In terms of what skills a zoo director needs to amount such an institutional commitment by its governing board, whatever that might be, whether governmental or private, it seems to me that the director needs to come, not with just some familiarity with the biology of the world, but with… Read More
How do you see American zoos in terms of programs for the public, how they affect the public, animal collections, other activities?… Read More
Has it changed?… Read More
Well, to do this, a zoo director needs skills. Read More
What skills does a zoo director need today as compared to when you started as zoo director?… Read More
And while certain institutions like Monterey Bay Aquarium and their exhibit graphics, and in some of their interactive devices, certainly engage the public in tremendous questions as you’re well aware in terms of fisheries, the enormous conservation challenge for the world. While they’re utilizing some of this kind of incentivizing… Read More
What issues would you like to see Brookfield Zoo and other zoos address in the future and more broadly the AZA?… Read More
In terms of issues to address in the future for Brookfield and all other zoos and the Zoo Association, Zoo and Aquarium Association. It seems to me that they must attend to both the opportunity and challenge of communicating more effectively with their publics. And I do not mean just… Read More
How to increase the likelihood that you’re gonna communicate effectively so that it’s not just caring in terms of thinking about this problem, caring in terms of being emotionally involved from seeing the animal or whatever, but caring for in terms of doing something about it. So it seems to… Read More
(George chuckles) In terms of issues to address in the future or from now on that zoos and the Zoo Association should really devote attention to?… Read More
Well, as I indicated earlier, I feel that they need real comprehension of how to communicate effectively with their publics and, not only their local publics, but with other parties, including governments and populations around the world. And in the process, really, in my regard, the fundamental is getting people… Read More
What are some of the other issues that you’d like to see Brookfield Zoo and other zoos in the future address and more broadly the AZA address?… Read More
It was published in the Journal of Virology. It’s gotten no notice whatsoever. Not even from the scholars documenting the contributions of animal substances and compounds to human medicine. It’s pretty, pretty sad. At any rate, I’ve been involved from the start. In 2005, we held a international meeting in… Read More
And it’s been supported by the Chicago Zoological Society through the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group. And, as I say, about a hundred species in such circumstances now, but 400 more at least need to be. And of the some 6,000 plus species of salamanders, caecilians, and frogs and toads, at… Read More
But also common species. And this has been demonstrated from the Sierras in California, to the Mountains in Wyoming, to Central America cordillera, et cetera, et cetera. And in Australian in particular it’s been devastating. One of the particular species I had a fondness for, there were two species of… Read More
In terms of amphibian conservation, and this is one of the major challenges in what we foresee is mass extinction episode where we’re embarked upon now. I’ve been involved from the very start, when it was noticed that populations of creatures that biologists were studying in the wild were disappearing… Read More
So as a result, I had just become the chair of the Species Survival Commission of the World Conservation Union. So I established a special task force on the declining amphibian populations and we set out to determine what was going on around the world. And the reports kept coming… Read More
What’s the significance of that pin and what are zoos doing or could be doing to influence the range, the conservation, the longevity of amphibian populations?… Read More
And were used in our staff efforts in Australia. But you don’t see… you see a few such appeals in zoos and aquariums, but not on the level that I think that could be. That is trying to enroll the public in concern for the particular species, especially the charismatic… Read More
Are zoos doing enough to influence conservation in the wild?… Read More