Projects in the Field

Projects in the Field

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A Closer Look at Burrowing Owls

By
Colleen Wisinski
– May 21, 2013Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Animals site main feature, Birds, Conservation, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized
Note the difference in coloration (female on left, male on right) with this burrowing owl pair.

Note the difference in coloration (female on left, male on right) with this burrowing owl pair.

For the past two years, our burrowing owl project has been focused on how to effectively relocate California ground squirrels to help re-engineer nonnative grasslands and make them more amenable to burrowing owls (see Burrowing Owls: Closer than You Think and Digging into Burrowing Owl Recovery). But this year, we get to take a closer look at the owls themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I love the squirrels (more than I ever thought I would), but I’m a bird biologist, so I’m really excited to start working directly with the burrowing owls!

Burrowing owls range widely across the western US and make use of a variety of “grassland” habitats, from open prairie to empty suburban lots to airports. But their populations are declining, mostly due to loss of habitat and eradication of the fossorial (digging) mammals that they depend on to build burrows. One solution is the installation of artificial burrows. However, artificial burrows are not self-sustaining like natural squirrel burrows and, although we know the owls use them, we don’t know how they compare to natural burrows.

A male burrowing owl guards his burrow entrance.

A male burrowing owl guards his burrow entrance.

This year, one of our main objectives is to compare reproductive output, food provisioning, and predation at natural versus artificial burrows, using camera traps and banding the birds to accomplish this. The camera traps allow us to see what is going on at the burrow while we aren’t there, and the banding allows us to identify each individual (see Bling with a Purpose).

At this point, the breeding season is in full swing. We are monitoring almost 30 nest burrows (both natural and artificial); this includes placing camera traps at about 20 of the burrows. We check on each burrow about once a week (we don’t want to visit too often and risk disturbing the birds) and do any camera trap maintenance needed, such as changing batteries and switching out the memory cards that contain our priceless data in the form of photographs. We also watch the birds from a distance to figure out what stage of the breeding season they are in—for me, this is the best part!

A camera trap photo shows a burrowing owl pair allopreening at their burrow entrance.

A camera trap photo shows a burrowing owl pair allopreening at their burrow entrance.

Over the last two months, we have been inventorying burrows and following their progression through the breeding season. On any given day, we head out to the field in the morning and work our way through our route for the day checking on each burrow as we go. When we arrive at a burrow, we observe from the truck (which acts as our blind) from a safe distance to see what is going on at the burrow. Early in the breeding season, we might see both parent birds or just the male standing guard at a burrow. In general, the males are lighter in color than the females, because they spend more time outside so the sun bleaches their feathers. As the breeding season progresses, the difference in plumage becomes more marked, as the males get more and more bleached. By the end of the summer, though, it can be hard to tell the males and females apart as both get bleached by the sun.

Two burrowing owl chicks rest at the burrow entrance while Mom stands guard. Camera trap photo.

Two burrowing owl chicks rest at the burrow entrance while Mom stands guard. Camera trap photo.

Once the pair has chosen their nest burrow, we usually only see the male of the pair; he is often standing watch over the burrow from nearby (often at the entrance of a satellite burrow where he spends much of his time—we call it the “man cave”). At this point, the female is spending most of her time in the burrow incubating the eggs. After about a month, the eggs hatch, and two weeks after that, the young start to come out to the burrow entrance. We usually do a quick examination of the photos in the field to help us determine if there are chicks present, but we also get good clues from the female’s behavior. If she is very protective of the burrow or stays very close to the burrow when we approach, it’s a safe bet that there are babies in the burrow.

Currently, we have nests in all different stages of breeding—some have pretty large chicks, some still have eggs, and some still seem to be deciding if they are even going to breed. In the coming weeks, we will band all of the owls from burrows that have camera traps, and over the next several months, we will pour over the hundreds of thousands of camera trap photos to catalogue how often prey was delivered to the burrow, what type of prey was brought, what types of predators come to the burrow, and other pertinent information. This is a huge undertaking, since we have almost 40 camera traps set up that can take over 30,000 pictures in one week alone! Any volunteers? Seriously, if you’re interested in helping, visit our volunteer page and sign up! Who wouldn’t want to spend their time looking at pictures of these adorable and comical little birds?!

