Search Results for: ki

Kookaburras are the largest members of the kingfisher family. Made famous by the Australian folk song “Kookaburra” by Marion Sinclair, kookaburras perch in trees and vocalize loudly. The birds’ loud, raucous call has been used in hundreds of “jungle” movies set in Asia, Africa and the Americans, although the birds are found only in Australia.

These birds, like all species of hornbill, have distinctively large, down-curved bills that they use to grab small animals from among the grasses and shrubs of their habitats. They can fly, but spend most of their time on the ground. Males and females differ in size and coloration, with females displaying bright-blue throat patches. The southern ground hornbill’s low-pitched booming sound is a simple territorial announcement.

These strikingly-patterned monkeys have very long tails that help them balance as they move quickly through trees. They feed primarily on leaves in a variety of forest types and live in social groups made up of a single dominant male and multiple females.

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"

Kids can tunnel the naked mole rat way with an interactive play experience designed to mimic their underground lives.

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"

This is a night of fun just for teachers to enjoy the Zoo after hours!