Trying new food enrichment with picky animals like...


blake kathryn
we're not kids anymore.

titsay

â
taylor price

dirt enthusiast
i don't do bad sauce passes
AnasAbdin
Aqua Utopiaď˝ćľˇăŽĺşă§č¨ćśăç´Ąă

Product Placement
d e v o n

@theartofmadeline

Andulka
Show & Tell
Cosimo Galluzzi
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
trying on a metaphor

seen from Canada
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seen from T1

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@zookeeperproblems
Trying new food enrichment with picky animals like...

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In honor of vulture awareness day, let me ask you a question.
Do you love vultures?
You should.
Hereâs why:
1, They are simultaneously the most majestic, and the most f*cking derpy of birbs. Observe -
2. THEYâRE SO FUCKING BADASS. We all know that they eat dead things. Eww, right? Wrong. Theyâre capable of digesting fucking rabies, cholera, hundreds of strains of bacteria that would straight up kill your ass given the chance. They deserve ALL of the respect, but they donât get any, because âeww they eat dead thingsâ.Â
3. THEY ARE FUCKING AMAZING AT WHAT THEY DO - Some of the highest flying birds ever recorded, with amazing eyesight and smell. Vultures are highly specialised - yes, that means they sometimes have bald heads. So what? People are all over sphinx cats and those semi-hairless dogs.
4. If you think theyâre ugly, well, look at these precious babs and tell me you still donât feel anything:
I have more reasons, but, look, Iâll just get straight to the point:Â
THEYâRE GOING EXTINCT, AND MORE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.
Populations of some vultures have fallen more than 90% in the last 20 years, and thatâs scary as fuck. Reasons for this range from livestock carcasses being contaminated with certain drugs, to poachers killing them off because vultures give them away. But whatever the reasons, theyâre dying off fast, and we need to act before itâs too late. We need to help protect them and conserve them as much if not more than some of the âcuterâ endangered creatures.Â
So what can you do? Here are some useful links if you want to learn more:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/joinandhelp/donations/campaigns/vultures/
http://www.hawk-conservancy.org/Documents/HCT_IVP_leaflet_2013_E_ver.pdf
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/africanvultures
http://www.tusk.org/vulture-conservation-project
http://www.save-vultures.org/
http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/international-vulture-awareness-day-%E2%80%93-no-cause-celebration
http://www.vulpro.com/
https://tristatebird.org/adoptavulture/
https://webcamvultures.wordpress.com/adopt-a-vulture/
http://www.wwfpak.org/species/Vulture.php
Please consider helping our seldom appreciated vulture buddies, either by donating, or even just by helping to change their bad reputation!!Â
They really are amazing birds ~ thank you for sticking with my long-ass postÂ
:PÂ
ITâS THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN, PALS!!!!Â
in the last year, Iâve visited several bird of prey specialist centres, many of which are now actively championing the plight of our vulture friends - trying hard to endear them to the public and supporting/ participating in overseas causes that help in various ways. One of these places was the Hawk Conservancy Trust which, if youâre in the UK, I HIGHLY recommend - both for the quality of the centre and the displays they run, and for the extensive conservation work they do at home and overseas!
Anyway, enough talk. Itâs time to appreciate this sleepy boy.Â
But you forgot my most favorite of all!! The Bearded Vulture (Lammergeier or Ossifrage)!!!
When foxes discovered the fairy penguins living on Middle Island off the coast of Australia, their numbers were decimated. The population plummeted from 800 birds to fewer than ten in 2005. A local chicken farmer had the idea to station two sheepdogs on the island to chase off the foxes â and it worked. The fairy penguin population on Middle Island is now at 250 and climbing. (x)
My name is Dog
I walk de rockses
Protecc de floofs
From all de foxes.
I am so big
And floofs are smol
I lubs dese birbs
I lubs dem all.
Hi Will. I saw your post about the rhino poacher's death and, while I definitely understand the gut reaction, I wanted to remind you that a majority of poachers are just people trying to support their families and poaching is the most lucrative source of income for many places in Asia and Africa. I work in conservation and see lots of people demonizing poachers, and it's tragic what they do to wildlife, but unless we address the root reasons for poaching (economic insecurity) we can't stop it.
Canât we do both?
I mean you do you, and if you can find a way to condemn the act while fixing the problem, even better. But it makes me uncomfortable seeing (usually) white people, especially in my field, get satisfaction out of the death of an impoverished person of color, because Iâve seen it tie into some racist mindsets, e.g. âthese Asian people have such backwards ideas about medicine. They deserve to be punished/killed for breaking the law.â I donât expect you to change your mind, but I wanted to give you something to think about since youâre very proactive in the social justice spheres of the States - I feel there are parallels between whatâs happening here with racial and economic divides on our countryâs level, and what things look like on the global scale. Iâm just not articulate enough to do it justice Iâm afraid.
This is something I care a lot about, and often find it hard to articulate. Because the mind set of âhow do we fight poaching without talking about executing, maiming, and poisoning human beingsâ is something so far out of my realm of understanding that itâs difficult to bridge the gap.
In the animal conservation world, poaching outside of the western world has been deemed a crime that should be punishable by death. The death could be to the perpetrators (execution), the consumers (poisoning), or both. Itâs sad to see that the way conservationists talk about poaching has created a cultural norm where killing hundreds of thousands of people as a solution to a complex issue involving thousands of years of culture, economic insecurity, and organized crime is a totally acceptable and sometimes encouraged. The worst comments on poaching within the US is usually that the perpetrators deserve to be banned from hunting for life - while the comments on a similar article on poaching in Asia or Africa will include calls for âslow, painful deathsâ in sickening detail. Itâs become a socially acceptable way for people to discuss fantasies of torturing people of color. The aspect of animal harm is seen as the âexcuseâ, which it shouldnât be in the first place, and the truth is animals across the globe are being wiped out by human greed, but a majority of that isnât related to poaching - itâs related to habitat conversion and pollution. Poaching is often seen as a threat to animals that is easy to understand and place blame on, influencing charismatic megafauna that everyone agrees on protecting. Poaching is also related to an actual crime, while the most harmful actions towards animals - producing plastic, releasing pollution, destroying habitat - is perfectly legal, despite being absolutely devastating to humans and animals alike. So the focus turns to poaching, and the vitriol surrounding it is much more extreme than any outrage towards the other threats. In this case, the poacher was not harmed by humans, but was killed by animals in the environment. While some may see this as perfectly fine to celebrate, it still perpetuates death as a celebrated solution to wildlife crime. The dehumanization of those who commit wildlife crimes like poaching encourages this baffling and horrifying idea that âsimplyâ ending the lives of anyone involved in mass killings will âfixâ this problem. Please stop celebrating and encouraging deaths like these, no matter who or what has perpetuated them.
Extrajudicial mass execution is not the answer to wildlife crime. All of us in the conservation world need to work on researching and supporting legal and diplomatic solutions to wildlife crime.Â
itâs getting weird knowing natural apocalypse from climate change is bearing down on us all and still going about mundane daily life kinda like
Keepers when we casually bring up the magnitude of climate change in a normal setting

