a presentation on wildlife conservation

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Wildlife conservation.

Wildlife conservation aims to protect plant and animal species as the human population encroaches on their resources.

Biology, Ecology, Conservation, Storytelling, Photography

Asian Elephant Family

Filmmakers and photographers are essential to conservation efforts. They take the photographs, such as these Asian elephants (Elephas maximus indicus), and the films that interest others in protecting wildlife.

Photograph by Nuttaya Maneekhot

Wildlife conservation is the practice of protecting plant and animal species and their habitats . Wildlife is integral to the world’s ecosystems , providing balance and stability to nature’s processes. The goal of wildlife conservation is to ensure the survival of these species, and to educate people on living sustainably with other species. The human population has grown exponentially over the past 200 years, to more than eight billion humans as of November 2022, and it continues to rapidly grow. This means natural resources are being consumed faster than ever by the billions of people on the planet. This growth and development also endangers the habitats and existence of various types of wildlife around the world, particularly animals and plants that may be displaced for land development, or used for food or other human purposes. Other threats to wildlife include the introduction of invasive species from other parts of the world, climate change, pollution, hunting, fishing, and poaching. National and international organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the United Nations, and National Geographic, itself, work to support global animal and habitat conservation efforts on many different fronts. They work with the government to establish and protect public lands, like national parks and wildlife refuges . They help write legislation, such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 in the United States, to protect various species. They work with law enforcement to prosecute wildlife crimes, like wildlife trafficking and illegal hunting (poaching). They also promote biodiversity to support the growing human population while preserving existing species and habitats. National Geographic Explorers, like conservation biologists Camille Coudrat and Titus Adhola, are working to slow the extinction of global species and to protect global biodiversity and habitats. Environmental filmmakers and photographers, like Thomas P. Peschak and Joel Sartore, are essential to conservation efforts as well, documenting and bringing attention to endangered wildlife all over the world.

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April 8, 2024

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Tips for an Effective Speaking for Wildlife Presentation

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“All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Setting the Stage

You begin “speaking” to your audience long before you utter your first words. 

• Be appropriately groomed and dressed , with an alert, confident posture. Let your appearance assure the audience that you are competent.
• Be a good host . Arrive before your audience in time to ready equipment, prepare props and check everything. 
• Meet and greet. Be ready to make as many acquaintances aspossible when the audience first arrives. This helps you make last minute changes to make sure your talk is relevant to your audience.
• Come prepared. You should know your content well so that you can concentrate on your delivery and respond to your audience.

Your Beginning

• The first thirty seconds are critical in establishing rapport. You need to project warmth, confidence and competence. You should practice your welcome and introduction so that it flows easily.
• Don’t put barriers between you and your audience. Don’t stand behind a podium or table. Meet the audience standing upright with a smile and eye to eye contact. Be casual but not sloppy.
• Don’t sit down or stand with your hands in your pockets. You shouldn’t be too formal, though – with hands behind you, wooden posture and gloomy expression.
• Don’t write out your presentation content. At most have an outline on a notecard to keep you on track. If you need a cue to get back on track, simply pause look at your notecard and carry on. Make this act seem natural.
• Don’t memorize your talks/content. It will prevent a fresh spontaneous delivery. Keep the main points in mind and you will easily remember the examples to illustrate them.
• Talk spontaneously and with simple directness. Talk with the same conversational inflections that you would use with a group of friends.
• Your voice is an instrument. You have pitch, rate and volume. Orchestrate your talk with a contrast of high and low notes. Use the full range of your voice. Emphasize some parts of your talk with slow, deliberate pace. Breeze through other parts lightly
• Don’t talk continuously. Moments of silence can be used to set off main points of your talk. Pauses are like speed bumps on a road; they alert your audience that something important is coming.

Five Tips for Public Speaking

• Remember that your audience does not want you to fail. They are rooting for you to do well!
• Be yourself! Speak in your own voice, whatever that is. The audience will know if your style is insincere, and they would much rather hear your own voice, which allows your passion to show through.
• Do not apologize (unless it’s truly appropriate). It will make the audience uncomfortable, will make you more nervous, and is almost never necessary.
• Being passionate is better than being an expert. A lot of people are afraid to speak on a subject in front of a crowd because they are afraid that they don’t know enough. As long as you are interested in and passionate about the subject you are presenting, you absolutely do not need to be an expert.
• Don’t be afraid to say that you don’t know the answer to a tough question. Get comfortable saying “I don’t know, but that’s a great question!”

The Words You Use

Well-chosen words create vivid images. The time you spend choosing words will be appreciated by your audience.

• Be specific.
• Avoid fillers.
• Creative effective imagery by using active verbs; specific, concrete nouns; familiar people and places; and personal language.

Body Language

• Communicate through facial expressions. Some experts claim that fiftyfive percent of understanding from messages is from facial expressions, not words. Make friendly eye contact with everyone.
• Communicate through posture.
• Avoid distracting mannerisms. Guard against weight shifting, body rocking, table leaning, arm swinging, hand hiding, clothes fidgeting, foot scuffling
• Communicate through gestures . Punctuate and describe points in the program with your hands. Use natural, unexaggerated gestures. Be tasteful and understated.
• Walk with purpose.

Props attract an audience’s attention and add dimension to your presentation. Props heighten curiosity, and people pay attention to things they are curious about. People also respond to familiar objects when they are used in innovative ways. Keep these tips in mind when using props:

• Mounted specimens are effective
• Colorful items draw attention
• Props are effective when they involve different senses
• People are drawn to historical artifacts

Questioning

Questions can be used if they serve several purposes. They stimulate interest. They help organize the program. They encourage creative thinking. They emphasize important points. They offer visitors a chance to share thoughts and feelings.

• Focus Questions are the most basic kind of questions and involve specific information. They often begin with “who, what, or where.”
• Process Questions have a wider scope of possible responses than focus questions. Process questions ask people to integrate information rather than just remembering or describing.
• Evaluative Questions usually deal with matters of value, choice or judgment of the participants. They offer group members a chance to express their feelings. Not all questions require a verbal response from visitors. Rhetorical questions are asked when you don’t expect visitors to answer aloud.

8 Tips for Questioning

• Direct most questions to the entire audience rather than a single individual. This indicates to the group that everyone is expected to think.
• Ask only one question at a time.
• Allow time for an answer. This is called “wait-time.” Research has shown the longer the questioner allows for an answer, the better the answer will be. Never answer your own questions. If no one offers a response, leave it open to be answered later or rephrase the question.
• Do not start a question with “does anyone know...” or “Can anyone tell me...” Such phrases express doubt that the question can be answered.
• Pace questions to the ability of the group.
• Develop ideas and concepts through a series of questions. Build from focus questions to process questions to evaluative questions. This challenges your group to higher levels of thinking.
• Accept answers to questions gracefully, even if the answers are wrong. Never make someone feel foolish for participating in the program.
• Finally, avoid questions that require a simple yes or no.

Educational researchers have indicated that providing a wait time of three or more seconds after asking a question gives audience members a better chance of recalling information and has a positive effect on the quality of responses, and therefore, on learning.

Structuring Your Presentation

Step 1: pow.

Capture the group’s attention with a provocative introduction.

An introduction does two things. It promises your listeners a rewarding experience and it introduces your talk theme.

You can be startling or humorous, a rhetorical question or an apt quotation. Your goal is provocation. You need to grab your audience with your first words.

Step 2: Bridge

Answer the questions, “Why was that said?” and “What does it mean to me?”

Bridges connect the introduction to the body of the talk and to the interests of the audience. Bridges would answer the question, “OK, you have my attention, but what’s your purpose? Why should I care?

Step 3: Body

Illustrate the main message of your program with examples. Listeners enjoy personalized “for instances.”

Your theme serves as the skeleton to which you attach your ideas. The body is made up of facts and for instances that flesh out your theme. Without a theme the body of your talk will be flabby and shapeless with little appeal to your audience.

With your main points outlined, you now must decide how to illustrate them. To be effective, every main idea presented should be illustrated in some way. Use visual aids, such as props, slides or other audio visual devices. Create mental images through metaphor and analogy, guided imagery or storytelling. Involve the audience physically. Make sure you breathe life into cold dead abstraction.

Step 4: Conclusion

Conclude your presentation by summarizing or giving a call to action. Answer the question, “So What?”

Your conclusion should tell the listener you are done. It can be a call to action or can summarize your main points. It might be a thought provoking quote or a dramatic ending for emotional impact.

“A book may give you excellent suggestions on how best to conduct yourself in the water, but sooner or later you must get wet .... To plunge [in] is the only way.” —Dale Carnegie The Art of Public Speaking

This document was adapted from Presentation Skills for the Interpretive Naturalist, Interpreters Handbook Series, Kathleen Regnier, Michael Gross and Ron Zimmerman, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.

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A presentation on: Wildlife Conservation

Published by Barnard Malone Modified over 8 years ago

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Webinar: an introduction to pittman-robertson and dingell-johnson for wildlife advocates.

