MYZOO for members of Woodland Park Zoo • Summer 2014 MEET OUR FASTEST CATS: CHEETAHS GUARD DOGS OF AFRICA PLUS: KIDS CONTEST! MYZOO DEAR MEMBERS, As protecting nature grows increasingly challenging, people ask me where I find hope. My reply: the zoo is a place of hope. Every day I witness it in the wonder on children’s LETTER faces; in the perseverance with which passionate, highly trained experts care for animals FROM THE here and in wild places; and in the can-do attitude our educators create in schools. Your zoo is a hope-building enterprise. In addition to getting you up close to amazing PRESIDENT animals, we do scientific research on species’ health, social behavior and reproduction. And we connect millions of visitors to more than 35 inspiring conservation collaborators saving wild animals and helping to protect 1.25 million acres of habitat here and globally. Matt Hagan Without actions like these, many iconic species will go extinct in 15 to 50 years. Take Earth’s largest land mammal. A century ago, more than 5 million elephants roamed Africa, while some 200,000 did so across Asia. Today, as few as 400,000 and 25,000 remain, respectively. Each day, nearly 100 African elephants are killed illegally by poachers to fund organized crime. Ivory is now more valuable than gold, and China and the U.S. are its top markets. In Asia, illegal poaching is compounded by rapidly dwindling habitats as human numbers there soar. That’s why over the next five years, we will invest an additional $1.5 to $3 million to expand our elephant program and significantly improve the Elephant Forest exhibit. We will focus it exclusively on the highly endangered Asian elephant, double our zoo’s commitment to Asian elephant conservation in range countries, and play a key role in the 96 Elephants campaign to secure a U.S. moratorium on ivory sales and educate our community about the devastating effects of illegal ivory trade. This strategy endorses many options proposed by the Elephant Task Force – internationally distinguished scientists, animal care professionals and local community members helping us envision our elephant program’s future. Look for updates on zoo.org/elephantnews. Your role in preserving elephants into the future is vital. Lend your voice and join the international 96 Elephants effort through zoo.org/zooaction. Your passion for the zoo and for saving animals will build a world of hope for wildlife and people. “Our vision is to reduce Sincerely, human-elephant conflict and help people share the planet with wildlife.” Deborah B. Jensen, Ph.D. President and CEO WOODLAND PARK ZOO Deborah B. Jensen Ph.D. BOARD MEMBERS 601 NORTH 59TH STREET President and CEO Linda Allen Glenn Kawasaki Bryan Slinker SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 98103 Bruce Bohmke David S. Anderson Cammi Libby Gretchen Sorensen Chief Operations Officer Anthony Bay Rob Liddell Jay Tejera MAIN ZOO LINE Bruce Bentley Leigh McMillan Margaret Wetherald Marianne Bichsel 206.548.2500 Jane Nelson Kathy Williams 2014 BOARD OF Kristi Branch Laura Peterson Susie Wyckoff GENERAL EMAIL DIRECTORS OFFICERS Lisa Caputo Larry Phillips Deborah Jensen, ex officio Dino DeVita Matt Rosauer Christopher Williams, ex officio zooinfo@zoo.org Nancy Pellegrino, Chair Janet Dugan Patti Savoy Laurie Stewart, Vice Chair David Goldberg Greg Schwartz MEMBERSHIP EMAIL Kenneth Eakes, Treasurer Lisa Graumlich Rob Short membership@zoo.org Jeff Leppo, Secretary Jason Hamlin Elizabeth Sicktich Debora Horvath Ron Siegle www.zoo.org Stuart Williams, Immediate Past Chair 2 SUMMER 2014 ON THE COVER This photo of Missy the Summer Fun cheetah enjoying some sunshine was the perfect What is your favorite summer zoo experi- image to welcome our ence? Is it hearing a zookeeper talk about summer season! Ryan Hawk, WPZ the amazing animals in their care? Playing one of our giant climate change games like On Thin Ice? Is it being THIS CLOSE to an elephant and hearing her crunch through the piece of bamboo you just gave her? Maybe it’s making your own handmade poo CONTENTS paper from what comes out of the other end of that elephant! Guard DOGS OF Africa ..............................4 This summer, we are excited to introduce WPZ’S African CONSERVatiON ........................6 the new Wildlife Survival Zone, located in SPOT THE DIFFERENCE ................................10 the southwest corner of the zoo. This area will feature new cheetahs and other Species THANKS FOR Creating MORE WONDER, MORE WILD ...12 Survival Plan ambassadors as we tell the story of the behind-the-scenes conserva- 96 ELEPHANTS .......................................15 tion work that zoos do to maintain healthy populations of animals in our care and in WELCOME MISSY AND LIZ .............................18 the wild. Stop by to discover the details of MEMBERSHIP Matters ................................19 saving endangered species such as the red panda, western pond turtle and Tahitian BAMBOO BONANZA. 