Remembering Dr. Arthur Crane Risser by Josef Lindholm III, It Stayed That Way Through the Rest of the 1960’S
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Remembering Dr. Arthur Crane Risser by Josef Lindholm III, it stayed that way through the rest of the 1960’s. On Dec. 31, Senior Aviculturist, The Dallas World Aquarium 1969, it reached an all-time high of 1,126 species and subspecies of birds (and 3,465 specimens). Then it dropped. At the end of Art Risser’s death following a stroke on the day after Christ- 1970 there were 1,097 taxa. On Jan. 1, 1972, there were 917. A mas 2008, was entirely unexpected. But many of his saddened year later there were 856. And on Jan1., 1974, the number stood friends were also startled to learn he was 70. I think most of us at 772. I found this deeply disturbing. thought he was far younger. When I first met him, shortly after At the same time, my own small avicultural world had also his arrival at the San Diego Zoo, as Assistant Curator of Birds, become much smaller. In 1972, I was, with much effort, able to in 1974, I thought he was in his late twenties. He was, in fact, 35 convince my parents to buy me Red-eared Waxbills at Wool- when he thus entered the zoo profession, having previously been worth’s and Strawberry Finches and Cut-throats at the White involved in mammalogy. Front, all for $3.95 a pair. In 1974, I found the prices for all of He earned his Master’s in Wildlife Management from the these were now $40 a pair. University of Arizona, in 1963, conducting field research on In answer to the question that all young zoo enthusiasts ask: White-nosed Coatis. Prior to earning his Ph.D. from UC Davis “Why don’t you get some (fill in the blank)?” Art told me all in 1970, he collected mammals in Namibia for the Smithsonian about the Newcastle’s Quarantine imposed in 1973, a subject Institution and studied the hosts for scrub typhus in Pakistan, of which till that point I had been blissfully unaware. Being for the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine. thus enlightened was a pivotal point in my development toward Even though my perceptions at our first meeting were some- becoming an aviculturist and an avicultural historian. In one what distorted, as I was 14 years old, Art’s trademark game-show- conversation, my entire perception of birds in American avicul- host-good-looks, with his perfectly styled head of carroty hair ture in general, and U.S. zoos in particular had shifted, and from and famous “1,000-Watt grin,” coupled with a boyish enthusi- that point everything took on a different context. asm and sometimes startling sense of humor, certainly conveyed Art’s evangelical zeal in facing the Newcastle’s crisis was youthfulness. This was appropriate for a man who was in the a reflection of his newly attained responsibilities as Assistant forefront among a generation of bird curators who completely Curator of Birds to the largest collection in the Western Hemi- reshaped American zoo aviculture in the ’70s and ’80s. sphere (and until a very short time before, the world). His first When I was 14, I was obsessed with the San Diego Zoo the several years at the zoo were made difficult by one quarantine way other kids were with sports teams or rock bands. The year station crisis after another. before, I got to make four separate visits from Berkeley, and He enumerated several of these in a paper presented at a the second of my 1974 visits lasted several days, thanks to fam- regional conference of what was then the AAZPA, in 1976 (Ris- ily friends. I impatiently anticipated the arrival of each month’s ser, 1976): Ten South African Penguins, for whose quarantine the ZooNooz, the Zoological Society of San Diego’s magazine, and zoo paid $1,000, were destroyed, along with all the other birds in spent any time I could reading back issues in the library of the a commercial station, when a Turaco tested positive for Newcas- San Francisco Zoo and the California Academy of Sciences. tle’s on their 29th day there. A compatible pair of Double-wat- So, when on the last of my several day’s visit, I recognized Ron tled Cassowaries had to be sent back to Holland (where they were Gordan Garrison, the long-time photographer of the Zoolog- sold elsewhere) when a starling at the same station died 20 days ical Society, I was delighted. Ron was standing in front of the after their arrival. Attempts to pair up San Diego’s Great Horn- great community aviary for birds of prey. I, of course, wanted to bill and White-tailed Black Cockatoo were thwarted over hap- know what his next ZooNooz project would be. He was photo- penstance of one kind and another. The particularly nightmarish graphing all the zoo’s vultures. It quickly developed that the arti- logistics involved in bringing a shipment of Birds of Paradise and cle these pictures would illustrate would be written by the man other birds from Papua New Guinea in 1977, were the subject of holding up a reflector made from foil-wrapped cardboard, San another painfully detailed article by Art (Risser, 1977) Diego’s brand new