Presented by USFWS staff, March 22, 2024

Federal grants under the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act (PR) and Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act (DJ) are important funding sources for state wildlife agencies, accounting for more than one-quarter of agency revenues, on average. Because of the amount of money involved, and the rules for how it can be spent, PR/DJ are important factors in how state agencies prioritize their fish and wildlife conservation efforts, yet these programs are not well understood by many wildlife advocates. In this webinar, our guest presenters with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Conservation Investment, explain the nuts and bolts of how these federal funding programs work, how these funds are used, and answer audience questions.

Watch the recording of the webinar

Webinar: Beyond the North American Model

Presented by Dr. Anja Heister, February 22, 2024

Dr. Heister takes a critical look at the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation (NAM). She points out shortcomings of NAM as both an accurate description of the past or as a guide for the future, and presents highlights from her book, Beyond the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation: From Lethal to Compassionate Conservation . Originally from Germany, now living in Missoula, Anja is a co-founder of Footloose Montana, a grassroots organization dedicated to protecting all wildlife and ending the nightmare of trapping on public lands. She holds a Masters degree in Biology, from the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, and an interdisciplinary PhD specializing in wildlife conservation, ethics and public policy from the University of Montana.

Webinar: From Wildlife Policy to Social Justice: Rethinking Wildlife Management in the U.S.

Wildlife for All’s Executive Director, Kevin Bixby, and Project Coyote’s Carnivore Conservation Manager, Michelle Lute explain how the current system of wildlife management in the U.S. not only fails to protect wildlife but is also undemocratic, unjust to both people and animals, and lacks compassion. They discuss the policy reforms needed to replace the current system with a paradigm based on multi-species justice and an ethic of coexistence.

View Presentation as a PDF

Symposium Presentation: The Undemocratic Nature of Wildlife Governance Today, and How to Fix It

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Symposium Presentation: An Overview of State Wildlife Management and its Deficiencies

Given by Kevin Bixby at the 2022 North American Congress of Conservation Biologists, Reno Nevada, July 18, 2022

Symposium: Modernizing State Wildlife Management to Restore Wildlife Resiliency

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Video Presentation: It’s Time to Decouple Conservation from the Gun Lobby

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Webinar: The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation – Past, Present, and… Future?

Wildlife for All’s Executive Director, Kevin Bixby, and WildEarth Guardian’s Southwest Wildlife Advocate, Chris Smith, explain the history, successes, and major flaws of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. They discuss how this model continues to determine the trajectory of wildlife management throughout the United States and Canada, and provide some insight into the ways it has outlived its usefulness and needs to be revamped. 

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Transforming State Wildlife Management in the U.S.

Transforming State Wildlife Management to Protect Biodiversity in the U.S. features three distinguished panelists who have worked on and thought about state-level biodiversity conservation for a long time: Professor Adrian Treves, founder of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Louisa Willcox, co-founder of Grizzly Times and a passionate advocate of protecting grizzlies, wolves and other large carnivores; and Dr. Fred Koontz, field biologist and conservationist who retired after a 35-year wildlife conservation career working in zoo, field and university settings at the Wildlife Conservation Society, Wildlife Trust (now “EcoHealth Alliance”), Columbia University, and the Woodland Park Zoo. The webinar is moderated by wildlife conservationist Kevin Bixby, founder and executive director of Wildlife for All. Kevin was the lead organizer of the first national conference on the topic of Reenvisioning State Wildlife Governance, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2018.

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Wildlife Conservation PPT: Definition, Purpose and Importance Free Download: Wildlife conservation is crucial to preserve the stability of the ecosystem. It is important to guard the uncommon and extinct species of animals.

In India and across the world, there are one of a kind wildlife sanctuaries to guard and keep a few distinctively uncommon animals like Kaziranga National Park, Jim Corbett National Park, Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary etc. The governments of many countries have carried out strict norms to promote wildlife conservation. The existence of humans with out wildlife is not possible on Earth and therefore, wildlife conservation could be very significant.

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Should We Change Species to Save Them?

When traditional conservation fails, science is using “assisted evolution” to give vulnerable wildlife a chance.

Credit... Photo illustration by Lauren Peters-Collaer

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By Emily Anthes

Photographs by Chang W. Lee

This story is part of a series on wildlife conservation in Australia, which Emily Anthes reported from New York and Australia, with Chang W. Lee.

• Published April 14, 2024 Updated April 16, 2024

For tens of millions of years, Australia has been a playground for evolution, and the land Down Under lays claim to some of the most remarkable creatures on Earth.

It is the birthplace of songbirds, the land of egg-laying mammals and the world capital of pouch-bearing marsupials, a group that encompasses far more than just koalas and kangaroos. (Behold the bilby and the bettong!) Nearly half of the continent’s birds and roughly 90 percent of its mammals, reptiles and frogs are found nowhere else on the planet.

Australia has also become a case study in what happens when people push biodiversity to the brink. Habitat degradation, invasive species, infectious diseases and climate change have put many native animals in jeopardy and given Australia one of the worst rates of species loss in the world.

In some cases, scientists say, the threats are so intractable that the only way to protect Australia’s unique animals is to change them. Using a variety of techniques, including crossbreeding and gene editing, scientists are altering the genomes of vulnerable animals, hoping to arm them with the traits they need to survive.

“We’re looking at how we can assist evolution,” said Anthony Waddle, a conservation biologist at Macquarie University in Sydney.

It is an audacious concept, one that challenges a fundamental conservation impulse to preserve wild creatures as they are. But in this human-dominated age — in which Australia is simply at the leading edge of a global biodiversity crisis — the traditional conservation playbook may no longer be enough, some scientists said.

“We’re searching for solutions in an altered world,” said Dan Harley, a senior ecologist at Zoos Victoria. “We need to take risks. We need to be bolder.”

The extinction vortex

The helmeted honeyeater is a bird that demands to be noticed, with a patch of electric-yellow feathers on its forehead and a habit of squawking loudly as it zips through the dense swamp forests of the state of Victoria. But over the last few centuries, humans and wildfires damaged or destroyed these forests, and by 1989, just 50 helmeted honeyeaters remained, clinging to a tiny sliver of swamp at the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve.

Intensive local conservation efforts, including a captive breeding program at Healesville Sanctuary, a Zoos Victoria park, helped the birds hang on. But there was very little genetic diversity among the remaining birds — a problem common in endangered animal populations — and breeding inevitably meant inbreeding. “They have very few options for making good mating decisions,” said Paul Sunnucks, a wildlife geneticist at Monash University in Melbourne.

In any small, closed breeding pool, harmful genetic mutations can build up over time, damaging animals’ health and reproductive success, and inbreeding exacerbates the problem. The helmeted honeyeater was an especially extreme case. The most inbred birds left one-tenth as many offspring as the least inbred ones, and the females had life spans that were half as long, Dr. Sunnucks and his colleagues found.

Without some kind of intervention, the helmeted honeyeater could be pulled into an “extinction vortex,” said Alexandra Pavlova, an evolutionary ecologist at Monash. “It became clear that something new needs to be done.”

A decade ago, Dr. Pavlova, Dr. Sunnucks and several other experts suggested an intervention known as genetic rescue , proposing to add some Gippsland yellow-tufted honeyeaters and their fresh DNA to the breeding pool.

The helmeted and Gippsland honeyeaters are members of the same species, but they are genetically distinct subspecies that have been evolving away from each other for roughly the last 56,000 years. The Gippsland birds live in drier, more open forests and are missing the pronounced feather crown that gives helmeted honeyeaters their name.

Genetic rescue was not a novel idea. In one widely cited success, scientists revived the tiny, inbred panther population of Florida by importing wild panthers from a separate population from Texas.

But the approach violates the traditional conservation tenet that unique biological populations are sacrosanct, to be kept separate and genetically pure. “It really is a paradigm shift,” said Sarah Fitzpatrick, an evolutionary ecologist at Michigan State University who found that genetic rescue is underused in the United States.

Crossing the two types of honeyeaters risked muddying what made each subspecies unique and creating hybrids that were not well suited for either niche. Moving animals between populations can also spread disease, create new invasive populations or destabilize ecosystems in unpredictable ways.

Genetic rescue is also a form of active human meddling that violates what some scholars refer to as conservation’s “ ethos of restraint ” and has sometimes been critiqued as a form of playing God.

“There was a lot of angst among government agencies around doing it,” said Andrew Weeks, an ecological geneticist at the University of Melbourne who began a genetic rescue of the endangered mountain pygmy possum in 2010. “It was only really the idea that the population was about to go extinct that I guess gave government agencies the nudge.”

Dr. Sunnucks and his colleagues made the same calculation, arguing that the risks associated with genetic rescue were small — before the birds’ habitats were carved up and degraded, the two subspecies did occasionally interbreed in the wild — and paled in comparison with the risks of doing nothing.

