Earlier this month, a group of volunteers and conservation experts gathered to release hundreds of critically endangered Wyoming toads back into their native habitat. Wyoming’s Laramie Basin is the only place in the world where Wyoming toads live. Since 2008, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, along with partners from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and others, has driven the year-round effort to breed, raise and release Wyoming toads.
None of this work is possible without the support of CMZoo guests and members. Over $5 million has been raised for conservation through our Quarters for Conservation program. Every Zoo guest receives three “quarter” tokens, representing the 75¢ Q4C allocation from their admission fee. Guests can show support for their favorite legacy conservation projects, including the breed-and-release program helping Wyoming toads recover in their native prairie lakes, by placing their tokens in the corresponding slots in the Q4C kiosks located in the Zoo’s admissions plaza.
At 6 weeks old, the Rocky Mountain goat kids are hitting milestones, including eating solid foods, sparring with each other, exploring all the yards, and meeting their dad, Albert, and older sister, Blanca. They are finding their footing like little pros and learning how to be Rocky Mountain goats from their mom, Lena. Visit the twins across from the Sky Ride during your next trip to CMZoo!
The Zoo profession is a quickly evolving blend of science, veterinary medicine, compassion, relationships, intuition and innovation. With the well-being of its animals at the forefront, CMZoo is investing in another full-time dedicated position to increase enrichment opportunities for its scaly, furry, giant and tiny animal colleagues. As CMZoo’s Curator of Environmental Enhancements, Jason Bredahl incorporates an environments-first approach to enrich animals’ lives. Jason’s new position works in collaboration with Rick Hester, another full-time CMZoo staff member dedicated to animal well-being as the Curator of Behavioral Husbandry.
“We know that positive reinforcement training with keepers, novel enrichment activities and interactions with guests are engaging for our animals,” Jason says. “We want to fill the rest of their days with enrichment that doesn’t depend on people providing it. We want their environments to support them with opportunities that they find positively reinforcing for as long as possible.”
Before accepting this position, Jason worked as an animal keeper and animal care manager of giraffe, African lions, elephants, rhino, okapi and more at CMZoo for 24 years. Stepping into this dedicated role, he can share his vast behavioral knowledge and experience with all of the Zoo’s animal care teams. Plus, he’ll have the time, equipment and resources to lead enrichment programs for animals all over the Zoo. The goal is to provide activities the animals find reinforcing – meaning they achieve mental and physical stimulation, satisfaction and comfort – through their own innate natural behaviors.
For a grizzly bear, digging is tops. The grizzlies’ new habitat (currently under construction) will have a variety of digging locations and varied substrates where the bears can get dirty, take a comfy nap or uncover treats to their hearts’ delights. Rocky Mountain goats want to climb and survey from on high. CMZoo recently added 30 boulders to the top of their rocky cliffs, which already towered over the Zoo. Penguins want to hunt. A new trout enrichment program allows them to zoom underwater and get the behavioral and nutritional satisfaction of snagging the catch of the day. Beavers want to build dams, but their care team discovered that providing branches wasn’t inspiring them. So, now the team provides specific branches that are good for building and installed a speaker system that plays running water on a loop in the beavers’ habitat. Dams now abound in the CMZoo beaver pond.
“Herbivores’ favorite job is eating,” Jason says. “We see them seeking food over almost anything else, regardless of how much we provide. It’s a challenge to provide the quantities and right kinds of food so they can eat for the majority of the day without gaining an unhealthy amount of weight. That means we need more tree branches, just like they would eat in the wild. That’s where our browse program is really stepping up and where our community can make an impact.”
CMZoo’s browse program isn’t new, but it’s evolving. ‘Browse’ is another word for tree branches, leaves, twigs and trunks. With Jason overseeing the program, Sarah Touchton, browse coordinator, is filling her days by filling the Zoo’s pick-up truck with tree branches and solidifying relationships with local landscaping companies.
“I want to encourage our community members to ask their tree trimmers where they’re going to recycle branches, and to suggest they reach out to us,” Sarah says. “We’re trying to add a step to the tree recycling process. It will still become mulch eventually at a local tree recycling organization, but before it goes there, it could come here first and our animals could really benefit from the bark and leaves.”
The Zoo can’t accept branches that have been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides or are diseased or dead. The branches must have been cut within a day or two of the donation. Zoo animals can have elm, willow, ash and cottonwood branches and trunks. Maple and pine species are toxic to ruminants – herbivorous animals with multi-chambered stomachs.
