Posts Tagged ‘Endangered Species’

Jun
27

The Galapagos Loses Lonesome George

Posted by in Conservation,Reptiles

On Monday, June 25, 2012, Lonesome George, the last remaining Pinta tortoise, passed away in his enclosure in the Galapagos Islands at more than 100 years of age. Weighing 200 pounds and measuring 5 feet long, Lonesome George was a site to behold and a beloved symbol of species conservation efforts in the Galapagos Islands and across the world.

Lonesome George was found on the Galapagos island of Pinta in 1972 where it was thought that his species of tortoises from this island were completely extinct. Upon his discovery, he became part of a rearing program in captivity at the Galapagos National Park. There were several initiatives with the intent of reproducing him, however after being placed with females of a species found on Isabela Island the eggs that resulted were infertile. Another effort used females from the island of Espanola (closest genetically to the type from Pinta) however the eggs produced were also infertile.

In 2010, the Houston Zoo’s Head Veterinarian, Dr. Joe Flanagan took a trip to the Galapagos to work with Lonesome George and other tortoises like him. Dr. Joe participated in the release of the females from the island of Espanola, assessing their health prior to their introduction to their new habitat with Lonesome George.

Since his passing, conservation officials in the Galapagos are conducting an autopsy to determine his cause of death, though they suspect he may have suffered a heart attack.

Sources:
Time Article: Lonesome George

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May
31

Attwater’s Prairie Chickens

Posted by in Birds,Conservation,Endangered Species

At the Houston Zoo, we collect the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken eggs from our captive flock of birds for artificial incubation and hand rearing of the chicks.  This allows us to better protect the eggs from damage and increases the chances of an egg hatching successfully.

When our APC hens lay eggs they are collected right away and handled very carefully.  We wear gloves to protect the eggs from the oils on our hands.  They are transported to our Incubation Room in a modified cooler that contains foam lining for protection.  All of the eggs are carefully measured and weighed, and all of the data is recorded.  The eggs then go into an artificial incubator that is temperature and humidity controlled.  Each egg is “candled” and weighed twice a week.  We candle an egg by shining a light on one end of the egg.  This lets us see how the embryo is growing and we can determine if it looks healthy.

After 24 days of incubation, the chicks are getting ready to hatch.  They poke their way into the air cell and take their first few breaths.  At this stage, we move the eggs into the hatcher.  On the 25th day, the chicks typically break through the outer shell. The chicks hatch after 26 days of incubation.  They are covered in bright yellow feathers with patches of brown and black.

In the video, the eggs are at day 25 of incubation and have already broken the outer shell a little bit.  You can see how they “cap” the top of the shell by breaking it in a circle.  Once they have finished, they push themselves out.  This takes a lot of energy and they rest for a while.  Once they are rested, they start moving around quite a bit.  Please keep in mind that this is a time lapse video, so it looks like the chicks are moving very fast and crashing into each other; however they are not as energized as they appear and they are not hurting each other.

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Jan
23

There’s No Such Thing as Too Many Chicks!

Posted by in Birds,Births and Arrivals - New Animals!,Endangered Species

For the bird department, 2011 was a very busy and productive year, and 2012 is shaping up to be the same.  That’s why you’re getting this rundown of our significant hatches and adorable baby birds of 2011 in late January of this year…we’re pretty busy, with more babies! 
 
Last year our department hatched 40 different species of bird.  That’s not just 40 babies folks, that’s 40 different kinds of birds that hatched, and in many cases, there was far more than one!  These hatchings included ducks, parrots, pheasants, curassows, tanagers, kingfishers, ibis and many more.  The Blue-billed Curassow and Waldrapp Ibis are critically endangered, and the Micronesian Kingfisher is extinct in the wild!  We are working with other zoos around the world to establish a healthy captive population of these animals to fend off complete extinction. 
 
Not to mention, the babies are cute! 
 
