Webinar: Teen Earth Optimism – Species Conservation
Aired June 9, 2020
Meaghan Cuddy:
Hello. All right, we're going to wait for everyone to start joining us. Hi. Well, thank you for joining us today. My name is Meaghan Cuddy, and I'm a museum educator at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. And while our museums closed, our educators are coming to you live from our homes, and we're connecting you with scientists, our museum staff, and other experts. So thank you so much for joining us for our Teen Tuesday program today.
And before we begin today's program, we'd like to acknowledge current events and let you know that the National Museum of Natural History stands with the Secretary of the Smithsonian, Dr. Lonnie Bunch, in expressing our deepest sympathy to families and communities that have been impacted by discrimination and violence. Today we are sharing our secretary's response and a resource in the Q & A that was developed by our colleagues at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Talking About Race, a resource with tools and guidance to empower your journey and inspire conversation about race.
And during these challenging times, I thank you for choosing to join us for today's program, and I hope that the Smithsonian continues to be a valuable learning resource for you and your loved ones. Now, in today's program, we are going to be talking about how institutions like the Smithsonian National Zoo are contributing to species, survival, conservation, and education with one of our curators.
And while everyone is joining us today, you can use the Q & A button that's located on the bottom of your screen to tell us where you're joining us from. So that's the button with two speech bubbles, and I'm joining you from my home in Washington, D.C. And I'd love to know where some of you are joining us from.
So hello to Isabelle from Edison, New Jersey. I'm also from New Jersey, Isabelle, so good to see you. And we have Sophie from Derby, England, Marinette from New York. Connor is joining us from Texas. I also used to live in Texas, Connor. Ian from North Carolina. Hello to all of you. Oh, Mona, from Japan, very far away. Nice to see you. Micah from Washington, D.C. Terry from Maryland. Elena from Maryland. Rona from Scotland. Jed from San Diego. Hello to all of you. So great to have you all here. Veronica from Texas. Gig Harbor, Washington, Emma and Eli from Oregon. Hi to everyone, thank you all so much for joining us today.
So as you're all joining our webinar, I'd like to just point out a couple of the features of today's program. So you can use the Q & A box that you're typing into right now to ask your questions to our scientists. And you can your questions at any time during the program today, but we're going to be asking them during the second half of the program. So make sure that you stick around until then to get your question answered.
And you can also use that Q & A box to answer our questions for you. But please keep in mind that your comments are only going to be visible to Smithsonian staff, so definitely keep them on topic. We have a couple other people joining us from India, from Washington. So hello to all of you.
All right, it looks like just about everyone is here, so we're going to get started. So today we are talking about Earth optimism, and we all know that our planet is facing many challenges from human behaviors and things like climate change, habitat destruction, and pollution. But researchers and staff here at the Smithsonian are working really hard to combat some of these problems. And at the Zoo, like we'll talk about today, to save species. So to dive into this a little bit deeper, I'm really, really excited to introduce our expert for today's program, Juan Rodriguez. So Juan, hi.
Juan Rodriguez:
Hello everybody. How are y'all doing today?
Meaghan Cuddy:
Good to see you. How are you?
Juan Rodriguez:
Fine, thank you.
Meaghan Cuddy:
All right, Juan, it's awesome to have you. Thank you so much for joining us for today's program. So you are the Curator of Carnivores for South America and the Asia Trail at the National Zoo's Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, which is quite a mouthful. So where are you joining us from today?
Juan Rodriguez:
I'm joining you from my home here in Maryland.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Awesome. So right up the street from me in D.C.
Juan Rodriguez:
Yep, yep.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Cool. So before we get started, I'm sure a lot of people are interested in learning what it means to be a curator at the zoo. So can you tell us a little bit about what you do on a daily basis and what your job is like?
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely, absolutely. So being a curator in a zoo world, it's very unique. It involves not just working with the animals, but also involves working with managing a team of animal keepers and animal specialists. So every day is going to be very different. At the Smithson Conservation Biology Institute, as you can see here, we deal with a lot of different species. Specifically the ones that I am in charge of our clouded leopards, red pandas and maned wolves. These three species are the ones that I focus on the most. So the maned wolves are from South America. Clouded leopards are an Asian species, and so are the red pandas. Working with these species is a very amazing job. They all are very unique, and they all also have their own challenges in their natural habitat. Working in this organization here at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, we are focused on research on understanding the species better in our captive setting.
