Best wishes, Kashata!

On March 20, Kashata the western lowland gorilla traveled to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando, where she will join a new gorilla family per recommendation of the Gorilla Species Survival Plan. The 15-year-old female had a familiar friendly face, Primate Keeper Kristina Krickbaum, with her on her trip to Florida. Congratulations to Kristina and the Primate Department for the months of hard work and training that led to Kashata’s successful trip and safe arrival as she embarks on an exciting new chapter.

Welcome back, Bioko!

	Inge with the newborn Bioko

Bioko, the first drill born at Zoo Atlanta, has returned to her birthplace. Born to the Zoo’s highly successful drill pair, Inge and the late Adonis, in 1992, Bioko grew up in Atlanta, later moving to the Columbus Zoo as a young adult. Zoo Atlanta regularly cooperates with fellow AZA-accredited institutions on species survival, often by transferring animals to other organizations for breeding opportunities. After Bioko arrived in Columbus, however, the complex natural behaviors of her highly social species made integration into her new group challenging. In the wild, drills live in family troops numbering 20 or more individuals, each with his or her own status within the hierarchy. When it became apparent that Bioko, never highly ranked within her Columbus troop, wasn’t likely to ever be fully accepted by other group members, it was recommended that she be re-introduced to her Georgia relatives.

Animal care staff welcomed the firstborn of Inge and Adonis back to the Zoo in late November. Now that she has completed her routine quarantine period, Bioko will have opportunities to get reacquainted with her mother and siblings in 2008.

Home on the African Plains

Here a waterbuck family, there ostrich, Thomson’s gazelle and crowned crane, small herds of giraffe and zebra … it’s not Africa, but it’s a remarkable recreation here on Zoo Atlanta’s African Plains. After the arrival of two lofty new ladies and a series of species-to-species introductions, the Zoo’s entire complement of savanna animals are now roaming their habitat together. Don’t miss Abu the reticulated giraffe getting to know his female companions Mona and Glenda; Members and guests can expect an entertaining journey as this young herd grows up together.

Outback Station staff spot Joey #4

Experienced mother Uluru the red kangaroo has yet another joey on the way, confirmed by an unusual sighting by Outback Station staff. Kangaroo joeys are rarely seen at this stage in their development; the tiny creature, barely larger than a bumblebee, was spotted crawling to Uluru’s pouch to attach itself to nurse.

In preparation for supporting her newest addition, Uluru recently denied her third joey access to her pouch. The youngster, who seemed no worse for the wear after his “eviction,” busies himself with playing, hopping and speeding through the kangaroos’ Outback Station habitat, returning frequently to his mother to nurse. Thanks to uniquely adapted reproductive systems, kangaroo mothers can accommodate a nursing joey and a developing embryo at the same time.

Thursday, May 15

The Program Animals Department is excited to announce that we have started our new presentations at Amy's Tree. The theme is animal enrichment, to better educate and entertain our guests with what is a natural part of everyday life for keepers and our animals. Staff are using birds, reptiles and some of our smaller mammal friends like Maya the kinkajou in the show, so be sure to come check it out! Amy's Tree presentations will run on weekends at 2:30 p.m. until Memorial Day; starting Memorial Day weekend, presentations will take place Tuesday through Sunday at 2:30 p.m., weather and staff permitting.

This is actually a dynamic format change for Program Animals. Starting Memorial Day weekend, Wildlife Theater shows will run Tuesday through Sunday at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; then at 2:30 p.m., the Theater will have several birds on encounters through the Zoo, interacting with guests and encouraging them to attend the Amy’s Tree show. This venue change will allow us to make appropriate use of all of our on-grounds theater facilities, and will also provide a shadier venue for guests in the summer for the last show of the day. The new digital wayfinding system will reflect these changes.

Please welcome to our department our intern-turned-seasonal keeper Mathew Hodges, who is helping us through a period of staff transition. Mat is outgoing and cheerful, loves animals and learning new skills, and is becoming a great presenter and public speaker. Be sure to say hello when you see him! We are also training new animal handlers, so watch for new faces on encounters around the Zoo.

Lastly, I am sad to announce that our Senior Keeper, Jennifer Cavarra, is leaving us for the opposite coast. Her husband's job has been transferred and so she and the family are moving to San Francisco. Jen has been the foundation for the Wildlife Theater for many years, and the move finds her just two weeks shy of NINE years with Zoo Atlanta. Jen has an encyclopedic knowledge of birds and their natural history, and many of our avian residents clearly view her as flock and family. Jen is an excellent teacher, and she has made the transition for new staff easy and painless, even for an ex-panda keeper. We are going to miss her inspiring presence, her immutable dedication to providing world-class animal care, and her enduring friendship. We wish you the best of luck Jen. Thank you.

