Year in review: 2024 research at Zoo Atlanta

To say we’re proud of our research programs here at Zoo Atlanta is an understatement. Research is an integral part of our mission, and helps us better understand and provide stewardship for the animals in our care, as well as valuable insights that enable us to protect their counterparts in the wild. We’re lucky to have some of the brightest minds in the field on our team leading projects that range from problem-solving and choice-making in a variety of animals to biomechanical studies on the incredible capabilities of elephants’ trunks and locomotion in sidewinder snakes.  

In 2024, our Research Team, along with myriad of partners, published 10 peer-reviewed articles (bringing our institutional number up to 432 since record-keeping began in 1978). The past year’s publications included studies on the science of animal personalities, eastern box turtle cognition, scent trailing in Guatemalan beaded lizards, possible links between salivation and cortisol levels in African elephants, evolutionary changes in the auditory systems of Central American toads, and population recovery in golden lion tamarins after recent Yellow-Fever outbreaks. We’re incredibly excited about these additions to the field of animal science, and can’t wait to see what discoveries our team makes in 2025. 

Here’s a full bibliography of our 2024 publications. For further information on our research projects, be sure to check out our website and Animal Science blogs. 

Gartner, M. C. 2024. Comparative animal personality. Invited chapter in Personality and Intelligence: The Psychology of Individual Differences, Oxford University Press, pp. 299–318. 

• Dietz, J. M., J. Mickelberg, K. Traylor‐Holzer, A. F. Martins, M. N. Souza, and S. J. Hankerson. 2024. Golden lion tamarin metapopulation dynamics five years after heavy losses to yellow fever. American Journal of Primatology, p.e23635. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23635 

• Mastali, A., B. Mayo, C. Ramey, N. Elgart, K. Miller, and M. Jackson. 2024. Play that trunky music: development of an auditory enrichment device for elephants in zoos. Proceedings of the International Conference on Animal-Computer Interaction, 2024(December):1–14. 

• Carl, N., J. S. Paul, and J. R. Mendelson III. 2024. Smell and tell: behavior associated with chemosensory stimuli in Guatemalan beaded lizards (Heloderma charlesbogerti). Herpetological Conservation and Biology 19:1–12. 

• Cooper, T. L., J. Pardo-Sanchez, M. J. Sosnowski, S. Tello Rodriguez, M. S. Spencer, S. F. Brosnan, and J. R. Mendelson III. 2024. How to tell more is more: quantity discrimination in eastern box turtles (Emydidae: Terrapene carolina). Journal of Herpetology 58:1–15. https://doi.org/10.1670/23-018 

• Haseltine, E. L., M. D. Englund, J. L. Weed, M. J. Beran, H. Tao, S. Paschal, and J. R. Mendelson III. 2024. Guatemalan beaded lizards (Helodermatidae: Heloderma charlesbogerti) demonstrate strategic navigation and the ability to follow a scent trail in a maze. Journal of Comparative Psychology Advance Online Publication https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/com0000394 

• Babish, S. D., C. Hernandez-Morales, and J. R. Mendelson III. 2024. Evolutionary patterns of trait change in the auditory system of Central American toads (Anura: Bufonidae: Incilius). Journal of Herpetology 58:1–15. https://doi.org/10.1670/23-066 

• Altig, R., R. W. McDiarmid, and P. H. S. Dias. 2024. Bibliography for the Identification, Morphology, and Development of Amphibian Gametes and Larvae. H. Mueller-Hill, J. R. Mendelson III (Eds.) Editors. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. 533pp. Electronic Document accessible at https://ssarherps.org/publications/books-pamphlets/altig-larvae-biblio/ 

• Kelling, A., R. Snyder, C. Ward, M. Bloomsmith, M. Laudenslager, and T. Maple. 2024. An examination of salivary cortisol concentrations and behaviour in three African elephants Loxodonta africana at Zoo Atlanta. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research 12:79–87. 

• Sylvester, H., J. Raines, A. Burgdorf-Moisuk, M. Connolly, S. Wilson, L. Ripple, S. Rivera, S. McCain, and E. Latimer. 2024. Selected instances of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirsus shedding in trunk secretions by African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in comparis to shedding by Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 55:182–194.