Beware, below you will find some cripplingly adorable photos, some are of very high quality, and some come to us from the magic that is the smart phone:
 

Black-naped Fruit Dove Chick photo by Benjamin King

Attwater's Prairie Chicken Chick photo by Mollie Coym

Blue-billed Curassow Chick with foster chicken hen photo by Christopher Holmes

 

Lady Ross Turaco chick photo by Megan Neal

 

Congo Peafowl chick photo by Rene Ryan

 
 

Speckled Mousebird chicks photo by Benjamin King

 

Micronesian Kingfisher chick in the nest with mom. Photo by Benjamin King

 

 

Pheasant Pigeon chick photo by Stephanie Adams

 

Madagascan Buttonquail Chick photo by Jeremy Whitted.

Crested Wood Partridge chick photo by Mollie Coym

 

Sunbittern chick with parent photo by Stephanie Adams

 
 

Silver-beaked Tanager Photo by Jeremy Whitted

 

White-headed Buffalo chick photo by Samantha Montgomery

 

Siamese Fireback chick photo by Rene Ryan

 

Waldrapp Ibis chicks photo by Samantha Montgomery

 

Red-billed Blue Magpie chicks photo by Rene Ryan

 

Blue-bellied Roller Chick photo by Samantha Montgomery

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Aug
13

The St. Vincent Parrot: A Familiar Friend

Posted by in Birds,Endangered Species,Spotlight on Species,Zoo History: Memories, Looking Back

Written by Bird Keepers Rene Ryan, Danny Keel and Mollie Coym

             The Houston Zoo has played host to the St. Vincent Parrot since 1968.  Our first resident was an outgoing young female named “Vincent”.  She was later paired up with a male and housed in the Tropical Bird House for all guests to experience.  We are proud to have achieved, with help from “Vincent”, the first successful captive hatch (worldwide, mind you!) on April 25, 1972.  The zoo has played an important role for this species ever since.

This Houston Chronicle article from 1970 featured the first St. Vincent Amazons at the Houston Zoo.

 

Our most recent hatch, “Vincent Deuxieme”, occurred on May 28, 2008.  She was  hand-raised by Bird Department Supervisor Chris Holmes and the Bird Staff, which entails hand feeding every two hours from sun up to sun down.  Her moniker was borrowed from the female who started it all.  “Vincent” is currently living the good life next to her parents in our Off Exhibit Facilities.

 

The Houston Zoo made headlines in 2008 as we welcomed the hatching of Vincent Deuxieme

To learn more about this exotic and fascinating species and their history here at the Houston Zoo, join us on Sunday, September 4th at the St. Vincent building (near Stormy the bird bank) for our Spotlight on the Species.  Keepers will be hosting fun activities, providing information and answering any questions you may have about this special parrot from 11 AM until 3 PM.

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Jun
16

It’s Not Easy Being A Green Dad

Posted by in Amphibians,Endangered Species,Holidays

When you are small, moist and squishy amphibian, you make a very tasty snack for most mammals, birds, fish and reptiles. In fact, you are kind of like a green (or other colored) oreo cookie! You are very popular in the pond, and not in a good way. You most likely spend the majority of your time not making friends, but being quite anti-social, hiding under logs, leaves, and high up in the trees trying to avoid being someone else’s lunch.

As you might imagine, this makes things especially difficult when parenting comes in to question. Can you imagine if, while attempting to change your child’s diaper or tying their shoes, or teaching them how to throw a baseball you had to constantly be looking over your shoulder or warding off predators, without a weapon, claws, beak, hooves, horns or sharp teeth? It would make things pretty dang stressful and tiring, that’s for sure! And, because of other creatures “sweet tooth” for you, there is a good chance you would be sitting in a stomach basking in gastric juices before you were able to raise your offspring successfully.

For this reason, and others, you do not usually see a lot of parental care in the amphibious creatures. Most amphibians may be absent parents once the deed is done, but they have good reason, and they have adopted a reproductive strategy that works better for their kind.