And so, since 2017, Gippsland birds have been part of the helmeted honeyeater breeding program at Healesville Sanctuary. In captivity there have been real benefits, with many mixed pairs producing more independent chicks per nest than pairs composed of two helmeted honeyeaters. Dozens of hybrid honeyeaters have now been released into the wild. They seem to be faring well, but it is too soon to say whether they have a fitness advantage.

Monash and Zoos Victoria experts are also working on the genetic rescue of other species, including the critically endangered Leadbeater’s possum, a tiny, tree-dwelling marsupial known as the forest fairy. The lowland population of the possum shares the Yellingbo swamps with the helmeted honeyeater; in 2023, just 34 lowland possums remained . The first genetic rescue joey was born at Healesville Sanctuary last month.

The scientists hope that boosting genetic diversity will make these populations more resilient in the face of whatever unknown dangers might arise, increasing the odds that some individuals possess the traits needed to survive. “Genetic diversity is your blueprint for how you contend with the future,” Dr. Harley of Zoos Victoria said.

Targeting threats

For the northern quoll, a small marsupial predator, the existential threat arrived nearly a century ago, when the invasive, poisonous cane toad landed in eastern Australia. Since then, the toxic toads have marched steadily westward — and wiped out entire populations of quolls, which eat the alien amphibians.

But some of the surviving quoll populations in eastern Australia seem to have evolved a distaste for toads . When scientists crossed toad-averse quolls with toad-naive quolls, the hybrid offspring also turned up their tiny pink noses at the toxic amphibians.

What if scientists moved some toad-avoidant quolls to the west, allowing them to spread their discriminating genes before the cane toads arrived? “You’re essentially using natural selection and evolution to achieve your goals, which means that the problem gets solved quite thoroughly and permanently,” said Ben Phillips, a population biologist at Curtin University in Perth who led the research.

A field test, however, demonstrated how unpredictable nature can be. In 2017, Dr. Phillips and his colleagues released a mixed population of northern quolls on a tiny, toad-infested island. Some quolls did interbreed , and there was preliminary evidence of natural selection for “toad-smart” genes.

But the population was not yet fully adapted to toads, and some quolls ate the amphibians and died, Dr. Phillips said. A large wildfire also broke out on the island. Then, a cyclone hit. “ All of these things conspired to send our experimental population extinct,” Dr. Phillips said. The scientists did not have enough funding to try again, but “all the science lined up,” he added.

Advancing science could make future efforts even more targeted. In 2015, for instance, scientists created more heat-resistant coral by crossbreeding colonies from different latitudes . In a proof-of-concept study from 2020, researchers used the gene-editing tool known as CRISPR to directly alter a gene involved in heat tolerance.

CRISPR will not be a practical, real-world solution anytime soon, said Line Bay, a biologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science who was an author of both studies. “Understanding the benefits and risks is really complex,” she said. “And this idea of meddling with nature is quite confronting to people.”

But there is growing interest in the biotechnological approach. Dr. Waddle hopes to use the tools of synthetic biology, including CRISPR, to engineer frogs that are resistant to the chytrid fungus, which causes a fatal disease that has already contributed to the extinction of at least 90 amphibian species.

The fungus is so difficult to eradicate that some vulnerable species can no longer live in the wild. “So either they live in glass boxes forever,” Dr. Waddle said, “or we come up with solutions where we can get them back in nature and thriving.”

Unintended consequences

Still, no matter how sophisticated the technology becomes, organisms and ecosystems will remain complex. Genetic interventions are “likely to have some unintended impacts,” said Tiffany Kosch, a conservation geneticist at the University of Melbourne who is also hoping to create chytrid-resistant frogs . A genetic variant that helps frogs survive chytrid might make them more susceptible to another health problem , she said.

There are plenty of cautionary tales, efforts to re-engineer nature that have backfired spectacularly. The toxic cane toads, in fact, were set loose in Australia deliberately, in what would turn out to be a deeply misguided attempt to control pest beetles.

But some environmental groups and experts are uneasy about genetic approaches for other reasons, too. “Focusing on intensive intervention in specific species can be a distraction,” said Cam Walker, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth Australia. Staving off the extinction crisis will require broader, landscape-level solutions such as halting habitat loss, he said.

Moreover, animals are autonomous beings, and any intervention into their lives or genomes must have “a very strong ethical and moral justification” — a bar that even many traditional conservation projects do not clear, said Adam Cardilini, an environmental scientist at Deakin University in Victoria.

Chris Lean, a philosopher of biology at Macquarie University, said he believed in the fundamental conservation goal of “preserving the world as it is for its heritage value, for its ability to tell the story of life on Earth.” Still, he said he supported the cautious, limited use of new genomic tools, which may require us to reconsider some longstanding environmental values.

In some ways, assisted evolution is an argument — or, perhaps, an acknowledgment — that there is no stepping back, no future in which humans do not profoundly shape the lives and fates of wild creatures.

To Dr. Harley, it has become clear that preventing more extinctions will require human intervention, innovation and effort. “Let’s lean into that, not be daunted by it,” he said. “My view is that 50 years from now, biologists and wildlife managers will look back at us and say, ‘Why didn’t they take the steps and the opportunities when they had the chance?’”

Emily Anthes is a science reporter, writing primarily about animal health and science. She also covered the coronavirus pandemic. More about Emily Anthes

Chang W. Lee has been a photographer for The Times for 30 years, covering events throughout the world. He is currently based in Seoul. Follow him on Instagram @nytchangster . More about Chang W. Lee

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Introducing wildlife conservation practices through interactive video presentations, tree planting, and wildlife clubs.

Every year, KWCAO visits more than 135 of the nearly 700 schools in the district, providing interactive wildlife conservation presentations including videos, demonstrations, and discussions. Since our founding, we’ve reached more than 500 schools and 525,000 students. Since many schools do not have electricity, KWCAO brings its own generator, laptop, movie screen, and other equipment.

During the presentations, KWCAO volunteers use educational props to help the students learn about wildlife, its importance, and the benefits of conservation. They field questions and dispel common myths that wildlife is harmful or only valuable as a source of monetary income. Some presentations are indoors and some are outdoors and the students are so excited to participate. Wildlife conservation is not included in the typical school curriculum so for most, this is their first time learning to identify the animals, and hearing about how they live and care for families of their own. For some, this is their very first positive connection to nature. Using props such as masks and animal models brings an added sense of enthusiasm from the students.

At end of the each presentation, students are invited to take the KWCAO pledge to protect wildlife and receive wildlife trading cards, each marked with information and photos of a specific animal. Students who are part of their school’s wildlife club also receive tree seedlings to plant at home.

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Hunters, Anglers Welcome New Public Lands Rule that Restores Balance, Elevates Conservation

• Mary Jo Brooks
• Apr 18, 2024

DENVER — The Bureau of Land Management’s Public Lands Rule restores balance to the stewardship of public lands by putting conservation on par with other uses. The agency manages more than 245 million acres of public lands for many purposes, including fish and wildlife habitat, cultural resources, recreational opportunities, and energy needs. Over the years, however, these public lands have been degraded by drought, development, wildfire, and invasive species. 

“Hunters and anglers welcome this fresh opportunity to conserve and restore public lands. We know these lands intimately and we know many of them could use help to serve the fish and wildlife that rely on them,” said Aaron Kindle , director of sporting advocacy at the National Wildlife Federation. “We’re also excited to see conservation get it fair shake among the uses on BLM lands. For far too long extractive uses have been favored over conservation. We’re glad this decision restores balance.”  

“There are millions of acres of Bureau of Land Management land that are failing rangeland health standards. The Public Lands Rule provides a pathway for identifying landscapes with important ecological characteristics so they can be restored and conserved,” said Carlee Koutnik , program manager for the National Wildlife Federation’s Artemis Sportswoman Program. “Those restored lands will benefit wildlife, our sporting traditions, and the rural communities that depend on hunting and angling to fuel their economies.”  

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Interior Department Announces Expansion of Four National Wildlife Refuges to Conserve Habitat, Protect Species and Support Recreation

Date: Tuesday, April 16, 2024 Contact: [email protected]

WASHINGTON  — The Department of the Interior today announced the expansion of four existing national wildlife refuges, which will allow for the voluntary conservation of up to 1.13 million acres of wildlife habitat in New Mexico, North Carolina and Texas.

Investing in and expanding the National Wildlife Refuge System, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, furthers the Biden-Harris administration’s work to support community-driven efforts to conserve and restore the nation’s lands and waters through the  America the Beautiful  initiative . Under Secretary Haaland’s leadership, the Department has also established four new Refuges that will help conserve important fish and wildlife habitat, support working lands, and expand opportunities for outdoor recreation. 

"The National Wildlife Refuge System and the tremendous work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service play an invaluable role in providing vital habitat for wildlife species, offering outdoor recreation access to the public, and bolstering climate resilience across the country,” said Secretary Deb Haaland . “By recognizing that nature is one of our best allies in addressing the climate crisis, today’s expansion of our Refuge System helps advance our locally led vision to conserve and protect our treasured outdoor spaces for current and future generations.”