So at Front Royal, Virginia, where the facility's located, we have 3,200 acres. So we do have a lot of land to work with and a lot of space for these animals to be able to be maintained and also to ... We're heavily involved not just on the research, but also which involves nutrition, animal health, animal behavior, and most importantly, animal reproduction. So we try to breed the species so that we can ... Hopefully, that goal is to basically stave off any issues of extinction, in their natural habitat. In that way, if that were ever to happen, which is very probable, we have a reserved population in captivity that we can actually have and continue to propagate. So that if that does happen in the wild, we can still have the species around for our future generations to see. But most importantly, to be able to reintroduce that species back into the wild when the opportunity presents itself.
Meaghan Cuddy:
That is awesome. And Juan, we are getting some comments from our viewers that your job is really cool, and also these animals are absolutely adorable. So I'm sure a lot of people are very jealous of the work that you get to do.
Juan Rodriguez:
That they are. That they are. Yep. Yep.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Very cool. So can you tell us a little bit about how you became interested in working with animals? I know you grew up in the D.C. area and you actually used to go to the zoo a lot when you were a kid.
Juan Rodriguez:
Yeah absolutely. So I'm originally from Puerto Rico, I moved here with my family back when I was around three years old. Back in the '80s. And during that time, we moved to D.C. and of course as a child, we went to the zoo as a little child. So little did I know back then that one day I would actually be working with the giant pandas at the National Zoo, and then going out to become a curator for conservation for the carnivores at SCBI, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. I think the biggest thing is the love and passion for animals. And I'm sure most of our viewers here today obviously have. That was the main thing that really drove me to where I am today.
One of the biggest things that really helped me get into the profession was becoming a volunteer. So I became a volunteer at the Cheetah Conservation Station back in way back in 1997, down at the Rock Creek facility. One thing important to know, you can see on this picture here. The National Zoo is comprised of two facilities. It's the National Zoo, which is the Rock Creek facility where we have most of our animals, our ambassador animals like the giant pandas and elephants and tigers. And then we have the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, which is out in Front Royal, Virginia, which is the annex to the Zoo. And out there is where we have the large amount of land that we can house a lot of our exotic species, a lot of our hoofstock like zebra, gazelles and also our bird species and North American species and then of course, the species that I work with.
Becoming a volunteer was really important into getting my foot into the profession, getting a better feel for what was expected of me. Because I was so passionate about it, I was very fortunate that a job opened up, I applied for the job, and then 15 years later, I was an animal keeper. And then 20 years later I became a Curator of Carnivores at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
Meaghan Cuddy:
That is awesome. What a cool story. And I think it's so amazing that you actually started out as a volunteer, which is something that anyone at any age can really get involved in, and it's led you to this amazing career path.
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. This is a great way for individuals to get a better feel for, "Is this really what you want to do?" And then gives you direct contact, hands on experience to see what this profession is all about.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Awesome. So today we're going to talk a little bit about your work at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and some of the species that you've worked with. But before we get started, I actually have a question for our viewers. Viewers, what do you think is the main role of zoos in society? You can type your answers into the Q & A box, and Juan and I will read some of your answers.
I'm very curious to see what some of our viewers have to say. All right. So we're starting to get a lot of answers to preserve species, educating the public to care for animals, conservation biology. Juan, what do you think of some of these answers that we've gotten from our viewers?
Juan Rodriguez:
I think these are excellent answers. Absolutely. I've been working for the National Zoo for about 20 years now, so I've come across a lot of individuals that with really informed perspectives. And it's definitely, ultimately what I tell people is that I want to be in a situation where my job is not really necessary, if that makes sense. So I want it to be a situation where we can have an environment that's not being destroyed or encroached upon. And then animals can actually live in their natural habitat. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances that I'm sure you all are very aware of, zoos like the National Zoo and Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, are basically geared to prepare ourselves for extinction events for some of the species we work with. And a lot of the species we work with at SCBI are either have gone extinct in the wild, are vulnerable or endangered. So they're very important species that we need to preserve because it's very feasible that 15, 20 years from now they may not be seen in the wild.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Yeah. So Juan, do you want to tell us a little bit about the history of the zoo and the role that the zoo has played in society in the past?