“Donations should be at least a truckload of tree branches and trunks to make the most of our pick-ups,” Sarah says. “Once it gets to the Zoo, we distribute branches to giraffe, elephants, wallabies, our rhino, moose, and more, and they gobble it up. Other animals that don’t eat the branches might like to play with them. It’s really fun to be able to show our browse donors where their branches ended up, especially when it’s something as cute as a video of Emmett, our grizzly bear, swimming and swinging branches over his head.”
The next time a tree needs a trim, the property owner can encourage their tree trimming service provider to see if the Zoo can use the browse. Landscaping companies can also reach out to the team to set up regular drop-offs at [email protected]. Drop-off and pick-up opportunities may be limited and the team will prioritize large-volume donations.
On the longest day of the year, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo will celebrate the longest-necked animal: the giraffe! On Fri., June 21, giraffe keepers and staff from the International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffe (The Giraffe Center) are throwing a daylong event to commemorate World Giraffe Day.
“This is our way of thanking our community for their dedication to our herd, our Zoo and our conservation partners all year long,” says Diana Miller, giraffe specialist at The Giraffe Center. “We have a ton of inspiring activities planned!”
There will be many giraffe-themed activities along the giraffe plaza and the giraffe boardwalk, where guests can learn about CMZoo’s giraffe herd and take direct steps to save wild giraffe. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., several giraffe-themed activities are free for anyone with a ticket to the Zoo. Guests who want to participate in the giraffe fan parade should be sure to get a ticket for 10 a.m. or earlier. A full schedule of events is available at https://www.cmzoo.org/world-giraffe-day/.
Watch for signs on how to navigate through African Rift Valley as we embark on our exciting giraffe habitat improvements, scheduled to start in mid-June. Learn more about the giraffe herd’s future home and consider supporting it here: cmzoo.org/giraffeproject
By visiting the Zoo, guests and members can help save giraffe on World Giraffe Day and every day. Through CMZoo’s Quarters for Conservation (Q4C) program, every admission to the Zoo raises 75¢ for conservation. Since 2008, guests and members have raised more than $5 million for frontline conservation partners and projects around the world.
Giraffe are one of CMZoo’s legacy Q4C projects, so an easy way to support giraffe conservation is to simply visit the Zoo. Specifically, CMZoo visitors are supporting Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) and their important work studying and protecting wild giraffe, growing populations, advocating government protections and policies for giraffe, and educating and empowering communities who live near wild giraffe.
“In the past year, members’ and guests’ Q4C funds supported additional anti-poaching efforts by funding a new GCF veterinary vehicle to respond to snaring and poaching,” says Diana. “We still have a long way to go, but it’s working, too. With this support, the latest surveys show that the population of wild giraffe is increasing steadily.”
With Q4C support, GCF continues to monitor giraffe populations in Uganda, in partnership with the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Recent surveys indicate that all four populations of giraffe in Uganda are increasing in number, with seven new calves reported in Lake Mburo National Park, seven calves in Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve, thirteen calves in Kidepo Valley National Park, and four hundred calves in Murchison Falls National Park.
“I keep having to tell people that’s not a typo,” Diana says. “There really are four hundred calves documented in the population in Murchison Falls National Park. That population is an excellent example of what can happen when all of the delicate conservation puzzle pieces fit together well.”
In addition to fieldwork and local communities’ buy-in to coexisting with giraffe, an important piece of the conservation puzzle is public support and funding. Zoos play a vital role by inspiring people all over the world to care for wildlife and wild places – and with programs like Q4C, zoos can connect funding from inspired people to frontline organizations who can make the impact.
“Nobody helps guests fall in love with giraffe as well as our herd can,” Diana says. “From confident Tumbili to curious Wednesday, sassy Azmera and wise Mahali, the giraffe at CMZoo have inspired countless people to care for their wild counterparts. They have the most important jobs here at the Zoo, and our job is to take good care of them.”
CMZoo’s herd receives top-of-the-line care with hoof care and husbandry training programs that continue to lead the profession. After more than a decade sharing methods with other giraffe care teams, CMZoo established The Giraffe Center to serve as a resource for all giraffe care professionals. The Giraffe Center offers in-person and online husbandry and hoof care trainings, as well as customized consultations for giraffe care teams all over the world.
“We love traveling to other facilities to see how they do things, brainstorm problem solving with them, share what works for us and discuss what we’ve learned from other organizations,” says Amy Schilz, senior animal behaviorist at The Giraffe Center. “But, there’s nothing like being with your home herd. Our giraffe are such rockstars at training, so our annual workshops here at CMZoo are a lot of fun.”
