ostrich feathers...still attached

ostrich feathers...still attached
Originally uploaded by lake life1

NC Zoo close-up by lake life1.

Honolulu Zoo Was Closed...

...yesterday by tsunami threat.

Good thing there was no big wave because the Hawaiian zoo is in sight of the ocean.

Chimp Giggles

Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage (in Zambia) video thanks to NC Zoo keeper Elizabeth Garrison McChesney:

♫"Hello my baby, Hello my honey, Hello my ragtime gal "♪

♫"Hello my baby, Hello my honey, Hello my ragtime gal "♪
Originally uploaded by ucumari

Ucumari photo of NC Zoo blue poison dart frog and great title is a reminder of one of my favorite cartoons of all time.

Ants Count!

Ants use internal pedometer, research indicates.

3 Pound Baby Giant

Baby giant Pacific octopus will get much larger.

""The giant Pacific octopus is the 'giant panda' of invertebrates..."

Photos, at a Price

Photographer faces fears and disease to get rare photos of African lions and warthogs.

"...the photographer...was diagnosed with Bilharzia and contracted several parasites which he soaked up through the dirty water in the drinking hole."

"'There were times when I was shaking with so much with fear I had to stop what I was doing and breathe to get myself calm."

[@tweetLiam RT AmazingPics]

Sharks Matter

"Why Sharks Matter: The Ecological and Economic Importance of Sharks, Threats They Face, and How You Can Help" will be offered by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh. Shark conservation biologist David Shiffman will speak Tuesday, March 9 at 7pm. To reserve a seat for this multimedia presentation you can visit or call the Museum Box Office at 919-733-7450 x212. Fee: $6 for general public.

Shiffman's research focuses on the feeding behavior and conservation of sandbar sharks. He is also a prolific writer for Southern Fried Science, one of the most widely read marine biology blogs on the internet.

The Museum’s current special exhibit, “Megalodon: Largest Shark that Ever Lived,” will be open from 5 to 7pm prior to the presentation. At 60 feet long and weighing nearly 100 tons, Carcharodon megalodon was the most powerful fish that ever lived and a dominant marine predator.

Play-Doh Artiste

NC Zoo veterinarian Ryan DeVoe.

Animal subjects, of course ("real" and imaginary).

Skunk Stories:

The Video.

@BirdDiva RT @ PBSNature

Winners! Chimney Rock Pix

Winners: 2009 Chimney Rock Park photo contest. [@NCZooSociety RT @ChimneyRockPark]

Judges choose 3 photos by one artist as the Grand Prize winner.

Patients Don't Complain; They Bite

Life of a zoo vet.

"Miller also likes the fact that as long as she doesn't take on a racehorse, her malpractice insurance is about $50,000 a year cheaper than that of most physicians."

"Love is Strange"

Red wolf "double marking" - considered bonding behavior, according to @tdelene, who offered this in a recent tweet as a belated Valentine:

Over 90 Flights Daily

The Forest Aviary at the NC Zoo is reopened after a brief annual shut down for maintenance. There are 93 birds of 40 species on display at present.

Just looking in ♥

Just looking in ♥
Originally uploaded by ucumari

NC Zoo harbor seal photo and title by ucumari, uploaded in time for Valentine's Day (but while I was away).

Field Trip Earth: Backstory

What the Charlotte Observer didn't include in its story (link in post below):

"...including how a veterinarian devised a ventilator for sedated wild elephants based on your average garage-order leaf blower. (Now that is just wicked field work!)"

"...elephant’s lungs are different from other mammals in that they are attached directly to the body cavity wall. When the animals are lying down, sedated, blood can pool in their lungs. So Loomis devised a battery-operated leaf blower attached to a tube that is inserted into the elephant’s trachea. When flipped on, it maintains positive air pressure in the lungs and ventilates the animal. The device’s lightweight nature is better suited for forest treks than heavy oxygen canisters that proved too cumbersome."

Virtual Safari

Field Trip Earth as explained by T. DeLene Beeland and Charlotte Observer.

"Mike Loomis, chief veterinarian at the N.C. Zoo, faced death while researching elephants in Cameroon, Africa."

"But MacAllister says he does not want kids to learn only about "charismatic megafauna," such as wolves and elephants. Field Trip Earth also features invertebrates, such as the American burying beetle..."

Mystery: Identical Species in Arctic and Antarctic

At least 235 identical species at opposite poles of the Earth.

