Talk #112, 6/21/17

Endangered Species Rescue: How far should we go?

Dr. Barbara Durrant
Director and Henshaw Chair, Reproductive Sciences Institute for Conservation Research
San Diego Zoo Global

Dr. Durrant presented details on the important conservation work being done by San Diego Zoo Global and, in particular, The Frozen Zoo.  For an introduction to the San Diego Zoo’s Frozen Zoo, see the 25 September 2016 article, “Conservation hopes live at San Diego’s Frozen Zoo,”  and embedded video posted on the San Diego Union-Tribune website at the following link:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/zoo/sd-me-frozen-zoo-20160921-story.html

Also see the 20 April 2017 article, “Love alone won’t save Earth’s endangered species, but science can,” also from the Union-Tribune at the following link:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/sd-utbg-endangered-species-science-20170420-story.html

Dr. Durrant’s presentation can be downloaded by clicking on this link:

Durrant Presentation

Finally, if the embedded link on p. 35 of Dr. Durrant’s presentation, for the Hawaiian Crow (ʻAlalā) vocalization, doesn’t work, use the following link to hear it:

During the Q&A session, the topic of the effects of wolf reintroduction on the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park was discussed. This is a complex matter that is explained more in the following videos:

The Reintroduction of Wolves in Yellowstone National Park (10:14), at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eksN-87fFIQ

and a shorter video, How Wolves Change Rivers (4:33), at the following link:

Dr. Durrant’s work is discussed in a 7 March 2020 article by Adeline Chen, “Meet the women racing to save the northern white rhino from extinction,” at the following link:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/07/world/northern-rhino-frozen-zoo-women-c2e-intl/index.html