“Today’s announcements are the culmination of longstanding partnerships with states, conservation partners and local communities to conserve and restore vital landscapes that are important to all of us and numerous fish and wildlife species,” said Service Director Martha Williams . “By working with our partners including Tribes and private landowners, the Service will conserve important habitat that supports recreation and working lands, protects species, addresses the biodiversity crisis and builds resilience in the face of climate change.”  

The Service works with willing property owners to expand refuge boundaries through fee title or voluntary easement acquisitions. The new expansion areas include: 

• Roanoke River National Wildlife Refuge (NC) may now conserve up to 287,000 acres of floodplain habitat along a 137-mile stretch of the Roanoke River from Weldon to the Albemarle Sound, to support rare and at-risk species like the Atlantic sturgeon, cerulean and Swainson's warbers, bald eagles and migratory waterfowl. The refuge was established in 1991 to protect the forests in the Roanoke River floodplain, considered to be the largest intact, and least disturbed, bottomland forest ecosystem remaining in the mid-Atlantic region. 
• Aransas and Big Boggy National Wildlife Refuges (TX) may now conserve up to 150,000 additional acres of habitat in the Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes ecoregion of Texas to support whooping crane, Eastern black rail, Attwater's prairie chicken, mottled duck and other wintering waterfowl. Established in 1937, Aransas NWR serves as a refuge and breeding ground and for migratory birds and other wildlife and is best known as the wintering home of the last wild flock of endangered whooping cranes. Establishing in 1983 and designated an Internationally Significant Shorebird Site by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, Big Boggy NWR is a stronghold for the threatened eastern black rail and provides seasonal and year-round habitat for large populations of waterfowl, wading birds, waterbirds, and shorebirds. 
• Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge (NM and TX) may now conserve up to 700,000 acres of habitat in the Southern High Plains along the Texas-New Mexico border to support sandhill crane, pronghorn and lesser prairie chicken, as well as a full suite of other wildlife that rely on the grasslands, playa wetlands and saline lake habitats of the Central Grasslands. Established in 1935, the refuge is the oldest national wildlife refuge in Texas and is best known for hosting one of the largest concentrations of lesser sandhill cranes in North America.

The four final Land Protection Plans for these expansions were developed through public processes and informed by input from local landowners, Tribal leaders, state wildlife agencies, and other stakeholders. The Plans outline land protection priorities for these refuges that will inform the Service’s interest in acquiring parcels from landowners who are willing to sell property (fee-title) or property rights (conservation easements or cooperative agreements) through purchase or donation. 

The Service develops Land Protection Plans to fully evaluate the establishment of new refuges as well as expansions to existing refuges. The approved expansion boundaries, which guide future refuge acquisitions, include priority areas where conservation efforts will have the highest anticipated benefit to wildlife and habitat. These priorities all contribute to fulfilling the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, the Service has added over 500,000 acres through willing seller land acquisition and conservation easements. With today’s expansions, this Administration has approved the potential to acquire more than 1.6 million acres in fee-title and easements across the Refuge System through voluntary action. Notably, these efforts are locally supported and showcase a commitment to a collaborative and inclusive approach to conservation.

This year marks the 121st anniversary of the  National Wildlife Refuge System  – an unparalleled network of 571 national wildlife refuges, 38 wetland management districts and 5 marine national monuments. There is a national wildlife refuge within an hour’s drive of most major metropolitan areas – hosting some 67 million visits every year – almost all offering free admittance year-round. National wildlife refuges provide vital habitat for thousands of species and access to world-class recreation, from fishing, hunting and boating to nature watching, photography, and environmental education. 

Secretary Haaland Announces Up To $95 Million through the President’s Investing in America Agenda…

Secretary Haaland Protects Sacred, Sensitive Lands in New Mexico

Biden-Harris Administration Finalizes Strategy to Guide Balanced Management, Conservation of Public…

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Record $4.8 million raised for habitat restoration, other wildlife projects through 2023 conservation permits

SALT LAKE CITY (Apr. 17, 2024) — Dozens of projects benefiting wildlife — including wildlife research, conservation and habitat restoration projects — have been funded after a record $4.8 million was committed to the projects by participating conservation groups during the annual conservation permit project funding meeting held on April 10.

Read more about it here .

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Dur­ing the sec­ond half of the nine­teenth cen­tury the first menageries in Moscow were estab­lished as enter­tain­ment facil­i­ties. The first was founded in 1855 by two French­men (names unknown), while the Kreuzberg fam­ily owned a pri­vate menagerie that opened its door to the pub­lic in 1862 . Together these ani­mal col­lec­tions formed the heart of the Moscow Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den founded by the Soci­ety for Acclima­ti­za­tion of Plants and Ani­mals, which was estab­lished by pro­fes­sors of the Moscow State Uni­ver­sity. The ini­tial idea for such a zoo­log­i­cal gar­den came in 1857 , but it took the Soci­ety, includ­ing one of its found­ing fathers pro­fes­sor Ana­toly P. Bog­danov, until 1863 to be able to buy prop­erty for the future zoo. The Zoo was opened to vis­i­tors on 13 Feb­ru­ary 1864 at the loca­tion where it still exists until this very day. On open­ing day 287 ani­mals were on dis­play, of which 134 were domes­tic ani­mals, while the oth­ers were exotic spec­i­mens such as tigers, lions, jaguar, leop­ard and rhino.

In those days it was an unique exper­i­ment to cre­ate “a liv­ing museum out­doors,” as pro­fes­sor Bog­danov said, in such severe cli­matic con­di­tions of cen­tral Rus­sia. The pri­mary pur­pose of the Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den accord­ing to the mem­bers of the Soci­ety was:

to col­lect alive spec­i­mens of higher ver­te­brates ( firstly — the ani­mals of Russ­ian fauna) for sci­en­tific observations;

to estab­lish a col­lec­tion of typ­i­cal ani­mals that could serve edu­ca­tional pur­poses, i.e. dis­tri­b­u­tion of zoo­log­i­cal knowl­edge among the wide pub­lic communities;

to carry out sci­en­tific exper­i­ments and obser­va­tions of impor­tant ani­mals, espe­cially domes­tic ani­mals of Russ­ian breeds.

The Zoo was financed by the entrance fees and pri­vate dona­tions, includ­ing con­tri­bu­tions by mem­bers of the impe­r­ial fam­ily. In the first years the annual num­ber of vis­i­tors grew up to ten thou­sands. Nev­er­the­less, the incomes did not cover the expenses and the Moscow City Coun­cil refused to give finan­cial sup­port. So, the Zoo went into pri­vate hands of the Ryabinins’ fam­ily in 1874 . They trans­formed the Zoo into an amuse­ment park and in three years time ruined the place. In 1878 the Zoo was run by the Soci­ety for Acclima­ti­za­tion of Plants and Ani­mals again, includ­ing fund rais­ing activ­i­ties. This time the Soci­ety was able to man­age the Zoo suc­cess­fully, and even to buy a num­ber of ani­mals. But in the tur­moil of the Rev­o­lu­tion of 1905 the Zoo was severely dam­aged: the build­ings were ruined, the library was set on fire, many ani­mals per­ished. So, for the sec­ond time the Soci­ety was forced to turn over the Zoo to pri­vate owners.

Then in 1914 World War I broke out. For the Zoo this meant that in the autumn of 1914 the only build­ing that remain to this day was trans­formed from the director’s premises to a hos­pi­tal for wounded WWI sol­diers. The WWI impact com­pounded Russia’s suf­fer­ing from a num­ber of eco­nomic and social prob­lems, which resulted first in the 1917 Feb­ru­ary rev­o­lu­tion fol­lowed by the Octo­ber rev­o­lu­tion. In the after­math of the Great Octo­ber Social­ist Rev­o­lu­tion of 1917 and the fall of the Russ­ian Empire, the Soci­ety ceased to exist, and in 1919 the Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den was declared national prop­erty and trans­ferred under the respon­si­bil­ity of the min­istry of Cul­ture of the com­mu­nist Moscow par­lia­ment, the Mossovet. In 1922 it was trans­ferred to the author­ity of Moscow City Coun­cil and since then it has been sup­ported by the City Author­i­ties. Con­struc­tion work began on the Zoo grounds. The Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den premises almost dou­bled in size with the estab­lish­ment of the ‘New’ ter­ri­tory on the oppo­site side of Bol­shaya Gruzin­skaya street. New exhibits, which fol­lowed the prin­ci­ple of Carl Hagenbeck’s bar-​less enclo­sure design were estab­lished. One of the most inter­est­ing exhibits of the Zoo called ‘Ani­mal Island’ still exists. It was a high stony rock sur­rounded by a deep water ditch that sep­a­rated the vis­i­tors from bears, tigers, lions and other large preda­tors on the ‘Island’. The total size at the time was nearly 18 hectares.