Glass frog dads guard their fragile eggs

What’s the strategy you ask? Lots, lots, lots and lots, of eggs! By laying hundreds, if not thousands of eggs, there is the hope that a small percentage will make it to adulthood and eventually make more frogs or toads.

This is very different in the mammal and bird world where you see parental care as the major reproductive strategy, having less offspring at a time.

And- if you do have more than 2 or 3 offspring, you generally have aunties, uncles and grandparents to help with the rearing. Why else are we so engrossed by those national stories of those human parents who have 4, 6, 8 babies at a time?! We are amazed and question, how do they do it? The truth is these people must rely on family, good friends and corporate sponsors to make it work! Frogs do not have this luxury!

HOWEVER and quite amazingly, if you look close enough, there are several examples of frog dads out their that do protect their young, proving once again that amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders and caecilians) are one of the most surprising and diverse groups of vertebrates on this planet.

Although there are quite a few examples of good frog mommies, the majority are generally the males exhibiting parental care. This is because female frogs use up a profound amount of energy producing and carrying around all of those hundreds and thousands of eggs and don’t have much to give once the eggs are deposited. Babies mamma is usually way too tired, ready to prop her feet up, maybe get a massage, and eat a nice fly quiche.

So, in honor of Fathers Day, here are just a few examples of Toad-ally Amazing Amphibian Dads:

* Glass frog dads guard their fragile eggs which hang from leaves snapping at any potential intruders and mimicking their clutch of eggs as well.

* The African bullfrog guards his eggs and will aggressively defend the offspring. Once the eggs have hatched, he will dig a channel between the small pools of water the tadpoles started in, and an adjacent stream so the tadpoles may escape their evaporating natal pool!

* Species of the midwife toad actually carry eggs on their back legs until they are ready to hatch. The male will then transport them to water and let them go!

Poison dart frog

* Poison dart frogs will let little tadpoles take a ride on their back, moving them around to a nursery bromeliad plant filled with still water. Some will even transport them to nearby streams.

* Some African rain frog species will protect their eggs which have been laid in burrows in the ground.

* Gladiator frogs defend their stream side nursery pools and bust out with arm spears projecting from their bodies to aggressively defend their young from other frogs and/or sneaky cockroaches!

* Darwin frogs brood their tadpoles in their vocal sacs until they are ready to complete metamorphosis. Now that’s commitment!

Let’s hear it for the dads! Celebrate Dad by giving him a memorable Father’s Day gift this year – Name a Houston Toad after him! With your gift, you help us support Houston Toads, a critically endangered species native to Texas. Click here to learn more about Houston Toads and how you can further the Houston Zoo’s conservation efforts that help ensure their survival.

The ciritically endangered Houston Toad

Come to TOAD-ally Awesome Father’s Day on June 19! Come visit the newly-named toads on June 19 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. as we celebrate a TOAD-ally Awesome Father’s Day at the Houston Zoo. This fun, family event will be filled with crafts, activities, Houston Toad info and much more! This event is FREE with your paid Zoo admission.

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Jun
08

There’s a Critically Endangered Species in My Bathroom: Reason #347 to Love My Job

Posted by in Birds,Births and Arrivals - New Animals!,Conservation

**Don’t worry, this isn’t Myspace or Facebook. You won’t see an awkward bathroom mirror self-portrait in this post.**

 

The Houston Zoo‘s Tropical Bird House is the proud home of two pairs of Micronesian Kingfishers (Todiramphus cinnamomina cinnamomina) some of the most endangered birds in the world. A survey performed by USFW in 1981 showed some 3,000 Micronesian Kingfishers to be living on Guam.  By early 1985, the birds numbered a measly 50.  The remaining kingfishers were then captured from the wild and brought into captivity in an effort to save this species from complete annihilation.  What caused this massive destruction? The introduction of the Brown Tree Snake onto the island decimated all avifauna.

Unfortunately, sometimes it’s easy for me to forget that I take care of animals most people may never have an opportunity to see .  In particular, I care for one animal that is so rare, it is no longer seen in the wild. EXTINCT IN THE WILD. Those are not words to take lightly.