Colleen Wisinski is a research associate for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.

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“Fiddler on the Roof” Meets Conservation Biology

By
Henry Fandel
– May 14, 2013Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Birds, Conservation, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized
San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike

How does the busiest, most critical part of the year—the breeding season—even begin for the shrikes and staff of the San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike Breeding Program?

Since 1989, the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, in conjunction with the United States Navy, has been making great efforts to recover endangered San Clemente loggerhead shrikes by breeding them in aviaries and releasing juveniles into the wild. Because of the efforts of the Zoo, the Navy, and those of partner conservation organizations, this shrike subspecies, which occurs only on Navy-owned San Clemente Island off the coast of California, has increased from a population of 14 individual birds in 1998 to 65 breeding pairs in 2013. Although there is much work yet to be done, the recovery program’s success story is well known. But what exactly goes into such a project? More interestingly, what goes into the busiest, most critical part of the year for the program? How does the busiest, most critical part of the year—the breeding season—even begin for the shrikes and staff of the San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike Breeding Program?

The breeding effort begins in January, when we receive a very exciting document delivered by Tandora Grant, the San Clemente loggerhead shrike’s studbook keeper. It is her responsibility to use genetic and demographic statistics to determine which of our shrikes to breed each year. Two important factors that come into play during Tandora’s matchmaking are the representation of our birds’ genes in the wild population’s gene pool and each of our bird’s personal breeding history. It is vital to balance these two factors to maximize the positive impact our program has on the recovery of the shrike; too few juveniles to release at the end of the season results in a low probability of their surviving to breed the next year, but releasing many genetically invaluable juveniles is potentially detrimental to the recovery of the species. Think Fiddler on the Roof meets conservation biology; the document Tandora delivers is the year’s breeding recommendations, and it contains the season’s breeding pairs, whether the birds are happy with her choices or not! More often than not, the birds are happy, but the document also contains alternate pairings should any of the chosen shrikes display a lack of motivation when it comes time to court each other.

In the first week of February, after we have prepared the breeding aviaries for the upcoming season, the select females are moved into aviaries adjacent to their males in a logistics puzzle that has been appropriately named “The Big Move.” You can imagine how hard it is to place 12 to 15 specific pairs next to each other in appropriately outfitted breeding enclosures when we have a flock size of over 60 birds and a grand total of about 80 enclosures! Though it is sometimes difficult and requires lots of planning, a little bit of luck, and plenty of cooperation from the shrikes, The Big Move is important, because it is designed to imitate the natural movement of wild shrikes.

In the wild, male and female San Clemente loggerhead shrikes maintain exclusive and solitary winter territories; however, come breeding season, females leave their winter grounds to search for attractive mates. By moving a specific year’s breeding males into their breeding enclosures and the female’s into enclosures adjacent to their chosen mates, we aim to simulate the female’s discovery of her mate. Once the breeding pairs have been placed in their adjacent enclosures, they have entered the “pre-pair” phase of the breeding season. This is the time for the males to court the females by displaying, singing, nest building, and most importantly, feeding them lots of bugs! If all goes well, we will be able to move on to the next phase—pairing.

Henry Fandel is a research associate for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.

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Building Conservation Foundation by Training Teachers in Peru

By
Samantha Young
– May 8, 2013Posted in: Conservation, Projects in the Field
Teachers investigate a cactus at the Spectacled Bear Conservation Center.

Teachers investigate a cactus at the Spectacled Bear Conservation Center.

Forty-six! That’s how many teachers attended our recent environmental education professional development workshops, in collaboration with the Spectacled Bear Conservation Society, in Peru. That’s also the minimum number of classrooms that will be affected by the methods and materials that were discussed over the 10 days spent at the Conservation Center in Batan Grande, Peru. And it’s pretty safe to assume that each teacher has about 25 students. Hmm… 46 x 25 = 1,150. Maybe it’s a little premature to say we’ve touched the lives of over a thousand children and possibly their families, but I’m overly optimistic. It’s a pretty good number, if you ask me.