In 1926 the Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den was renamed ‘Zoo­log­i­cal Park’. At that time the range of activ­i­ties extended, the ani­mal col­lec­tion increased con­sid­er­ably with expe­di­tions col­lect­ing wildlife in Cen­tral Asia, the Far East and the Cau­ca­sus. New depart­ments were estab­lished, focussed on for instance sci­en­tific research, edu­ca­tion, vet­eri­nary sci­ence and nutri­tion. In those same years Moscow Zoo was the first zoo in the world where edu­ca­tional activ­i­ties were the main priority.

In 1924 the Zoo had estab­lished the Young Biol­o­gists Club that gath­ered like-​minded young peo­ple that joined in real sci­en­tific research. Many of them became a Zoo employee. The Club was founded by Petr Man­teifel, who also was the pio­neer father of the sci­ence called ‘zoo biol­ogy’. Man­teifel and his young biol­o­gists dis­cov­ered a way of arti­fi­cial breed­ing sables (Martes zibel­lina), which were on the verge of extinc­tion due to man’s insa­tiable pur­suit for its expen­sive fur. In the 1930 s dur­ing Stalin’s great purge many mem­bers of the Young Biol­o­gists Club were arrested accused of spread­ing anti-​soviet pro­pa­ganda and liberal-​minded ideas and hav­ing con­tact with Ger­man col­leagues at Berlin zoo, some were even exe­cuted as for­eign spies. The Club was con­sid­ered a non-​governmental organ­i­sa­tion beyond the direct con­trol of the author­i­ties, which in fact was partly true because the Club was a real democ­racy, with mem­ber­ship avail­able to all.

Although many ani­mals were evac­u­ated and many of the zoo staff were called to arms at the begin­ning of World War II the Zoo was kept open. Of the 750 employ­ees at autumn 1941 only 220 remained on the staff, most of them women. Get­ting enough food for the ani­mals was a con­stant chal­lenge, for instance car­casses of killed horse at the bat­tle­field around Moscow were brought to the zoo. More than six mil­lion peo­ple vis­ited the Zoo from 1941 to 1945 to enjoy the sights of ani­mals that had remained.

At wartime the sci­en­tific work pro­ceeded, per­haps even more intense than before or after the war. The sci­en­tific staff worked espe­cially on devel­op­ment of antibi­otics. But the most impor­tant mis­sion of the Zoo dur­ing the war was to give peo­ple hope. It pro­duced the illu­sion of a peace­ful life until peo­ple sur­vived through the des­per­a­tion of the war with the Red Army sol­diers as the most fre­quent vis­i­tors of the Zoo. Which were given the plea­sure of watch­ing new­born off­spring even dur­ing the war.

Dur­ing the soviet union period ( 1922 − 1991 ) not many highly ranked peo­ple cared about the zoo — no soviet leader had any inter­est in it. The city encroached on the zoo premises, while the zoo needed addi­tional space for the ever expand­ing zoo pop­u­la­tion of ani­mals. Because the breed­ing results were still excellent.

The Zoo lived up to the goal it had set for itself and made edu­ca­tional activ­i­ties the main pri­or­ity. Zoo staff dis­trib­uted knowl­edge in the field of nat­ural his­tory and tried to raise the pub­lic aware­ness and con­cern about the neces­sity for wildlife con­ser­va­tion. The zoo assisted school­child­ren and stu­dents with study­ing biol­ogy, actively par­tic­i­pated in sci­en­tific research, and actively con­tributed to sci­en­tific pub­li­ca­tions. So, the Zoo became one of the larger sci­en­tific insti­tu­tions in Moscow. And of course it still was the favourite recre­ational place for Moscow cit­i­zens and those who vis­ited the city.

As off 1974 when Igos Sos­novsky retired as direc­tor and his suc­ces­sor Vladimir Spit­syn took over Moscow Zoo became part of the inter­na­tional zoo com­mu­nity again. Sos­novsky as a WWII vet­eran hadn’t been able to brush aside the fear of repres­sion and avoided all inter­na­tional con­tacts for some rea­son. Spit­syn restored all inter­na­tional activ­i­ties from before the war and the Zoo became mem­ber of many Euro­pean and Inter­na­tional Breed­ing Pro­grammes in which it exchanged its rare and endan­gered ani­mals, shared expe­ri­ence and information.

Although already in the 1970 s improve­ment of all zoo facil­i­ties was needed and ideas of a new zoo in another region of Moscow were launched, noth­ing hap­pened due to local eco­nom­i­cal and social prob­lems. By the end of the 1980 s the Zoo’s con­di­tion became alarm­ing. Facil­i­ties were dete­ri­o­rat­ing, enclo­sures were dilap­i­dated and tech­ni­cal equip­ment needed to be replaced as well. And while a few improve­ments had been achieved — such as a par­tial ren­o­va­tion of the main entrance, the mon­key house and lion house — urgent mea­sures were still needed.

Then, in 1992 the new Moscow gov­ern­ment made a deci­sion to start the most ambi­tious recon­struc­tion project in Moscow Zoo’s his­tory with the first stage of the project to be com­pleted by 1997 , when the 850 th anniver­sary of the City would be cel­e­brated. Ana­toly A. Andreev who had been involved in the Zoo’s design and archi­tec­ture since the 1970 s headed the team of archi­tects. The project’s ren­o­va­tion objec­tives were focussed at (a) preser­va­tion or par­tial ren­o­va­tion of the his­tor­i­cally valu­able build­ings and exist­ing pools, (b) reduc­tion of the noise from the sur­round­ing streets, © con­nec­tion of the Old and the New ter­ri­tory via a foot­bridge, and (d) expan­sion of the Old ter­ri­tory by incor­po­rat­ing adja­cent areas and buildings.

Besides the preser­va­tion and ren­o­va­tion of almost all impor­tant zoo con­struc­tions, includ­ing the ones that actu­ally were dilap­i­dated, many new enclo­sures and facil­i­ties were built. Already in 1993 the foot­bridge that con­nected the Old and New ter­ri­tory was com­pleted. It allowed vis­i­tors to avoid cross­ing the busy B. Gruzin­skaya street with its heavy traf­fic. In 1993 other con­struc­tions were com­pleted as well, such as an enclo­sure for large birds of prey and a com­plex of enclo­sures for feline species, includ­ing leop­ards, Pal­las’ cats and lynx. Next, the Hagenbeck-​style ‘Ani­mal Island’, one of the most remark­able exhibits in the New ter­ri­tory, was ren­o­vated. The his­toric appear­ance with enclo­sures that resem­bled the nat­ural habi­tats of Amur tiger, striped hyena, African wild dog and Asian black bear was pre­served. Later they intro­duced Asian lions in one of the enclo­sures around the large rock in the cen­tre of the ‘island’. Dur­ing the ren­o­va­tion they cre­ated the Exo­tar­ium, which held sev­eral aquar­i­ums, inside the rock on the sec­ond floor.

The fol­low­ing years many more enclo­sures were ren­o­vated, besides the new research and vet­eri­nar­ian facil­i­ties that were put into oper­a­tion in 1994 . In 1996 , the main entrance itself (fea­tur­ing a small arti­fi­cial water­fall) was recon­structed. The same year the old, dilap­i­dated ele­phant com­plex was demol­ished and a new ele­phant house was erected at the same spot, while the inhab­i­tants (four African ele­phants and four Asian ele­phants) were tem­porar­ily moved to a a for­mer tram depot that was com­pletely ren­o­vated and spe­cially equipped. A new children’s zoo was opened in the New ter­ri­tory, includ­ing a children’s the­atre that organ­ises shows with edu­ca­tional ele­ments. And besides sev­eral aviaries, a pavil­ion for water birds was built on the shore of the large pond in the New territory.

Although in those days 4 addi­tional hectares of space was added to the for­mer exist­ing 18 hectares, the Zoo still lacked space to cre­ate favourable con­di­tions for their species to breed. And its loca­tion in the cen­tre of Moscow didn’t con­tribute to the favourable breed­ing con­di­tions they wanted of course. There­fore, the 200 hectares area near the city of Voloko­lamsk (about 100 km from Moscow) that was given to the Zoo in 1996 for the estab­lish­ment of a breed­ing sta­tion was very much wel­comed (see also Breed­ing Cen­tre ).

The first major stage of the gen­eral recon­struc­tion of the Moscow zoo rep­re­sents a unique event. Not only over 50 facil­i­ties have been ren­o­vated ( 90 % of all exist­ing facil­i­ties) and newly built, but it was achieved in such a short period of time. But main­te­nance and small and larger refur­bish­ment is ongo­ing busi­ness in a zoo. So, i n 2002 , the Moscow City Gov­ern­ment and the City Coun­cil allo­cated the nec­es­sary funds to start con­struc­tion of a new pavil­ion for the Asian ele­phants. In 2003 the three ele­phants could move house already, and in spring 2009 , the first new­born ele­phant calf was welcomed.