At the end of May, The Giraffe Center hosted another giraffe behavior workshop at CMZoo with Behavior Works. The behavior workshop is a continuation from the introductory giraffe care workshop. At the behavior workshop, Amy and The Giraffe Center team help giraffe care professionals build upon the fundamental teachings they learn from the intro giraffe care workshop by getting hands-on with members of the CMZoo herd.
“CMZoo’s investment in The Giraffe Center has been fulfilling because we know we’re making giraffes’ lives better,” Amy says. “Seeing our workshop attendees work with our giraffe to learn how it should look to trim a hoof, and then hearing about their giraffe’s improved mobility at home after they’ve applied what they learn is so rewarding.”
The network and collaboration between giraffe organizations goes both ways. Amy and Diana have been instrumental in the design of the new barn that will soon stand tall in African Rift Valley at CMZoo. The team has traveled internationally to share best practices of giraffe care and to observe how others’ facilities and environments can best support a herd.
“We’re focused on environmental enrichment for all of our animals at the Zoo,” says Amy. “With a brand-new giraffe barn coming to CMZoo soon, we’re going to be able to fine-tune building and yard features that we’ve seen work elsewhere as we build this environment from the ground up. It’s happening soon, and we’re really excited to help it come together.”
The 10,000-square-foot giraffe barn’s design is in final considerations. Guests and members should expect to see changes to African Rift Valley start soon, and continue for the next few years as The Giraffe Center takes shape.
Last month, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo members cast their votes to help the Zoo decide how to spend $75,000 of member conservation funds among six conservation projects vying for members’ support. The three projects with the most votes received the full funding they requested. The number of votes received for the remaining three projects helped CMZoo decide how to distribute the remaining funds.
Every membership and every visit to the Zoo is conservation in action. From 2015 to 2024, including this year’s contributions, the program has provided $750,000 of membership revenue to support field conservation worldwide.
“I hope our members recognize what an impact they make for wildlife and wild places through these staff-championed conservation efforts,” 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 efforts that support their personal passions. Thank you, members!”
Each year, a total of $100,000 of membership revenue is contributed 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 Member Conservation Vote top-ranked projects to fully fund are: 1. Track and protect FLAMMULATED OWLS in Colorado – $4,150
Purchase ten tracking tags that provide researchers with crucial migration data for these tiny owls. Migratory birds are currently facing many threats such as pollution, pesticides, habitat loss and collisions with human-made structures. The installation of two Motus towers at CMZoo and Fountain Creek Nature Center last year allows researchers the ability to track hundreds of local bird species in efforts to protect them. As a continuation of this project, a local researcher will utilize these towers to track ten flammulated owls, a species that lives right here in Colorado Springs, to learn about their migration patterns and use that information to help protect the species.
2. Support agroforestry to protect OKAPI habitat – $24,600
Provide farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with sustainable agricultural resources. Okapi populations are facing a major threat of habit loss due to slash-and-burn agriculture and human settlement. In a continued partnership, the Okapi Conservation Project (OCP) will use these funds to provide farmers with tools, seeds, land plots and the education necessary to build and maintain sustainable agriculture and reforestation practices. In doing so, the local communities are empowered to produce their food sustainably and reduce their dependence on mining and poaching – leading to the long-term protection of okapi.
3. Help build a new island home for ORANGUTANS in Borneo – $17,642
Help provide the materials to construct a new, forested island home for non-releasable orangutans in Southeast Asia. Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Foundation is an established organization that rescues, rehabilitates and releases orangutans back into their natural habitat. Unfortunately, a small percent of orangutans come to BOS with injuries, illnesses or other conditions that prevent them from being released into the wild safely. BOS houses and cares for them for the rest of their lives. Member funds will help provide the construction materials for a new orangutan island that will create a spacious and enriching forever home for three non-releasable orangutans currently residing with BOS.
With the remaining funds, CMZoo has decided to partially fund:
Protect PANCAKE TORTOISES through community conservation in Kenya
Conduct community awareness training and research to protect critically endangered tortoises and their habitat. Wild turtle and tortoise species are in the midst of a worldwide extinction crisis. The African pancake tortoise faces severe threats, not only from grassland habitat destruction used for farming, but also an additional threat of poaching for the pet trade. In a continued partnership, the Turtle Survival Alliance will protect and develop research strategies for a newly found pancake tortoise population, as well as establish additional awareness for the local communities surrounding this tortoise population.
Expand AFRICAN PENGUIN chick rearing capacity
Provide construction materials and equipment to rear penguin chicks. African penguins, found mainly in South Africa and Namibia, are facing threats from overfishing and climate change, which often results in penguin parents abandoning their chicks. Due to an exponential increase in egg and chick abandonment, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) is looking to expand their chick-rearing facility through our ongoing partnership. This expansion will double their capacity of penguin chicks and eggs that they can rescue, rehabilitate, and release each year.
