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The Zoo's African Odyssey
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In travel brochures, Africa looks like a wildlife watcher's paradise. Scenes of lions lazing in the sun, cheetahs on the hunt, and herds of elephants and zebras suggest a continent teeming with animals.
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| Grant's zebras graze in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. |
Such a rich abundance of wildlife was once a reality throughout Africa, but now protected areas and patches of inaccessible wilderness provide some of the last refuges for these and many other species. Their habitats are shrinking as Africa's cities, villages, and demands for its natural resources grow. And their populations are declining due to illegal hunting, pollution, and climate change.
The Smithsonian's National Zoo understands that the future of Africa's wildlife depends on science and conservation efforts. Zoo scientists and educators are leading studies in Africa and pioneering research on African species at the Zoo and at its Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia. Their collaborations range from training and outreach programs to conserve biodiversity regionally to large-scale studies supported by global corporate partners.
This year's ZooFari theme, "Savanna Soirée," and this issue of ZooGoer celebrate the Zoo's dedication to conserving African wildlife and habitats.
Desert | The Sahara and the Sahel
Northern Africa
The Sahara is so iconic that in the simplest geographical terms, it defines Africa. It dominates a hot and mostly arid region in northern Africa that has roughly the same land area as Australia. This region is called Saharan Africa, and everything south of it—nearly two-thirds of the continent containing incredibly diverse topography, ecosystems, wildlife, and people—is simply called sub-Saharan Africa.
The Sahara is more nuanced than the stereotypical desert. Sand dunes, or ergs, cover only 20 percent of it. Its most prevalent feature by far is gravelly plains called regs. There are also depressions filled with salt called chotts, oases with trees, and mountains and plateaus that may be as tall as 1,000 feet. But despite this diversity of topographical features, water and vegetation are scarce, and wildlife in the Sahara have adapted to a hardscrabble existence.
The desert gradually softens at its southern border into a narrow belt of semi-arid grassland called the Sahel. Spanning the width of the continent from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, the Sahel marks the transition from Saharan to sub-Saharan Africa. The rainy season arrives in the Sahel between July and September, reviving drought-resistant trees and grasses, giving relief to hungry wildlife, and swelling the Niger River so that farmers can cultivate crops in its delta.
Although the Sahara-Sahelo region is naturally harsh, human activities pose a far greater risk to wildlife than extreme temperatures or lack of water. National Zoo scientists are working to save these animals from extinction.
Read the ZooGoer story, "Saving the Sahel."
Scimitar-horned Oryx
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The Sahara and Sahel once supported herds of scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), dama gazelle (Gazella dama), and other desert antelope. But the scimitar-horned oryx is now extinct in the wild, and the dama gazelle's overall population is fewer than 1,000. Illegal hunting, droughts exacerbated by climate change and desertification, and lack of protected areas have plagued desert antelope, which must now also compete with grazing livestock for food. As they fade away, carnivores and scavengers that depend on them will likely suffer population declines, too.
In the last 15 years, Zoo scientists pioneered artificial insemination for scimitar-horned oryx, and developed husbandry and genetic management techniques that helped increase the world's managed zoo population to 2,000. Two of these oryx are on exhibit at the Zoo's Cheetah Conservation Station and several dozen have been reintroduced into fenced areas in Morocco.
As part of their conservation strategy, Zoo scientists hope to create a 30,900-square-mile protected area in Niger for antelope and other Sahara-Sahelo species. They also want to increase research and education efforts to save these rare animals.
Learn more about the Zoo's conservation work with oryx and other desert antelope in the Sahara and Sahel.
Caracal
Caracal courtship may involve elaborate overtures of head rubbing, scent marking, and meows. It's even more complicated for the National Zoo's male and female caracals (Caracal caracal), which will gradually get to know one another in front of a live audience. For five hours a day, seven days a week, FONZ behavior watchers will record the cats' encounters. The data they collect will help Zoo staff better understand the species and improve future introductions.
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Like many animals at the Zoo, these small cats with tufts of hair sprouting from the tips of their ears were specially selected by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' (AZA) Population Management Plan to breed and, through their offspring, maintain genetic diversity in zoo populations. It's an important goal for caracals, because they are fairly rare in northern Africa and threatened in their Asian habitats. Although much more abundant in southern Africa, they have an exaggerated reputation as livestock killers there and are often treated as vermin. Conserving them in zoos is one way to keep them from becoming extinct in the future.
Read a ZooGoer article about caracals.
Forest | Gabon
Central Africa
There's no mistaking the green hills, wetlands, and sand beaches of Gabon for the scorched Sahara. Forests cover 77 percent of this country on Africa's Atlantic coast, providing habitat for African forest elephants, western lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, and hundreds of other species of conservation concern.
