Jaguar Genetics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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