Quarters for Conservation- Cape Vulture Conservation in South Africa

Post by: Jenyva Turner

Often, when people think of vultures, unpleasant images come to mind. However, when you learn more about them, we think you’ll agree that vultures are amazing!  Not only do they have many interesting adaptations that make them unique, they are, more importantly, vital to the health of ecosystems around the world. No other scavenger is better equipped to deal with death and disease than the vulture. From strong stomach acids to featherless heads, vultures use their unique assets to prevent disease from spreading, while keeping themselves clean and healthy in the process.

This is the fourth year vulture conservation has been featured as one of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s (CMZ) Quarters for Conservation (Q4C) programs. To date, over $25,000 has been raised through Q4C and sent to VulPro, a non-profit conservation organization in South Africa that focuses on vulture conservation. Organizations like VulPro are critical to the  health and welfare of vultures, as vulture populations around the world are declining due to poisoning, power line electrocutions and poaching. VulPro is involved in many aspects of conservation from population monitoring, captive breeding, reintroduction, rehabilitation, research and education.

A chick hatched at VulPro . 

CMZ has been a significant contributor towards VulPro’s programs. The first year, the Zoo supported VulPro’s rehabilitation work and purchased chest freezers to store food and medicine. Two years ago, CMZ purchased GPS tracking devices to monitor the migration of adult Cape vultures. Last year’s funds paid for the expansion of the Cape vulture artificial breeding cliffs at VulPro so more vulture chicks can be raised and released into the wild. And this year, CMZ is helping develop and fund VulPro’s educational program for schools across South Africa, enabling the next generation to learn about the value of vultures.

CMZ is also involved in educational work right here at home, teaching Zoo guests about the importance of vultures during the Wings of Africa bird show held daily in African Rift Valley. Additionally, CMZ participates annually in International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD), which was created by staff from VulPro and CMZ and is now celebrated all over the world on the first Saturday of September. Many kids and adults alike have grown in their appreciation for these misunderstood birds. This year’s IVAD event will be held on Saturday, September 1, 2012 from 10am-2pm in CMZ’s African Rift Valley. Come join us and see for yourself how cool vultures are and learn more about what you can do to help them!

Meet Azmera!

UCCS Volunteers at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Then Interacts with Mountain Lions

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After three hours of volunteering, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs men’s soccer team worked with Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to take part in a unique educational opportunity with the zoo’s four Mountain Lions.

UCCS started at 9 a.m., with volunteers in three different areas of the Zoo. One group started in the Asian Highlands area, and worked near Helga’s exhibit on the walk bridge and exhibit sign. Helga, an Amur tiger, frequently visited the student-athletes working on the sign.

Another group worked on the main road through the Zoo between the main administrative building and the developing Encounter Africa exhibit. The group dug holes and planted trees along the roadside with the Zoo’s staff.

The third group started in the Zoo’s Safari Lodge assembling seed sticks for the Budgie Buddies exhibit. The other groups rotated in, and during the three hours, the team put together approximately 5,000 seed sticks for the visitors to feed the more than 100 free-flight Australian birds. The Safari Lodge area also allowed the team to repaint a cart for the Zoo.

Some student-athletes took advantage of the nearby “All About Giraffes” exhibit, where the largest giraffe herd at any zoo walked up to the walkway to meet the athletes. The team ate lunch at the Zoo and took part in an aerial tour with the Sky Ride before meeting the Mountain Lions.

Staff members at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo arranged for an educational opportunity, which allowed the UCCS men’s soccer team to prepare food boxes to hold chicken breast for the four Mountain Lions at the Zoo. The team prepared the eight boxes with logos of the other eight RMACmen’s soccer teams, and the four Mountain Lions in the exhibit proceeded to destroy and tear the boxes apart to close out the day.

Best, Meg

From July 20 through July 29, I had an amazing opportunity to spend time in Belize, Central America, through my master’s program, the Global Field Program.  This program, through Miami University in Ohio, includes three Earth Expedition trips such as this, each focused on specific ecology and conservation issues.

Manatee Photo from Sea to Shore Alliance.

The trip to Belize was focused on four main topics: Inquiry, Community-Based Conservation, Ecology of Manatees, and Ecology of Coral Reefs.  My 22 classmates and I travelled all around Belize, immersing ourselves in the rain forest and ocean, meeting the people of Belize (such rich cultures!), and getting to know the country’s conservation efforts.  I experienced so much on this trip, but what I would really like to share is my experience with manatees.  Before we left, I wrote a paper about zoos and manatees, and during the trip, I constantly turned my thoughts back to the question carried posed in that paper: “How can Cheyenne Mountain Zoo get involved with manatee conservation?”

