Science & Research Tip Sheet

Below is a tipsheet of some science stories taking place around the world and on the campus of the Saint Louis Zoo. For more information, contact our Public Relations Director, Janet Powell at (314) 646-4633 or e-mail powell@stlzoo.org. Please see our Press Room for more information.

2006 Scientific Field Work & Conservation Projects

Staff from the Saint Louis Zoo will be traveling around the world this year to participate in various conservation projects. If you have an interest in any of these areas, please let us know.

• Guatemala (March 17-26, 2006) - horned guan nutrition study in El Triunfo Biosphere, Chiapas, Mexico
• Kenya (early April 2006) – collaborative meeting with Northern Rangelands Trust on Grevy’s zebra and visit to girls' dorm under construction
• Armenia (May 17-June 6) – Zoo’s curator of reptiles returns to Caucasus Mountains for another mark/recapture study of Armenian mountain vipers
• Sahelo-Saharan region (May and November 2006) – preliminary visits to two protected parks in Tunisia. Very endangered addax and scimitar-horned oryx (extinct in the wild) will be introduced there in January, 2007.
• South Africa (May 2006) – cheetah nutrition study in private cheetah reserve
• Galapagos Islands (July 2006) – biomedical surveys of avian populations
• Madagascar – ongoing research at Park Ivoloina and Betampona Reserve studying lemurs. Zoo nutritionist will be researching tannins in their food. Saint Louis Zoo president and curator of primates currently head up Madagascar Fauna Group.
• Bosawas Biosphere Reserve, Nicaragua – Zoo’s project coordinator works full-time with trained indigenous people to co-manage their natural resources.
• Ethiopia (late summer 2006 TBD) – studying mountain nyala
• Punta San Juan, Peru (fall 2006) – Zoo bird staff will help conduct census of Humboldt penguins at this reserve when birds are molting

Scientific Work at the Saint Louis Zoo

Who’s eating what? Saint Louis Zoo is home to Zootrition® , a comprehensive database that allows zoo and wildlife managers to compare nutritional content of specific foods and calculate nutritional composition of diets. Potential nutritional deficiencies and toxicities can be identified. Information specific to local regions can be added by users. Zootrition® was developed by Dr. Ellen Dierenfeld, our staff nutritionist, and is used by American Zoo and Aquarium Association, Dutch Federation of Zoos, Colombian Zoo Association, European Association of Zoos and Aquaria and the Southeast Asian Zoo Association.

Birth control for wild animals? Saint Louis Zoo is home to the AZA Wildlife Contraception Center. Yes, zoos breed endangered species, but just as important is prevention of inbreeding. Dr. Cheryl Asa, our director of research, and Ingrid Porton, our curator of primates, co-chair this center. We maintain databases of contraceptive use in mammals, analyze safe use of contraceptives, initiate research trials of new methods, provide data to FDA and work with commercial partners to develop new contraceptives. Hot off the presses is their book, “Wildlife Contraception.”

Nature’s recyclers. American burying beetles depend on carrion for food and reproduction. They play an important role in breaking down decaying organic matter. Able to sense the carcass of a small animal from miles away, beetle pairs can drag carrion several feet before burying it completely, embalming the carcass with secretions before the female lays her eggs. By the time it went on the endangered species list in 1989, the only known population was in Rhode Island. Since then populations in six states have been found. Working with U. S. Fish & Wildlife, Missouri Department of Conservation and other agencies, the Saint Louis Zoo is part of a strong partnership aimed at nationwide recovery. In our Insectarium, we are breeding hundreds of these beetles and have introduced 50 pairs into a conservation area in Ohio.

Not your ordinary motorcycle gang. Missouri is home to hellbenders, the largest salamander of North America. Over the past 10 years the populations in the Ozark Mountains experienced a decline of 70%. Collaborating with Missouri Department of Conservation, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, Arkansas Fish & Game Commission, U of Missouri-Rolla, Southwest Missouri State U and Arkansas State U, the St. Louis Zoo has constructed a climate-controlled fast-moving “stream” to sustain its potential breeding group of hellbenders in its Herpetarium.

Computer dating! Dr. Jeffrey Bonner, Saint Louis Zoo president is Board chair of International Species Information System (ISIS), a computer-based information system used by zoos worldwide to manage genetic and demographic programs for their animal collections. The ISIS database contains information on 2,000,000 animals – almost 15,000 taxa/10,000 species. Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) is in the works.

Helping the horned guan in Chiapas. By the early 1930s logging, coffee farming and hunting had greatly reduced this endangered turkey-like bird in Mexico and Guatemala. Today less than 1,000 exist in the wild. The Saint Louis Zoo will collaborate on research management, habitat management, limiting factors management, life histories studies and reintroduction. At our Zoo we have common guans and in 1996 produced the first documented common guan chick by means of artificial insemination, a technique which may be used to help endangered cracids in the future. A study of habitat and nutrition in the wild will take place February-March.

An ass of a different color. This spring students at Washington University will help the Saint Louis Zoo with behavior studies of the critically endangered Somali wild ass as we introduce a male to three newly-arrived females. Training for the students will begin in mid-February. Could be weather dependent.

Love is in the air. Once again, our great hornbill female will be mudded into a hollow log with her eggs, while her mate feed her grapes and other treats – for four months! The female finally breaks her way out of the nest cavity a week or more before her chick is ready to leave the shelter. Our female has trained four males in the art of courtship.

Rare vipers of the Caucasus. This summer the Saint Louis Zoo’s curator of reptiles will return to the Caucasus to continue radio-telemetry and mark/recapture studies on Armenian vipers. Goal is to determine size, seasonal activity patterns, habitat preferences and demography. Partners include Zoological Institute-Russian Academy of Sciences, Tula Exotarium, Bioresources Management Agency and University of Goteburg.

Custom-designed sausages. The Saint Louis Zoo is testing sausages as surrogate whole prey for burying beetles, as well as used as rodent substitutes for snakes, anole subs for kingfishers and fish subs for piscivores, in addition to just another meatball for carnivores. They can be custom-designed nutritionally to meet the needs of our animals. Making a good food out of a bad fish. With U of Missouri, U.S. Fish & WIldlife, the Native Fish Conservancy and more, the Saint Louis Zoo will take the evil carp species out of lakes and streams and process them into fish sausages. We’ll test them on several species at the Zoo.