This spring, I was reminded of how lucky I am to be working at the Houston Zoo. Our younger pair of Micronesian Kingfishers had not only one, but two, chicks! With birds this rare, keeper staff often hand-raise the chicks, to ensure they survive and grow into healthy adults. Often, there is a trade-off with this practice, as many birds become imprinted on humans and do not grow into good breeders themselves later in life.  Kingfishers, however, are not very susceptible to imprinting upon humans, and the only difference we have noticed with hand-raised kingfishers as adults seems to be that they are the  first ones to the food in the morning.

So as it was, I found myself with two extremely rare, extremely small, extremely helpless little chicks to raise. These two chicks were 5 and 6 grams upon hatching, and it was the job of myself, and the two other Tropical Bird House keepers to feed them, day and night.

 

Our pair of Micronesian Kingfisher chicks, as seen from above, approximately one week old.

When keepers hand-raise a bird, we often have to take it home with us, as the feedings can last well into the night, and with some birds, like parrots, are a FULL time job. Thankfully, the kingfishers only require night feedings until 8 pm, and after a few weeks, can be left overnight at the zoo. Until then, however, they spend the night in my bathroom, and are fed every two hours from 6 am to 8 pm.

 

Our hand-raising station at the zoo. I promised you there would be no pictures of my bathroom.

I can almost hear you asking, “Why the bathroom?” Well, there are several reasons. First, like most zoo keepers, baby birds are not the only animals in my house, and when I take them home, I like to know there is no possible way for a Micronesian Kingfisher chick to come into contact with say, my ten year old house cat. Living in the bathroom allows the kingfishers to have two doors between them and any kind of living life form except myself. Secondly, bathrooms are easy to clean. Kingfishers are carnivores, and carnivore poop is not something I want on my carpet.

Once you get into the habit of having baby birds in your life outside of work, it become pervasive. As a younger keeper who changed apartments every year or so, I included in my new home search the idea that eventually, I may need an ideal spot to park a baby bird for the night. I can’t tell you how many friends have heard, “I have baby birds”, as the reason I can’t go out. It causes late nights and early mornings, and an enormous sense of responsibility can wakes me up several times a night to check on the chicks. Some people say it’s being a parent.

Our two chicks are almost fully grown, and have been spending their nights at the zoo for several weeks now.  This, I suppose, is the equivalent of being a parent of a college graduate. You just know they are going to go on to do great things.

 

Our male chick, 30 days old, being taught to eat on his own.

As a keeper, our version of parenthood is a little different. I’ve raised two generations and about six kingfisher chicks, and currently, our Micronesian Kingfisher pair is incubating two more eggs. Thank goodness there is no empty nest syndrome for this mom. The birds can’t afford it.

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May
05

Bird Conservation in Saipan:Even NASA would be jealous of our acronyms

Posted by in Birds,Conservation,Endangered Species

Every industry has its own special lingo…. here is how I could tell you about my day in ‘our’ lingo…

 While in CNMI, the MAC team, in conjunction with DFW and AZA TAGs, works to provide different species for captive breeding as well as translocation.  On this trip our targets are GOWE and RUFA. 

"GOWE"

 
 
 
 

"RUFA"

 

We opened the nets at 6:00 AM ChST.  Throughout the day, every 15 minutes all the nets have to be checked and cleared of any non-target species.  Each time we walked out into the woods our excitement grew at the thought of catching our targeted species.  On the walks, we were also able to see active BRWE and RUFA nests.

BRWE Nest

RUFA nest

We would take turns going on the different net routes: nets 9, & 1-4, nets 10 and 11, or nets 5-8.  On the 3rd day of netting we added nets 12, 14, 15, & 16 to the mix to increase our trapping numbers.  And if you counted you may have noticed that we skipped net 13 – we did this intentionally, not as a superstition (as one might suspect), but net 13 is for “nature’s call” as we were out in the forest with no facilities other than trees near-by.