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely, absolutely. So yeah, zoos in general ... When zoos were first created, the main emphasis was just to showcase ... More of a prestige thing. To showcase animals, it was more for amusement and to sort allow folks to see animals they probably wouldn't normally see in a day-to-day basis. The National Zoo is actually 131 years old. So when it first started, if you look at up old pictures of the Smithsonian, you're going to see that they actually have bison on the backside of the castle, which is downtown. And that technically was the very first zoo. And so William Temple Hornaday was technically our very first zoo director, if you will, for the National Zoo. Congress had created the plans to create the Zoo back in the late 1800s. And eventually they broke ground in where is now Rock Creek, and then they created the Zoo. The main reason why this was started was William Temple Hornaday was really concerned about conservation, especially North American species. And as you can see in its slide, that's a little small bison calf.
Meaghan Cuddy:
So cute.
Juan Rodriguez:
Yeah. So bison, they were pretty much almost went into extinction back in the late 1800s due to a lot of circumstances. So William Temple Hornaday really took it upon himself ... And keep in mind, this is one individual that's taken the initiative to make a change and to be able to educate the public about these species, that our North American species, to educate them on what they are and how they can help preserve them. So it was really important for him to showcase the species and other North American species to encourage people to preserve their natural habitat and the animals that live in them.
That continues on to today, into the future. We are very focused on conservation and education and in empowering our audiences and our public to be able to become partners in this conservation process. Because the National Zoo and other AZA-accredited zoos, AZA, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which is an organization is that's involved with setting the standards very high for animal conservation. Making sure that we're not just educating the public, but that we're playing a pivotal role in the conservation and preservation of species in our natural habitat and to encourage our audiences to become partners in that process. So you can see that in this slide right here. So yeah, we're very fortunate that we have the ability to really showcase a lot of these species and to be able to educate our public and teaching them how they can become conservationists. Because ultimately we can't do it on our own. It's a joint effort. We're all working on this together and to make sure that we have a better future.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Yeah, that's amazing. And I think it's so interesting to think about how when I go to the Zoo, I look at the animals and I'm amazed that I get to interact with these species that I don't get to see on an everyday basis. Which is an important part of what the Zoo does, But also behind the scenes, you guys are doing a ton of research and conservation work. So can you talk a little bit about how you are saving species?
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely. A lot of the animals that we have are, like I said before, they're either critically endangered, some of them have gone extinct in the wild, the cloud leopard and red pandas are the ones that I work with specifically, these guys are endangered. And the maned wolf is considered vulnerable, but they're headed towards the endangered category as well. So a lot of the things that we've done historically, red pandas for example, we've reproduced over 200 red pandas in our 40-year history at this Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia. So we produce a lot of red pandas. And the idea is not just about the numbers, some of the numbers of the animals are declining in the wild, and it's not just focusing on okay quantity. We're also focusing on quality as well. So we don't want it to randomly to start breeding animals randomly.
Every animal, believe it or not, that we are in charge of, they have their own what we consider a social security number. It's called a studbook number. All these animals have a number that's associated with them so that we can track their family tree. We know who their cousins are, who their great grandparents are, who their siblings are, who their offspring are. And the importance of doing this is so that we can keep track of better genetic records.
So when we have groups such as Species Survival Plans, the SSPs, they are committees. They're formed in zoos to focus specifically on animals. So the cheetahs have their SSP, the clouded leopards have their own SSP, the giant pandas have their own SSP, and it's comprised of animal keepers, curators, researchers, nutritionists, veterinarians, pretty much the whole gambit when it comes to conservation.
Meaghan Cuddy:
That is amazing.
Juan Rodriguez:
Oops, sorry. Yep. So yeah, they're not just focused on what's going to happen tomorrow or next year, but many, many years down the road.
