Three sets of fuzzy ears and wide, curious eyes recently joined the CMZoo family! These tiny ring-tailed lemur babies are already turning heads with their inquisitive expressions and snuggles on Allagash.
While they’re still nursing, they’re also beginning to explore some solid foods. The pups cling tightly to Allagash but are starting to show signs of independence. Allagash’s adult daughter, Anja, seems especially curious about the little ones and has even started helping with grooming duties.
According to the Lemur Conservation Foundation, lemurs are among the most threatened groups of mammals. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that more than 95 percent of lemurs face extinction in the next 20 years. Ring-tailed lemurs are endangered, according to the IUCN. Hercules has had breeding recommendations with Allagash and Rogue as part of the ring-tailed lemur Species Survival Plan, managed cooperatively by members of Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited facilities, like CMZoo.
Guests can see the babies right away, on Lemur Island in the hippo area, in Water’s Edge Africa!
Last month, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo members cast their votes to help the Zoo decide how to spend $75,000 of member conservation funds among staff-championed conservation projects vying for members’ support. The three projects with the most votes received the full funding they requested.
Every membership and every visit to the Zoo is conservation in action. From 2015 to 2025, the program has provided $825,000 of membership revenue to support field conservation worldwide.
“Our members make a big impact for wildlife and wild places,” Ashley Cioppa, CMZoo membership manager, says. “Our members’ annual investment in their Zoo memberships directly supports animals here in Colorado and all around the world. Plus, they give our staff the opportunity to reach more niche organizations and projects that support their conservation passions. Thank you, members!”
Each year, CMZoo membership revenue contributes a total of $100,000 to conservation in two ways:
$25,000 to the Quarters for Conservation program, which in total contributes a million dollars on average every 18 months to CMZoo’s legacy conservation partners.
$75,000 to projects voted for by CMZoo members through this annual vote.
This year’s Members-Only Conservation Vote top-ranked projects to fully fund are:
1) FOSTER, RAISE, AND RELEASE AFRICAN PENGUINS – $38,271
Member funding will provide an incubator, veterinary care and rehabilitation support for wild African penguin chicks and adults. African penguins, found mainly in South Africa and Namibia, face significant threats from overfishing, oil spills and disease outbreaks. As a result, penguin parents are abandoning their chicks due to lack of food and other weather-related factors. The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB )will use these funds to rescue abandoned penguin eggs, chicks and adults needing intervention and rehabilitation at their South Africa facility. The goal is to release as many rescued penguins as possible back into the wild to bolster the rapidly declining African penguin population.
2) SUPPORT LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR KENYAN WOMEN CONSERVATIONISTS AND RESTORE HABITAT FOR AFRICAN LIONS – $17,000
Support will empower Samburu (a region in Northern Kenya) women to improve their community’s livelihoods and help protect lions. Ewaso Lions implements several programs to help protect lions. One of these programs is The Mama Simbas (which means “Mothers of Lions”). The group consists of Samburu women trained to help alleviate human- wildlife conflicts, which typically occur between farmers and predators that may threaten local livestock. Ewaso Lions will use these funds to provide leadership training to the women of The Mama Simbas program. This training will give the women new tools to help shift attitudes towards predators, allowing Kenyan communities to coexist more easily and efficiently with wild carnivores. Funds will also support the restoration of grassland habitat.
3) PROTECT EGYPTIAN TORTOISES THROUGH COMMUNITY CONSERVATION IN EGYPT- $19,729
Member support will fund local community guards and provide tracking tags to protect Egyptian tortoises. Wild turtles and tortoises are facing a worldwide extinction crisis. The Egyptian tortoise faces severe threats from habitat destruction due to farming and poaching for the pet trade. The Turtle Survival Alliance will use funds to deploy tracking tags to gather data and gain an understanding of how tortoises interact with each other and their environment, as well as population dynamics. Community guards will help address immediate threats to the species by physically protecting the most vital tortoise populations and their habitat.
With Mother’s Day around the corner, staff at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo are reflecting on one mother-daughter relationship that stands out: Bornean orangutans, Hadiah [huh-DEE-uh] and Ember.