Support kids’ education camps to help protect AFRICAN LIONS
Help protect large carnivores by empowering a new generation in Kenya. Human-wildlife conflicts can occur between farmers and predators, such as lions, that may threaten local livestock. The education programs that Ewaso Lions will implement through this ongoing partnership will help to shift the attitude towards predators and allow Kenyan communities to more easily and efficiently coexist with wild carnivores by reducing the frequency of potential human-wildlife conflicts.
For more information about how to become a CMZoo member, and the many benefits that memberships provide, visit cmzoo.org/membership.
Through Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s annual Member Conservation Vote, CMZoo members are funding an important ongoing study on the movements of wild black bears in the Pikes Peak region. In 2022, members voted to spend conservation-allocated membership revenue on GPS ear tags that Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) officers use when reintroducing black bears to the wild.
In early February 2024, CPW transported two yearling black bear cubs that were fitted with the GPS ear tags from a rehabilitation facility to an artificial den on Pikes Peak. Later this spring, they’ll wake up and start their second chance at living wild.
According to CPW, one of the bears placed in the den this month was orphaned by its sow last summer in the Broadmoor neighborhood in southwest Colorado Springs – just down the road from CMZoo. The sow had four cubs, which is extremely unusual. CPW biologists speculate she may not have been able to care for all four cubs. It’s likely that as the runt of her litter, this little one was abandoned.
The other bear wandered into the Rifle Falls Fish Hatchery without its sow last summer. It would not have been able to survive on its own in the wild at that young age, so it found a home as a surrogate sibling with the ‘Broadmoor Bear’ at the rehabilitation center.
Both cubs, about a year old now, spent the last several months together, being kept as wild as possible in preparation for their reintroduction. Earlier this month, CMZoo staff joined CPW to observe their journey back to the wild.
“CPW officers pulled the little bears – who were under anesthesia – on sleds through the snowy evergreen forests on Pikes Peak and tucked them into a nice warm den,” said Zwicker. “They’ll stay in this den for the rest of winter, and then they’ll wake up and start helping their species by giving us a glimpse into their whereabouts over the next several months.”
The GPS data uploads from the ear transmitter tags about every two weeks. CPW tracks those snapshots of the bears’ locations to help define successful rehabilitation and care for orphaned bear cubs, and where to release them.
One of the 2022-released bears dropped its ear tag several months after waking up in the den, as planned, and by all accounts is still living wild on the mountain. The other unfortunately reoffended and had to be euthanized after human-wildlife conflicts.
“It’s a sad fact, but it’s also a stark reminder that we need to help bears stay out of trouble,” said Zwicker. “With this data from the GPS trackers, biologists will be able to compare what four cubs do in the same space. They can look at the rehab strategies used for each and compare their success as wild bears. It’s going to help us help more wild bears stay wild.”
CPW reports that urban bear conflict is one of their biggest issues, especially bears getting into garbage at area homes and businesses. It will be valuable to study the effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts with orphaned bear cubs and see if they really do learn to avoid humans in the future. Zwicker urges Coloradans to be good neighbors of native wildlife by following simple ‘bear aware’ guidelines.
“Working with CPW on projects like this has enhanced my understanding of the natural world,” said Zwicker. “The folks at CPW truly care about wildlife. They’re incredibly dedicated and impressive professionals fighting the good fight for our local wildlife. Our roles can be different, but we’re all passionate stewards of our environment. I’m grateful our members are funding this connection between the Zoo’s animal advocates and the animal advocates at CPW.”
Since 2015, the Member Conservation Vote has provided $600,000 of membership revenue to support field conservation worldwide. Each year, a total of $100,000 of membership revenue supports conservation projects in two ways:
$25,000 to the Quarters for Conservation program, which has raised more than $5 million dollars for CMZoo’s legacy conservation projects since the program began in 2008.
$75,000 to projects voted for by CMZoo members through this annual vote.
Next month, CMZoo members will get the opportunity to vote on the 2024 Member Conservation Vote projects. Members, keep an eye on your email for your members-only link to vote! Interested in becoming a member? Visit cmzoo.org/membership.
COMMUNITY EVENT – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 3, 2024. Guests and members who visit the Zoo on Sun., March 3 can visit five conservation education booths with a Conservation Explorer Card to learn all about the Zoo’s conservation partners. Guests who visit all five booths earn a free feeding with a giraffe, budgie, chicken or goat! Animal keepers will have special conservation-themed presentations with their animals throughout the day. Advance tickets are required and available at cmzoo.org. Event details available at cmzoo.org/Q4C5.