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when you forget to clean the dryer filter
he turn he head
it irritates me to no end when people say north american birds are dull in comparison to other countriesâ birds
blue jay
american kestrel
painted bunting
yellow-throated vireo
cerulean warbler
baltimore oriole
american goldfinch
northern cardinal
x
Youâre forgetting the red wing black bird and the great and snowy egret. Best birds of the marsh!
I love how theyâre all looking into the camera like theyâre modeling.
other beautiful featherbeasts include orb bird
stylish accessory bird
loud and delicious bird
bird that will kung fu your face while you are grilling in your backyard
overly dramatic fishwizard bird
demonic creepy noise duck
assorted sky-cats
screaming inflatable doofus bird
stump
not technically native but it poops on my lawn
toasted marshmallow friend
Greetings from Owlice!
This grand old lady never ceases to amaze me. Owlice is a Great Horned Owl who has been a part of my work for at least 17 years! She had severe cataracts and an infection in her left eye, and recently underwent surgery to remove that eye.
Great horned owls are fearsome nocturnal predators, and they are one of the largest species of owl found in North America! The âhornsâ that give them their name, while they look like ears, are actually just feather tufts, and they are theorized to help with camouflage. They are powerful hunters, and can take down prey items as large as rabbits, minks, foxes, and skunks!

