New England Aquarium pt 2
Zoo Logic
It's our second installment talking with the management team at New England Aquarium following our recent three-day onsite visit with the pinniped and penguin department. With so much institutional and operant conditioning change affecting not only the animals' overall management through greater training and enrichment, but the employees' work experiences and responsibilities, how are the aquarium's leaders helping their teams adjust and thrive? We talk with Associate Curators, Patty Leonard and Eric Fox along with managers, Rebekah Miller and Diana Major.
info_outline
New England Aquarium
Zoo Logic
We are on location at the New England Aquarium talking with long time animal trainer and curator of pinnipeds and penguins, Kristen McMahon. Under her guidance, this unique department has successfully blended animal care providers from different taxa into one productive training team which has improved the social well-being of all the animals. Kristen discusses the aquarium's focus not only on improving animal welfare and training efficiency, but also the work-life balance for all employees.
info_outline
petKORE: Enrichment for All Species
Zoo Logic
Since he was a young boy, KONG company founder, Joe Markham has been fascinated with animals of every kind. He credits his German Shepherd, Fritz with providing him long ago the inspiration for the famous beehive shaped pet toy. His latest venture is a labor of love to produce training and enrichment devices suitable for underserved zoo, aquarium, equine and farm species. Joining in the conversation about the challenges of developing larger natural rubber based toys for exotic species is long time animal trainer, Chuck Tompkins. According to Joe, making one of anything is relatively...
info_outline
Fustercluck
Zoo Logic
The new U.S. administration has put forth a slew of federal employee firings, funding freezes and cancellations, and agency reprioritizations since assuming office barely 1 month ago. One of the most notable moves has been the dismantling of USAID and a funding pause or in some instances, the elimination of the agency's projects to feed, educate, and/ or medically treat vulnerable communities around the globe. However, it's not just humans that will feel the effects of this humanitarian funding gap. Unknown to many, USAID also supports sustainable use, wildlife conservation, and habitat...
info_outline
Dixie Chicks
Zoo Logic
The Mississippi Aquarium in Gulfport recently announced the successful hatching of 2 endangered black-footed penguins. As a newer facility in a medium sized city, President and CEO Kurt Allen returns to discuss the State's historic hatchlings, the challenges of meeting public and financial expectations, and the importance of remaining adaptable to meet customer needs.
info_outline
A Trainer Elephants Will Never Forget
Zoo Logic
The zoological community lost an important colleague recently with the passing of Jeff Andrews. First a long-time orca trainer and curator for SeaWorld, Jeff eventually took his talents to the terrestrial side to manage elephants. Not satisfied with the status quo of elephant management at that time, which was largely based on establishing a dominance hierarchy through punishment with the trainer as the leader, Jeff adapted the skills he learned using positive reinforcement with orcas and applied them to elephants. As with any credible data-driven challenge to the way things are...
info_outline
Political Animals
Zoo Logic
With a new administration and one party control of both houses in Congress, the impact on animal-related legislation, facility oversight, and code enforcement is likely to change from the previous administration. Tom Albert, government affairs consultant for the Zoological Association of America discusses the differing historical perspectives of the two major political parties on the role of zoos as well as steps professionals can take to help garner more bipartisan support for the work of zoos and aquariums at home and globally. Animal Care
info_outline
Remembering Karen Pryor
Zoo Logic
The animal and behavior training world lost a true revolutionary recently with the passing of Karen Pryor. Prolific writer, scientist, trainer, lecturer, and business woman with an entertainer's spirit, she changed the exotic and domestic animal training world forever with her ever popular book, Don't Shoot the Dog. She followed up her writing successes with the launch of Clicker Training and legions of trainers, students and fans, workshops, Karen Pryor Academy, and much much more by advancing the use of those mechanical behavioral markers and reward-based operant conditioning across the...
info_outline
Los Angeles Fires
Zoo Logic
Julia Wilder, Executive Director of ZDR3 () returns to discuss the unfolding fires in Los Angeles. While her team is not presently deployed on scene, they are coordinating help through local MOU members as was one of the original goals of the now 200 facility member strong group across nearly 40 states. Julia describes how the risks and response to wild land fires are different in nature and immediacy compared to the hurricane disasters ZDR3 has been called in to assist with as recently as this past fall. Plus, we remember the life and impact on improving elephant welfare and training with the...
info_outline
A Marmoset By Any Other Name
Zoo Logic
Director of Research for the , Dr. Kelly Jaakkola returns to discuss her upcoming free webinar summarizing recent dolphin cognition studies hosted by the and her just published invited to a paper in the journal Science about marmosets supposed use of individual names. Few species have been shown to use names much like we humans do as labels to identify specific individuals. She discusses how authors of a recent study that relied on machine learning to analyze common marmoset "phee calls" found patterns which they suggest indicate the use of these calls as individual names. Dr. Jaakkola...
info_outlineVeterinary epidemiologist, Dr. Dominic Travis, Chief Programs Officer for the Marine Mammal Center returns to discuss the virulent and usually lethal strain of avian influenza affecting a variety of species, especially marine mammals. Given the COVID pandemic fatigue felt across society, it is important not to let our guard down about monitoring for known risks such as influenza which has been front and center among researchers, clinicians, and public health agencies for decades. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, The Marine Mammal Center has rescued more than 26,000 marine mammals along 600 miles of California coastline and the Big Island of Hawai‘i. The TMMC team endeavors to advance ocean health through marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation, research, and education.