Bornean orangutan, Ember
“They’re incredibly close,” Ashton Asbury, animal keeper in Primate World, says. “Great apes are intelligent and complex beings, and we see different parenting types in each of them. Hadiah, as a mom to her only child, Ember, is a supportive, patient and rose-colored-glasses kind of mom.”
Ember is known for her in-your-face playfulness and high-energy approach to life. Her mom sometimes inadvertently finds herself in the path of her rambunctious nature, but she doesn’t seem to mind. After being the recipient of a rogue toy to the head, Hadiah has been seen handing the toy back to Ember patiently, and returning to her own activity without skipping a beat.
Often that activity is people watching.
“Hadiah has connections with so many visitors and staff because she’s truly curious and recognizes people who return to see her,” Ashton says. “She’s got great facial recognition, and she’ll play with people through the glass. If she’s ever rolled over onto her back or folded her arms over her head to one side and looked at you upside down, she’s playing with you. She does that with her favorite humans and new guests who catch her eye.”
Orangutans are mostly solitary as adults, unless they are interacting for breeding or they have young with them, and many orangutan mothers are ready for their offspring to ‘spring off’ by around age seven or eight. Thirty-seven-year-old Hadiah is content with her daughter-turned-bestie, who is ten years old.
“These two still nest together every night,” Ashton says. “They eat together and play. It’s rare to see that kind of relationship in orangutans, when offspring are as old as Ember, and it really speaks to the respect and affection they have for each other.”
On the rare occasion that confident Ember feels unsure about something new, she runs to Hadiah, grabs her arms and wraps them around her. Despite their similar size, Hadiah occasionally still carries Ember.
“Their dynamic can be playful and outgoing, but also so patient and calm,” Izzy Dones, animal keeper in Primate World, says. “They’re usually together, but Ember and Hadiah also enjoy doing things separately sometimes. They’re both confident training and exploring separately, but, any time Hadiah is training with us, we’re ready with an activity for Ember nearby, because she’s going to want to do whatever Mom is doing.”
Hadiah grew up at the Zoo and was close with her own mother, Sabtu, until she passed away, in 2006. That strong family foundation seems to have shaped Hadiah’s parenting style.
“At least partly because of Hadiah’s unwavering support, Ember is one of the most confident and intelligent orangutans we’ve seen,” Izzy says. “She’s outgoing and curious about staff and guests, just like Hadiah, and she picks up training fast. She’s always pushing boundaries in a way that helps her grow, but still stays very close to Hadiah.”
Ember’s favorite enrichment activities include wearing fabric on her head, mimicking a behavior observed in wild orangutans who use leaves for shelter, like a hat or umbrella. She’s also a skilled problem-solver who enjoys dismantling enrichment items and ‘trading them’ through the mesh for snacks from keepers. She has learned that she gets one snack for every item she passes through the mesh, so instead of passing an assembled puzzle feeder, she takes it apart into several pieces – earning several snacks.
“Ember is really sharp,” Izzy says.
The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Hadiah participates in cooperative care, like brushing and water-flossing her teeth, nail trims, target training, voluntary injection, abdominal ultrasound, scale training, ear and eye presentations, and more. Of course, through modeling behaviors learned by watching Mom, Ember is also a whiz at most of these, too.
Not to be outdone by her vivacious daughter, Hadiah is learning new climbing behaviors, and her fascination with guests is building her confidence and strength to climb high in the orangutan yard.
“She likes to climb down like a sloth, and because she’s so outgoing, she seems to enjoy the guests’ reactions,” Izzy says. “She’ll hear guests ‘oohing’ at her while she climbs, and will stop and look over at them with excitement.”
When guests aren’t ‘oohing’ at her, she calls them over by knocking on the glass to get their attention. Visitors usually get the hint, and Hadiah presents opportunities to play, or brings a blanket over to the glass to make a nest to rest near them.
Bornean orangutan, Hadiah
Their “perfect day” includes novel training sessions, new spaces to explore and enrichment items like ice treats, bubbles, coconuts and even painting sessions. Hadiah is especially thoughtful with her artwork, while Ember seems to embrace the Jackson Pollock painting style.
