Smithsonian National Zoo Smithsonian National Zoo News 2016

This is getting really frustrating. I'm trying to read this press release:
https://nationalzoo.si.edu/publications/pressmaterials/pressreleases/press-release.cfm?id=2747
But since it's from the old site it is gone. I can't even click the search bar from the page because the search page doesn't exist either, apparently. It's about partnering with a few other zoos to save certain species of frogs and toads by bringing them into the US. I am trying to find out what the focus species were. I think that the partnered zoos were NZP/SCBI, Sedgwick County, Houston, and some others. I remember some of the focus species were rusty robber frog, Panamanian golden frog, and Costa Rican variable harlequin toad. Is there an off chance anyone knows the rest of the species, or can make some magic happen and link me to a page that works?
 
jayjds2 said:
This is getting really frustrating. I'm trying to read this press release:
https://nationalzoo.si.edu/publications/pressmaterials/pressreleases/press-release.cfm?id=2747
But since it's from the old site it is gone. I can't even click the search bar from the page because the search page doesn't exist either, apparently. It's about partnering with a few other zoos to save certain species of frogs and toads by bringing them into the US. I am trying to find out what the focus species were. I think that the partnered zoos were NZP/SCBI, Sedgwick County, Houston, and some others. I remember some of the focus species were rusty robber frog, Panamanian golden frog, and Costa Rican variable harlequin toad. Is there an off chance anyone knows the rest of the species, or can make some magic happen and link me to a page that works?
Click to expand...

You may be able to find it through archive.org
 
jayjds2 said:
-lists a sloth for Amazonia. I've never seen one there and they aren't signed, but there could be one.
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It has been signed. You have to look through the books attached to the rails in the upper floor exhibits. The sloth sign is in the book in the left exhibit where the Roseate spoonbill and sunbittern are located. I have never seen it myself, but taking time in the building during a recent visit, I noticed you can really miss a lot of animals if you aren't taking your time looking in the trees. Sometimes I can't even find the male sloth in the Small Mammal House (bigger multispecies exhibit).
 
blospz said:
It has been signed. You have to look through the books attached to the rails in the upper floor exhibits. The sloth sign is in the book in the left exhibit where the Roseate spoonbill and sunbittern are located. I have never seen it myself, but taking time in the building during a recent visit, I noticed you can really miss a lot of animals if you aren't taking your time looking in the trees. Sometimes I can't even find the male sloth in the Small Mammal House (bigger multispecies exhibit).
Click to expand...

Ok, thank you. I'll be visiting tomorrow so I'll take extra care to look everywhere in Amazonia.
 
Today's notes (shorter than usual):

I only saw one out of three sloths. It was the one that's mixed with GLTs.

There are still two white-eared titi monkeys in Amazonia.

The Bird House is closing on January 1st. There will then only be 17 bird species on exhibit:
Amazonia:
Silver beaked tanager
Ringed teal
Roseate spoonbill
Blue-grey tanager
Yellow-rumped cacique
Green aracari
Sunbittern
Red-crested cardinal

American Trail:
Harris' hawk (technically off exhibit)
Bald eagle
Brown pelican
Raven
North American wood duck
Hooded merganser

Small Mammal House:
Von der Decken's hornbill

Cheetah Conservation Center:
Abyssinian ground hornbill
Rüppell's griffon vulture

The wood ducks will probably go off exhibit when North American river otters return next year. There's also a chance that some birds may move from the Bird House to Amazonia (a few ducks and crested oropendola are candidates).

All the kiwis (just 2) will be going to SCBI. SCBI will then have a total of 11, exactly 1/5th of the entire population outside of New Zealand. As recent studies show there could be up to 11 extant species/subspecies of kiwi, the population outside NZ is just being called North Island-mixed genetics. It's a bit of a shame but the NZ government wasn't going to replace all of the mixed animals we have. The recent import of 5 are all the same (sub)species but they'll be getting mixed along with everything else. Kiwi's won't have an exhibit in Experience Migration but there may still be the Meet-a-Kiwi program.

A total of 9 signs on Asia Trail have been rendered outdated by the giant panda's new Vulnerable status (they all say endangered).

Peafowl were back on exhibit in the Bird House, in the free flight room. Socorro doves were back in their first exhibit.

The plan is to separate Bei Bei from Mei Xiang in about 6 months so there can be another breeding season. However, they don't really have anywhere to put him. Some ideas could be old bear grottos, sloth bear exhibits, spectacled bear exhibits, etc. but that's not the best solution.
 
jayjds2 said:
All the kiwis (just 2) will be going to SCBI. SCBI will then have a total of 11, exactly 1/5th of the entire population outside of New Zealand. As recent studies show there could be up to 11 extant species/subspecies of kiwi, the population outside NZ is just being called North Island-mixed genetics. It's a bit of a shame but the NZ government wasn't going to replace all of the mixed animals we have. The recent import of 5 are all the same (sub)species but they'll be getting mixed along with everything else. Kiwi's won't have an exhibit in Experience Migration but there may still be the Meet-a-Kiwi program.
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that isn't what "recent studies show". The new paper says they have found multiple lineages. Not the same thing as subspecies or species.

It has been known for a long time that North Island brown kiwi from different regions have different genetics, different behavioural patterns, etc - just as in most other species really. In NZ captive-breeding maintains regional groups because they can be released into existing wild populations without messing up the local genetics. Birds of mixed-provenance (mostly from before they started concentrating on breeding known-provenance birds) are usually retained in captivity and most of the kiwi sent overseas have been these birds. Some have been released in the south of the North Island where there are no natural wild populations left.
 