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and its guests and members are celebrating a huge milestone, having raised $5 million for wildlife and wild places, since the Zoo’s Quarters for Conservation (Q4C) program launched in 2008.
Every visitor to the Zoo receives three “quarter” tokens representing the 75¢ Q4C allocation from their admission fee. They can then show support for the legacy projects they love by placing their tokens in the corresponding slots in the Q4C kiosks in the Zoo’s admissions plaza.
Before launching Q4C in 2008, CMZoo was supporting conservation, but at a fraction of what is possible now. As more people visit the Zoo each year, the Zoo can contribute more money to conservation. In the past few years, thanks to community support and the growing number of annual visitors, CMZoo collects about a million dollars every eighteen months through Q4C. The Zoo’s membership and EdVenture program participants also contribute to conservation. CMZoo’s current conservation species include giraffe, Panama frogs, orangutans, black-footed ferrets, African elephants and rhinos, Wyoming toads and Amur tigers.
About Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s Q4C Legacy Projects
Q4C beneficiary species truly run the gamut, from 18-foot-tall giraffe in Africa to tiny toads in Wyoming.
Q4C supports Giraffe Conservation Foundation and their efforts to protect, relocate and grow wild giraffe populations. While CMZoo staff help raise awareness of giraffes’ silent extinction by inspiring guests at the Zoo, Q4C funds on-the-ground efforts and sends staff to assist with wild giraffe relocations in Africa, supporting anesthesia and moving the giraffe from threatened habitats to safer locations. Ongoing Q4C funding supports the teams who continue to monitor and protect these newly established wild populations.
Q4C also funds CMZoo’s on-site breeding programs for black-footed ferrets and Wyoming toads. These endangered prairie species were declared extinct in the wild in the 1980s and early 1990s, and are only around today because of decades of recovery efforts from zoos and partner organizations.
Wyoming toads are symbolic of so many amphibian species in decline all over the world, including Panamanian frogs, which also receive support thanks to Q4C funds and CMZoo staff support in the field. CMZoo staff members assist the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project by sharing important lessons learned from successful Wyoming toad breed-and-release efforts, and travel to Panama to help study the endangered amphibians in the wild.
CMZoo’s work to save habitats for orangutans through advocacy for sustainable palm oil production is also largely supported by Q4C. Thanks to that financial support, CMZoo’s sustainable palm oil team consults staff at other conservation organizations on starting their own palm oil programs. The CMZoo sustainable palm oil team continues to focus on international work through the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). The team was instrumental in the creation of the WAZA PalmOil Scan – a global free sustainable palm oil shopping app, which allows shoppers to scan the barcodes of items to learn whether producers have committed to using sustainable palm oil.
Through Q4C, CMZoo also supports Tsavo Trust – a conservation organization in Kenya that works to protect the last of the big tuskers, which are African elephants with tusks weighing more than 100 pounds, and Eastern black rhinos. CMZoo’s funds helped Tsavo Trust build permanent housing that allowed staff to live on the land where these critically endangered giants live. It also paid for a vehicle maintenance shop, community outreach and pilot hours for frontline aerial surveillance that protects rhinos and elephants from poachers.
The seventh Q4C legacy partner is Wildlife Conservation Society, whose dedicated staff works to protect and define secure habitats for wild Amur tigers in Eastern Russia. Amur tigers, previously known as Siberian tigers, are critically endangered. Their numbers in the wild continue to be treacherously low at around 500. CMZoo supports efforts to prevent human-wildlife conflicts as well as anti-poaching efforts and staff funding for field conservationists to study this species in the wild.
For more information about these projects and Quarters for Conservation, visit cmzoo.org/conservation.
About Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Society was founded in 1926. Today, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, America’s mountain Zoo, offers comprehensive education programs, exciting conservation efforts and truly fantastic animal experiences. In 2023, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was voted #4 Best Zoo in North America and CMZoo’s Rocky Mountain Wild was named #2 Best Zoo Exhibit in North America by USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards. It is Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s goal to help guests fall in love with animals and nature, and take action to protect them. Since 2008, CMZoo’s Quarters for Conservation program has raised $5 million dedicated to frontline conservation efforts around the world. Of the 238 zoos and aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is one of just a few operating without tax support. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo depends on admissions, membership dues, special event attendance and donations for funding.
In early November, the International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffe (The Giraffe Center) traveled to Bristol Zoo, in the United Kingdom, to host their first giraffe care workshop abroad. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo established The Giraffe Center in 2022 to serve as a resource for giraffe caregivers worldwide.