"Under the microscope, these invertebrates sometimes look like shredded plastic bags or shrimp with bullhorns. It's unclear how they could cross a swimming pool, let alone the globe."

"Today, most scientists think the species travel a deepwater conveyor belt called the thermohaline circulation, the ocean-wide phenomenon responsible for currents such as the Atlantic's Gulf Stream. Because cold water at both poles changes salinity and sinks as it spreads, it forms discrete submarine rivers that descend at the equator and resurface at opposite ends of the planet."

[@iescience & @shirlsmor]

Fly Ash Fake Rocks

I asked NC Zoo Curator of Design Ellen Greer about a new green-initiative she is utilizing here:

“We're looking at ways to reduce the amount of concrete we use because concrete manufacturing is one of the most significant sources of C02 emissions from manufacturing sources worldwide. One ton of CO2 is emitted per one ton of cement.

“Currently in our standard formula for one yard of concrete 160 lbs of fly ash replaces the same amt of cement - in a mix that ordinarily would have 960 lbs of cement (so we use 160 lbs of fly ash and 800 lbs cement per yd).

Fly ash is a by-product of the combustion of coal in power plants. Coal… contains quantities of non-combustible minerals; when coal is consumed to make electricity, these minerals remain as ash products… that would "fly" out of the smoke stacks if…not captured.”

The Romans used volcanic ash to build things that are still standing.

Concrete is a mixture of rock, sand, cement and water. When fly ash is added to concrete, some of the cement can be eliminated. Fly ash in a concrete mix has decreased permeability and increased long term strength.

“I just looked back at our E/R [the recent big elephant/rhino project] budget for the yardage of shotcrete [concrete Ellen’s staff shoots onto metal forms to make artificial rocks, trees, etc.] and found that 55 yds. of concrete were used; that contained approximately 44,000 lbs. of cement (800 lbs. per yd). And because we reduced the overall amt. of cement by 16% by using fly ash we avoided using approx. 8800 lbs of cement or 4.4 tons,” Ellen adds.

“I'd like to increase the amt. of fly ash in our shotcrete mixtures and from what I've read that could be feasible without compromising strength and durability.”

Parasitic Jaegers

Back from Mexico. Spotted my first parasitic jaegers soaring above the gulls waiting for a bit of the fishermen's catch in Puerto Morales.

Why parasitic? ("This bird will feed on rodents, small birds and insects but also robs gulls and terns of their catches.")

Tigers' First Date

Zoo director reports that it is just a coincidence that this comes on Valentine's Day weekend.

Bridgeport's Beardsley Zoo's mating effort is part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan. The Amur tiger is a critically endangered subspecies. Only 300 are known to survive in northern Asia.

Free for All?

St. Louis Zoo has long been free. That may change. Might just be free for St. Louis area residents.

Cute Black Rhino Calf

Berlin Zoo's black rhino calf is "officially" adorable.

Cold Closes Miami Zoo

First time in 30 or more years.

Closed Again

NC Zoo, today.

NC Zoo Bird Count

Well, actually volunteers just finished their first Great Backyard Bird Count at the Valerie H. Schindler Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at the NC Zoo! They saw about 35 birds representing 12 species at their feeders.

Speeding Elephants

I've seen it once. A herd of elephants moving at high speed. It looks like they are running, but it also looks like they are walking...rapidly.

"...analysis of elephant footfall patterns by Hutchinson suggested that speedy elephants' front legs walk while their hind legs may trot."

"So the elephants were running by one measure but not by another...'High-speed locomotion in an elephant doesn't fall nicely into a classic category like a run or a trot. It really depends on your definition of "run"'."

@BoraZ RT @CliftonWiens

Toyko Zoo Tiger Drill

Tokyo Zoo's tiger escape drill serves a serious purpose, but it is rather entertaining:

Extreme Newby

Sub-title: "Six-Footer Takes a Few Minutes to Learn to Walk"

Newborn giraffe is on its way to walking and then running...all in day one. Newborn will grow an inch a day now until it is really big (14 to 17 feet or more)!

Zebras in Antwerp Snow

zebra's
Originally uploaded by belgianchocolate

It has recently snowed at the Antwerp Zoo too, as belgianchocolate documents.

Asian Elephants in Snow

Kai-mook
Originally uploaded by belgianchocolate

Another strong offering from Zoo Antwerp by belgianchocolate.