Assistant Curator of Birds. For the next hour The following pages offer a history of some of the avian species at least, I asked questions. Thirty years later, I found Art found that were in his care during his tenure at the San Diego Zoo. this experience somewhat alarming. But that conversation left Risser, A.C. (1976) Avian quarantine problems: Decision me far wiser, if sadder. from dilemma. AAZPA Regional Conferences—Proceedings. Up to that day, there were things that puzzled and concerned 1975–1976: 279–285. me, abut for which I had no explanation. During 1965, the num- . (1977) From the four corners of the world. ZooNooz ber of bird taxa at the San Diego Zoo went over a thousand. And 50 (no. 9): 4–9. aFa Watchbird 7 74 taxa of birds hatched at San Diego Zoo in 1959, compiled from vol. 1 of International Zoo Yearbook (Morris & Jarvis, 1960) Greater Rhea (Rhea americana) Ring-necked Pheasant Swainson’s Lorikeet American Black-crowned Night Heron (Phasianus colchicus torquatus) (Trichoglossus haematodus moluccanus) (Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli) Reeve’s Pheasant (Syrmaticus reevesi) Red-collared Lorikeet Caribbean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus r. ruber) Elliott’s Pheasant (Syrmaticus ellioti) (Trichoglossus haematodus rubritorquis) Horned Screamer (Anhima cornuta) Lady Amherst Pheasant (Chrysolophus amherstiae) Red-sided Eclectus (Eclectus roratus polychloros) Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) Golden Pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus) Queen Alexandra’s Parakeet (Polytelis alexandrae) Blue (Lesser Snow) Goose Palawan Peacock Pheasant King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis scapularis) (Anser coerulescens coerulescens) (Polyplectron emphanum) Peach-faced Lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis) Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) Green Peafowl (Pavo muticus) Masked Lovebird (Agapornis p. personatus) Cape Barren Goose (Cereopsis novaehollandiae) Blue Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) Eastern Rosella (Platycrcus eximus eximus) Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos) Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris) Northern Rosella (Platycrcus venustus) Black Duck (Anas rubripes) Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) Western Rosella (Platycrcus icterotis icterotis) Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca carolinensis) Black-necked Stilt Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) Northern Pintail (Anas acuta acuta) (Himantopus himantopus mexicanus) Quaker Parrot (Myiopsitta monachus) Redhead (Aythya americana) Double-striped Thick-knee Lineolated Parakeet (Bolborhynchus lineola) Gambel’s Quail (Callipepla gambeli) (Burhinus bistriatus vocifer) White-winged Parakeet Texas Bob-White (Colinus virginianus texanus) African Spotted Pigeon (Columba guinea) (Brotoeris veriscolurus versicolurus) Chukar Partridge (Alectoris graeca) Collared Dove (Streptopelia deaaocto decaocto) Lavender Waxbill (Estrilda caerulescens) Gray Francolin (Francolinus pondicerianus) Chinese Spotted Dove Red-browed Finch (Neochmia temporalis) Erckel’s Francolin (Francolinus erckeli) (Streptopelia chinensis chinensis) Crimson Finch (Neochmia p. phaeton) Abyssinian Clapperton’s Francolin White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica) Australian Zebra Finch (Poephila guttata castanotis) (Francolinus clappertoni sharpii) Galapagos Dove (Zenaida galapagoensis) Owl Finch (Poephila bichenovii) Yellow-necked Spurfowl (Francolinus leucoscepus) Victoria Crowned Pigeon (Goura victoriae) Long-tailed Finch (Poephila acuticauda) Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica) Northern Red-tailed Black Cockatoo Gouldian Finch (Chloebia gouldiae) African Harlequin Quail (Coturnix delegorguei) (Calyptorhynchus banksii banksii) Plum-headed Finch (Aidemosyne modesta) Chinese Bamboo Partridge Eastern Little Corella African Silverbill (Lonchura malabarica cantans) (Bambusicola t. thoracica) (Cacatua sanguinea sanguinea) Chestnut-breasted Finch Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) Long-billed Corella (Cacatua teniurostris) (Lonchura castaneothorax castaneothorax) Chinese Silver Pheasant Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus) Java Sparrow (Padda oryzivora) (Lophura nycthemerus nycthemerus) Kea (Nestor notabilis) Yellow-faced Grassquit (Tiaris olivacea) 44 taxa of birds (and a hybrid) hatched at San Diego Zoo in 1970, compiled from vol. 12 of International Zoo Yearbook (lucas, et al, 1972) Parentheses indicate mortalities. Asterisk indicates at least one captive-bred parent. Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) 20(18) Swainson’ Lorikeet 2(1) Malabar Parakeet (Psittacula columboides) 2 (Trichoglossus haematodus moluccanus) Caribbeann Flamingo 1 Red-vented Blue-bonnet Parakeet 5 (Phoenicopterus ruber. ruber) Red-collared Lorikeet 9(5) (Psephotus haematogaster haematorrhus) (Trichoglossus haematodus rubritorquis) Hybrid Flamingo (Phoenicopterus r, 1 Mulga Parakeet