“We have hosted giraffe care workshops all over the U.S. and virtually with teams in other countries, but Bristol Zoo’s workshop was our first international in-person outreach,” said Amy Schilz, senior animal behaviorist at The Giraffe Center. “It’s really helpful for us to work hands-on with teams and their giraffe herds in their facilities. Our training and care teachings share a common foundation, but we can understand their challenges and obstacles better when we experience them, which means we’re better able to customize their training.”
Through their combined decades in the giraffe care field, The Giraffe Center team had previous working relationships with a Bristol Zoo giraffe keeper, who managed logistics for the workshop in England so The Giraffe Center team could focus on the 4-day workshop curriculum. Attendees included Bristol Zoo’s giraffe care team and British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Giraffe Focus Group members. The workshop included lecture-style presentations, group discussions, role-playing and actual practice focused on giraffe nutrition, natural behaviors, hoof anatomy and care, and positive reinforcement training.
“Just like when we’re training animals, we use small approximations to move through training steps with our workshop attendees,” said Diana Miller, giraffe specialist at The Giraffe Center. “Before we start training with the giraffe, we practice hands-on with humans, so we’re presenting the best polished training to the giraffe. Instead of realizing questions you need to ask while you’re working with a giraffe, you can recognize what you don’t know while you’re practicing with a human.”
Practicing hoof care on humans isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. Attendees move through the motions they will present to giraffe, with Schilz and Miller guiding them. They role play where they’ll stand, where the giraffe needs to stand, how they’ll hold their target stick and hoof trimming tools, how they’ll deliver verbal and physical cues, how they’ll access reinforcers – like crackers or carrots – and how quickly to reinforce the right behaviors. They also practice trimming hooves on cadaver hooves from reputable sources.
“The fact that Bristol Zoo invested in this workshop shows how dedicated their team is,” said Schilz. “When we started working with their giraffe, it was even more obvious how strong their relationships are with their keepers. The Bristol Zoo giraffe were comfortable, social and engaged, and that gives us a great foundation to build upon with new or different techniques.”
In positive reinforcement training, one of the first questions The Giraffe Center team asks themselves is, ‘what does the animal need to know in order to know something else?’ Because giraffe are often food motivated, the first thing they need to know is how to eat politely.
“Teaching a giraffe to eat and stay still while they’re eating is a prerequisite for blood draws, ultrasounds, hoof care and more voluntary behaviors,” said Miller. “It’s a lot harder than you think to teach that. You’re learning to communicate as a giraffe-caregiver team, and you’re finding a balance between maintaining their excitement for the reward food item and teaching them they can trust that we will deliver it when they stand still.”
The teams worked together to make progress on hoof care, stand-still behavior, target training and more. They also shared insight on giraffe nutrition and natural foraging behaviors, and other topics central to good giraffe welfare in human care.
The Giraffe Center team’s experience with their first overseas workshop further ignited their passion for giraffe care and for supporting the people who can truly make a difference in setting the standard for excellent giraffe care.
“In 2015, when we were starting training programs, we were focused on showing people what’s possible,” said Schilz. “Now, we’re really honing our teaching skills. We’re constantly pursuing education, connecting with other experts in our field and sharing what we’re learning, so we can be the best central resource for other giraffe organizations.”
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo made an investment in The Giraffe Center that gives all giraffe caregivers access to a dedicated team focused entirely on giraffe care and conservation.
“The more we host these workshops, the more we learn and share,” said Miller. “It’s all about creative collaboration. We take the same science and apply it differently depending on the animals, humans and environment they are in. That’s our goal for the Giraffe Center – to be a custom-built resource for other giraffe care teams.”
The Giraffe Center is booking workshops for giraffe care teams and giraffe enthusiasts globally. For more information, visit cmzoo.org/giraffecare.
It was a big year to celebrate for black-footed ferret (BFF) conservation enthusiasts. Including Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s kits, 417 BFF kits were born into the program. That’s the most kits born in a single year program-wide in a decade!
Led by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Black-Footed Ferret SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, breed-and-release programs at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Phoenix Zoo, Toronto Zoo, Louisville Zoo and National Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center work together to save the species. CMZoo contributed 21 kits this year and released 12 kits and 2 beyond-breeding-age adults into wild conservation habitats in Colorado.
Once the kits are old enough to live independently – around 3 months old – they are transported from the conservation center at CMZoo to BFF ‘boot camp,’ in Fort Collins, where they spend time in a pre-release pen that simulates the opportunities and challenges they’ll encounter in the wild. When they prove they can hunt, find shelter and survive in the pre-release pen, they are cleared for wild release. Ferrets that don’t graduate from boot camp are brought back to support breeding efforts or serve as ambassadors for their species, if they’re too old to reproduce.