I work in the Conservation Education Division of the Institute for Conservation Research, the research arm of the San Diego Zoo. But rather than thinking about what I do as education, we like to think of what we’re doing in northern Peru, in support of the Andean bear conservation project, as capacity building. This is an approach to working with communities to enhance their abilities to allow them to achieve measurable and sustainable results. Having learned a bit about the communities over the last year and a half, I’ve come to know some of the modern challenges they face. It is my job to assist them in finding their potential and developing a “tool kit” for sustainable, improved living. This tends to have a measurable, positive impact on the forest and Andean bears. In this way, we are helping to address the human dimension of conservation.

Teachers in a small group discussion, with the education coordinator of the Spectacled Bear Conservation Society, Francisco Nolberto Aurich Terrones.

Teachers interact in small group discussions outside the Spectacled Bear Conservation Society.

Instead of a lot of lecturing by professionals and sitting and listening by students, we conducted the workshops in an inquiry and project-based learning format. Inquiry involves the quest to learn more about the things that interest us. Project-based learning directly engages participants through projects applicable to life outside the classroom. The workshop was also conducted as if the participating teachers were their own students in a classroom, similarly to how we conduct our summer teacher workshops at the Institute. Using these tools, we hope to increase their active engagement with students, encourage investigation of the things in which they are interested, and provide them with tools that they can use in their everyday lives. Actually, these workshops were modeled after the Earth Expeditions program offered in conjunction with Miami University of Ohio and the Advanced Inquiry Master’s Program (check out the new Earth Expedition going to Hawaii this summer and the new Advanced Inquiry Program being offered by the Zoo!).

Samantha, in front, poses with the first group of teachers at the end of Workshop 1, wearing their commemorative T-shirts.

Samantha, in front, poses with the first group of teachers at the end of Workshop 1, wearing their commemorative T-shirts.

Although there were some unanticipated challenges, I think it’s safe to say that overall the workshops were quite successful. Teachers were engaged. They asked questions. They were exposed to new methods and got up close and personal with the inquiry process, as well as the San Diego Zoo and the Spectacled Bear Conservation Society. We had guest speakers from the area and active investigations, and the teachers developed their own network of educators interested in conservation in the region. Teachers were also challenged to develop a conservation action project to implement in their village, tied in with the curriculum.

We will stay in contact and provide support and advice for these projects throughout the school year of March through December. And at the end of the year, we hope students will showcase their conservation projects in a festival celebrating community-based conservation to ensure that these great lessons make their way to the next generation.

Samantha Young is a conservation educator for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Read her previous post, Can Cute Trinkets Save Andean Bears?

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A Trip Down Memory Lane

By
Rebecca Espinoza
– April 15, 2013Posted in: Animals and Plants, Birds, Conservation, Hawaiian Birds, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized
Rebecca tells students about the work she does helping endangered Hawaiian birds.

Rebecca tells students about the work she does helping endangered Hawaiian birds.

While it has been a long time since I stepped into a classroom, the second I walked onto Pahala Elementary School’s campus a flood of memories of my own school days came rushing back. I remember coming into the first class of the day and still wanting time to chat with my friends. I remember the small tables and chairs that I know I used to fit into, though now it’s difficult to imagine. And while I remember the class bells ringing in school, yesterday I was very nearly shocked out of my skin when the bell signaled the start of class. I guess that’s the sort of thing you never notice as a kid.

That morning I had the pleasure of assisting Robin Keith, a member of the Conservation Education Division at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, in administering an essay contest to the sixth- and seventh-grade classes of Pahala Elementary and Ka‘u High School in Pahala, Hawaii. This essay contest was designed to discover a student’s own interpretation of, and experiences with, wildlife. The information will help guide our conservation education and outreach programs in support of our Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program. Some students struggled at the beginning, not really sure what to write about, but in the end they all submitted great stories. Two winners will be chosen at random, and that student will be taking his or her entire class on a field trip to the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii.

Students work on their wildlife conservation essays.

Students work on their wildlife conservation essays.