Romance in the Park

Consider treating your Valentine to a romantic evening at Sylvan Heights Waterfowl, Scotland Neck (where they park their cars in the middle of the main street!), NC, Saturday, 7-10 p.m.

Food, wine, live entertainment, dancing and the largest public offering of waterfowl in the world.

Wild Animals @ NC Zoo!!!

While the NC Zoo has otters on exhibit in the Streamside exhibit complex, in the "North American" exhibits complex, and while otters are wild animals, the Zoo currently has at least one free-ranging, very wild otter that has been seen crossing the Zoo road between the "North American" parking lot and a pond on the old, "interim zoo" site here.

Also being spotted, along with other wild white-tailed deer, on the larger NC Zoo property, is a very unique white (it has not been confirmed to be albino, as no one I have heard from claims to have had a close enough look to verify the presence, or absence, of the albino's pink eyes and nose) deer.

Where's the burger?

Where's the burger?
Originally uploaded by ucumari

"Found him in the grizzly bear exhibit. Not sure where he got the french fry but it was too early to have come from a visitor. (restaurants not open yet)"

Uploaded by ucumari (her title and quote) on 10 Feb '10. NC Zoo.

That 2nd Photo!

Amazing camouflaged gecko. The lower photo especially, of the Henkel's leaftailed gecko, of Madagascar.

"...like watching a tree come alive."

"...amazing moss-like fringe along the sides of its body which blurs the line between itself and its background."

[@AmazingPics]

Record Tied

The recent 8-day closing of the NC Zoo tied the record established in 1996.

Believe we bought an "All Wheel Drive" Subaru Legacy Outback as a family car after being stranded in our neighborhood by an ice storm that year. Electricity and heat(!) were out for several days with that one.

At least I missed no work days in this most recent stretch.

Smile Nkosi, 2 Girlrillas on Way

Smile Nkosi, your new girlfriends will join you soon!
Originally uploaded by ucumari

Ucumari has coined a new word for female gorillas.

Two new lowland gorillas will join Nik at the Forest Glade in "Africa" at the NC Zoo, when their quarantines are complete.

Surveying His Domain

Surveying his domain
Originally uploaded by ucumari

Western lowland gorilla Nkosi, NC Zoo.

Ucumari photo & title.

Overpopulation & Species Extinctions

Human overpopulation and the extinction of species. There's a chart for that. [@BoraZ RT @tdelene/Wild Muse]

Tigers Romp...

...in the snow @Cincinnati Zoo [RT by @NCZooSociety]

"Yellow-Throated Predator"

"Yellow-throated warbler eats lizard", @tdelene RT @stokesbirding. Two great photos taken at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

"King of the Dandelion"

Beautiful photo of spider (jumping spider?) and "weed". [@AmazingPics]

Pretty girl

Pretty girl
Originally uploaded by lake life1

Lake life 1 photo and title. 2nd in the series. NC Zoo ostrich.

Funny girl

Funny girl
Originally uploaded by lake life1

Lake life 1 photo and title. NC Zoo ostrich.

Visitors from the North?

Have gray wolves found a home in Colorado? The scat says, "Yes".

"Then, on the edge of an aspen grove, one of the biologists saw something unusual: a scat roughly as long and wide as a banana, tapered at the ends, perhaps two months old. When Eisenberg examined it, she saw that it contained hair from deer or elk and shards of bone, some almost as long as a fingernail. It smelled distinctively earthy, like a shady forest floor."

(Tip: @tdelene)

Photos of Acacia

Two photos of the NC Zoo's newest female lowland gorilla arrival. (Click on photos to see pretty Acacia larger.)

Also from "The Midden" II

"Male Bateleur eagle staying at Old Avian Prop [an off-exhibit area at the NC Zoo once used for exclusively for bird propagation] due to bumble foot surgery and recovery." [Jan. '10 "The Midden"]

"The Whale that Ate Jaws"

@DolphinSeeker RT @DianeN56:

Zawadi the Sitatunga

That baby sitatunga born recently at the NC Zoo (Jan. 19) is named Zawadi. ["The Midden"]

Also from "The Midden"

"Bears and wolves enjoying the snow! Bears are sleeping more." [Jan. "The Midden"]