Chlidonias said:
that isn't what "recent studies show". The new paper says they have found multiple lineages. Not the same thing as subspecies or species.

It has been known for a long time that North Island brown kiwi from different regions have different genetics, different behavioural patterns, etc - just as in most other species really. In NZ captive-breeding maintains regional groups because they can be released into existing wild populations without messing up the local genetics. Birds of mixed-provenance (mostly from before they started concentrating on breeding known-provenance birds) are usually retained in captivity and most of the kiwi sent overseas have been these birds. Some have been released in the south of the North Island where there are no natural wild populations left.
Click to expand...

To be fair, and without meaning to put words into his mouth, jayjds2 said that “recent studies show there could be up to 11 extant species/subspecies [emphasis added]”, which is entirely true (well, in the singular, at least).

I don't have an institutional login at the moment so can only read the abstract of Weir et al, and you certainly know a lot more about this than I do, but populations which have diverged across a range of loci to the extent that separate management is appropriate sure sound like subspecies to me.
 
Giant Panda said:
To be fair, and without meaning to put words into his mouth, jayjds2 said that “recent studies show there could be up to 11 extant species/subspecies [emphasis added]”, which is entirely true (well, in the singular, at least).

I don't have an institutional login at the moment so can only read the abstract of Weir et al, and you certainly know a lot more about this than I do, but populations which have diverged across a range of loci to the extent that separate management is appropriate sure sound like subspecies to me.
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I haven't been able to read the recent paper either, for the same reason - my point was more that the press reports are all saying "different species/subspecies/types/kinds/etc" without the reporters having any notion of what they are actually talking about, and that those articles are what people are going on (e.g. "could be up to 11 species" as one article titled it); and that the birds outside NZ have always been known as mixed-provenance birds (i.e. nothing to do with the recent paper).
 
Chlidonias said:
I haven't been able to read the recent paper either, for the same reason - my point was more that the press reports are all saying "different species/subspecies/types/kinds/etc" without the reporters having any notion of what they are actually talking about, and that those articles are what people are going on (e.g. "could be up to 11 species" as one article titled it); and that the birds outside NZ have always been known as mixed-provenance birds (i.e. nothing to do with the recent paper).
Click to expand...

All very fair. A problem with science journalism in general, sadly.
 
I was just going off of what the kiwi keeper told me. She has been working with them for 29 years and runs the studbooks and SSPs, so she is very knowledgeable about the topic. The distinct populations with different genetics does sound a bit like subspecies to me, but I don't know too much about genetics. That's just my two cents. I also agree the press reports make it a bit frustrating and confusing sometimes.
 
jayjds2 said:
Today's notes (shorter than usual):

I only saw one out of three sloths. It was the one that's mixed with GLTs.

There are still two white-eared titi monkeys in Amazonia.

A total of 9 signs on Asia Trail have been rendered outdated by the giant panda's new Vulnerable status (they all say endangered).

The plan is to separate Bei Bei from Mei Xiang in about 6 months so there can be another breeding season. However, they don't really have anywhere to put him. Some ideas could be old bear grottos, sloth bear exhibits, spectacled bear exhibits, etc. but that's not the best solution.
Click to expand...

I saw two sloths in the small mammal house today. The one with the GLTs and the one in the big exhibit next to the lemurs. There's also a sloth in Amazonia (according to a volunteer).

The same volunteer told me that they only had 1 titi monkey because the female died of old age and they were looking for a new mate. However he also said he believed that the white-eared titi is the species they used to hold, which is obviously not true so who knows.

He also said that the book that list the species was changed and updated. That book still list dusky titi monkey as living in the exhibit.

Lots of empty exhibits in the small mammal house now. At least five of them.

Zoo no longer has Malagasy giant rat. They could be off exhibit, however their exhibit isn't simply empty it's been completely redesigned.

The geoffroy's marmoset are in one of the outside exhibits now.
 
Smithsonian’s National Zoo Veterinarians Use Innovative Treatments to Ease Asian Elephant Shanthi’s Arthritis


Ever since 41-year-old Asian elephant Shanthi was diagnosed with arthritis in her front wrists more than a decade ago, animal care staff at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo have been working to minimize the impact of the disease. Staff surmised that arthritic pain led Shanthi to bear weight on her front feet abnormally, ultimately causing lesions on several toenails and the surrounding tissues. After several months of administering daily pedicures, medicated foot baths, and cold laser therapy, animal care staff are trying two new methods of protecting her nails and feet: an innovative osteoarthritis therapy and boots, designed to specification, crafted and donated by Teva to Shanthi’s specifications.
Click to expand...

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/news/smi...ative-treatments-ease-asian-elephant-shanthis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxBdLpQIjBc
 
jayjds2 said:
The plan is to separate Bei Bei from Mei Xiang in about 6 months so there can be another breeding season. However, they don't really have anywhere to put him. Some ideas could be old bear grottos, sloth bear exhibits, spectacled bear exhibits, etc. but that's not the best solution.
Click to expand...

The rumor I heard was they would ship Bao Bao to China earlier than Tai Shan and Bei Bei would occupy her exhibit. I guess we will see come this winter.
 
Does anyone know if the zoo is still planning on acquiring a bull elephant? I had heard it was rumored the zoo might acquire Indy from Dickerson Park Zoo.
 
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