The Moscow Zoo­log­i­cal Park has come a long way from the small zoo­log­i­cal gar­den it was to the large insti­tu­tion of sci­en­tific research, edu­ca­tion, con­ser­va­tion and recre­ation it is today. And due to the dynam­ics of the stan­dards used in the zoo com­mu­nity regard­ing ani­mal health and wel­fare, Moscow Zoo is con­stantly improv­ing its facil­i­ties, also dur­ing 2014 cel­e­brat­ing its 150 th anniversary.

(Source: Moscow Zoo web­site; Zoo with a Human Face, to the 150 th anniver­sary of the Moscow Zoo — a doc­u­men­tary by Darya Vio­lina and Sergei Pavlovsky, 2014 ; Zoo and Aquar­ium His­tory by Ver­non N. Kisling, Jr., 2001 ; Wikipedia)

An account of 150 years of his­tory of the Moscow Zoo

(A doc­u­men­tary by Darya Vio­lina and Sergei Pavlovsky)

The his­tory of Moscow Zoo shown through the per­spec­tive of the lives of the peo­ple who have been impor­tant to the Zoo’s devel­op­ment and con­tin­u­ous progress over those many years since 1864 . Thou­sands of pho­tographs, hun­dreds of chron­i­cles, accounts and rec­ol­lec­tions that have pre­served the story that began so long ago, against all odds, and lasts unin­ter­rupted to this day. A doc­u­men­tary about those who have devoted their lives to serv­ing a noble and reward­ing cause, those who have started from scratch, those who main­tained that work and about those who revive the Zoo as off today.

(Source: sdpavlovskiy YouTube channel)

20 . 06 . 2014

Finally, Moscow Zoo is paid a visit. I have been look­ing for­ward to this for quite some time. It has been on my to-​do list since I learnt about the large col­lec­tion of feline species on dis­play at the Zoo. So, I am here on this sunny day in June to sat­isfy my curios­ity, in the year they cel­e­brate the Zoo’s 150 th anniversary.

I am enter­ing as one of the 1 , 5 mil­lion pay­ing atten­dance yearly. Which is not even half of the total num­ber of vis­i­tors a year. This is about 4 mil­lion, because there are spe­cific cat­e­gories (e.g. dis­abled, pen­sion­ers, chil­dren, stu­dents, etc.) for whom the admis­sion is free.

OLD TER­RI­TORY

I turn left after the main entrance to visit the large preda­tor sec­tion of the Old ter­ri­tory. Not that only here you will find preda­tors, but the great­est part of their preda­tor col­lec­tion is grouped in this sec­tion. I will come back to the group­ing of Moscow Zoo’s ani­mal col­lec­tion later. After hav­ing walked along a fence that blocks most of the views on the work in progress at the lake I arrive at what they call here the ‘trop­i­cal cats’ sec­tion: Ben­gal tiger (unfor­tu­nately the genet­i­cally aber­rant ver­sion — a white tiger), jaguar and chee­tah. Both the tiger and the jaguar have their indoor enclo­sures in the same house built at the perime­ter of the premises. The chee­tahs have their shel­ter for the night and bad weather in their out­door pad­dock, so that can­not be vis­ited. The tiger and the jaguar how­ever have inter­est­ing hous­ing that serves the needs for both the cats and the vis­i­tors. The lat­ter are pleased with Asian and South Amer­i­can (Inca) orna­ments to make sure they under­stand the geo­graph­i­cal ori­gin of the species. While the walls have murals rep­re­sent­ing the species’ orig­i­nal habi­tat … Machu Pichu for the jaguar. The ani­mals them­selves have var­i­ous enrich­ment fea­tures at their dis­posal, includ­ing high level obser­va­tion posts, in rather small exhibits. The out­door facil­i­ties for these two species are acces­si­ble from the indoors. It has nat­ural veg­e­ta­tion, but not a lot. Like­wise there are not a lot of options to shel­ter from extreme weather or loud crowds. Although the cats have access to sev­eral rest­ing posts at dif­fer­ent lev­els, these enclo­sures can do with some improve­ments — at least more veg­e­ta­tion — to make them bet­ter fit for pur­pose, in my opin­ion. The enor­mous expo­sure of the cats is also due to the fact that they use win­dows to sep­a­rate ani­mal from man along almost the total length of the enclosures.

When I walk the few steps to the entrance of the Bear House, which is like the jaguar and tiger indoor enclo­sure built at the edge of the Zoo grounds, I pass in between the Pal­las’ cat exhibit and a sec­ond jaguar exhibit. The Pal­las’ cat has a flat grassy area with three large trees, some shrubs and a poten­tial pond (when filled with water) avail­able in its out­door enclo­sure. Win­dows all around and a wire mesh roof pre­vent the cat from flee­ing this scenery that doesn’t resem­ble the cat’s orig­i­nal Himalyan habi­tat. Across the foot­path there’s a jaguar enclo­sure that’s more inter­est­ing than the one directly neigh­bour­ing the tiger. This one has a small stream and loads of veg­e­ta­tion and a mul­ti­level rest­ing plat­form. Still the ani­mal is quite exposed.

The Bear House pro­vides a nice and secluded area where three adja­cent bear enclo­sures houses sloth bear and spec­ta­cled bear. As a vis­i­tor you walk via a roofed cor­ri­dor more or less in the dark along the enclo­sures hav­ing good views on the exhibit via man-​sized win­dows. The enclo­sures have a dry shal­low moat at the visitor’s side, but I don’t think this with­hold the bears from com­ing close to the win­dows. The enclo­sures are small but almost com­pletely filled with enrich­ment fea­tures includ­ing var­i­ous plat­forms, a tree trunk struc­ture, rub­ber ham­mocks and nat­ural veg­e­ta­tion. Con­sid­er­ing the design I think these enclo­sures offer peace and quiet for the bears, unless peo­ple start bang­ing the win­dows of course.

In slightly larger enclo­sures they keep Amur leop­ard, snow leop­ard and cougar ( Puma con­color ). At all of these felid species enclo­sures the dis­tance between the pub­lic bar­rier and the fence does allow con­tact when peo­ple lean far forward.

Fur­ther along the foot­path around the cor­ner the arc­tic fox and the dhole are housed in enclo­sures that have a sim­i­lar inte­rior design as those for the felids. Despite the fact that these species live under dif­fer­ent nat­ural cir­cum­stances in the wild (for­est and tun­dra habi­tat respectively).

When I walk back to have a look at the large birds of prey aviary I can­not pre­vent myself to have a brief look at the giraffe enclo­sure as well. It’s obvi­ously a relic of the past that is not fit for pur­pose any­more. Still they have one retic­u­lated giraffe on dis­play at a sad­den­ing small area. It loves to be fed by the pub­lic that doesn’t care about the warn­ing not to feed the ani­mals. On the other side of the build­ing a sim­i­lar piti­ful sit­u­a­tion for the sin­gle white-​tailed gnu can be seen.

One of the most extra­or­di­nary group of species brought together on dis­play can be found right after the row of preda­tor enclo­sures. The maned wolf from South Amer­ica has the red-​necked wal­laby and emu from Aus­tralia as neigh­bour. But also in the same area the African wild dog is on dis­play as well as white-​tailed gnu (Africa) and kiang (Asia) in the row of sta­bles along the rim of the premises.

The rac­coon exhibit is worth men­tion­ing con­sid­er­ing the afore­men­tioned acci­dent risks. It has a very typ­i­cal enclo­sure design with elec­tri­cal wire on top of win­dows sur­round­ing the entire exhibit. The elec­tri­cal wire is within reach of the pub­lic. So, there are numer­ous warn­ing signs! But why they installed elec­tri­cal wire on top of win­dows that are unclimbable for rac­coons? To keep out the pub­lic perhaps?

In the bird house, in the far end cor­ner from the main entrance, birds from all geo­graph­i­cal regions are grouped together, includ­ing Hum­boldt pen­guin and African pen­guin. The house con­sists of two part with one part half empty, and has also very com­mon species on dis­play, such as wild turkey, com­mon pheas­ant and Euro­pean hedge­hog. Out­side this build­ing sev­eral aviaries com­prise a large array of par­rot species (South Amer­ica and Australia).

Pro­ceed­ing with my tour around the Old ter­ri­tory I have a look at the Asian ele­phant house and its sur­round­ing grounds. The fancy steel with blue details of the ele­phant house doesn’t appeal to me, but that is just a mat­ter of taste. It is def­i­nitely the most mod­ern exhibit in the Zoo I’ve seen yet, in style and in size, with a nice pool at the visitor’s side.

I skip the rep­tile house to save some time, and money too, because an addi­tional fee com­plies. So I walk straight to another mod­ern enclo­sure — the bar-​less and moated wolf exhibit. Although it has a Hagenbeck-​style design, the space avail­able for the wolves is ridicu­lously small. The wolves will never be able to cross the water-​filled moat and climb the wall and thus break out, still there is impres­sive elec­tri­cal wiring in place on top of the wall. Again, prob­a­bly to keep out the public.