22 Partula snail. ANIMAL SPOTLIGHT: WEST African Dwarf CROCS .....24 Summer is our favorite time of year at the zoo, for more reasons than the CLASSES AND CAMPS .................................26 sunshine! We hope you discover your own summer favorites and, when you do, MYZOO KIDS: CONSERVatiON ON THE SAVANNA .......28 be sure to let us know! ZOO HOURS MyZoo SUMMER 2014. Volume 16. Issue 2. OUR MISSION: FIND US ON Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, WA General Information: 206.548.2500 Membership Department SPRING/SUMMER and Address Changes: 206.548.2400, membership@zoo.org WOODLAND PARK ZOO SAVES Editor in Chief: Laura Lockard, laura.lockard@zoo.org May 1 – September 30 Associate Editor: Kirsten Pisto, kirsten.pisto@zoo.org Design Editor: Misty Fried, misty.fried@zoo.org ANIMALS AND THEIR habitats 9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Photo Editor: Ryan Hawk, ryan.hawk@zoo.org For Advertising Information: zoo.ads@zoo.org or 206.548.2625 THROUGH CONSERVatiON CLOSED CHRISTMAS DAY Comments or questions? Write 601 N. 59th St. Seattle, WA 98103-5858 or email zooinfo@zoo.org Woodland Park Zoo is a City of Seattle facility managed LEADERSHIP AND engaging FALL/WINTER and operated by the non-profit Woodland Park Zoological Society.MyZoo (ISSN 2153-4659) is published quarterly for October 1 – April 30 $6.00 per year for Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) members EXPERIENCES, INSPIRING PEOPLE from membership dues by WPZ at 601 N. 59th St. Seattle, WA 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. 98103-5858. Periodicals postage paid at Seattle WA. POSTMASTER send address change to: TO LEARN, care AND act. MyZoo, WPZ 601 N. 59th St. Seattle, WA 98103-5858 All photos are property of Woodland Park Zoo unless otherwise noted. Woodland Park Zoo is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization 3 MYZOO GUARD DOGS OF AFRICA Can you spot the dog in the herd? With A mere 10,000 wild livestock farmland, not in protected means necessary. For an already vulnerable cheetahs left roaming areas or on reserves where they find it species, each loss brings the cheetah closer Africa’S EVer encroached more difficult to compete with lions and to extinction. upon saVanna lands, con- leopards for prey. Add prey shortages serVationists HAVE turned from the hard drought that hit Namibia Let the DOgs Out to an unlikelY allY for in the 1980s and cheetah extinction The daunting task of protecting these large these incrediBle cats: dogs. becomes more likely. All of these factors cats while maintaining an area fit for livestock Guard dogs, specifically Anatolian leave cheetahs with few options but to has fallen to some improbable heroes, the shepherds and kangals, are helping shape prey on livestock in order to survive. As guard dogs of Africa. In 1994, Cheetah a more sustainable African landscape, cheetahs spend more and more time on Conservation Fund (CCF) recognized the preserving vital habitats for cheetah and farms with easy access to water, and to potential in these guard dogs, and brought other large predators while protecting ranchers’ livestock, the inevitable human/ 10 Anatolian shepherds from the U.S. to the livestock that local people so fiercely wildlife conflict occurs, with cheetahs Namibia. Farmers chosen to receive a dog depend on. losing out far more often than not. are trained so they can, in turn, train their Although cheetahs are listed as dog for a successful career as a livestock Cheetah trOuble vulnerable by the International Union for guard. Farmers employing CCF guard dogs in Namibia Conservation of Nature and protected in have found their loss rates fall by 80% or Cheetahs face a difficult existence in a Namibia, when they come into contact more, meaning cheetahs are less likely to complicated landscape. In Namibia, most with livestock, ranchers are allowed to be persecuted. In 2008 the first two kangal cheetahs live on commercial or communal remove the offending animal through any puppies arrived at CCF. In 2009, several more 4 SUMMER 2014 kangal puppies were donated to CCF, es- proven successful, the next step in preven- This is the sort of collaborative relationship tablishing a breeding program that is already tion is to incorporate livestock guard that Woodland Park Zoo’s field conserva- supplying new guard dogs to farmers. dogs. Enter the Cheetah Conservation tion department is proud to support. Both Fund and their livestock guard program. the Cheetah Conservation Fund and the Both Anatolian shepherds and kangals Ruaha Carnivore Project are a part of the have a rich history as working dogs. In the past 12 months, four Anatolian zoo’s Wildlife Survival Fund. To learn more Used for guarding livestock, these dogs shepherds from CCF have been placed about these dynamic conservation projects, are bred and trained to work in wide with local farmers in Tanzania to deter- visit zoo.org/conservation. open spaces without human supervision.
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