As members of a critically endangered species, Hadiah and Ember play an important role in orangutan conservation.
“Most people won’t get the chance to see an orangutan in the wild,” Izzy says. “But when they meet Hadiah and Ember, they connect. They stop, they watch, and they feel seen by an animal. That connection makes all the difference.”
Every visit to CMZoo helps fund international efforts to save wild orangutan habitats, through the Zoo’s Quarters for Conservation (Q4C) program. “Orangu-fans” can save the rainforests from the comfort of their smartphone with a free global mobile app called PalmOil Scan.
Palm oil is an edible oil sourced in about half of consumer products. Unsustainable palm oil production results in deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia – the only places where critically endangered orangutans live in the wild. Although the majority of palm oil production is in Southeast Asia, it has also expanded to other tropical areas, which means more animal species could lose the habitats they need to survive.
When produced sustainably, palm oil is four to ten times more productive than any other edible oil. Using PalmOil Scan, conscientious consumers can scan the barcodes on tens of thousands of products in the app’s extensive database (which is being updated and expanded continually) to see if they are produced by a company that has committed to sourcing sustainable palm oil. By choosing products made by companies that have committed to sustainable palm oil, consumers can show companies that they’re armed with the information they need to demand action for wildlife conservation.
Developed under the direction of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and regionally managed by CMZoo, in the U.S. and Canada. The PalmOil Scan is a global app that can also be downloaded in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, which are all managed by other partner zoos. The free app can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play. Orangutan enthusiasts can learn more about palm oil, and download the free app before their next shopping trip, at cmzoo.org/palmoil.
Waddle we do with all this cuteness? A tiny, fluffy African penguin chick made its grand debut at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in early April! This little one is growing up big and strong. At just 22 days old, the chick weighs 983 grams!
Its care team monitors and weighs it every few days. This little one is an important ambassador for African penguins.
In 2024, African penguins were officially uplisted to ‘critically endangered’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, with the number of wild breeding pairs falling below 10,000. If current trends continue, these charismatic birds could be extinct in the wild by 2035.
Since 2010, CMZoo guests and members have contributed more than $159,675 to Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) in support of African penguin conservation. In 2020, the Zoo deepened its commitment by joining AZA SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) African Penguin, a collaborative program supported by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Every visit to CMZoo is conservation in action. Guests visiting CMZoo can see African penguins up close, including this new chick, knowing their visit helps support a future for this species in the wild.
Keep an eye (and ear) out for the chick in the penguin building in Water’s Edge Africa. While it’s usually snuggled in the nest, you might see it wriggle out, or hear it peeping.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL COLORADO – Summer is around the corner, and many families are planning activities to keep the kids active, healthy and inspired. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s partners at Children’s Hospital Colorado offer expert tips for incorporating gratitude into children’s daily lives, and CMZoo’s horticulture team says creating a family garden provides ample opportunities in nature.
“Having a backyard or patio garden means you can have quick access to a peaceful place, without needing to make a whole day of it,” Zach Groskopf, horticulture technician at CMZoo, says. “Planting and nurturing a garden allows you to slow down and breathe deep in nature, without requiring reservations or a road trip.”
Gardening provides endless memories, education and screen-free time in the calming presence of nature, and seeing something thrive under your care can be extremely gratifying. The size of space available doesn’t matter. Plus, by planting native and Colorado-friendly plants that feed butterflies, hummingbirds, bees and other pollinators, gardeners can help wildlife that is/are vital to our ecosystems.
CMZoo’s horticulture team has a variety of native and Colorado-friendly plants, veggies, herbs and shrubs available this year at CMZoo’s annual Plant Sale, Thurs., May 16 through Sat., May 18. Penstemon (beartongue), gaillardia (blanket flower), purple prairie flower, butterfly bush, silver lace vine, columbine, basil, cilantro, kale, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage and more will be available for purchase.
