Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Volunteer Educator Update 6.14 2019

In this Weeks Update

Volunteer Educator Program Update Animal Update Press Releases & Marketing

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Volunteer Educator Program Update From the “Shout Outs” Department!

Shout out to Fia for an amazing Bunbury! Anonymous

Shout out to Mary, Sally and Wilma who made ZooLaLa a super fun experience Anonymous

Shout out to the day campers on Tuesday June 11th and the Volunteer Educators who worked with them. Every single camper got accolades from their adult partners at the WDZ stations. Anonymous

Sign up for July! It’s that time…reach out to your Day leaders to sign up for July shifts so we can put them up on the website by the 3rd week of June.

Gorilla Ndume Back in Cincinnati

Cincinnati Zoo Welcomes Silverback

Gorilla Ndume Back Home

CINCINNATI (June 14, 2019) – Ndume [nnn-doo-may] is home! The 38-year-old silverback gorilla arrived safely at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden this morning and is settling in behind the scenes in Gorilla World. “We are thrilled that Ndume is finally here. We’ve been preparing for his arrival for many months and are ready to offer him an environment, schedule and social status that work for him,” said Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard.

The Zoo has been working to bring Ndume back to Cincinnati, where he was born, since last summer when the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Gorilla Species Survival Plan® (GSSP) made the recommendation to transfer him from The Gorilla Foundation (TGF), in California, following the death of its only other gorilla, Koko. He was sent to TGF in 1991 to be a social companion for her.

“Gorillas require and desire to be near other gorillas,” said the Zoo’s Curator of Primates, Ron Evans. “I first met Ndume when he was 3 years old and have followed him on his life journey. He provided a great service for Koko as a gorilla companion, and we’re so happy that he can now rejoin our gorilla family.”

He is in close proximity to the Zoo’s two gorilla groups, and the plan is for him to eventually form a third group. Introductions will be done at his pace, and the gorilla team will assess which females are the best fit for him.

“It may be many weeks before the public can see Ndume. Like with all new gorillas, we want to make sure that he is comfortable with his new home, keepers, and routines before introducing him to zoo guests,” said Evans. “Patience is always the key when acclimating new gorillas.”

The Cincinnati Zoo has been caring for gorillas since 1931 and has made significant contributions to gorilla populations in Zoos across the country. The 50th gorilla born at the Zoo, Elle, lives in a family group with one of the first gorillas born in Cincinnati, 49-year-old Samantha.

There are about 765 gorillas in zoos worldwide including approximately 360 that are managed by the Gorilla SSP. Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered in the wild, with fewer than 175,000 individuals. Due primarily to habitat destruction caused by logging, mineral mining and agricultural expansion, wild gorilla numbers continue to shrink. The bushmeat trade – the killing of wild animals to be used as human food – is also a major threat to the western lowland gorilla population throughout the Central African rainforests. More than 1,000 gorillas are illegally poached for the bushmeat trade each year.

The Cincinnati Zoo supports wild gorilla conservation efforts like the Nouabalé-Ndoki Project in the Republic of Congo. This project includes the Mbeli Bai Study, the longest running research being done with wild western lowland gorillas. Through research, local education programs, publications and documentaries, the Mbeli Bai Study and other gorilla related efforts there are raising international awareness for gorillas and their struggle for survival. For more information, visit www.cincinnatizoo.org.

Ndume Talking Points…

Below is our talking points on Ndume. We must stick to these points and not go off message. We are not talking about which gorillas he will be with as that will happen over time and we can’t predict the outcome. We will review at Roll Call for the next few weeks and they are in the binder at Gorilla World.

• Ndume [nnn-doo-may] is home! • The 38-year-old silverback gorilla arrived safely on June 14 • Curator of primates, Ron Evans, and a caregiver from The Gorilla Foundation (TGF) accompanied him on his journey from CA to Cincinnati • The trip was uneventful, and he is settling in behind the scenes at Gorilla World. • The Zoo has been working to bring Ndume back to Cincinnati, where he was born, since last summer when the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Gorilla Species Survival Plan® (GSSP) made the recommendation to transfer him from TGF, in California, following the death of its only other gorilla, Koko. • He was sent to TGF in 1991 to be a social companion for Koko. • Unfortunately, circumstances did not work out for Ndume and Koko in California and they became proximity companions rather than close companions. • Gorillas require and desire to be near other gorillas, and Ndume has been alone for almost a year. • Ndume was born in Cincinnati and grew up as a social gorilla. He lived at the Brookfield Zoo for a few years and successfully integrated socially with his temporary family there and sired offspring with their females. • He is now in close proximity to the Zoo’s two gorilla groups. • The plan is for him to eventually form a third group. • Introductions will be done at his pace, and the gorilla team will assess which females are the best fit for him. • It may be many weeks before the public can see Ndume. • Like with all new gorillas, we’ll make sure that he is comfortable with his new home, keepers, and routines before introducing him to zoo guests. • Patience is always the key when acclimating new gorillas. • Cincinnati Zoo is completely prepared to offer him an environment, schedule and social status that work for him.

