Art of Conservation, Inc. educates Rwandans about conservation and the importance of maintaining a healthy environment for both people and animals while instilling in them an understanding and respect for themselves, their peers, and the natural world. The Houston Zoo is a proud supporter of the Art of Conservation program in Rwanda

Art of Conservation (AoC)  is seeking a dedicated, experienced administrative support intern to work directly with AoC Director Julie Ghrist. Interns must commit at least six weeks to the position. After six weeks, the intern position may be extended at the discretion of the Director. For a description of the position and application – link here

Rushubi Primary School 5th grade class

AoC also occasionally accepts volunteers (link here for application) for short- to medium-term volunteer placements. Their needs vary depending on the staffing situation and class schedule. In general, they seek honest, hard-working individuals who can offer support in one or more of the following areas:

• Teaching the English-language portion of our conservation education curriculum. We are particularly interested in volunteer teachers who have a background in conservation, biology, agriculture, medicine, or public health.
• Teaching the English-language portion of our art curriculum. We are particularly interested in volunteer teachers who have a background in drawing, painting, music, or drama.
• Administrative work including memo writing and grant research.
• English-language training for non-English speaking staff.
• Computer skills training for staff.

Ready for an experience of a lifetime? Well, here is one where you can both learn and give at the same time.

I wonder if Art of Conservation will let me volunteer with them this week...maybe I will just eat some bamboo instead

This week Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) commenced a sterilization and vaccination mobile clinic for livestock guarding dogs. CCB offers free veterinary care for working guard dogs protecting livestock against predators. The mobile clinic is assisted by two overseas vets and will be visiting towns across Botswana travelling 600 miles over 4 days.

Earlier in the month of June, CCB launched its 4th annual ‘ Best livestock guarding dog in Botswana’ competition. Livestock guarding dogs are used with sheep, goats and cattle to alert them and protect them against predators. Every year CCB holds a competition to find the best dog in the country. The 2010 competition has just begun and is being …advertised on local radio. Winners win veterinary,hardware and dog supplies, and a trip for the family into the Okavango Delta.

What does that have to do with you? It’s all about you isn’t it? I will tell you anyway. Keeping your domestic pets healthy here at home can also help protect wildlife. We have all seen the stray cat and dog on the street – and they eventually are forced to eat native wildlife such as birds and small mammals when they can.

There is no need for the massive surplus in pet dogs and cats and they do not need to end up in shelters – spay and neuter your pets (unless you are breeding registered pets for competitions), there are plenty of kittens and puppies out there for every household and shelters would love for you to adopt today. Another great option here is H.O.P.E. (Homeless and Orphaned Pets Endeavor) which is a is an all-foster, no kill adoption group based in the Houston area. You may see them out at the local PetSmart on weekends.

Bonus question: To win a free small plush animal from the Houston Zoo – tell us what tv personality always ended his show “Don’t forget to spay and neuter your pets”. Three winners will be notified next week.

Travel to the Galapagos: Land of Darwin with the Houston Zoo

Celebrate Darwin’s legacy by walking in his footsteps on a trip to the Galapagos Islands with the Houston Zoo and Terra Incognita Ecotours. These islands are home to some of the most interesting and accessible wildlife anywhere. Swim and snorkel with sea lions, come within mere inches of the blue-footed booby, galapagos tortoises or a marine iguana.

Your trip will include a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station, world famous for its research and tortoise breeding programs, where you learn about the vital work being done to study and preserve Galapagos wildlife. Visit nests of the magnificent frigatebirds, search for giant tortoises in the wild, experience the diversity of the legendary finches.

For a detailed itinerary – link here - tour will accomodate only 12 travelers.

The Houston Zoo has been  supporting the work of Cheetah Conservation Botswana since 2008, offering funding for operating support and educational programming. Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) aims to preserve the nation’s cheetah population through scientific research, community outreach and education, working with rural communities to promote coexistence with Botswana’s rich diversity of predator species.  

The project was formed in 2003 to address the threat to the nation’s cheetah population. The major challenge for the project, funded by grant aid and donor support, is one of improving community perceptions towards predators and ensuring that retaliatory killings do not continue to threaten cheetah numbers, while, at the same time, supporting and protecting rural community welfare. Your generous support is already helping us to achieve that.

Only by working together with communities who live side-by-side with predators, with initiatives tailored to meet their needs and priorities, do we hope to foster the attitudes of coexistence that will see cheetahs remain as an essential component in this remarkable ecosystem and as a flagship species for the rich biodiversity of Botswana.  

Over the next few days, we thought we would update you on some exciting news surrounding the release of two orphaned cheetahs. The two cubs named Tlotlo (Respect) and Kgotso (Peace) came to CCB when they were 6 months old. The cubs had been caught by a community in Southern Botswana and whilst efforts were made to locate their mother, they were not successful. So the brothers moved to the CCB Ghanzi camp in March 2009 and have since been raised with minimal human contact, preparing them for eventual release into the wild.

We are going to spend the next few days getting to know some of the wildlife veterinarians and staff who have some of the most difficult jobs, and most rewarding jobs in the profession. The Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project dedicate every minute of the day to their amazing patients,  the critically endangered Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda, Ugandan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is not a captive setting, these wildlife veterinarians routinely trek hours into the fields and mountains to check on the health of individual groups of mountain gorillas.

There are approximately 720 Mountain Gorillas left on earth; they live only in two small parks, one in Uganda and one that includes a corner of Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In order to ensure a healthy future for this special animal, we monitor the gorillas on a regular basis; provide life-saving medical care, conduct health studies, and do all we can to build local capacity in veterinary medicine and ecosystem health.  