Looking out for the manatees

On July 24^th, we travelled to Belize City to meet Nicole Auil Gomez and Jamal Galves, experts working with the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute (http://www.coastalzonebelize.org/), and the Sea to Shore Alliance (http://public.sea2shore.org/home).  Nicole briefed us in the classroom on manatee taxonomy as well as management and conservation, and the research projects she and Jamal are involved in.  Jamal has just received some grant funding to help further his research in tracking manatees and working with local people to manage no wake zones and strandings (manatees that are found near the shore, usually injured or dead).

Meg with Jamal Galves

 After the classroom session, Jamal took us out on the boat to help him with his research!  We started at the mouth of the Belize River, where the water flows into the Caribbean Sea, counting the number of noses that came up as manatees rose to the surface for air.  We also took measurements of temperature (air and water), salinity, and particulates, as well as collected sea grass and even manatee poop!

Telemetry belt around the peduncle of a manatee
Photo from Sea to Shore Alliance

Tuning into the frequency.

For me, the best part of this experience by far was using telemetry to track the manatees. Manatees captured by Jamal and Nicole’s team each receive an individual health assessment and a skin sample from the tail is taken for genetic research.  Then, a radio tracking device is belted on the manatee at the narrowest part of the body, near the tail.  The tracker is buoyed on a line about six feet long and it only sends a signal when it comes up above the water.  It also has a quick release so the manatee can get free if it gets caught on something.  Each radio tracker sends out a different signal so Jamal can keep track of each individual animal.  This process allowed us to track and spot manatees, as well as conduct behavioral research.

Manatee mom and baby, photo courtesy
of Sea to Shore Alliance board member,
Jimmy White.

As I mentioned, I kept thinking “How can Cheyenne Mountain Zoo get involved with manatee conservation?”  We do not have manatees at CMZ; in fact there are only five zoos in the country that do have them.  But does that mean we can’t help make a difference?  I will be pondering this more and you will hear from me again as I start to formulate some ideas.  If you have one, I would love to hear it!  Just send me an email at mmcdaniel@cmzoo.org.

Best,

Meg

Meg McDaniel is the Academic Programs Manager her at CMZ.

Meet Ajali

Meet The Herd

Our Head Giraffe Keeper, Allison Kao, introduces you to the members of our giraffe herd and teaches you how to distinguish them based on their markings.

Baka-keri: The Eternal Ape

Many of our frequent guests are probably already familiar with Baka-keri, our adult male Sumatran orangutan.  No, he’s not the orangutan who gives “kisses”; that’s Tujoh.  Baka is the handsome, dreadlocked guy who was a great dad to Makan and now Godek. 

We frequently get questions about Baka’s name because the word “baka” means stupid in Japanese.  Baka is one of our smartest orangutans and anything but stupid.  He was named at his birth zoo, the Calgary Zoo, which follows similar naming rules as Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  We try to give animals names from languages native to their country of origin.  Orangutans are native to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia and Malaysia.  Baka’s full name is Baka-keri - Baka in Indonesian means “eternal”, and the Indonesian word for “ape” is keras.

  

Orangutans are highly endangered in their native rainforests due palm oil production, so right now they are far from eternal.  Click here to see how you can help them when you visit the grocery store.

Creatively Cool Great Apes

It has been a hot summer, and just like humans, the apes love a cool treat on a warm day. We have various ways of presenting a frozen treat and some of the ones we use frequently are: juice frozen in applesauce jars and placed on top of their skylight mesh, frozen whole fruit, and ice or juice cubes spread in their exhibit. 

When we have time, though, we like to get more creative and make treats novel and fun for the animals. We can make “ape-size popsicles” with a five-gallon bucket and some chain. By freezing the chain in the middle of the juice and fruit, we can hang it in their exhibit and give them hours of enjoyment. Recently, we made some “ice rings” by freezing juice and fruit in a tub with an empty round container taking up the middle. These rings were then hung in the orangutan exhibits and they spent a long time cooling off with them.

Some of our apes take cool fun into their own hands, by making their water run into the exhibit to play in. Stay cool out there!