After the essay portion of the class, Robin spoke about current conservation issues facing Hawaii and about techniques used at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center (KBCC) for saving native Hawaiian birds. Then it was my turn to field any questions that the students had about KBCC. I have spent the past six years working with some of the most endangered and difficult-to-rear bird species in Hawaii, but when it came to commanding the attention of 12 and 13 year olds, I was a bit daunted. Usually, when I’m presenting information about my job, I’m in my workplace with every conceivable prop and medium available to showcase the native birds. Here, however, I was standing at the front of the classroom with nothing but my strong voice, great bird conservation information, a smile, and enthusiasm for my job! In the end, I hope the students walked away with a great writing exercise and some valuable information about Hawaiian bird conservation. I walked away from the campus hoping that I had planted at least one seed of love and respect for native Hawaiian wildlife.

I must send out a very big mahalo (thank you, in Hawaiian) to the teachers of Pahala Elementary and Ka‘u High School for allowing Robin and me to invade their classes and for their enthusiasm in teaching their students environmental education. Another very big mahalo to the wonderful students, who had excellent questions about the birds and embraced the essay-writing challenge. We look forward to future collaborations with students and teachers on the Big Island as we work to foster pride and support for conservation of Hawaii’s natural heritage.

Rebecca Espinoza is a research associate at the San Diego Zoo’s Keauhou Bird Conservation Center.

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3

Time for Tortoise Training

By
Ben Jurand
– April 11, 2013Posted in: Animals and Plants, Conservation, Desert Tortoises, Projects in the Field, Reptiles and Amphibians, Uncategorized
Ben prepares to take a blood sample from a desert tortoise.

Ben prepares to take a blood sample from a desert tortoise.

The Desert Tortoise Conservation Center (DTCC) in Las Vegas, Nevada, is gearing up for the spring translocation of a number of desert tortoises. We will be moving tortoises from the DTCC to a field location in the desert, where we will release them to help augment struggling wild populations.

Translocation is stressful on tortoises, because they need to adapt quickly to new surroundings, find shelter, and keep a lookout for both resources and predators. To give translocated tortoises the best chance of surviving in the wild, we need to make sure the animals are healthy and strong enough to be released. We also need to try to prevent them from spreading diseases to other tortoises in the wild.

As a new research associate at the DTCC, my first week included a lot of training. We were lucky to have several desert tortoise researchers and veterinarians visit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and San Diego Zoo Global to provide hands-on instruction on how to visually assess the health and condition of tortoises. We also learned how best to gather data and collect samples, including how to take oral and blood samples from the tortoises to test for diseases. We learned how to measure the size and weight of each tortoise, made notes about how their facial features and shells looked, and checked them for injuries or signs of illness.

DTCC staff take desert tortoise measurements.

DTCC staff take desert tortoise measurements.

Knowing their condition before we move them will help us track their progress over time in their new wild habitat. On some of the tortoises, we will be attaching radio transmitters to the upper part of their shell (called a carapace). After we have translocated the tortoises, we’ll be tracking their movements in the field and will monitor their health conditions in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

It is our hope that by continuing these studies, we will get a better understanding of how translocations affect the desert tortoises we move as well as their new tortoise neighbors.

Ben Jurand is a research associate at the San Diego Zoo’s Desert Tortoise Conservation Center.

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21

A Koala Career

By
Jennifer Tobey
– April 2, 2013Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized
Koalas live in urban areas where there are trees for feeding and resting.

Koalas live in urban areas where there are trees for feeding and resting.anted to focus my research on animals in zoos. Now I have the best of both worlds!

Since I was a kid, I have wanted to work with animals. I initially focused on what most young people think of as the coolest animal job to have and started to pursue becoming a veterinarian. As an undergraduate at Franklin and Marshall College, I was exposed to another field, animal behavior. It didn’t take long for my academic focus to change. I majored in Psychology and Biology and geared my training to study animal behavior. I started my work as an undergraduate focusing on non-human primates, rhesus macaques to be exact, and did a study on environmental enrichment with them. Enrichment is a buzzword you have probably heard already, but back then it was not as common and all the “toys” for animals were just starting to hit the market. With dreams of working out in the wilds of nature, I graduated and went to work with acorn woodpeckers in the rolling hills of Northern California.Actually, doing fieldwork made me decide that, although I liked being in the great outdoors, I really wanted to focus my research on animals in zoos. Now I have the best of both worlds!