“The columbine is my personal favorite flower because they’re beautiful, and they’re resilient,” Zach says. “I keep bees, and these flowers make the most delicious honey, too. The columbines at the Plant Sale are special because we grew all of them from columbine seeds collected from all around the Zoo.”
There are no reservations or Zoo tickets required to attend the Plant Sale, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thurs., May 16 and Fri., May 17 and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sat., May 18 – when the Zoo closes early for Run to the Shrine. Plants will be available on a first-come first-served basis, so don’t be late! The sale has been known to sell out early in previous years.
This year, the Zoo’s fundraising Plant Sale will be in the Zoo parking lot. Keep an eye out for signs directing you to the sale as you drive into guest parking. This year’s Plant Sale is in-person only. There will be no online shopping or shipping options available. Come out to the Zoo and chat with our expert horticulturists about which plants will work best in your garden, and feel good knowing you’re supporting the ongoing beautification of the Zoo with your purchases.
Visitors to Primate World, at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, may soon notice two crates in the orangutan yard. These crates are part of the Zoo’s careful preparations to help two iconic Sumatran orangutans, 6-year-old Kera and her mother, 37-year-old Sumagu, get ready for their next chapter.
The mother-daughter duo is scheduled to move to another AZA-accredited zoo, likely later this summer, as part of a breeding recommendation through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan (SSP) for Sumatran orangutans.
Sumagu has a breeding recommendation with a male at another zoo, and keepers are working diligently to ensure the move is as smooth and low-stress as possible.
“Crate training is one of the more advanced behaviors we work on with our orangutans,” Ashton Asbury, Primate World animal keeper, says. “We’re teaching Kera and Sumagu to voluntarily enter the crates and to be comfortable spending time in them.”
Using positive reinforcement training, keepers are helping both orangutans associate the crates with rewards and calm experiences. In addition to watching for subtle behaviors, the team teaches the orangutans to signal when they’re ready to end a training session. This method allows Kera and Sumagu to feel empowered throughout the training process.
“Our goal is for them to enthusiastically enter the crates and allow the doors to close behind them,” Ashton says. “That way, when it’s time for the big move, it’s a familiar and positive experience.”
Thanks to this voluntary approach, neither orangutan will require sedation during their trip. Experienced animal transport professionals will make stops along the way to check on the great ape travelers, offering food and water, and making visual health checks. The teams also collaborate with AZA-accredited zoos along the way, in case the orangutans need care mid-trip.
Sumagu, who was born at CMZoo, will be stepping into a new world as she heads to her new home.
“We’re excited for Sumagu to have this new life experience,” Ashton says. “She’s such a wise and savvy orangutan. She’s very confident, and we’re encouraging her choice and control as she trains. She’s a great communicator. If she needs us to make adjustments, she’ll let us know.”
Sumagu’s daughter, Kera, is also preparing for this next stage in life. At her age, orangutans naturally begin to seek more independence, and Sumagu encourages that independence in Kera. To support this, Kera and Sumagu will travel in separate crates, and then settle into their new home together.
“It’s important for young female orangutans, like Kera, to observe their mothers raising another baby,” Ashton says. “She doesn’t have a breeding recommendation, but she could later. Young female great apes who get to be older siblings become more successful mothers later. Great apes’ offspring typically stay with their moms longer than any animal species, and learning how to be a mom from their own mom is the best-case scenario.”
Keepers at CMZoo will be working closely with the orangutans’ future animal care team, sharing training histories and behavioral nuances, which is essential for complex and intelligent animals like orangutans.
“Kera is such a fun kid,” Ashton says. “She’s serious about orangutan things, like nest-building, but she’s also super engaging and outgoing with people. We will definitely miss both of them, but we’re proud to support this breeding recommendation that supports the population in human care, and continues to inspire conservation for wild orangutans.”
Fans of Kera and Sumagu, and all orangutans, can save the rainforests from the comfort of their smartphones with a free global mobile app called PalmOil Scan, available for free on the App Store and Google Play. It is available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, with further expansion planned in the future. Orangutan enthusiasts can learn more about palm oil, and download the free app before their next shopping trip, at cmzoo.org/palmoil.
