highway and wondered if I could actually take a road all the way to Tierra del Fuego."

The top photo shows me bareback, with a rope bridle on Missy, while the bottom is of Missy and her filly foal. The farm life ended three years later when my father took a job in Pennsylvania. I sold the pregnant Missy and foal at side for 100 dollars.

Notes on a Snakebite

2009-01-18T21:52:00.001-05:00

Stani was a trusted bonobo caretaker who also stayed in my apartment when I went on furlough to the states every year. He watched after Rex, a guard dog German Shepard.

Stani took his job seriously, and kept meticulous notes on a tiny pad of paper, seen above. Usually, the comment was, "Nothing to note this day," but there were others such as the birth of triplet lambs, or, on the 14th of September, 1994, "it rained all night. We got our fifteenth day (of the month) advance on our pay. I made the rounds accompanied by Recks (Stani's word for Rex)."

The words from the 21st of September 1994 still chill me. Stani wrote, "A woman came, asking for Mademoiselle (me), seeking treatment for her worker, bitten by a snake in the bush, brought to Kinshasa by airplane, the health of the worker is critical."

Stani did not know who the woman was, and I never learned the outcome of what must have been a tragedy. There were plenty of venomous snakes in the field and there wasn't a drop of antivenin in all of the country, not even in the capital. Other than supportive care, medicine had little to offer a snakebite victim.

A Lesson in Lion and Zebra

2009-01-17T22:30:00.000-05:00

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, in partnership with the Duval County Public Schools and the Health Sciences Academy at Andrew Jackson High School has a program where high school students conduct research while learning about career opportunities. The student commitment is eight hours a week for eight weeks.

This past semester, eight students were each assigned to a keeper area to learn about zookeeping. They were divided into four teams to develop an animal behavior project. The teams were required to gather data, organize information, interpret their findings, and present the results in a formal setting.

In the top photo, the students are painting pinata made of a cardboard tubes with non-toxic paint to make a "zebra." The pinata is given to the keeper, who places meat inside the body of the enrichment, and places the enrichment on exhibit. The students watch and take behavioral notes when the lion is put out on exhibit. In this case, the lion crouched low, and stalked the zebra as if it was alive. He found the meat quickly and consumed it on the spot.

Photo by Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens

Moody Blue Bonobo at Jacksonville Zoo

2009-01-15T22:03:00.000-05:00

This attractive adolescent is one of four new bonobos that have arrived at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens from the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Her name is "Muhdeblu," pronounced like the rock band. The nickname that the keepers have given her is "Moody" or "Moo."

Muhdeblu is seven years old and still dependent on her mother, named Marilyn-Lori. She is starting to become sexually mature, and has also helped raise an infant at San Diego. Exposure to infant rearing will help Mudheblu develop mother raising skills herself.

Photo by San Diego Wild Animal Park

Jaguar "Jaguary" in January

2009-01-14T22:07:00.000-05:00

Animal keepers at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens provide enrichment items to the animals on a regular basis, as a way to encourage natural behaviors. On the third Saturday of each month, the Zoo features a themed enrichment day for the guests to watch their favorite animals enjoy special treats.

This Saturday, the 17th of January, the Zoo is featuring Jaguars! We call it "Jaguary." As seen in an older photographic sequence, a young female jaguar from Guyana goes back and forth between boxes, ice, and a happy face pinata. Review the enrichment schedule on www.jacksonvillezoo.org

Photo by Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens

A Snake on My Shoulder

2009-01-13T22:29:00.001-05:00

Just before high school my family moved from Texas to urban Pennsylvania. I missed the horses and farm life terribly, but made the best with what was available. From Grains of Golden Sand:

"I became a passionate amateur herpetologist and kept dozens of snakes, lizards, and feed-mice in the family dining room. I housed them in aquariums, cages, boxes, and one glass-fronted closet, generously given to me for “the critters.” Although still in high school, I audited university courses on botany, herpetology, and entomology.

"I wandered the town, stripping fruit from trees bowed down with the season—dozens of varieties of apples, pears, and cherries, along with raspberries, blackberries, and grapes. Pennsylvania honed my interest in survival skills. Where Texas had little wild provender, Pennsylvania made up for it in an abundant array of edible foods on the green slopes surrounding the town. I ate fiddlehead ferns, dandelion buds, lambs-quarters, Indian cucumber-root, and made salt by scorching colt’s foot leaves.

“Pretend you’re in the bush,” I told my family and served cottontail rabbit (found dead on the road that morning), miniature wild strawberries, and cattail-pith salad. As they picked at the food, the single comment came from my baby sister. “Mommy, if I die, please don’t let her cut me up like she did the poor bunny.”

