The facilities and the procedures at the Zoo ensures both the keepers’ and the animals’ safety. In most cases, there are always barriers between the animals and the people. More importantly, the keepers develop a relationship with the animals by using training techniques so that the animals will work with the keepers. This can make life easier for such simple and routine tasks as having the animal move into its bedroom so the keeper can clean the exhibit. The keepers also train the animals to present their teeth and feet for checking, which can make it easier to see if there are problems that might require a visit from the veterinarian.

The animals and the keepers obviously have a special relationship with each other. When the keepers approached, the animals would start to move around like they were excited to see them. While the keepers were talking to us, they were rewarding the animals by either feeding them or giving them the attention they wanted. In this setting, even an Alaskan brown bear or tiger seemed cute and harmless. The animals are comfortable because they know that they are safe and that they do not have to protect themselves, their young, or their territory.

Much more attention goes into the care and training of the animals than meets the tourist’s eye from a day’s visit to the Zoo. And much more attention must be paid to safety than I had thought in order for everyone to be safe while working or having fun at the Zoo.

-Hayley, Zoo InternQuest, Real World Team

Learning about Hearing from Polar Bears
Polar bears in San Diego are a startling sight to see. They are in a replica of their natural environment (the summer tundra, not the winter) so they are comfortable and well taken care of. But their size is impressive, and their play can be rough and rowdy. And these polar bears are doing something really unusual: taking hearing tests in their spare time.

According to animal care supervisor Gaylene Thomas, two of the four polar bears at the San Diego Zoo are part of a noninvasive project to determine the hearing sensitivity of the polar bears. Knowing how good their hearing is can help humans understand what might disturb them in the wild. These tests are a breakthrough in the scientific community as they are the first to be conducted with any type of bear species.

The point of these studies is to determine the effect of the noise from oil drilling machinery that is currently being used in or is proposed for the North Slope of Alaska. Concern arises because this is also a popular sight for the polar bears to den and raise young.

Ms. Thomas led us around the polar bear exhibit and behind the scenes, which seemed a most unlikely place for conservation of animals in the Arctic. She explained to us that the animal keepers train the bears to touch a wood block with their nose when they hear a noise. This would be difficult, impossible actually, to perform with any wild bears, yet in the long run will help the wild population.

Global warming is already affecting the environment of the arctic regions, resulting in changes in the habitat and shorter hunting seasons for polar bears because of thinner ice flows (they have to stand on the ice at seal breathing holes). These bears have recently been classified as “vulnerable” and if the noise from oil machinery is found to affect their behavior, we humans can take actions to prevent their status from becoming endangered.

- Sarah, Zoo InternQuest, Conservation Team

The extinction of this beautiful bird began during World War II, when troops bringing supplies to the island accidentally brought along a non-native snake species to the fragile island environment. The brown tree snakes feasted on the birds and anything else that came their way, and they also reproduced at an alarming rate, causing an imbalance in the natural habitat. The snake problem became so bad that the few remaining (uneaten) Micronesian kingfishers were removed from the wild in the 1960s in hopes of recovering the population in captivity.

The San Diego Zoo is one of the participating zoos around the world that keeps and breeds these birds as part of a Species Survival Plan (SSP). These plans target endangered animals that have a chance of escaping extinction. SSP’s are generally managed by an animal keeper, curator, or other zoo or aquarium professional. Population management, research, education, and reintroduction are all aspects helping endangered species. An SSP is designed to create a sustainable population that is genetically fit and able to survive in the wild.

Returning to the status of things on the island of Guam: the brown tree snake continues to be a problem. Because a little change can affect an environment dramatically (this whole thing started with a few snakes, after all!), further human activities must be carefully considered. We asked Mr. Orndorff about a solution of introducing a snake predator to the island. He responded that it could create the same problem with overpopulation of another non-native species. The snake population would go down, but the new predators would grow out of control.

I was rattled by the news that this snake could possibly be introduced to Hawaii. The Zoological Society of San Diego’s Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program (HEBCP) is working on ways of reintroducing endangered birds back into the wild. Working in conjunction with the federal government and private landowners of Hawaii, the conservation scientists on this project hope to conserve these bird species through habitat preservation and protection from non-native predators. There has been great success with the reintroduced captive-bred birds; with some species, a 400 percent increase in population has been reported. Of course, they started out with as few as four birds, so the species are still in a precarious position. The problems these birds are facing mirror those of the kingfisher. With adequate funding and initiative, and a lot of work, a change can be made for the betterment of endangered species. Unfortunately, sometimes the efforts start too late. One of the Hawaiian songbirds that was part of the HEBCP went extinct, despite the efforts of the dedicated conservation scientists. (Read blogs from HEBCP staff members.)

The Zoo’s involvement in conservation brings hope to the kingfisher’s eventual reintroduction back into Guam. Learning about these efforts left me with a lasting impression of the delicate balance of habitats and an appreciation for the work of animal keepers and conservation scientists alike.

Intern Sarah, Zoo InternQuest, Conservation Team