Palm oil is an edible oil that can be found in about half of consumer products. Unsustainable palm oil production results in deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, the only places where critically endangered orangutans live in the wild. Although the majority of palm oil production is in Southeast Asia, it has also expanded to other tropical areas, which means more animal species could lose the habitats they need to survive.
When produced sustainably, palm oil is 4 to 10 times more productive than any other edible oil. Using PalmOil Scan, conscientious consumers can scan the barcodes on tens of thousands of products in the app’s extensive database (which is being updated and expanded continually) to see if they are produced by a company that has committed to sourcing sustainable palm oil.
“Orangutans are incredibly intelligent and complex animals,” Ashton says. “Our animal care team knows these great apes really well, and we’re planning for the best opportunities for all of the orangutans in our care as these changes take place.”
Primate World is currently home to six orangutans: three Sumatran orangutans, including Kera and Sumagu, and three Bornean orangutans. When Kera and Sumagu move, male Sumatran orangutan, Baka, will continue his current lifestyle, with access to interactions through a safety barrier with Ember and Hadiah, mom-and-daughter Bornean orangutans. Tujoh, a male Bornean orangutan, will continue to have the same access.
Baldwin, Benton and Baker, the raccoon brothers who call Rocky Mountain Wild home, recently took up a new hobby, thanks to their keepers’ creativity and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s commitment to environmental enrichment. Their habitat now features an exciting new addition: an elevated stream where they can fish, forage and explore on their own schedules.
“Raccoons love to solve problems, splash in water and, of course, eat,” Kelsey Walker, Rocky Mountain Wild animal keeper, says. “This stream is a dream come true for them, and our guests seem to love watching their adorable methods.”
Inspired by the old-fashioned gold panning stations of the American West, the new wooden enrichment feature consists of three connected elevated ‘streambeds,’ each about eight feet long and two feet wide. The beds are full of about five inches of dirt, sand, rocks and shells, and flooded with water. Keepers bury shrimp, mussels and crab legs in the substrate, encouraging the raccoons to rely on their natural foraging skills.
The enrichment was introduced in February, and from the very beginning, the raccoons took to it immediately.
“These raccoons were born in human care, but they instinctively knew how to fish right away,” Kelsey says. “They perch on the rocks or wade into the streams, patting the surface with their paws until they detect food. They dig it out, roll it in their paws to find the weakest spot to crack into it, and then settle somewhere dry to eat.”
Raccoons are incredibly tactile animals. Seventy-five percent of the part of their brain that manages the sense of touch is dedicated to their forepaws. Their paws often tell them more about their environment than their noses or eyes. That makes ‘blind fishing’ in muddy streams a cinch. They can solve the ‘mud problem’ and locate prey underwater – or under rocks – just by feeling around the surface.
The brothers typically spend 15 to 30 minutes fishing before moving on to other activities, but they return to the streams multiple times each day and night. It’s safe to say that fishing is their new favorite hobby. In addition to fishing, they have a variety of enrichment opportunities throughout their space, including a dry foraging bin filled with hay, shavings, peas and corn, and fruit hanging from trees to encourage climbing. Keepers also scatter treats in mulch and hay across the habitat floor.
“Our three raccoons are really living the good life,” Kelsey says. “It’s like they have retired on waterfront property. They sleep in every day, then they go fishing, hang out with their brothers, take a nap and fish some more. That’s their routine.”
The Zoo’s enrichment philosophy focuses on creating engaging and stimulating environments that encourage animals to do wild-type behaviors at their own pace, without depending on keepers’ schedules. Keepers still train with animals, because husbandry behaviors are important for their care. The new streambeds are a great example of environmental enrichment.
“This has been a really successful way to provide enriching and interesting activity for them for an entire day,” Kelsey says. “They don’t need us, beyond stocking the stream each morning. It’s incredibly rewarding to set up an environment and to know they’re having a great day, getting good physical and mental exercise, and using their natural instincts.”
Guests visiting Rocky Mountain Wild will also benefit from the new feature. Since the stream beds are elevated, visitors get an even better view of the raccoons’ fishing techniques and playful behavior.