New Cottonmouths

There are two new snakes in the Streamside exhibit in "North America" at the NC Zoo. [Tip: "The Midden - all the poop fit to print", Jan. 2010, Aaron Jesue for NC Chapter AAZK (zookeepers committed to conservation)]

More 'Bout Acacia

"Acacia [female lowland gorilla] arrived via cargo jet at Piedmont Triad International Airport [Greensboro, NC] around 6 p.m. Saturday and was transported by truck to Asheboro, where she settled into quarantine facilities at the N.C. Zoo’s Hanes Veterinary Medical Center. All new primates arriving at the zoo are required to go through a lengthy quarantine period before being introduced to their exhibits." [from NC Zoo media release of today]

Lion Cubs Video

ZooAtlanta home page. (Just below "Headlines".) Enjoy about 10 seconds of very young African lion cubs. Stunning and precious.

Gotcha nose!

Gotcha nose!
Originally uploaded by ucumari

Fun foto and title by ucumari. NC Zoo harbor seal.

Acacia Officially "Very Cool!"

"Acacia is at her new temporary home... and she's very cool! She and Jamani shared gorilla looks at each other from across the hall. They're going to be friends for hopefully the next 20 years or more!" [Aaron Jesue, NC Zoo keeper]

Foot of Snow Closes Akron Zoo

Up to a foot of snow and high winds saw the Akron (Ohio) Zoo closed today.

"As long as weather conditions are favorable the zoo will reopen tomorrow..."

Rhino Romp

Ailsa, baby white rhino, on the run. [@TelegraphPics RT AmazingPics]

What Does It Mean?

The two groundhogs at the Valerie H. Schindler Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at the NC Zoo came out of their underground torpor today...a bit after Groundhog Day.

Wolves of the High Arctic

Arctic wolves research website includes "A spaghetti map for Brutus' movements (July 08 to 30 Nov. 2009)". [@tdelene]

Welcome to the Jungle

Gorilla Acacia (age 15) is expected to arrive at the NC Zoo this evening.

"An Attack of Obviousness"

@sciencegoddess on certain birds' use of certain head feathers to touch their surroundings ala cats' whiskers.

"The birds usually breed in dark, rocky crevices."

No Mystery Cat?

Thought to be mystery cat is likely a pampas cat.

"...in the Andes they are spotted, have a pink nose, and striking black lines across the forelegs."

Funny Face Friday

Funny Face Friday
Originally uploaded by ucumari

NC Zoo African lioness photo (and title) uploaded yesterday by ucumari.

Delicate Gorilla Reintroduction

Omaha's Zoo is introducing a 7-month old gorilla, Hadari, to his family after 6 months in rehab for a broken arm.

Introductions of intelligent, social animals are always tricky. This one is complicated and unique.

"Hadari's grandmother has shown to be an "excellent" surrogate... chosen because of her experience caring for other infant gorillas. Hadari's mother will be introduced at a later date because she's still learning mothering skills."

Back from Bioko

Car pooled some this week with returned NC Zoo Curator of Research Dr. Rich Bergl. Heard about his trip to Bioko, volcanic island off Cameroon.

Rich "joined the annual expedition this January to work with Dr. Hearn and her graduate students to implement a Cybertracker-based data collection system for their work on Bioko. Cybertracker is a software package that is designed to allow easy collection and management of biological data."

"Since Bioko isn’t a common destination for air travelers I took a rather circuitous route: Greensboro to Detroit (Michigan) to Chicago (Illinois) to Madrid (Spain) to Malabo (the capital of Equatorial Guinea and the only large town on Bioko)."

One day: "Indeed, in the three hours of the morning census walk we saw three different monkey species: red eared guenons, drills, and crowned guenons. This is such a contrast to the mainland, where you would be lucky to see all those monkeys in a week. Evidence of human activity was correspondingly low."

Another day: "Over the course of the morning I sighted red colobus monkeys, black colobus monkeys (a first for me), red-eared guenons, crowned guenons, and putty-nosed guenons. During the course of the encounters the monkeys, though wary, did not seem particularly afraid of people."

"In the short time I have been on Bioko I have seen more monkeys than in all the years I have been working in Nigeria and Cameroon."

"The relatively small human population, the inaccessibility of the forests in the south of the island, and tight governmental control on firearms mean that the conservation situation on Bioko has a rather positive outlook. I am confident that the data collected using the Cybertracker system, in combination with the other work being done... will go a long way towards ensuring the future of this fascinating and special place."