The above image is me with a boa constrictor, which was a prop in the senior class play, You Can't Take it with You. I snuck the snake into the school a week ahead of time, and carried it around the halls on my neck, in defiance of the rules. I was only one step ahead of the principle's wrath, who heard about it, but couldn't find the animal. I kept moving it from locker to locker, and the teachers covered for me.

Outdoor Classroom with Gorilla

2009-01-12T22:20:00.000-05:00

Jacksonville High School students get a special view of the operant conditioning training with Quito, a male gorilla who is at the "back window" of the exhibit at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. In the upper photo, Tracy Williams is asking Quito to present his chest for the stethoscope and in the bottom photo the gorilla is allowing his shoulder to be examined. (What appear to be wire baskets to the left and right are containers for the keepers to provide assorted food items at various times.)

The Zoo is in partnership with the Duval County Public Schools and the Health Sciences Academy at Andrew Jackson High School. The Zoo serves as the outdoor classroom for the Zoology Class. Students learn external comparative anatomy, ecology and animal behavior over 64 hours, and they are all required to conduct a "research" project.

Photo by Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens

Grooming and Endorphins

2009-01-11T22:03:00.000-05:00

Molaso, an adolescent female bonobo, seems thrilled to "groom" my arm and head. This photo was taken in 1994 in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Studies suggest that grooming reduces stress because the pulling of hair releases endorphins, the body's natural pain-killers. I can attest that Molaso would start by looking intently for small grit (I sprinkled sand on my arms to test this), but then finish by plucking single hairs.

Interestingly, many bonobos groom the hair from each other's forehead, perhaps because they like to gaze into each other's eyes. This may not be an artifact of captivity, because I have seen photographs of wild bonobos with bare brows.

Photo by B. Messinger

Polaroids of Market Salesmen

2009-01-10T22:05:00.000-05:00

These Polaroid photographs were taken of the people trading in wild animals in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The image in the upper left was of a regular market seller who was extremely suspicious of me. Although several of his friends cooperated with me over the years, he never lowered his defenses. I was polite, but purposely did not ask him questions.

The upper right photograph was of another seller who traveled to the interior himself. He is on the left, with a parrot trapper from Boende. A number of people were African grey parrot specialists, and they made their living from the capture, transport, and export of this species. Most of the parrots with CITES permits went to Europe.

The lower left Polaroid shows two men that are looking intently at a young chimpanzee at the main market downtown. The animal has swelling of the lower eyelids -- a sign of malnutrition. The final photograph is of an man who brought a red forest hog from the village to sell in the capital. My research showed that, unlike parrots, other animals found their way to Kinshasa by one-time sellers, because there was no organized demand.

Fresh Caterpillars

2009-01-08T22:35:00.002-05:00

During the nineties when these pictures were taken, paranoia in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) was at a high level. In the culture, taking photographs was stealing souls and it was also outlawed in public areas. To obtain these Polaroids, I had one of my people go to the port market called "Ndolo" to document the types of food that were available. They asked for permission to take Polaroids and they would always hand out another one as a gift.

The upper left photo shows a basin filled with live caterpillars called "mpombe" (singular, "epombe"). The freshly steamed mpombe are piled on the cloth in small packets, and priced to sell, to be cooked into other dishes. The seller remarked that this caterpillar only was found in one kind of tree, from the savannas.

The upper right photo shows cocoons filled with live caterpillars called "belanga," from the rain forest. As the seller explained, belanga eat leaves when they are small. When they get big, they move in a single-file line and go up in the trees, where they make the cocoons that are harvested and transported to the capital, for sale. Some people put baskets in trees where the caterpillars will nest.

Two things that were interesting about belanga was that seller said that they lined up and climbed trees at the same time -- he said it was around two in the afternoon. He also remarked that the belanga never pooped in their cocoons. This was a preferred food, because it was very fatty.

The lower left image was of fish being steamed in a "liboke," or tied up basket of leaves, over a grill. The soupy fish or eel chunks combined with onions and hot peppers kept the leaves wet enough so they did not burn in the heat from the fire. Liboke was the "fast food" for populations in towns and cities.

The final Polaroid was of a commodity called "bushmeat," or meat hunted in the forest and transported distances to be sold. The carcass is a smoked monkey that came by small boat into the port. It looks flattened because the organs had been removed and the body cavity had been opened and spread by wooden sticks for smoking. Meat thus prepared would keep for a couple of weeks, although it might need a "freshening" up by additional smoking. Smoked meat was rehydrated for preparation. Because it was expensive, smoked meat was added in small pieces to other dishes, such as greens.