Magazine of the NC Zoo Society www.nczoo.com Spring 2017 :: 1 THIS ISSUE Spring 2017 Issue No. 88 SOCIETY BOARD MICHAEL J. FISHER This issue is about changes. Chair Greensboro ow, your Zoo is on the move, The Zoo Society is offering a new MONTY WHITE, JR. and this issue of Alive will way to move at the Zoo, too, by setting Vice Chair give you the chance to catch up a Ride-and-a-Guide program for Raleigh Wup with some of the ways that these up to five people who want to tour the MARJORIE M. RANKIN Secretary moves can make your next Zoo visit Zoo from the comfort of a golf cart. The Asheboro even more fun. guides will be seasoned Society staff, JOHN RUFFIN For one thing, for the first time, you and the price of the ride depends on Treasurer will have the option of hopping onto how far and how long riders want to Winston-Salem an easy-gliding pontoon paddle boat go. Details about the Ride-and-a-Guide RICHARD W. CARROLL to skim around the lake in the North program are available on page 13. Cary American section of the Zoo. The Another kind of move is explained SUMNER FINCH High Point new, covered Dragonfly Paddle Boats in this issue of Alive, too, the kind of MINOR T. HINSON come in two sizes: to seat either two or move that brings new animal species Charlotte four guests and will be available for a into the North Carolina Zoo. The lead SCOTT E. REED $5-per-person rental fee. In addition, article by Curator of Mammals Jennifer Winston-Salem the Zoo is bringing dinosaurs back Ireland provides an overview of some of DAVID K. ROBB to the Park, and visitors will ride, not the many factors that she and her col- Charlotte walk, to see these animatronic wonders. leagues must consider before they add a BARRY C. SAFRIT Greensboro Two special, open-air safari buses have new species to one of the Zoo’s habitats. MARGERY SPRINGER been fashioned to take visitors back in The care and thought that these cura- Raleigh time to see these dinosaurs. tors put into these decisions is amazing. KENT A. VARNER As always, this Alive Charlotte also provides you with DON F. WELLINGTON information about upcom- Asheboro ing events, programs and CHARLES M. WINSTON, JR. camps being offered by Raleigh CHERYL TURNER the Zoo and by the Zoo Executive Director Society. Assistant Secretary We hope to see you at the EDITORIAL BOARD Zoo, soon. Jayne Owen Parker, Ph.D., Jayne Owen Parker, Ph.D., Managing Editor Editor De Potter, Design & Layout John D. Groves Corinne Kendall, Ph.D. Mark MacAllister Tonya Miller The North Carolina Zoo is open every day of the year, except on Christmas Jb Minter, DVM Day. Summer admission hours begin on April 1 and extend from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Winter admission hours begin on November 1 and extend from 9 a.m. FPO/FSC Pat Simmons through 3 p.m. Standard admission prices are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors Cheryl Turner and $11 for children. Zoo Society members and registered North Carolina school groups are admitted free. The Zoo offers free parking, free tram and Diane Villa shuttle service, picnic areas, visitor rest areas, food service and gift shops. Financial information about the NC Zoo Angie Kahn, Proofreader For information, call 1-800-488-0444. Society and a copy of its license are available The Zoo is a program of the N.C. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources. The NC Zoo from the Charitable Solicitation Licensing Printed by Hickory Printing Solutions Society is the non-profit organization that supports the North Carolina Zoological Park Section at 888-830-4989. The license is not and its programs. Society offices are open Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, please call 336-879-7250 or logon to the Society’s Web page at nczoo.com. an endorsement by the State. 2 :: ALIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 Where are Your Tigers? Learn how our curators decide which species you will see on your next visit .................................... Jennifer Ireland, Guest Contributor 9 What is AZA, Anyway? A quick look at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums ..................................... Jayne Owen Parker, Ph.D., Editor 10 Field Notes: The Incredible Snapping Turtle North Carolina’s biggest native turtle ......John Groves, Contributing Editor 11 Wake Up with the Animals 13 Announcing a New Ride-and-a-Guide Program Hop a golf cart and learn about the Zoo. 14 A Heartfelt Thank You to our X-Ray Donors 15 A Page for Turner: Keeping the Zoo Safe for the Future 12 An ode to spring and the zoo .......... Cheryl Turner, Contributing Editor 17 New Zoo Moves The Zoo adds boats and dinosaurs, ride all about them. 17 Upscaling the Society’s Corporate Membership Program 18 Kids’ Page: What makes a Primate? Meet a favorite group of animals ........ Jayne Owen Parker, Ph.D., Editor 19 2017 Veterinary Camps and Field Camps BC Dinos Return! Regular Features 12 Travel Programs 14 VIP Tours 16 Thank Yous 16 Zoo Happenings COVER PHOTO Red-ruffed Lemur ingimages.com 15 Spring 2017 :: 3 “Where are your tigers?” “Trout are all right, but I want to see piranha!” “Penguins are the best! Why don’t you have any?” “I love lemmings. Can you get some?” JENNIFER IRELAND, CURATOR OF MAMMALS nimal curators get bombarded with these kinds of questions all the time, and not just from Zoo guests. Zoo staff and Zoo Society donors and members ask these same questions, too. A So, Who Decides Which Species? were rounded up and transferred, with other spoils of Sometimes, it is easy to explain why we do not exhibit war, into the service of their royal owners. Throughout a particular species at our Zoo. We don’t have Tigers, much of human history, these exotic animal menag- for example, because Tigers are Asian and do not fit eries existed almost exclusively to flout their owners’ into either our North American or African continental power and range of influence. regions. And, while the Mangum Desert and the RJ It was not until the late 1700s, at least in Europe, Reynolds Aviary house a few species from Asia and that royal families began backing away from these Australia, neither building provides a suitable habitat self-indulgent menageries and chose, instead, to trans- for a 300-pound predator. Of course, these limitations fer the animals’ ownership into public hands. As these do not mean that our Zoo can never exhibit Tigers, but transitions unfolded, cities refashioned the former the restrictions make it clear that we are not ready to menageries around institutional models that resem- house them now. bled museums. These newfangled “zoos,” adopted the Most of the time, though, the factors that deter- cultural attitudes of art and history museums, and mine if we can, or cannot, house a particular species began collecting and exhibiting animals as if they were are complex. And, these factors include issues that rare and unusual objects. extend beyond the interests of just the animal curators. At that time, curators’ personal tastes guided species Our concerns are important, of course, but so are the selections, and zoos built their reputations by exhib- concerns of the other professionals who help manage iting as many different species as they could. The the Zoo. We have to consult with them and address richest and most prestigious zoos displayed the largest any concerns they raise about the impact a new animal number of species and being the only zoo to exhibit a might have on the safety of visitors or staff or the Zoo’s particular species was a boon to any zoo’s reputation. transportation systems, plant collection, landscape, Although built with the best social intentions of the maintenance schedules, and so on. period—to expose the public to nature’s grand diver- sity—these early zoos emerged when biology was in A Short History Lesson its infancy. At the time, people knew virtually nothing The sophisticated, systematic approach that contempo- about the nutritional, behavioral, fitness, or social needs rary curators use to select a new species to exhibit is a of incoming species. This vacuum of practical knowl- rather recent phenomenon and stands in mark con- edge meant that many zoo animals died young and few trast to the ways that animals came into the first exam- reproduced. Consequently, these early zoos had to rely ples of exotic animal collections. In the earliest cases, on collecting expeditions to fill their exhibits. which date back to at least 3,500 BCE, exotic animal Now, as bad as they seem by today’s standards, these collections were assembled from conquests. Animals primitive zoos and their managers took the first ten- 4 :: ALIVE tative steps toward developing the science that guides animals as possible. This insistence on variety, caused the way that responsible zoos are managed today. these early zoos to dot their landscapes with many These early zoo pioneers made many, sometimes closely spaced, small exhibits—arenas that could hold shocking, mistakes as they inched zoo management only a few individuals. Once animal caretakers real- forward. But, these early zoo managers and the people ized that these small groups were doomed to disap- who followed them, learned from their mistakes pear because of inbreeding, zoos began changing the and, eventually acquired a remarkable storehouse of way they organized their exhibits and the criteria they knowledge about the natural history and needs of the used to choose their exhibit animals.