Colony Life with Koalas

For the past 10 years, I have studied mate choice with our colony of koalas. This species is not always as entertaining as the primates, but just as interesting. The work started at the San Diego Zoo, but since then has expanded into various research projects in Australia. This means that I get to play field researcher without having to make the long-term commitment that I originally thought I was going to have to make. My work has expanded into field research that focuses on the plight of the koalas in Australia.

Over the past ten years, koala numbers in Queensland (Northern) have plummeted while Victoria (Southern) has concerns about over population. The Australian government finally listed the koala as vulnerable under national law, but only for Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. The growing concern in Australia from the koala researcher perspective, no matter where, is that this still doesn’t do enough and that the other populations of koalas need just as much protection. Unfortunately, the Northern koalas (Queensland and New South Wales) like to make their homes in beachfront property, which humans covet as well. Between human encroachment and global climate change, the koalas face an uncertain future. This does not mean that we should lose hope—I have worked with koala field researchers doing fantastic work at the forefront of this challenge and they are making a difference when it comes to policies and laws concerning koalas. I am also excited (like all of you) to see how the koalas at the San Diego Zoo adapt to their new home opening soon. The Conrad Prebys Australian Outback will be the source of new and upcoming research for me with our koalas.

Still Monkeying Around

Not to leave the primates out, I have also started doing behavioral research again with our great apes and other monkeys around the Zoo. Those studies harken back to my roots of enrichment and take a look at husbandry and care issues.

I am an avid gardener with two children at home. Watching the monarch caterpillars transform into butterflies or planting new flowers that hummingbirds can use as food, are a couple of ways I love bringing joy of the natural world to my kids.

Jennifer Tobey is a behavioral biologist in the Behavioral Biology Division of the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.

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5

Phantom Condor Chick Appears

By
Michael Wallace
– February 18, 2013Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Birds, California Condors, Conservation, Projects in the Field
A young, unmarked California condor soars in the skies of Baja California, Mexico.

A young, unmarked California condor soars in the skies of Baja California, Mexico. Photo credit: Juan Vargas

In the spring of 2012, our newest wild California condor pair in Baja California, Mexico, identified as #361 and #373, continued to show signs that they were incubating an egg by being more aggressive to the other condors around the feeding site and by spending a lot of time in a remote area dotted by deep canyons and precipitous cliffs. Their GPS wing transmitters indicated a near-exact position of where the nest would be out in the wilderness by latitude and longitude readings. Plugging these coordinates into our handheld GPS, Program Field Manager Juan Vargas and I struck out in September 2012 to try to find the nest, knowing that it was about 15 miles (24 kilometers) out to the remote south of our condor field station.

We traveled light and fast but only made it three quarters of the way there after three days through rough terrain and vegetation. With dwindling food and clean water, we decided to head back. Also, the GPS maps indicated that the nest was very high in precipitous terrain, and we were not carrying sufficient ropes and equipment to deal with it safely. Within condor release programs in the United States, if the nests are too difficult to find or ascend to, scientists rely on waiting for the young to fledge and show up at feeding sites, where they can be trapped and tagged later. We decided to do the same, since verifying the young at the nest would be too costly in terms of helicopter time, which would be the only way we could safely access it.

The chick and its mother, #???

The chick and its tagged mother at rest.

The downside to this decision was that the chick would not be inoculated for West Nile virus and would run the risk of catching the disease if we could not administer the vaccine. From our field station, Catalina Porras and crew analyzed both radiotelemetry and GPS data and estimated that the chick probably fledged in October. Over the three months that followed, only the behavior of the parents at the feeding site and their movement patterns continued to give us hope that there was indeed a chick flying around in the backcountry. We continued to scan the skies for a “tagless” condor with a gray head.

