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How did the zebra get its stripes?  How did the tiger get its stripes? These are age-old questions in natural history. Convincing arguments have variously put forward suggesting camouflage, to visually confuse and thus deter annoying biting insects, and a complex scenario to create cooling air movements directly around the animal. This latter scenario works … Continue reading "Zebras and tigers oh my!"

CSI at the Zoo! What happened to these animal bones, thousands of years ago? A research team at Emory University is taking advantage of the fact that we feed our animals natural diets. In other words, for example, owls naturally consume rodents as prey, so we feed rodents to our milky eagle owls. Komodo dragons … Continue reading "Rodent Bones"

Hot off the presses! How does one correct a scientific error that was made more than 150 years ago? That’s what our team recently did, in collaboration with researchers from The Natural History Museum, in London, U.K. In 1858, renowned herpetologist Albert Günther, who was born in Germany but spent his career at The Natural … Continue reading "Mesoamerican Toads"

The last several months have been very exciting for the Golden Lion Tamarin Association in Brazil. I was in Brazil in August working with the project and have some exciting updates to share! Golden lion tamarins are native to a small area outside of Rio de Janeiro state in the Brazilian Atlantic Coastal forest. Only … Continue reading "Golden Lion Tamarin in Brazil"

Elephants for Africa focuses its research on male African elephants in Botswana, home to the largest remaining populations of African elephant. The work done by Dr. Kate Evans and her team provides us with continued information about male African elephant society, population numbers, and the interactions between elephants and local Botswanan farming communities through continued … Continue reading "Elephants for Africa"

It’s our first Bird Team keeper blog of the year, and we have a really exciting new bird arriving! In late fall, we very sadly lost our elderly male wreathed hornbill Betelgeuse. He was the man, the beast, terror of the skies. Not really, but he was a tough and feisty old guy and a … Continue reading "Keeper Stories – Tuesday, January 10"

Now that the cubs are more mobile, we are seeing some more personality differences come out. Ya Lun is bold and enjoys exploring new places. Xi Lun is the opposite. She prefers her safe spots: the nest box in the dens or the tub in dayroom. If Lun Lun carries Xi Lun somewhere, Xi Lun … Continue reading "Panda Update – Friday, January 6"

Now that the cubs are able to walk a bit better, the next two tasks for them to tackle are climbing through the shift door into the adjacent den and managing to climb through the bamboo forest that Lun Lun leaves behind in order to follow her. Ya Lun has become quite the pro at … Continue reading "Panda Update – Wed. January 4 "

Move over Brad Pitt and Jennifer Lawrence, there are some new celebs on the block! Okay, so our great apes won’t actually be walking the red carpet, but some of their vocalizations may be featured in a big upcoming Hollywood film. A film sound production crew made a stop at Zoo Atlanta to gather sound … Continue reading "Keeper Stories – Tuesday, January 3"

Happy New Year! It seems like just a week ago the cubs were barely walking around the dens…Oh wait! They were! The cubs have gotten incredibly good at walking in the last few days and have moved on to developing their running and climbing skills. Both girls have demonstrated their clumsy ability to climb over … Continue reading "Panda Update – Monday, January 2"