Zoo Open July 4 Weekend

The Zoo will be open on Monday, July 4 and throughout the holiday weekend. Plan a visit as part of your celebration!SEE HOURS

TWC – Butterfly Beltway on I-390

The Zoo Society’s partnership with the New York State Department of Transportation on the Butterfly Beltway program was featured by Time Warner Cable News.

Check out the video and see the full story here.

Cooling off with the herd

Summer is finally here! Every year as the weather starts to heat up for the summer season, zoo keepers do our very best to keep all the animals here cool and comfortable.

The elephants in particular have been beating the heat the last few weeks by several swimming sessions in their pool. They also enjoy getting sprayed down with a fire hose, misters, and a lot of mud holes!

By getting their bodies all wet and then coating themselves in mud, the elephants create a cool barrier that also serves as sunscreen, a moisturizer, and a bug repellent.

Come see if you can catch a glimpse of our four African elephants in their pool on your next visit!

–Jenna Bovee, Zoologist

One Cubic Foot Madagascar Travel Log 4

Zoo Society Executive Director Pamela Reed Sanchez will be updating this travel log as One Cubic Foot Madagascar continues.Part Four: Conservation Takes A Generation

My last night (for this trip) in Centre ValBio was May 31, 2016, the 25th anniversary of the opening of Ranomafana National Park. There was a small celebration at dinner, where everyone gathered to hear Dr. Patricia Wright relay the events of that historic day, when so many Malagasy dignitaries were on hand.

As she closed her remarks, she said, “I thought the opening of the national park was the end of my major work in Ranomafana. It turned out it was just the beginning.”

What Dr. Wright and her colleagues have built at Centre ValBio is nothing short of remarkable, with essentially self-sustaining world-class research facilities used by researchers from around the globe. The dormitories are remarkably clean and comfortable, with space for scores of people to stay at one time. A new kitchen is being built presently, and the dining hall will be expanded significantly to serve the increasing number of people that use Centre ValBio.

But it is her relationship to the Malagasy people that is key. Pat has understood from her earliest days of working in Madagascar that it wasn’t enough to go in and tell people what to do, or even show people what to do. Those efforts don’t create lasting change. But efforts that combine conservation with economic development and education for the local villagers – those efforts have a chance.

Centre ValBio employs more than eighty Malagasy from the local villages. There are shuttles that provide transportation to and from the Centre. A number of her key staff have been with her thirty years. If staff can’t read and write, they are taught. She is clearly both revered and beloved. She told me that when she went to town on Sunday, which was Malagasy Mother’s Day, she had many people wishing her Happy Mother’s Day.

One evening when I was sitting at dinner with Pat, Dominique – who was the One Cubic Foot team’s incredible guide each and every time we went out into the Park – pulled up a chair and handed Pat a piece of paper with a proud smile on his face. His daughter has been accepted to university. Pat got a broad smile on her face and cheered “Dominique that’s wonderful!” As it turns out, Pat personally pays for her employees’ children who attend high school ($500 annually) and college ($1,000). Their success is costing her quite a bit, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

In her words, “It takes a generation for this to take hold. And I’m doing what I can to be sure that happens.”

One Cubic Foot Madagascar: Update from Rainy Ranomafana

Zoo Society Director of Programming and Conservation Action Tom Snyder will be documenting the team’s findings as One Cubic Foot Madagascar continues.In the past week at the Centre Valbio Field Station in Ranomafana National Park, the SPZS One Cubic Foot team has had just over a day’s worth of time that it hasn’t rained.  This has delayed us some, and it has definitely limited our findings, and the cool temperatures (low 50’s at night), and lack of sunlight has kept most the critters under shelter.

The cube has been placed, and on Wednesday June 1st, David Liittschwager and his assistant Zach Kobrinsky created a beautiful panoramic shot of the cube in situ.  After this, they hooked up the infrared GoPro for the first overnight monitoring session.  On Thursday the 2nd weather was especially nasty.  With increased winds, and a driving rain, a small contingent of the crew hiked out after lunch to pick up the infrared GoPro and collect as much as possible during daylight hours.The forecast for Friday seems to give us chance for one more day of good weather, with partly cloudy skies predicted.  If we get a good sunny day, we will surely be out collecting more animals that use the best One Cubic Foot space we have been able to find in Ranomafana National Park.Images courtesy of David Liittschwager