Mak­ing my way to the foot­bridge that con­nects the Old and New ter­ri­tory I pass along a very old-​fashioned row of enclo­sures built in a semi­cir­cle in front of the 16 metres high sculp­ture by Zurab Tsereteli called ‘Tree of Fairy Tales’, 1996 . The enclo­sures house sev­eral species of mustel­idae (sable, Euro­pean pole­cat, stone marten), as well as African wild cats. Then fol­lowed by sev­eral aviaries again. At this point I am really lost regard­ing the way they group the Zoo’s ani­mal collection.

NEW TER­RI­TORY

Pro­ceed­ing clock­wise I find the doors of the Trop­i­cal House closed for ren­o­va­tion. So, no but­ter­flies for me this time. But in one of the two spa­cious aviaries around this house I dis­cover sev­eral ducks, such as the man­darin duck and the black-​bellied whistling duck, together with the com­mon kestrel ( Falco tin­nun­cu­lus ), though nei­ther rare nor endangered.

Then a rather spe­cial exhibit appears, the Ani­mal Island, which was devel­oped in the 1920 s as one of the first Hagenbeck-​style enclo­sures in the New ter­ri­tory. Although it took some ren­o­va­tion activ­i­ties it still exists to this very day. In the cen­tre of this moated area they have erected a fake ruined fortress, which serves as the back­ground for the species in the sur­round­ing exhibits. These bar-​less exhibits have a more mod­ern appear­ance but it isn’t nec­es­sar­ily an improve­ment for the ani­mals. For instance the Asian black bear has a bare envi­ron­ment with minor enrich­ment avail­able and no veg­e­ta­tion, but the brown bear is even worse off in a sim­i­lar enclo­sure but next to noth­ing of enrich­ment fea­tures. The tun­dra wolf ( Canis lupus alba ) and the striped hyena have a lit­tle bet­ter place at their dis­posal, but the Asian lions have by far the best enclo­sure. They have sev­eral rest­ing plat­forms, trees and a stream that ends in the moat. Again to save time I skip an exhibit. This time the Exo­tar­ium with its aquar­i­ums that has been cre­ated inside the ruined fortress and by the way requires an addi­tional fee to get in.

One of the rare areas in Moscow Zoo where you find mixed-​species exhibits is called ‘Fauna of the Savan­nah’. It has a South Amer­i­can sec­tion with capy­bara vicuna and gua­naco, and — very impor­tantly — a large pool at the dis­posal of the largest rodent on earth. Though absolutely not endan­gered, these water-​loving capy­baras should have access to water at all times, in my opin­ion. The real savan­nah area with African species has sev­eral enclo­sures. A mixed species exhibit with sable ante­lope and dikdik. And Grevy’s zebra together with ostrich and giraffe. Also this time there’s only one giraffe in the pad­dock. The loca­tion of the meerkat enclo­sure is well cho­sen, because when they sit on top of one of their hills they can watch the other ani­mals. Although it is the largest and prob­a­bly the most mod­ern facil­ity at the Moscow Zoo I still think it is dis­ap­point­ingly mediocre com­pared to other zoos I have seen in Europe and North America.

Before I go to the pri­mate sec­tion I buy myself an ice cream and walk along the horse sta­bles on the east­ern edge of the New ter­ri­tory premises. Look­ing for an answer to the ques­tion “why are there horse sta­bles at this place?” The ques­tion still waits for an answer.

At Moscow Zoo they keep both Suma­tran as Bornean orang­utans, which is quite unusual. The out­doors for the five indi­vid­u­als, includ­ing 2 young, of the Suma­tran species looks impres­sive due to the enor­mously high rock face at the rear. The wall looks extra impres­sive because it is rather close to the view­ing win­dows. Unfor­tu­nately, the exhibit lacks trees and veg­e­ta­tion other than grass while the enrich­ment is scant and I don’t see puz­zle feed­ers. The Bornean orang­utans have a sim­i­lar out­door enclo­sure, but it is sug­gested that olive baboons ( Papio anu­bis ) are on dis­play here as well. It could be that they alter­nate in the same out­door enclo­sure, but this is not very clear.

The west­ern low­land goril­las also have a sim­i­lar out­door enclo­sure design due to which the ani­mals are enor­mously exposed to the inquis­i­tive pub­lic. Con­sid­er­ing the num­ber of young­sters Moscow Zoo appears to be hav­ing good results breed­ing orang­utans and gorillas.

Indoors, all the great ape exhibits have much enrich­ment and jungle-​like murals, but the agile gib­bon has even more enrich­ment inside. I haven’t seen a spe­cific out­door enclo­sure for the agile gib­bon but it could be pos­si­ble that it alter­nates with the Suma­tran orang­utans. Only this enclo­sure lacks high trees or other options for the gib­bon to brachi­ate, which is its nat­ural behav­iour in the canopy of the gibbon’s native habi­tat, the rain­forests of south­east Asia.

The ter­rar­ium build­ing, located behind the Pri­mate House, is beau­ti­fully dec­o­rated with lit­tle mosaic tiles. They have the usual row of exhibits, but in this case espe­cially the larger rep­tiles and tor­toises (python, croc­o­diles, alli­ga­tor, tor­toise) are kept. And out­side they have two giant tor­toise species, the Aldabra and the Gala­pa­gos tortoise.

On my return to the exit I pass the exhibits of a few of the many preda­tor species they have on dis­play at Moscow Zoo. The polar bear is pro­vided with a big heap of arti­fi­cial ice, but that’s about it when it comes to enrich­ment, though there are some plas­tic drums to play with. The enclo­sure as such is the pro­to­type of polar bear enclo­sures world­wide, rear wall of cement and large bricks, con­crete floor, large and deep water-​filled moat. Unfor­tu­nately, again here the annoy­ing reflect­ing win­dows. The yellow-​throated marten I do not see, and the same counts for the Eurasian otter in its large elon­gated out­door exhibit with a shal­low pool along the whole length. It must be great to see the sub­merged otters swim in this pool.

Con­clu­sion There are sev­eral ways to group a col­lec­tion of ani­mals which can sup­port a zoo’s edu­ca­tional efforts. Of course, some peo­ple just come to the zoo to be enter­tained, but when an indi­vid­ual is ready to learn some things the worst thing you can do is con­fuse him or her. And to be fairly hon­est, con­fus­ing it is. Some­times they group the col­lec­tion accord­ing their tax­o­nomic tree, which is the case with the felids, the bird species and the pri­mates. Then again they have decided to present the col­lec­tion by geo­graph­i­cal ori­gin, like in the ‘Fauna of the Savan­nah’, or accord­ing orig­i­nal habi­tat like the mountain-​dwelling tur and mark­hor. And at some point they just make a mess of the group­ing, for instance in the area with the maned wolf, the red-​necked wal­laby and oth­ers. In the end it seems the Zoo just want to have on dis­play as many species as pos­si­ble, because all species that live in herds they keep them in small num­bers. I do under­stand that it is not easy, requires tough deci­sions and cer­tainly is not cheap to rearrange your entire col­lec­tion, espe­cially when it is that huge as it is here at Moscow Zoo. Any­way, fur­ther ren­o­va­tion is fore­seen and prob­a­bly some rethink­ing as well.

I hope that they get rid of all these win­dows they have at so many exhibits. For some sit­u­a­tions it is inevitable I under­stand, but I sin­cerely hope they will return to the orig­i­nal Hagen­beck idea of bar-​less enclo­sures, tak­ing into account mod­ern hus­bandry stan­dards of course. As the posi­tion of the sun makes it some­times hard to get even the slight­est glimpse of the ani­mals due to the reflec­tions in the win­dows. And last but not least they have the ten­dency to have win­dows all around or at more than 50 per­cent of the perime­ter of an enclo­sure. Most of the time lead­ing to more expo­sure of the ani­mals to the pub­lic and pos­si­ble unrest.

Suma­tran orang­utan young­sters at Moscow Zoo

Just another day at the zoo for these orang­utans ( Pongo abelii ) — noth­ing much excit­ing going on in this safe and secure envi­ron­ment. But wouldn’t it be nice to see them swing­ing and romp­ing in the forests of Sumatra.….

Rac­coons at Moscow Zoo

Rac­coons are known for their habit to clean their food in the water before eat­ing it. It seems they also want to have a clean ball before play­ing with it.

Breed­ing Centre

Infor­ma­tion and education, zoo details, breed­ing farm.

The Moscow Zoo has always been try­ing to cre­ate the most favourable con­di­tions for their ani­mals to ful­fil their basic needs. Not only for ani­mal health and wel­fare pur­poses but also to breed the ani­mals suc­cess­fully. These spe­cific breed­ing con­di­tions could not be achieved due to its loca­tion in the City cen­tre and the lack of space. In 1996 the Zoo came into pos­ses­sion of an area of 200 hectares near the city of Voloko­lamsk (about 100 km from Moscow). In this pic­turesque hilly area of the for­mer quar­ries of the Sychovo min­ing fac­tory, with streams, springs and arti­fi­cial ponds bet­ter oppor­tu­ni­ties were avail­able for breed­ing var­i­ous — pre­dom­i­nantly rare — species of animals.