Much of the information you will find here can be seen on the MGVP website at http://www.gorilladoctors.org/. 

MGVP’s veterinary staff—collectively, the Gorilla Doctors—are a unique, diverse, and interesting group of people. They differ in terms of  nationality, training, and experience, as well as in the territory they cover. The in-country field vets are stationed in their home countries, either Rwanda, Uganda, or the DRC, while the regional vets and project director move about. MGVP’s regional headquarters are located in Ruhengeri (Musanze), Rwanda for two main reasons: most of the world’s habituated mountain gorillas live in Rwanda, and Ruhengeri itself is about halfway between the border with Uganda to the northeast and Congo to the west.

Please check in with us over the next few days as we highlight the Gorilla Doctors blog and introduce you to one of the world’s most amazing wildlife programs.

The Houston Zoo funded this effort  along with several other wildlife organizations including the Columbus Zoo, Mohamed bin Zayed Conservation Fund, Elephant Family and USFWS Asian Elephant Fund. The aim of this project is to collect crucial information on the movement of the elephants to contribute to the long-term conservation management of the species in Borneo.

The 35 year old matriach was named Sunda and the satellite data from the collared individuals will provide important information on the available suitable habitat in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary

This elephant below was collared previously during the initiation of the program in 2008-2009.

Here is an idea many of us are using these days: To-Go-Ware. Most of us already use some type of reusable bag to carry groceries, our lunches or maybe even the random rooster who needs a lift down to City Hall. What more would it take for you to take a pair of lightweight reusable utensils with you to work or out to dinner with you? Nothing at all, just do not pack them with the hitchhiking rooster.

To-Go-Ware is made of bamboo, are easily washed, BPA free (BPA a.k.a Bisphenol-A) is bad, safe and non-leaching (I love the leeches but prefer when my products do not leach), and is Phthalate free (I am not sure but if I can’t pronounce it, I prefer not to have it).

And the product is not only environmentally friendly, but people friendly too. To-Go-Ware supports a program known as CONSERVE in New Delhi, India and another called WEAVE (Women’s Education for Advancement and Empowerment) along the Thailand-Burma border. Link to the website for more information on these programs.

Making a change for the environment is as easy as carrying these super lightweight products along to your next meal. Get out there and make a difference people or our friendly picnic bear will be visiting you personally.

Picnicking bear and product photo credit To-Go-Ware. No bears were harmed in the making of this blog. Environmentall un-friendly picnickers on the other hand were recycled for future use…

Faecal attraction! At least that is the headline on Yahoo News at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/specieswhalesclimateoffbeat

Odd things catch my attention. First, I would have thought faecal was spelled fecal – but what do I know about whale poop? Much more after spending a few minutes riveted to my computer screen.

As if we did not need another reason to protect whales – it has been determined that sperm whale poop in the Southern Oceans remove the equivalent carbon emissions from 40,000 cars each year thanks to their faeces. What!

It is estimated that 12,000 sperm whales in the Southern Ocean each defecate around 50 tonnes of iron into the sea every year after digesting the fish and squid they hunt and the phytoplankton which eats the iron suck up carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.

What does this mean for you? It means we will not ask you to donate money through a carbon calculator to offset your travel. Oh no my friend, now we will ask you for money so that we may breed squid to feed to sprem whales to increase their poop output. This squid decarbonization formula will help you help whales help us.

Seriously though, read the article, whales are in trouble in every ocean they are found and being careful consumers and supporting protection measures will help protect these amazing animals.

Three years ago the U.S. Senate’s unanimous approval and designation of the final week in June as “National Pollinator Week” marked a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations. In just three years Pollinator Week has grown to be an international celebration of the valuable ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles. The growing concern for pollinators is a sign of progress, but it is vital that we continue to maximize our collective effort. 

Pollinating animals, including bees, birds, butterflies, bats, beetles and others, are vital to our delicate ecosystem, supporting terrestrial wildlife, providing healthy watershed, and more. Therefore, Pollinator Week is a week to get the importance of pollinators’ message out to as many people as possible.

It’s not too early to start thinking about an event at your school, garden, church, store, etc. Pollinators positively effect all our lives- let’s SAVE them and CELEBRATE them!

What is on the poster?

1.) Bees- Bumble bee (Bombus sonorus)
2.) Bees- The European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
3.) Bees- Orchid Bees (Euglossa imperialis and Euglossa  cf.  mixta)
4.) Wasps- The Blue Mud Wasp (Chalybion californicum)
5.) Butterflies- The EasternTiger Swallowtail (Papilio glacus)
6.) Butterflies- Cairns Birdwing (Ornithoptera priamus)
7.) Butterflies- Blue Morpho, male, (Morpho menelaus)
8.) Moths- The pink-spotted hawkmoth  (Agrius cingulata)
9.) Flies- a flower fly (Heliophilus pendulus)
10.) Birds- Scarlet Hawaiian Honey creeper, the ‘I’iwi  (Vestiaria coccinea)
11.) Birds- Rufuos hummingbird, SW USA,  (Selasphorus rufus)
12.) Beetles- Scarab beetle (Plusiotis gloriosa or Chrysina gloriosa)
13.) Mammals-  Banana bat (Musonycteris harrisoni)
14.) Mammals- Red-Bellied Lemur (Eulemur rubriventer)
15.) Mammals- Sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps)
16.) Mammals- Honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus)
17.) Lizards- Blue-tailed day gecko (Phelsuma cepediana)