Yet until recently, little was known about Gabon's biodiversity. What plants and animals live there, and how do they interact with their environment? And how do humans and their roads, farms, houses, and oil operations affect ecosystems? The answers could be powerful tools for conservation.
Since 2000, Zoo scientists from the Smithsonian's Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity (MAB) program have been leading a team of international scientists seeking those answers in the 4,270-square-mile Gamba Complex of Protected Areas in southwestern Gabon. For the first time ever, they are documenting Gabon's rich variety of living things and habitats, with the encouragement of the Gabonese government and local communities. So far, they have cataloged nearly 3,000 species and have discovered fish, amphibians, reptiles, insects, orchids, and trees that are new to science.
The program's ultimate goal is the long-term conservation of Gabon's biodiversity. To that end, MAB partners with Shell Gabon, Shell Foundation, and national organizations to integrate biodiversity conservation into oil and gas development, provide education and outreach programs, and provide technical training for Gabonese researchers and conservationists.
Learn more about the Zoo's Monitoring and Assessement of Biodiversity (MAB) program.
Read a ZooGoer story about the Zoo's work in Gabon.
African Forest Elephant
African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) are smaller and more elusive than African savanna elephants, but they have a mighty power—they help shape the equatorial forests in which they live. They disperse the seeds of fruit trees, an important food source for many species, over large distances.
Zoo scientists are conducting a three-part study of these little-known leviathans in Gabon. The study centers on an industrial corridor that divides two national parks in the Gamba Complex. Although this corridor has a high level of biodiversity and is likely an important route for migrating animals moving between the parks, its official status as a protected area remains unclear.
In one part of the study, scientists conduct systematic dung count surveys to see whether the elephants prefer different habitats depending on the season. In another part, they analyze DNA from fecal samples to estimate the number of males and females in the area and to determine whether the corridor's elephants are transient or resident. And in a third part of the study, scientists from the Zoo and the Wildlife Conservation Society are using a global positioning system to track the movements of four forest elephants they radiocollared in the corridor.
The study's results will guide the management and conservation of the corridor, an important step for conserving forest elephants in one of the few remaining areas where their populations are still viable. Forest elephants are threatened by hunting, logging, human encroachment on their habitat, and roads, according to a 2006 study coauthored by MAB scientists.
Learn more about the Zoo's conservation work with African forest elephants.
Western Lowland Gorilla
The total population of endangered western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) is unknown, but scientists estimate that fewer than 100,000 remain in Gabon and in the fragmented forests of other equatorial African countries. Like African forest elephants, western lowland gorillas are targeted by commercial and subsistence hunters and are rapidly losing their habitat. Hundreds of them may already have succumbed to the Ebola virus.
The Zoo's group of six western lowland gorillas gives staff and visitors an incredible glimpse into these rare apes' highly social lives. Four of its members, including the dominant silverback Baraka, were born at the Zoo under the auspices of the AZA's Species Survival Plan (SSP) for the species.
Meet the Zoo's western lowland gorillas.
Savanna
Southern and eastern Africa
This region boasts some of Africa's most varied, and famous, landmarks. From Mount Kilimanjaro and Lake Victoria in the east to the Kalahari and its Okavango Delta in the south, the beauty of the land is world-renowned. But it is the area's grasslands, or savannas, that support Africa's most famous wildlife.
The Serengeti Plains of Kenya and Tanzania, for example, are the only place on Earth where millions of wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebras migrate each year, and where another sort of animal first appeared about two million years ago—Homo habilis, a species of early human. Most of Africa's cheetahs, lions, and elephants also live on savannas.
Although the region's national parks and other protected lands go a long way toward conserving African wildlife, they are no panacea. Animals know nothing of park boundaries, and when they wander outside to migrate or find food, they are often killed by poachers, people protecting their livestock and crops, or subsistence hunters. According to Serengeti National Park's official website, "in an average year, local people living around the park illegally kill about 40,000 animals." And disease, habitat destruction, and droughts threaten wildlife regardless of whether they live in a park.
Working in a wide range of disciplines including reproduction science, genetics, and behavior studies, Zoo scientists are helping to conserve Africa's savanna wildlife.
See the African savanna species on exhibit at the Zoo.
Savanna Elephant
The world's largest land animal, the African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana), originally lived through much of Africa. But in the last 150 years it was extirpated from the Sahara and now survives mostly in southern and eastern Africa.
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Savanna elephants compete with people for limited habitat and resources. When hungry or thirsty, they can devastate farmers' crops and water supplies, and when agitated, they can kill people and livestock. People shoot elephants or fence them out of large areas to protect their own lives and livelihoods.