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*mlem
good mom
Zoo job descriptions be like...
Looking for an enthusiastic person to join our team! We need someone with...
The expertise of a curator
The experience of a manager
The knowledge of a scientific researcher
The flexible schedule of a recent college grad
Must have all of the above, plus:
The salary expectations of an intern
New insights to help young white sharks survive
What can scientists studying white sharks learn from an expert on mountain lions? As it turns out, quite a lot.
Such a collaboration is on display in new research published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Models that estimate survival rates for top predators on land, according to the study, can also work in the ocean. The research also revealed important safeguards that can help protect white sharks while theyâre young and vulnerable.
At the heart of the effort was the work of lead author John Benson. Before taking his current role as a professor at the University of Nebraska, John was a post-doctoral researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, working with senior research scientist Sal Jorgensen.
Johnâs past work also involved black bears in Louisiana, panthers in Florida, wolves and coyotes in Canada, and moose and their various predators in Alaska. After so much experience on land, John saw working with Sal at the aquarium as a chance toâas the saying goesâget his feet wet.
Estimating sharksâ survival rates
John realized there was an opportunity for a new approach for estimating juvenile shark survival, tapping data from electronic tags placed on the sharks to develop what are called âknown-fate models.â
âTheyâre a very direct way of estimating survival and mortality,â he says.
The technique hinges on determining what happens to individualsâinformation that has been elusive historically, because of the difficulty of tracking animals in the ocean.
âItâs generally much easier to study animals on land,â John notes. âThe animal tracking technology that helped us learn so many new things about terrestrial species decades ago, with radio telemetry and collars, has only recently become available in the marine environment.â
Researchers from the aquarium, California State University, Long Beach, and Mexicoâs Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education have been tagging and tracking juvenile white sharks with various devices since 2000. Sal and his colleagues have deployed devices called PATs, or pop-up archival tags, on both adult and juvenile white sharks.
A recovered white shark satellite tag, full of data!
Untapped information
These tagged sharks had already taught us a lot about their travels, but the tags contained additional untapped information. Specifically, they let researchers to know each sharkâs exact fateâwhether it lives, died naturally, or ended up caught in fishing gear. Â John was able to use the data to develop a survival estimate for the population of juvenile sharks in Southern California and Baja California.
Over the course of 16 years, the team of scientists in California and Mexico tracked 37 young white sharks. From the known fate of all these tagged animals, John estimated that 63 percent of juveniles survive each year.
The paper showcases a powerful statistical tool, Sal saysâone thatâs useful not just for sharks. Thousands of pop-up tags have been deployed on marine species worldwide, but until now, nobody had used their data in this way.
âWe were surprised to see that we were the first to apply this methodology on PAT tags,â he says. âThis will pave the way for researchers to estimate annual survival, so vital to conservation for many other ocean species.â
Young sharks and gillnets
Of the 37 young white sharks studied, one was eaten, though by which predator is unclear. Six died after run-ins with fishing gear, most often gillnetsâa kind of mesh curtain designed to trap halibut and other bottom-dwelling fish in nearshore waters.
âWe were able to see when sharks interacted with gillnets, when they were entangled but released, and when they were killed,â Sal says.
From these data, a few patterns emerged. One is that the bigger a shark grows, the less danger a gillnet posesâpossibly because  larger sharks snagged in gillnets are better able to fight their way free. The paper also found that more young white sharks died  off the coast of Baja, compared with Southern California.
Thank you to @noaasanctuaries for the graphic!
That might stem partly from differences in the way fisheries are managed. White sharks are a protected species in both countries, and it is illegal to catch or sell white sharks. However, other related regulations differ between the U.S. and Mexico. In the U.S., gillnets are banned within three miles of the California coast; Mexico has instituted a three-month moratorium on shark fishing every summerâpeak pupping season for white sharks. Both approaches help conserve sharks, and the study illustrates the added benefits of inshore gillnet measures for survival of juvenile white sharks.
Coauthor Oscar Sosa-Nishizaki, a professor at Mexicoâs Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education, agrees. Oscar has worked with the Monterey Bay Aquarium since 2002, contributing to research in places like Vizcaino Bayâa nursery area for young white sharks.
âItâs very important to work with the fishermen,â he says. âWe want to know whenever they incidentally catch a white shark.â
Another best practice might be encouraging fishing crews to check their gillnets more than once each day, so a shark accidentally entangled in the net doesnât stay there for long. This small step can cut a sharkâs chance of death by gillnet in half.
âWe have learned that if fishermen check their nets frequently, white sharks are quite hardy,â Sal says. âIf released promptly, thereâs a good chance theyâll survive.â