During the several days we were mist-netting, we also caught (and released) BRWE, MIST, COLK, WTGD, and MIHO.

BRWE

MIST

COLK

MIHO

For each of the target species that we caught a very specific protocol was followed.  Each person that was checking the nets had a special bag to hold and transport the bird back to base camp.  At camp, we put the birds into specialized transport boxes (with food and water) and labeled each bird with the net number and the time of trapping.  We used a GPS to mark all the netting sites, so we would be able to later include the exact trapping location in our data set. Once the birds were settled into the transport crates, we would transfer them back to the bird room for processing. 

COLK caught in a mist net

 
 
 

Trapped birds waiting in their individual bags to go in the crates.

 

Placing birds in the transport crates.

A transport crate ready to go and full of birds!

There is not a list of 100’s of bird species that inhabit this area; in fact the bird list numbers around 104 – 110 species.  One of the unique attributes of the CNMI is that each island has several endemic species (species that only occur on that island or those islands near-by).  Many of the birds that call CNMI home are listed on the IUCN as NT, VU, EN or CR (not to mention on near-by Guam the Micronesian Kingfisher is EW).   There are only a few forest bird species on the Island that we did not catch, namely MAFD and NIRW and one endemic species we did not see at all but heard… the MIME.  While driving to and from our netting sites, we did see several birds that are common to this are including WHTE, BRNO, and REHE.  While the possible list of species is not as long and diverse as the bird list for the Houston area, each sighting was a unique opportunity to see many bird species that not common, even in their native habitat.

Codes:

CNMI    Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
DFW      Department of Fish and Wildlife (for CNMI)

ChST      Chamorro Standard Time
MAC      Mariana Avifauna Conservation
AZA        Association of Zoos and Aquariums
TAG       Taxon Advisory Group
IUCN     International Union for Conservation of Nature
                EW         Extinct in the Wild
                CR           Critically Endangered
                EN          Endangered
                VU          Vulnerable
                NT          Near Threatened

AOU Banding Codes for Birds (with IUCN Red List Status)

GOWE   Golden White-eye (CR)
RUFA     Rufous Fantail
BRWE    Bridled White-eye (EN)
WTGD   White-throated Ground Dove (NT)
COLK     Collared Kingfisher
MIST      Micronesian Starling
MIHO    Micronesian Honeyeater
MAFD   Mariana Fruit Dove (EN)
NIRW    Nightingale Reed Warbler (CR)
MIME    Micronesian Megapode (EN)
WHTE    White Tern
BRNO    Brown Noddy
REHE      Pacific Reed Heron

Tiny RUFA chicks in the nest, four days after we first spotted the nest, shown previously.

 Want more information? Read the rest of the series by clicking HERE!

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Apr
20

Chasing the Sun: Bird Conservation on Saipan

Posted by in Birds,Conservation

If you are flying west all day – are you chasing the sun or following it…

We are headed to the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands; namely Saipan.

You might be asking the same thing my family and friends did right after I told them where I was headed – you are going where…. You are doing what???

I am on my way to do some field work for the Houston Zoo and the AZA community.

The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands is a chain of about 14 islands in the Pacific around 3000 miles west of Hawaii.  It is probably considered nearest to the Philippine Islands , if you could call it near.  It is over 1400 miles to the Phillipines; think the distance from New York to Houston.

For over 5 years, there has been a group of AZA bird professionals doing some important work in this part of the world – currently all of the bird species on the Marianas islands that have human habitation are under threat from the Brown Tree Snake (Boiga irregularis).  All of the birds on these islands evolved in a way that left them unprepared to deal with a threat from this predator.

As a way to hopefully keep some of these wonderful species from extinction, AZA has been working on the Marianas Avi-fauna Conservation Project.  By both capturing some of these birds for a ‘safety’ population in US zoos and working with translocation of various species to uninhabited, predator -free islands, we are working to protect these birds.

This is where I am and this is what I am doing.

 

Read the whole series here!

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