With wild savanna elephants in danger, zoo elephants may be crucial for the long-term survival of the species. But the aging U.S. zoo population is not reproducing enough to sustain itself. To find out why, Zoo scientists study savanna elephant reproduction in Kruger National Park in South Africa and in U.S. zoos. They are using their data and are pioneering artificial insemination techniques to improve zoo elephant breeding programs.
The Zoo also supports a genetic study of the savanna elephants living in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. This study will increase our understanding of savanna elephants' kinship and social relationships.
Learn about kindship and social lives of African elephants.
African Wild Dog
Despite the beautiful patches of color on their coats, African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) don't attract much conservation attention. But they desperately need it. Fewer than 5,000 live in isolated populations in eastern and southern Africa, although they once lived throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Long persecuted as livestock killers, the dogs also suffer from habitat fragmentation, competition with other carnivores, collisions with cars, and diseases such as distemper and parvo virus.
Only one viable population of wild dogs exists in South Africa. Zoo scientists are collaborating with South African researchers and wildlife managers to establish a second population in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park. Their efforts include studies of wild dogs' stress hormones, behavior, and ecology, as well as wild dog reintroductions.
Learn more about the Zoo's efforts to conserve African wild dogs.
African Lion
Like elephants and wild dogs, African lions (Panthera leo) inhabit a fraction of their former distribution, and for many of the same reasons: habitat fragmentation, hunting, and disease. Zoos may provide a safeguard against lions' extinction.
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To help maintain a healthy zoo population of these regal animals, some North American zoos are importing captive-bred southern African lions under the auspices of the AZA's SSP for lions. The National Zoo obtained three of these lions from South Africa in October 2006: one-year-old male Luke and two-year-old females Shera and Nababiep. They may one day parent a new generation of lion cubs.
Zoo scientists also advise the lion SSP and coordinate a research project on lions in North American zoos. By analyzing hormones in fecal samples from more than 30 lions in North America, Zoo scientists hope to better understand the reproductive biology of this charismatic species, identify the causes of poor reproduction, and improve breeding success in zoos.
Meet the Zoo's lions.
Cheetah
Historically, breeding cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in zoos has been difficult. So Zoo curators, keepers, and scientists put their heads together to find out why. Their extensive behavioral and reproduction studies led to better management practices and contributed to a major milestone: The Zoo's first litter of cheetah cubs was born at its Cheetah Conservation Station in 2004, followed by a second litter in 2005.
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These births are just one facet of the Zoo's 25-year involvement in cheetah research, which continues to grow. At the Zoo and at the Namibian headquarters of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, Zoo scientists are developing assisted reproduction techniques such as artificial insemination and sperm cryopreservation that have yielded litters at other zoos. And in 2007, the Zoo achieved another milestone when it announced it will build a state-of-the-art breeding and research facility for cheetahs at its Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia.
Meet the Zoo's cheetahs.
Donate now to support our Cheetah Conservation Fund.
Grevy's Zebra
Experts estimate that the population of endangered Grevy's zebras (Equus grevyi) living in Kenya and Tanzania is now roughly 3,000. That's a drastic drop from the 1970s, when the zebras had a much larger distribution and an estimated population of about 15,000. Increased livestock grazing, limited access to water sources, and hunting could wipe out the species entirely.
To assist the SSP's breeding program for Grevy's zebras, the Zoo has for the last 15 years housed juvenile males at its Cheetah Conservation Station until they are old enough to breed with females at other zoos. Recently, Zoo scientists also began using assisted breeding techniques such as cryopreservation of sperm to save these beautiful equids.
Read a ZooGoer article about Grevy's zebras.
Meerkat
Meerkats (Suricata suricatta) live in groups of up to 40 individuals in southern African savannas and deserts—and at the Zoo's Small Mammal House. Zoo scientists have participated in studies of meerkats' fascinating social behavior since 1993.
Read a ZooGoer article about meerkats.
Kori Bustard
Kori bustards (Ardeotis kori) can fly but prefer to run from danger instead. Unfortunately, they can't run from the agricultural development, overgrazing, and poaching that have extirpated them from some parts of southern and eastern Africa.
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The National Zoo is one of a few zoos in the world to successfully breed kori bustards. More than 35 chicks have hatched at the Zoo in the last decade thanks to careful management by Zoo staff, including a Bird House biologist who coordinates the kori bustard SSP and keeps the international studbook that helps zoos maintain genetic diversity in the species.
Zoo scientists are also on the forefront of kori bustard research and in the last six years they have conducted field work in Kenya and reproductive studies with zoo birds, and have published ten studies of kori bustard behavior and management. They are aided in their work by volunteer FONZ behavior watchers, who since 1999 have come to the Zoo to collect data on the bustards' activities.
Read the latest news on the Zoo's kori bustards.
Donate now to support the Zoo's wildlife education and conservation programs.