âThis research suggests the importance of a collaborative approach to management in California and Mexico, and opportunities to innovate on best practices that can support fishermen, research and protections for white sharks,â he adds.
âDaniel Potter
Disclaimer: I was hesitant to post this, but I really want people to see what these birds are capable of. So, Iâll just start off by explaining that I am an undergraduate researcher in an Animal Behaviour and Welfare lab at a fairly reputable agricultural/veterinary university. The work that I and my colleagues do seeks to improve the lives of poultry in commercial farms across the world, first and foremost. I am a vegetarian, and while I donât support any animal meat industry financially, I recognize that it does help feed millions of people worldwide who do not know better or have the choice to go vegan/vegetarian, and until that is able to completely change, there is a need for solid science that supports animal welfare and argues for better quality of life for them in the meantime. That said, the turkey poults in this video are research animals who belong to my universityâs poultry research station, and are kept in conditions designed to mimic a commercial farm setting. They still have a much better quality of life than that of a ârealâ commercial turkey (i.e. more space, and positive human interaction from me), but I would still personally be happiest seeing these girls roaming free in the grass and sun like my chickens and ducks at home. Sadly, though, Iâm no longer in a position to adopt any more of my labâs birdsâŚ
Last week, I posted about the âABCsâ of animal behaviour and training, along with a video of one of my hens doing some short flights to my arm. Training them to step up or fly onto a perch/arm is one of the first things I do with any bird, be it a chicken, raptor, or parrot. The next behaviour most bird owners will train is targeting. Targeting is when an animal learns to touch a specific body part to a certain location/object. The most common example of targeting is actually teaching a dog to sit - the dog is targeting its rear end to the floor. With birds, people typically train them to touch their beak to a âtargetâ stick. Iâve done this in the past with the falcons I work with, and the hens at home picked it up quickly as well. But, I wanted to see if the turkey poults at the lab could learn it as well. Iâd been hearing a lot of people making comments about how âdumbâ turkeys are, and naturally, I wanted to give the birds more respect and prove the skeptics wrong. In addition, the actual research project Iâm doing with these turkeys is quite demanding of them, to say the least, so I figured I owed it to them to give them something enriching and fun to do during our breaks.
As always, I started by training the babies to respond to a bridge - the clicking sound I make with my mouth. Youâve probably seen people buy/use handheld clickers for training cats and dogs, but this is another one of those things that really isnât necessary. Most bird trainers will not use these, as it takes away the use of one of your hands, and if you have a bird perched on one hand you really need the other one to be free. Your bridge doesnât have to come from a fancy clicker, nor does it have to be a click at all. It just has to be any stimulus that is clearly perceived by the animal, that you can produce quickly and consistently - a whistle, verbal praise, etc. will do just fine. The turkeys were slow to pick this up over the first week within hatching or so (but letâs face it, all babies are dumb), but they were able to associate it (and my presence) with yummy canned corn eventually.
Next, I had to shape the targeting behaviour using successive approximations. This is animal trainer gobbledygook for: start simple, then work your way up. The poults were naturally curious enough to peck at the target stick when I first introduced it, so I would reinforce any attempt to peck any part of the stick at first. Then, I would only reinforce pecks that were aimed at the duct tape. Once that was down, the turkeys were eager to follow the stick/me around their cage, and peck it for some corn. The stick was not scented/baited in any way - they really did learn to target to it for a reward. Many zoos will do this with their animals as an enriching activity, or to make both the zookeepers and animalsâ lives a bit easier - for example, instead of having to stressfully chase and then shove an animal into a crate/holding area when their enclosure needs to be cleaned, keepers can simply target the animal into the crate, and clean away while it enjoys a reward. Iâll repeat from my last post: giving animals in captivity some control over their environment by giving them a choice to actively engage in activities like this is so important for their emotional and psychological health.
Here are some videos of professional target training done in various zoos with rhinos, hornbills, and monitor lizards! You can look up tons of other examples like these online yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlM78AYHw48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkoWtyhkUzk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW0LhK9M2jQ
Trying to do live checks with your very excited animals in the morning

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@ugly-vorta Look who is getting so big!
Photo of the Day â The Peruvian Racket-tail (Ocreatus peruanus) is a species of hummingbird found in north-east Peru and eastern Ecuador. Only the male of this species has the elongated racket-shaped outer tail feathers, which are about 7cm long. Both sexes, however, are shining green above with a small white post-ocular spot.
This stunning individual was photographed by Adam Riley in Ecuador
It's like a miniature Mot-Mot!