Finally, on February 4, 2013, Juan and a crew member observed a juvenile condor showing behavior that stood out from the others. Further scrutiny revealed that the black-headed youngster had no tags. It was hard to keep the excitement contained as we realized that the phantom chick had survived! As the new chick becomes accustomed to the other wild condors and the feeding site over the next few months, we are hoping to trap it, administer the West Nile virus vaccine, and tag it with GPS transmitters so we can safely follow its progress.Three condor pairs are looking like they may produce young this season. With luck, we may find more dark-headed condor young in the skies over the Baja mountains next year as well.

Michael Wallace is a conservation program manager for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Read his previous post, Releasing Condors: Not So Easy.

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34

What Might Monkeys Be Up To?

By
Chia Tan
– February 12, 2013Posted in: Animals and Plants, Apes and Monkeys, Conservation, Projects in the Field
The Guizhou snub-nosed monkey’s night life was a secret until recently.

The Guizhou snub-nosed monkey’s night life was a secret until recently.

February 10 marks the beginning of a new year, the Year of the Snake, according to the Chinese lunar calendar. I cannot help but reflect on what I have done in the past year and contemplate what I wish to accomplish in this new year.

Last year, my research project focused on an investigation of wild Guizhou snub-nosed monkeys in China using camera traps. This work was conducted in Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve (FNNR) in collaboration with the reserve’s administration. We set up a network of over 100 camera traps to monitor, in addition to the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey, many hard-to-see wildlife species in the reserve (see post Monkeys, Leopard Cats, and Bears, Oh My!,). Some of our unexpected captures were images of Guizhou snub-nosed monkeys moving about in the middle of the night (see article in Primates). Although these monkeys are considered daytime active species very much like humans, our camera-trap data provided unequivocal proof that they are routinely active after dark. What might the monkeys be up to?

Guizhou snub-nosed monkeys’ nocturnal habit, we believe, is motivated by the need to acquire as much food as possible. In other words, the monkeys are up at night because they are hungry. To some people, this discovery may seem like a non-discovery, but many great scientific discoveries are inherently simple, and they often start out with a simple observation, like the apple that fell on Newton’s head. But I digress, back to the monkeys.

An important outcome of our camera-trap study, besides showing the behavioral flexibility the monkeys have to cope with living in a highly seasonal environment, is the need for researchers to rethink methodological designs that minimize observer bias. If we habitually observe diurnal primates during the daytime we, of course, have data that only show them being active during the hours we observe them. Camera traps, therefore, are excellent devices to augment our data collection. And, because of the amount of photographs we have, you can count on me spending much of my time this year uncovering more secrets about the animals in Fanjingshan.

My research collaborators, from left: Duoying Cui (Beijing Zoo), Marco Gamba (University of Torino), me, Yeqin Yang (FNNR), and Kefeng Niu (FNNR)

My research collaborators, from left: Duoying Cui (Beijing Zoo), Marco Gamba (University of Torino), me, Yeqin Yang (FNNR), and Kefeng Niu (FNNR)

An intrinsic part of what I do as a scientist is to assist students with their professional development. Through mentorship of students, I help foster future colleagues and, in turn, expand my network of collaborators. This past year several of my students completed their research thesis, attained a higher degree, received scholarships, and/or launched new projects. James Dopp is a graduate of the University of Vermont who worked with me in Fanjingshan in 2010 through 2012. He has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to further sharpen his research skills in primate conservation in China.

Kefeng Niu, a resident biologist of FNNR, continued to benefit from my coaching. In August, he successfully delivered a paper in English at the International Primatological Society Congress. The Congress also provided Kefeng a chance to meet other professionals, among them, Dr. Marco Gamba, my Italian colleague from the University of Torino. I introduced Marco and his research on primate vocal communication to Kefeng. We later invited Marco to join us in Fanjingshan to resume our wonderful discussion about snub-nosed monkey biology with China’s renowned primate expert, Yeqin Yang (see post Saving Monkeys Takes a Team). And the rest, as they say, is history, because when Marco left Fanjingshan, he had already signed a five-year research agreement with the reserve administration and gained a prospective PhD student, Kefeng Niu. Mama mia!