In November, CMZoo staff and board members traveled to protected prairie lands in Pueblo, Colo., to see the ferrets run free into their new home.
“We invite staff from all departments to participate in releases, and we especially aim to bring staff from The Loft and EdVenture department, who can share their inspiration when guests asks about Rouge – a BFF that lives in The Loft,” said Jeff Baughman, field conservation coordinator at CMZoo. Baughman manages the BFF breeding program at CMZoo and has attended annual releases for nearly 20 years. ”The experience is rewarding, and it inspires us to inspire others to care for wildlife and wild places, and continue our work contributing to conservation efforts.”
Native to prairies stretching from Mexico to Canada, BFFs were thought to be extinct in the 1980s. During Western frontier explorations in the early 1900s, cargo ships from Europe and Asia inadvertently brought sylvatic plague to North America. The spread of the plague bacteria by fleas among prairie dogs (and other animals), combined with poisoning and eradication programs led by newly settled farmers and ranchers who saw prairie dogs as pests, drastically reduced the prairie dog population. Because prairie dogs are their main food source, BFF populations declined dramatically along with them.
On Sept. 26, 1981, a ranch dog named Shep caught a BFF. Shep’s catch led to the discovery of a small population of the elusive animals in Meeteetse, Wyoming. Since then, zoos, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center and other organizations have banded together to breed, prepare, release and monitor BFFs to increase the population.
Because they or their offspring could be released to the wild, every effort is made to keep the BFFs born and raised at CMZoo as wild as possible. So, they are not visible to CMZoo guests. Guests can visit Rouge, a former breeding male that now lives in The Loft.
Prior to the CMZoo releases last month in Pueblo, the sites were managed for sylvatic plague through oral bait vaccines for prairie dogs living on these sites and dusting to eliminate plague-carrying fleas. Sylvatic plague transferred by fleas is now prairie dogs’ primary threat – and BFFs need prairie dogs as their primary food and shelter source. BFFs and other prairie species live in abandoned prairie dog tunnels.
“Being in the field with people who advocate for BFFs but haven’t released them before takes me back to my most inspiring black-footed ferret release at a ranch in New Mexico in 2008,” said Baughman. “On our way to the ferret release area we drove through a huge herd of powerful bison. It helped me imagine a time when bison, swift foxes, burrowing owls, prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets were abundant together in the prairie.”
“We released them before dusk and after sunset we went back to spotlight and monitor the first ferret we had released,” said Baughman. “To our surprise, it was above ground with two swift foxes. They looked almost the same size from a distance and their interaction seemed more curious and playful than threatening. It was as if they were old friends reunited after a long time apart. It looked like they were dancing on the prairie, under the moonlight, as they have done for thousands of years. The bison, the swift foxes and the prairie were truly magical. That was a day that I will remember forever.”
Bison have a similar story to the black-footed ferret. They were nearly eradicated to extinction and are now recovering with the help of people dedicated to them. Baughman sees them as proof that animals can possibly recover, and if people work together, they could potentially bring back some of the prairie ecosystem to its original splendor.
“Zoos have been so instrumental in those recoveries,” said Baughman. “The work we’ve been doing at CMZoo for 42 years, helping black-footed ferrets recover, helps the entire ecosystem because prairie species need each other.”
At the core of the prairie’s survival is the prairie dog. Prairie experts estimate that 170 prairie species depend on the prairie dog – and bison make life richer for the prairie dogs, which in turn support the BFFs. Bison graze differently than livestock. They cut the grass instead of uprooting it, which benefits natural vegetation, healthy drainage and nutrient-rich soil for the mostly herbivorous prairie dogs. The bison’s literal heavy presence also loosens soil, which prairie dogs dig to create tunnels that house their colonies and later become homes for BFFs and other species, like box turtles and burrowing owls.
“It is a complicated balance that we want to support without getting too involved in,” said Baughman. “Ultimately, we want a future that doesn’t need our breed-and-release program because it’s sustaining itself in the wild.”
Until then, Baughman and his inspired team will continue the work with the support of CMZoo guests and members. Back at the conservation center up above CMZoo, the meticulous yearly cycle of preparing for another breeding year has already begun. They recently welcomed new breeding females and males and are moving them through the simulated light cycle that triggers their natural instinct to breed in the spring. After such a successful breeding year, program partners are optimistic about 2024.
Every CMZoo guest helps support this important program because 75 cents from every admission goes to Quarters for Conservation, which helps fund BFF conservation and other important efforts around the world. Since 2008, Q4C has raised nearly $5 million for these programs. To learn more about the black-footed ferret breeding program and CMZoo’s Quarters for Conservation program, visit cmzoo.org/conservation.