“When they’re in the troughs, they’re right up by the mesh, so it gives guests a great angle of what they’re doing,” Walker added. “If they happen to be sleeping when you stop by, be sure to come back later. They’ll probably be up to something fun, whether it’s fishing, climbing or foraging.”
Thanks to the support of Zoo guests and members, wild critically endangered African penguins have ongoing support. One of the key people leading this charge in the field is the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds’ (SANCCOB) Penguin and Seabird Ranger, Yandisa Cwecwe.
Working side-by-side with African penguins on South Africa’s historic Robben Island, Yandisa plays a vital role in protecting one of the world’s most threatened seabirds. With a Master of Science in Zoology and Marine Biology, and early research experience at Stellenbosch University’s Marine Conservation Genomics laboratory, Yandisa’s passion for marine life led her to SANCCOB in 2021. There, she found her calling conserving African penguins.
“The wild African penguin population is dropping at a rate of nearly 8 percent per year, but thanks to support from our members and guests, we can help these charismatic birds have a better chance of survival in the wild,” Nicole Chaney, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo conservation manager, says. “It’s inspiring for our members and guests to learn about the people dedicating their lives to saving wildlife and wild places, like Yandisa and the team at SANCCOB.”
As a SANCCOB Ranger, she rescues injured, ill or oiled penguins and transports them by boat to SANCCOB’s Rehabilitation Centre in Table View, South Africa, for specialized care and rehabilitation before they are released back into the wild.
Yandisa also collaborates closely with varying organizations on the island, including Earthwatch, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, the University of Cape Town, and the Robben Island Environmental Unit. Her daily routine includes early morning field patrols, seabird and penguin population monitoring, penguin nest checks, and the use of Passive Integrated Transponders (PIT tags) to help track individual penguins throughout their lives.
In 2024, African penguins were officially uplisted to ‘Critically Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List, with the number of wild breeding pairs falling below 10,000. If current trends continue, these charismatic birds could be extinct in the wild by 2035. Yandisa works to prevent that outcome every day. The threats they face, from commercial overfishing and extreme weather events to pollution and disease are formidable. Conservationists, like Yandisa, with support from CMZoo members and guests, provide hope.
CMZoo contributes annually to SANCCOB’s Robben Island Ranger project, directly funding field efforts like Yandisa’s work. Since 2010, CMZoo guests and members have contributed more than $159,675 to SANCCOB in support of African penguin conservation. In 2020, the Zoo deepened its commitment by joining AZA SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) African Penguin, a collaborative program supported by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Every visit to CMZoo is conservation in action. African penguins are one of the species up for support in this year’s Members-Only Conservation Vote. Until Sun., March 30, CMZoo members can check their email for a private link to cast their vote for the CMZoo staff-championed conservation project that inspires them most. Guests visiting CMZoo can see African penguins up close, knowing their visit helps support a future for this species in the wild.
At 9 years old, our golden dairy girls – Cotija, Asiago, Queso, Mozzarella, Colby, Muenster, Ricotta and Brie – are enjoying their golden years to the fullest! These goats spend their days sunbathing, training, climbing, playing, going on walkabouts and meeting guests. Visitors can feed the goats for $1 per feeding, depending on weather, or interact with them through goat encounters, where they can pet and brush the goats.
If you’ve tasted goat cheese, it was probably made from milk from a goat like one of ours! Nubian and Nubian-Saanen goats are among the most common dairy goat breeds found on farms worldwide. Our goats originally came from a local cheese farm, inspiring their cheesy names.
Stop by and share some moments with these gouda girls!
Have you ever wondered how CMZoo’s magical moose became part of the family? Four-year-old Alaska moose, Atka, came to the Zoo in 2020 after his mother was unfortunately involved in a fatal human-wildlife conflict. At six days old, Alaska Zoo began caring for him, then he came to CMZoo at eight weeks old. Having been bottle fed by his care teams, Atka was unfortunately not a candidate for wild re-entry.
Since then, Atka has captured the hearts of millions as an inspiring story of determination. He has also blazed a trail for moose care, as one of the only moose in Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited human care in the U.S.
