Prospect Park Zoo- Training and First Days

I finished my training at the Prospect Park Zoo a few weeks ago, and last weekend I began working there.

 There are a few ecologically interesting things I learned about the Zoo and the Wildlife Conservation Society, of which the Zoo is a member. Most of the things they taught us I knew already (the different kinds of ecosystems and how animals have adapted to survive there, identifying animals by their scientific names, etc.), but the efforts of the WCS was entirely new.

First of all, the Wildlife Conservation Society is active in 65 countries. Their goal is not only to preserve wild species, but wild places as well.

Every species under the scope of the WCS has a studbook: a comprehensive list of animals and their genetic and breeding histories. Every time the WCS is looking for animals to breed, they check the studbook to find a genetically viable candidate. This is especially important when increasing the population in the red and yellow zone (endangered or threatened species).

Two of the endangered species at the Zoo that are worth mentioning are the Golden Lion Tamarins and the Dingoes. Golden Lion Tamarins can only be found in southeastern Brazil, and due to destruction of habitat and illegal poaching they were very endangered. Thanks to the efforts of the WCS, a new population has been successfully reintroduced, and they have been downgraded in conservation status. My first day of actual work at the Zoo I noticed that our Tamarins had children, which is always a good thing for endangered species.

We recently acquired four dingos from a dingo sanctuary in Australia, and there are so many misconceptions about them that we had to have an extra training session about them. Dingos are one of the top predator species in Australia, and are very often hunted and killed because farmers believe them to be a danger to their livestock. And, of course, there's the whole "dingo ate my baby" thing. We learned that that actually happened once, but it was because a child had wandered into dingo territory and dingos will eat anything they can find. It's very exciting that we have two pairs at the Zoo, and even more exciting that in a year or so when they mature they have the potential to breed.

We are also building a new amphibian exhibit that will emphasize how threatened a lot of amphibian species are, more on that as it unfolds


-MORGAN PARLO