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s members are taking the joys of birdwatching to another level – and the biggest benefactors are the birdies.
In March 2023, as part of the annual CMZoo Member Conservation Vote, members chose to fund the purchase and installation of three cutting-edge technology bird-tracking towers that will support a growing global network of conservationists. To understand birds’ obstacles and declining populations, scientists need to study their migration paths, stopover sites, summer breeding and over-wintering locations.
Birders have tracked bird movements for decades by banding and releasing individual wild birds and hoping to catch them again later to document their ages and locations. While it is and has been a beneficial science, it provides data based on single moments in time, rather than providing a full picture of a bird’s migration and movements.
With the Motus Wildlife Tracking System (Motus), unassuming towers and tiny bird ‘backpacks’ work together to collect ongoing data via radio telemetry. The lightweight and unobtrusive tracking ‘backpacks’ come in a variety of sizes fit for birds, bats and butterflies – and some are even solar powered. Conservationists just need to catch a bird once to attach a tracker that ‘pings’ the towers when it flies by. The towers are peppered across North, Central and South America and in several parts of Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia.
“Colorado and the Rocky Mountain corridor have some Motus towers, but not as many as other migration flyways,” Rebecca Zwicker, animal care manager at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Zwicker and other CMZoo staff presented the Motus tower project for members’ consideration in 2023. “If you build it, they will come. We need more towers to encourage researchers to put the backpacks on the birds. Without more receiver towers, it’s not worth tagging the birds with these state-of-the-art trackers. We’re really looking forward to seeing our first backpacked bird’s data pop up on our tower – hopefully by this spring during the Great Migration.”
Members funded the purchase and installation of three Motus receiver towers. The first CMZoo member tower – a 10-foot tall mast with two perpendicular antenna facing Colorado Springs from the Zoo – is reminiscent of an old-school TV antenna. It is a permanent structure on the south side of the Lodge at Moose Lake.
“It’s in a really great spot because the towers have an unobstructed view above the trees,” said Zwicker. “We put it here because we wanted members and guests to see it and to ask questions about it. A digital display board in The Loft will collect the data from tagged birds that fly by our tower. That board connects to Motus.org, where the data is compiled and shared globally on a daily basis.”
Each tower can track a 5- to 8-mile radius of birds carrying the Motus telemetry tags. The second CMZoo member-funded tower will soon be installed at Fountain Creek Nature Center, so the two towers’ tracking radiuses should overlap. The third tower will later be installed in an undecided location, once CMZoo conservationists learn best practices for the first two towers.
“One of the beautiful parts of contributing to this conservation collaboration is that most towers’ data is available to anyone,” said Cassie Spero, animal keeper in The Loft and part of the Motus team at CMZoo. “Conservationists will use this data to understand species and propose important habitat protections. But, if you’re working on a research project for school, or you’re tracking migrations out of personal curiosity, the data will be there for you.”
The Zoo does not have current plans to band or ‘backpack’ any birds and will leave that to the wild bird banding experts. CMZoo’s strength as conservation advocates lies largely in its ability to reach so many people with opportunities to support conservation partners and collaborative efforts, like Motus. By adding more towers to the fledgling Colorado network of receivers, Zoo members are helping lay the groundwork for enormous progress in bird protections.
“Birds enhance our natural world – not just with their beauty and the magic of their presence,” said Zwicker. “They bring a little wonderment to your day, but they also serve important roles in our natural world – across all ecosystems as pollinators, clean-up crews, seed dispersers and food sources. It’s a really feel-good effort and it makes me grateful that our members have allowed us to join this global community committed to the conservation of the beautiful birds of the world.”
Every membership and every visit to the Zoo is conservation in action. In addition to the nearly $5 million raised through admissions for the Zoo’s Quarters for Conservation legacy conservation partners, since 2015, CMZoo’s Member Conservation Vote has provided $675,000 of membership revenue to support field conservation worldwide.
Each year, a total of $100,000 of membership revenue is contributed to conservation in two ways:
$25,000 to the Quarters for Conservation program, which in total contributes half a million dollars on average annually to CMZoo’s legacy conservation partners.
$75,000 to projects voted for by CMZoo members through this annual vote.
It was a big year to celebrate for black-footed ferret (BFF) conservation enthusiasts. Including Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s kits, 417 BFF kits were born into the program. That’s the most kits born in a single year program-wide in a decade!
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s members are taking the joys of birdwatching to another level – and the biggest benefactors are the birdies.