Cameron makes her debut as “Yi Jie Jie”

Cameron makes her debut as “Yi Jie Jie”

Recently, my mentorship pool of students included a junior from High Tech High International. Her name is Cameron Ishee, and though only 16, she is well on her way to transforming how people perceive and treat animals. Because of Cameron’s ability to speak Chinese (Mandarin), I asked her to help me create a series of bilingual video lessons for the children in the Little Green Guards program in Guizhou (see post March of the Little Green Guards). Each episode stars Cameron as Yi Jie Jie (or Big Sister Yi) teaching an English alphabet letter and about half a dozen animal-related words associated with the featured letter. To make learning memorable and fun, we segue from the classroom lessons into video segments of our Zoo and Safari Park animals. In doing so, we are achieving several objectives: introducing a world-class animal collection to underprivileged children who would otherwise never have the opportunity to travel to San Diego, and enhancing the school curriculum by teaching these children a highly valued foreign language that only children living in the more affluent urban areas of China are learning.

Our pilot episode is almost complete. Cameron and I will continue making more episodes this year. Just a little spoiler alert here, snake will be featured in our upcoming episode: “S is for Snake.”

Chia Tan is a scientist in the Behavioral Biology Division with the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.

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0

Welcoming Students to Cocha Cashu

By
Jessica Groenendijk
– February 5, 2013Posted in: Conservation, Projects in the Field
Matsigenka schoolchildren pose for a group photo at the end of their adventure at Cocha Cashu.

Matsigenka schoolchildren pose for a group photo at the end of their adventure at Cocha Cashu.

We can hear the Matsigenka schoolchildren chattering over the hum of the outboard (it’s amazing how sound carries over water), but they fall silent as they approach the beach that represents our port. Unlike researchers, who typically spend 10 minutes tidying their gear and putting on rubber boots before disembarking clumsily, the kids jump out of the boat without fuss. They are shy as Cesar Flores, director of the Cocha Cashu Biological Station in Manu National Park, Peru, comes forward to greet them. They have never been to Cocha Cashu before, although their neighboring community, Maisal, is just an hour or so upriver. Their teacher, Miluska, shakes Cesar’s hand and smiles warmly. Together, they walk the 550-yard (500 meters) trail through the rain forest to the station.

In our discussions with local people, we have noticed repeatedly a sense of bafflement about what we do at Cocha Cashu. People see us come and go, but there is very little connection, if any, between the researchers and staff who spend weeks or months at the station and the people who live in the communities in and around Manu. There is also little contact between the researchers and the Park authorities. We would like to change all this by making Cocha Cashu more accessible to local inhabitants, to increase the transparency of our activities and research, to share research findings openly with Park staff, and to enhance communication and interaction on all levels and with all community members. In short, we plan to integrate Cocha Cashu into the local and wider community.

Cocha Cashu director Cesar leads a lesson in the Station's library.

Cocha Cashu director Cesar leads a lesson in the Station’s library.

This process is not as simple as it sounds and will take some time to complete. We have begun exploring various avenues and ideas and will continue to do so in the coming year. As a first step, and at the request of Miluska, in October 2012 we invited 15 primary grade schoolchildren in Maisal to spend a weekend at the station.

Over the next two days, Cesar and Fortunato (our boat driver and photographer) introduced the children to life and research at Cocha Cashu. The kids were shown around the main buildings and given a presentation after lunch to enhance their understanding of Cashu’s role in Manu, beginning with the origins of the station and ending with our hopes and objectives for the future. This was followed by an excursion into the forest to explain a number of ongoing, long-term research projects, and they had the opportunity to count and measure some trees in a few little plots to experience how scientists evaluate the forest.

A refreshing swim in the lake!

A refreshing swim in the lake!

They also received a lesson about the mechanism of Cashu’s power supply, examined water quality, and, during a short discussion session, the children in turn showed us that they have a great understanding of the natural history of aquatic systems. There was also plenty of time for fun, not least a swim in the lake! Little by little, the kids lost their awe and entered into the spirit of Cocha Cashu. For us, the broad grins in the group photo, taken toward the end of their visit, say it all.

Jessica Groenendijk is the education and outreach coordinator at San Diego Zoo Global’s Cocha Cashu Biological Station in Manu National Park, Peru. Read her previous post, Homecoming in Cocha Cashu.