Jay Pratte
Lead Keeper, Program Animals

Tuesday, May 13

We recently put the finishing touches on some new spaces for our African lions. The new additions include two indoor dens and three outdoor yards, providing the lions with additional off-exhibit space. Two of the new yards are covered, which will allow the lions access to outdoor space, should they choose to go out during the night. Together with the covered patios located in the other building, we now have four covered outdoor spaces. This is especially nice during warmer months, as each lion will have access to his or her own outdoor space overnight.

Last week we gave Masai, our older female lion, access to the largest o f the off-exhibit yards for the first time. It only took her a few minutes to enter the yard. At first she was a little skeptical of her new surroundings, but it didn’t take long for her to appreciate the new space. She spent most of the day in the shade, and when it was time to come back inside, she decided that she wasn’t quite ready. Despite the fact that Masai was on her own schedule, it was nice to see her enjoying the new yard.

Megan Wilson, PhD
Assistant Curator of Carnivores

Thursday, May 8

Things have been busy this spring in the Large Mammal Department. We opened our new naked mole rat exhibit (the smallest “large mammals” you’ll ever see at Zoo Atlanta) on April 1, and it’s been a blast getting to know these not-so-gorgeous creatures and their unique lifestyles! After all the fighting and much ado, I personally think the naked mole rat queen has been crowned, but don’t ask me to point her out just yet – she’s still got a bit of growing to do, and her first litter to give birth to, before it’s official. Either way, they’ve been a huge hit with parents, kids and keepers alike.

Another exciting event for us was the birth of four warthog piglets on April 16 (coincidentally, warthog dad Vern’s birthday). Shirley gave birth around 6 a.m., and she’s been a fantastic mom from the word go. She cleaned them off and tried to get them all up and nursing within the first few hours. She was also extremely protective, exhibiting many grunts and groans if keepers got too close to the nest box for long. As these things sometimes go, we lost three of the piglets in their first few days due to unknown causes. Although disappointing for everyone, this is not unusual for warthogs, especially for young, first-time moms. (Shirley just turned 2 on April 15!). The remaining piglet is growing (she was 2 pounds at birth and now she’s probably closer to 4 pounds) and thriving, following mom from stall to stall in the barn and sitting in the feed bowl when Shirley’s trying to have her meals. Baby’s favorite pastime is sitting on mom’s back and head when they’re sleeping in the nest box. It’s absolutely the cutest thing ever!

When will you get to see her? Stay tuned in coming weeks! We’ll be baby-proofing the habitat, putting dry dirt in the wallow, fixing some of the rock areas and planting some new plants. Meanwhile, baby needs a bit more time to grow and get to know her dad. Where’s Vern been? He was separated from Shirley right after she gave birth so that we could let her focus on motherhood. As you can imagine, Vern didn’t like going outside alone, so we’ve given him extra treats, extra attention, and allowed him to stay in the holding yard and barn where he can still hear and smell the other animals. He’s getting really spoiled! There’s a pretty good possibility of being able to integrate Vern back with Shirley and baby once the piglet is 30 days old.

Speaking of motherhood, Dottie the elephant continues to do well in her pregnancy. We’re at day 3332 – just barely past the halfway mark. Construction will start soon for our baby-proofing renovations to the elephant habitat and barn.

Red kangaroo Uluru’s joey is growing, and her pouch is getting quite large, but we haven’t seen any body parts popping out yet. Stay tuned – if our calculations are right, we’ll see the joey’s head at mid-month.

Last but not least, the African Plains staff says goodbye this week to our 2-year-old waterbuck Obi as he heads off to San Diego Wild Animal Park to meet a herd of females and start his own family. If he’s anything like his dad, San Diego will have younguns in about eight months!

Lisa Smith
Curator of Large Mammals

Tuesday, May 6

Wow! We have turtle eggs and babies all over the place! In the last week, we hatched two pancake tortoises and one from the critically endangered Arakan forest turtle. Because the sex of an Arakan forest turtle is determined by the incubation temperature of the egg, we incubated this egg a bit warmer than we did our previous eggs (which all produced females). So, we are hoping that this little one will be a boy (but we’ll have to wait a year or so to be sure)! We also have had a load of rare species lay eggs recently, including spiny tortoises, flat-tailed and spider tortoises, and the very rarely bred Sulawesi forest turtle. Congratulations to our great and wonderful keepers for such a productive season for turtles! I am really proud of them.

Joseph Mendelson, PhD
Curator of Herpetology