The main goals of the Breed­ing Cen­tre, besides main­tain­ing rare and endan­gered species of ani­mals, are estab­lish­ing breed­ing pairs and groups and devel­op­ing new hus­bandry meth­ods. Since exces­sive dis­tur­bance is likely to have adverse effect on the breed­ing efforts, the actual Breed­ing Cen­tre is not open to the public.

The con­struc­tion of the Breed­ing Cen­tre started in March 1996 . The first inhab­i­tants of the Cen­tre were birds of prey and water­fowl and they have been suc­cess­fully breed­ing birds ever since. The col­lec­tion of water­fowl has grown notably since the begin­ning. Apart from the numer­ous mal­lards and ruddy shel­ducks, the inhab­i­tants of the ponds include pin­tails, pochards, tufted ducks and black geese of the genus Branta. Bewick’s swans are thriv­ing, rais­ing their chicks every year. Japan­ese, white-​naped and Siber­ian cranes are also breed­ing suc­cess­fully and many other species, includ­ing par­rots. The breed­ing cen­tre for birds of prey is con­tin­u­ously expand­ing, with Himalayan grif­fon vul­tures, golden eagles, impe­r­ial eagles, Steller’s sea eagles, and black vul­tures among its most promi­nent inhab­i­tants. Reg­u­lar breed­ing has also been achieved in saker fal­cons ( Falco cher­rug ).

They keep car­niv­o­rous mam­mals as well at the Breed­ing Cen­tre. These include endan­gered species such as Amur leop­ard, Pal­las’ cat, chee­tah, Amur tiger, dhole, wolver­ine, and yellow-​throated marten. Of these species the Amur leop­ard is listed Crit­i­cally Endan­gered accord­ing the IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species™ , with about 45 indi­vid­u­als left in the wild. The Zoo’s track record says they have pro­duced off­spring from Pal­las’ cat, dhole, yellow-​throated marten, and Amur tiger.

For the ungu­lates that are kept at the Cen­tre the envi­ron­ment is almost ideal. There are bac­trian camels as well as kiangs, Saiga antelopes, blue sheep and vicu­nas. Hoofed ani­mals orig­i­nat­ing from moun­tain­ous areas have large pad­docks at their dis­posal that are sit­u­ated on the slopes of the sur­round­ing hills, more or less sim­i­lar to their nat­ural habitat.

Besides the more rare and endan­gered species the Cen­tre also has an inter­est­ing col­lec­tion of domes­tic hens, a horse sta­ble and a dog-​breeding cen­tre, mainly for the breed­ing of Cen­tral Asian sheep dogs. Fur­ther­more, there is a small quail farm and a poul­try farm with layer hens.

More­over a sub­sidiary farm in Loto­shino houses some cat­tle, smaller live­stock, and the main herd of bac­trian camels and yaks. The area of the sub­sidiary farm is about 51 hectares and it com­prises hay­fields, pas­tures, a sheep­fold and an api­ary. Most impor­tantly it pro­vides the Moscow Zoo with eco­log­i­cal feed for its animals.

The Breed­ing Centre’s col­lec­tion com­prises 10 species of car­ni­vores, 6 species of ungu­lates, 74 species of birds and a great num­ber of domes­tic ani­mals, but the col­lec­tion is expand­ing con­stantly. Although it is still closed to vis­i­tors, the Zoo’s goal is to open part of the farm (as they call the Breed­ing Cen­tre them­selves) to out­side vis­i­tors soon. They plan to cre­ate an addi­tional safari park at the loca­tion of the Breed­ing Centre.

(Source: Moscow Zoo web­site; Zoo with a Human Face, to the 150 th anniver­sary of the Moscow Zoo — a doc­u­men­tary by Darya Vio­lina and Sergei Pavlovsky, 2014 )

Infor­ma­tion pan­els and Edu­ca­tion at the Zoo

First thing to be noticed of course is that the infor­ma­tion on the pan­els around Moscow Zoo is given in the Russ­ian lan­guage. And no other lan­guage. This is not unex­pected as most of the infor­ma­tion pro­vided in Moscow is only in Russ­ian. For­tu­nately, the name of the species on dis­play is given in Eng­lish as well, together with its sci­en­tific name. As far as I can tell and under­stand no infor­ma­tion is pro­vided on the species con­ser­va­tion sta­tus (or IUCN Red List sta­tus). On the new revamped web­site this infor­ma­tion is avail­able but only in Russ­ian and no icons or logos are used, so you have to rely on machine trans­la­tion ser­vices. The pan­els show geo­graphic maps of the species dis­tri­b­u­tion and some­times the IUCN sta­tus and if the species is part of EEP /​ESB, as well. But this is not done con­sis­tently, and I am not sure how reli­able the infor­ma­tion is. Nev­er­the­less I have been able to find on the inter­net a list of species that rep­re­sent the Moscow Zoo con­tri­bu­tion to the Euro­pean Endan­gered species Pro­grammes (EEPs).

There is also a zoo school that is pri­mar­ily focussed on chil­dren, and I assume that the Young Biol­o­gists Club still exist. Fore­most because it has been very suc­cess­fully deliv­er­ing a range of impor­tant staff mem­bers over the years.

• Direc­tions

direc­tions to Moscow Zoo

Address : B. Gruzin­skaya 1 123242 Moscow Rus­sia

pub­lic transport

The metro sys­tem can be quite intim­i­dat­ing for for­eign­ers because of the lan­guage issue, but I can assure you it is the best way of nav­i­gat­ing the city. The metro sta­tions are the most beau­ti­ful I’ve ever seen and buy­ing tick­ets can be done using sign lan­guage (see the tri­pad­vi­sor web­site how it is done). When you are not able to deci­pher the Cyril­lic alpha­bet on the fly it is best to pre­pare your metro trip before­hand and make sure that you know how many stops you have to travel from the depar­ture sta­tion to your des­ti­na­tion, includ­ing trans­fer sta­tions. Another way of travel sup­port is the Art-​Lebedev metro map , which has the names of the sta­tions both in Russ­ian and Eng­lish men­tioned. The most fancy way how­ever is by using the Russ­ian metro app on your smart­phone. The Yandex.Metro app — pro­vides a bilin­gual metro map which can even build con­nec­tion routes for you and esti­mate travel times.

Moscow Zoo’s main entrance is con­ve­niently located right across from the Krasno­pres­nen­skaya metro sta­tion on the Brown Cir­cu­lar line (no. 5 ). Also the Bar­rikad­naya metro sta­tion is rather close to the main entrance, Pur­ple line (no. 7 ).

by bicy­cle

As men­tioned already Moscow is a very large city. So, it really depends on how close you already are to the Zoo if cycling could be an option. The obvi­ous chal­lenge is the traf­fic which has grown dra­mat­i­cally in recent years — the cen­tre of Moscow is a non-​stop traf­fic jam. Fur­ther­more the poor dri­ving habits of Moscow motorists are noto­ri­ous, from road rage to rear-​ending. In addi­tion, knee-​deep snow and the grimy slush that inevitably fol­lows dur­ing the long and fear­some win­ters doesn’t make cycling in Moscow a very attrac­tive mode of trans­port. Nev­er­the­less the City Coun­cil tries to make the city more bike-​friendly with a bike rental scheme like in many major cities around the world. I decided to use the metro.

There is no ded­i­cated park­ing avail­able at the Zoo, but if you really want to drive your­self you can get direc­tions below by pro­vid­ing your point of departure.

From : --  Choose source      -- Moscow Zoo or

Down­load the zoo map here .

Goal: 7000 tigers in the wild

“ Tiger map” ( CC BY 2 . 5 ) by Sander­son et al., 2006 .

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Tallinn zoo­log­i­cal gar­dens, tallinna loomaaed, stadt haag zoo, tier­park stadt haag, salzburg zoo, krefeld zoo, cerza zoo, cerza parc zoologique lisieux, bratislava zoo, rheine zoo, natur­zoo rheine.

Second Year Fossil ID Workshop Another Success

On April 13,  Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery held another Fossil ID workshop....and it ROCKED! Last year's event was such a success, that after it was over, staff immediately started planning for another. This year's workshop was very well-attended, with lots of new faces. The addition of children's activities made the workshop fun and inviting for all ages. With over 40 in attendance, adults and children both were engaged and learning during the workshop. 

Adults listened to Dr. David Meyer, Professor of Geology at University of Cincinnati, give a presentation about fossils. After the slide show, he then identified fossils that were brought in by participants. This led to some time for questions to be answered by Dr. Meyer.  Children that attended dug for fossils in the classroom, made fossil rubbings, and colored fossil pictures. Friends of Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery Vice President Shevawn Foley read fossil related books to the children, and brought a dinosaur puppet as an added treat. It was a fun and informative day for all! 

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