Animal Update 6/12/2019

ATFs: - 60.50.0 American Burying Beetles to The Fernald Preserve (approved outside of AMM)

Updates

Africa: - Africa team is ready for Tessa, giraffe, to give birth. The holding building, and outdoor yard have been baby proofed. Teresa updated the protocol and our call list is in order.

- Dogs will officially be out of quarantine tomorrow. - - One of the guineafowls made it to the log above the lion waterfall, but he was easily coerced back into the main part of the exhibit. He made it past the hotwire, the dry moat, giant rocks and a ton of brush.

Bearline: - We are increasing the training that is being done with the spectacled bear.

- The polar bear pair is really interacting with one another lately with lots of play behavior being observed.

Night Hunters: - The pair of Ringtails are being introduced to one another in the lower section of Night Hunters.

- Renovations of the Small Animal Room (SAR) to convert the back half of the room into a large “stall” for holding animals such as aardvarks, giant fruit bats, etc. has been completed.

- Aardvark exhibit will be emptied on 6/10/19 so that a new, smoother, floor surface can be put down in that exhibit which will hopefully be less irritating to the male aardvark’s skin.

- Clouded leopard, Tevi, is not responding to being re-trained in hopes of doing voluntary fluid injections to help with her kidney issues. Though she is currently doing well she is in end stage renal failure and rather than wait until she is on her last breath she will be humanely euthanized on June 11, 2019. She will be missed by all those that have had the pleasure of caring for her over the years.

Manatee Springs: - Manatee Moves – Tentative plan falling into place. Hope to solidify and announce by late- summer.

- Daphne – Will likely draw blood again (mild anemia) sometime in the next month.

- Manatee Weights/Physicals – Will look to schedule for some time in early August.

- Manatee Food Intake – Continues to be modest, all animals likely in puberty now.

World of the Insect: - Building Closed – WOTI was closed on Tuesday (June 11) for electrical work, will reopen on Wednesday.

- ATF’s – ATF’s submitted to get Western Black Widows from Bugs of America and to release ABB’s at The Fernald Preserve.

Wings of the World: - 2 blue-faced honeyeater chicks continue to do well and are growing fast! Pin feathers have started emerging on their wings and their eyes are opening.

- 2 kea chicks have begun the long process of weaning. Right now, they are being hand fed soft fruits.

- 1 new kea hatched over the weekend. The hatch was uneventful, but the chick had not absorbed its yolk sac completely. Vet staff were able to do the procedure to fix it and the chick recovered well. Chick did great the next day but crashed fast and passed away Tuesday morning. Thanks to Mark and Greg for taking a chance on the little guy.

- The team started formulating a plan to begin conditioning the waterfowl on Swan Lake to eat in the old sandhill crane yard. This will provide us a large area that we can systematically make smaller over time to do eventual trapping for a census and PE on all the birds at once.

- Painting/ lighting is being updated in holding rooms in prep for AZA.

Bird Encounter:

- Bald Eagle flew both at a friends and family of US National Soccer event on Thursday, 6/7 and during pregame ceremonies of USA VS Venezuela 6/9. Both went well.

- Next Reds Bald Eagle flight is Friday, 6/14

Interpretive/CZ:

- Confirmed that Delilah, skunk, is not pregnant. She most likely consumed her offspring.

- Naga, Asian Water Dragon, has started eating a little bit again and gaining weight. She has good days and bad days but seems to be improving.

- Two Screaming Hairy Armadillos, Snuffles and Screech, are now on exhibit in the Discovery Forest. Screech likes spending time in the nest box while Snuffles prefers to bury herself a foot or two down into the substrate. Both seem to be doing well, though.

- 3.0 Nubian goats are out of QT and are housed at Blakely’s. They are already comfortable in their harnesses and have had their first walk training sessions. Look for them out on grounds soon !

Animal Excellence:

- In-person training on animal welfare was presented to Marketing, Graphics, IT, Group Sales, Visitor Experience, Finance, HR, and Purchasing teams. Training sessions this week will be provided to Facilities, Horticulture, Housekeeping, and Development teams. So far over 90 staff members have participated in this round of training.

- Trainings on behavior sampling to animal care interns on 06/04 and 06/07. Interns from Night Hunters, Interpretive, and Primate Center/Jungle Trails will be completing behavior research projects this summer. Meetings are ongoing to set up these projects.

- Behaviors research projects for African Penguin and Scarlet Macaw are being prepared. Behavior observations on Asian Elephants continue.

- The WE team is being set up to begin collecting behavior and visibility data on male giraffe Kimba and domestic goats in the Children’s Zoo contact yard.

- David is providing lighting consult during final lighting renovations in WOTW avian holding areas.

- Two sessions of Journal Club took place on 06/04 & 06/06, reviewing the article “Good keeper- elephant relationships in North American zoos are mutually beneficial to welfare” by Carlstead, Paris, & Brown (2019). A total of 23 staff members participated.

- David welcomed part-time Animal Excellence Assistant Kelly Jackson (left) and Animal Excellence Research intern Hannah Griebling (right) to the AE team. Say hello when you see them out and about around the Zoo!

Press Releases & Marketing 6/12/19 In the News…

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Doug Feist

Volunteer Education Program Manager

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

513.559.7750 [email protected]

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