NC Zoo to Open Sunday!

After eight straight days closed...including tomorrow.

7 habits of Highly Successful Toads...

...allowed toads to relatively quickly diversify into 500 species "and spread to every continent except Antarctica." [@BoraZ link to "Not Exactly Rocket Science"]

"... many retained the pioneering qualities. Today, many toads still have all seven traits to the extent that even distantly related species look very similar. They're relatively large, land-living animals with fat deposits and parotid glands, and they opportunistically lay large clutches of eggs that hatch into independent tadpoles."

"...all toads are also frogs."

Zen Bats

Bats track targets by not quite aiming at them. Researchers also claim dogs do this with sense of smell...tell of human who echolocates like bats.

"The difference in sonar beam directing strategies between the Egyptian Fruit bats and Big Brown bats may be related to the differences between their sound production mechanisms (tongue clicks vs. vocalizations), echo processing systems, behavioral requirements in nature, or other species differences,"

[@iescience RT @CliftonWiens]

So You Want to Do Field Research?

"Dinner at Base Camp", a photo, by NC Zoo lead veterinarian and "Elephants of Cameroon" field researcher Dr. Mike Loomis.

All out!

All out!
Originally uploaded by ucumari

Ucumari's Andy, uploaded today.

National Zoo's Giant Panda...

...Tai Shan is now China's Tai Shan. He started his trip at 9:04 a.m. this morning.

Lake Chad Significant Wetland

Now Cameroon joins three other nations in recognizing the Lake Chad wetland for international significance. This shortly after Cameroon names Mt. Cameroon a new national park.

"Actually an inland delta, the new internationally protected wetland covers 2.6 million hectares, and is vital to countless birds as well as endangered otters, gazelles and elephants. The Lake is also home to hippopotamuses and Nile Crocodiles.

"The Lake Chad basin is home to over 20 million people, with the majority dependent on the lake and other wetlands for their fishing, hunting, farming and grazing."

[Field Trip Earth]

7 Days...

...and counting?

The NC Zoo will be closed for a seventh straight day due to "predictions of more frozen precipitation" and weather that has negatively affected "walkways and service roads", accoring to Zoo Director, David M. Jones, DVM.

Mt. Cameroon Pix

Over 2 dozen photos by NC Zoo's Dr. Mike Loomis from January elephant collaring expedition on Mt. Cameroon. Field Trip Earth.

Least Wanted List!

The 5 most dangerous invasive species in the US. [@BoraZ]

Asian carp "have taken over and now represent 90 percent of the biomass in the Illinois River. Researchers worry that these ravenous, opportunistic fish will reach the Great Lakes and cause real problems to the fragile ecosystem—virtually eliminating biodiversity."

Free NC Zoo Field Guides

These great guides help you identify bird, antelope and frog species, or tell one African elephant or chimpanzee from another, at the NC Zoo.

[Tip: NC Zoo Society facebook page]

Establishing Long-Standing Record?

Today's media advisory: "The North Carolina Zoo will remain closed to the public on Thursday, Feb.4, as snow and ice remaining from last weekend’s winter storm continue to make some visitor walkways hazardous."

The Zoo will be closed for six straight days...and now another winter weather advisory is being offered for Thursday evening and Friday!

Consensus?

Perhaps.

A sampling of US zoos on Groundhog Day found that three zoos with actual groundhog prognosticators (Brookfield in Chicago, Milwaukee and Staten Island) revealed agreement in an early spring.

Little Rock Zoo's two red river hogs also agreed with the "whistle pigs" from the other three zoos.

Oregon Zoo's hedgehog and Henry Doorly Zoo's (Omaha's) gorilla, however, predicted late springs.

Preparing for June Mission

NC Zoo's Dr. Mike Loomis began planning for the June 2010 "Elephants of Cameroon" mission during a dinner meeting Jan. 28.

"...as a field researcher himself, Atanga understands that complex field work does not always end successfully and that, despite the fact that we didn't find elephants [in January], we still learned some important information about elephant habitat and movements on Mount Cameroon.

"Talking with him made me feel pretty excited about our next trip. We decided that we'll work for six weeks in Korup National Park in southern Cameroon, as well as in a mountainous region near there..."

Remembering Summer

Bluebell
Originally uploaded by kcameron87

At the NC Zoo, by kcameron87.