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The Roo-Rats of Temecula

By
Christine Slocomb
– January 17, 2013Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Conservation, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized
A juvenile Stephen's kangaroo rat

A juvenile Stephen’s kangaroo rat

Between 2008 and 2011, we conducted several translocations of the endangered Stephens’ kangaroo rat, creating or supplementing populations in the Southwestern Riverside County Multi-Species Reserve. This fall, we continued to monitor their success by trapping at each of the sites to check on their progress in the wild. When we capture a “roo-rat,” we always record its sex, age, weight, location, and tag number if it has one or tag it if it’s new. This provides us with valuable information about each population.

This year, we successfully trapped hundreds of roo-rats, including many reproductive adults and independent young of the year. More than half of these animals were new roo-rats that we tagged during the trapping week. This suggests that despite this being a year with heavy predation pressure, Stephen’s kangaroo rats are persisting at each site in good numbers. Their natural predators include coyotes, owls, and rattlesnakes.

Our North Shore site was interesting because there were so many cottontail rabbits there. They often ate the trap bait, a combination of white millet and oats, and often bumped or turned over our traps. At all of our sites this season, captures of other species such as deer mice and San Diego pocket mice were low. This suggests that their numbers may be low due to competition with the roo-rats.

The North Shore site (lake Skinner in the background) with traps and flags

The North Shore site (lake Skinner in the background) with traps and flags

At Bachelor Mountain, near Lake Skinner, herbicide had been used to remove invasive plants and grasses, resulting in open ground with small native shrubs such as doveweed. This was an effort to increase possible habitat area and create corridors between the sites for the roo-rats. Their colonization appears to be restricted by dense grassland with complete ground cover. We found that a few had moved across a road into a corridor area. Furthermore, in 2011 a few San Diego kangaroo rats, a common species, had been trapped at site D. This season, we did not trap any San Diego roo-rats at site D. We only trapped one of them overall, suggesting this species is not moving into Stephen’s kangaroo rat habitat.

An adult Stephens’ kangaroo rat with ear tags

An adult Stephens’ kangaroo rat with ear tags

Crown Valley proved to be a difficult site to trap this year. We had coyotes hunting and trying to steal traps. We had to use a hand-held spotlight and air horns to chase them away. This meant little sleep and long, vigilant watches over our little critters. A few rattlesnakes were also spotted at night during trapping. Crown Valley has six pie-shaped research sites with slices that have been mowed, grazed, and burned to create open grassland environments. In 2010 and 2011, we planted nearly 20,000 native grasses at these sites (see Kangaroo Rats Get Home Improvement). It was initially obvious that there were many more burrows on the slices with native plants, thus we put 52% more traps on those areas. Burrow counts on each site support this. For instance, Site 5 slices with plantings had 109, 95, and 108 burrows, and those without had 20, 17, and 10 burrows. Furthermore, we had 454 captures on the slices with plantings compared to 97 on slices without plant restoration, a four-fold differences in animal captures. This suggests that the native plants are really doing their job at making a nice habitat for roo-rats.

The Schoolhouse Plateau site at Lake Skinner

The Schoolhouse Plateau site at Lake Skinner

Our last site of the season was the Schoolhouse Plateau at Lake Skinner. This site is so large that every year we randomly trap half the site and estimate the population. The plateau is the size of several football fields. This site had many jackrabbits, but they did not bother the traps much. However, we did have issues with ants stealing the bait and infesting our traps. This site is also known for black widows, as they commonly coexist with roo-rats by sharing burrows. The roo-rats often use borrows with black widow spider webs across the entrance. We always had to look before we sat down, especially in the dark!

We will continue to track the progress of Stephen’s kangaroo rats with annual trapping and burrow counts for population estimates. In addition, we will continue to conduct behavioral research (see No Night-lights for Kangaroo Rats) and participate in an inter-departmental study on the species’ landscape genetics. Continuing to increase knowledge about these little animals is vital in protecting an endangered species and in making successful management plans.

Christine Slocomb is a senior research technician in the Applied Animal Ecology Division at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Read her previous post, Endangered Rats and Mice: Unexpected Results.

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