Bit of Great News

"One bit of great news is that Eno Nku, a member of our elephant collaring team, has just been named World Wildlife Fund's advisor for the Mount Cameroon National Park area. This means that his involvement in conservation work in the region will be increasing—which means in turn that the North Carolina Zoo's involvement will be increasing as well." [Dr. Mike Loomis, Field Trip Earth]

You Go, Trees!

Trees may be countering global warming some as eastern U.S. forests "appear to be growing faster in response to rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."

[New York Times "Science"]

Little Gems

How much life can you find and photograph in one cubic foot of an ecosystem?

"While in the tropical cloud forest of Monteverde, in Costa Rica, most of the animals in the treetop ecosystem were as small as a fingertip, there were hawk moths, sharpshooter leafhoppers and burio tree seeds."

[@iescience RT @worldscipod]

Be My Wild Valentine

Unique courtship rituals offered by National Wildlife Federation.

"The female of one firefly species copies the flashes of the females of species different from her own. When a hopeful male shows up, the mimic eats him, then goes on to mate with a male of her own species."

4000 Homeless Toads

"This is a story about a waterfall, the World Bank and 4,000 homeless toads.

"Maybe the story will have a happy ending, and the bright-golden spray toads, each so small it could sit easily on a dime, will return to the African gorge where they once lived, in the spray of a waterfall on the Kihansi River in Tanzania.

"The river is dammed now, courtesy of the bank. The waterfall is 10 percent of what it was. And the toads are now extinct in the wild.

"But 4,000 of them live in the Bronx and Toledo, Ohio, where scientists at the Wildlife Conservation Society [& its Bronx Zoo] and the Toledo Zoo are keeping them alive in hopes, somehow, of returning them to the wild."

"The spray toads, Nectophrynoides asperginis, were unknown to science until 1998, when they were found living on less than five acres, perhaps the smallest known range of any vertebrate. They are unusual in that they do not lay eggs. The baby toads emerge fully formed, each one small enough to fit on the head of a pin."

"The problem then was how to keep them alive. The Bronx Zoo sent toads to five other zoos in the United States, but only one of them, the Toledo Zoo, managed to keep them alive, as did the Bronx Zoo.

"“No one had kept anything in that genus in captivity,” Dr. Pramuk said. “It was very difficult for us to figure out what they needed.”

"The crucial factors, not surprisingly, turned out to be water, light and food — very carefully prepared water, light and food."

"...a zookeeper in the Bronx, produced a safe food supply by breeding tiny bugs like fruit flies, wood lice and weevils in plastic shoeboxes and other containers filled with cocoa matting, beans and alder leaves that she gathers on the zoo grounds."

[NY Times - Science]

The "Bird Flu" of Trees

Sudden Oak Death. It started 15 years ago in coastal California.

"...a scientist at UNC Charlotte has been one of the leaders in seeking to understand it - and find out if it might infect eastern forests. [Charlotte Observer by T. DeLene Breeland.]

Bees Recognize Human Faces

"Bees join the ranks of crows! Can recognize human faces," adds @tdelene who retweeted @sciam.

"Finally, the critters faced their ultimate task: to pick out real faces from those that had the features scrambled. And: score. Bees could indeed differentiate faces from non-faces."

Disappearing Ducks?

Loss of prairie pothole wetlands threaten the ducks.

"“The impact to the millions of wetlands that attract countless ducks to these breeding grounds in spring makes it difficult to imagine how to maintain today’s level of waterfowl populations in altered climate conditions,” said Dr. Glenn Guntenspergen, a U.S. Geological Survey researcher and one of the report authors. “Parents may not have time to raise their young to where they can fly because of wetlands drying up too quickly in the warming climate of the future,” he added."

[@BirdDiva RT @ USGSNews]

Mt. Cameroon Is New Park

Cameroon has named tall Mt. Cameroon a national park, preserving some of the Congo Basin's rarest ecosystems. [@fieldtripearth]

"Creation of the new Mt Cameroon National Park is the result of intense efforts and collaboration since 2007 between MINFOF [Cameroon's Ministry of Forestry and Fauna] and WWF [World Wildlife Fund], with the financial support of the German Cooperation (KfW). WWF-Sweden, the North Carolina Zoological Park and the North Carolina Zoological Society also provided specific support to track and monitor activities of three forest elephants through satellite tracking collars."


The NC Zoo's Dr. Mike Loomis is just down from important African elephant research on Mt. Cameroon.