Meaghan Cuddy:
That is so cool. It's amazing how many people are involved in these Species Survival Plans and how long-term you guys are thinking about it and how you have 23andMe for the animals in your care, which is pretty incredible. I know that you also do some reintroduction work. So can you tell us a little bit about what happens to these species then after you guys have worked on them?
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely. So the clouded leopards and red pandas and maned wolves, unfortunately we have not gotten to a position where we can do reintroductions currently with them. However, at SCBI at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, we have been able to do reintroductions with the scimitar-horned oryx, which is an African species of hoofstock, and the black-footed ferret, which is a North American species. Both of these species, the black-footed ferret, was considered extinct in the wild. Fortunately they found just a handful. And from that small population we were able to reproduce the species in captivity at SCBI, being one of those facilities. And we are now reintroducing them back into their native habitat out in the West and Midwest. And then the scimitar-horned oryx these guys were hunted to extinction and if we didn't have the species in captivity, SCBI being one of them, this is National Zoo's SCBI, we would also not see this species today.
This is sort of the critical part that conservation organizations like the Smithsonian National Zoo is involved with being able to preserve these species. And to be in a position where we actually can reintroduce them back into the wild is probably one of the most rewarding things that we could ever do. We're not just propagating the species, we're trying to ensure that we can preserve their habitat, their natural habitat. And in order to do that, it's better, easier said than done. What needs for that to actually be successful is that you need to be able to be on the ground working with the communities that are living there in order to become partners and it has to be a partnership. We can't just breed the animals and just let them go and that's it. It's a really prolonged process and it takes a lot of collaboration on the ground where those animals are from. And then of course, the researchers on our side. And so unfortunately these things are not as easily done for large carnivores, but it is a process that we're working on.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Yeah, I would imagine that it's really rewarding to see these species that you propagate or keep going actually in their own native habitats. And also working with partners across cultures and across countries. It must be a really amazing experience too.
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely. And it's a learning process. We all learn from each other, we have a lot of information we can share, and the sharing and collaboration is very critical for this to work.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Absolutely. Like in all science, the collaboration is totally key. So I know that you work on maned wolves and you have a really cool story about them. So can you tell us a little bit about what maned wolves are and why you guys are working on them?
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely. So maned wolves, these guys are a really unique species. Now the name itself could be a little misleading. They're actually not wolves. They are in a canid family, but they're in a family of their own Chrysocyon brachyurus. They are predominantly, they are South American species and they are the largest canid in South America, and they're the biggest population is going to be found in Brazil.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Okay, cool.
Juan Rodriguez:
So, yeah.
Meaghan Cuddy:
I'd like to pose a question to our viewers now. I know that maybe some of you know about this species or maybe you don't, but knowing where they're found, what are some of the main threats that you think this species might be facing? What are some of the things that might be causing this population to decline? And you can write your ideas into our Q & A box and we'll see what Juan thinks about what our viewers think.
All right. So we're hearing fires, habitat loss, deforestation is a very common one that we're seeing, climate change and predation. Juan, what do you think of what some people are thinking?
Juan Rodriguez:
Yeah we have some really true conservationists online today. They're very well informed, which is great. This is a good sign for the future. Yes, these are all really good points. And also, unfortunately, some of the maned wolves were are hunted for the body parts, for medicinal purposes, traditional things where they're found in their native habitat. But also some of them are seen as pests, which is unfortunate. So in a lot of these instances, it's really to... This is where the collaboration comes into play, where we have to really tap into the conservationists that are working on the ground in their natural habitat and to be able to support them and to help them and collaborate with them to be able to understand why this is happening, but also to show individuals poaching, yep absolutely. To show them what we can do to help preserve the species and how it could be a benefit to both the local community, but also most importantly to the species.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Yeah, I would imagine that that's a really important part of doing these Species Survival Plans. And I know you also have maned wolves at SCBI, and you've done some really interesting projects with them. So can you tell us a little bit about what you guys have done?
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely, yes. Outside of breeding, propagating the species, which we've been doing for several years now, we are also involved in research. The research that we do is specifically involved with understanding the species better. We have done research that involves understanding their nutrition, understanding their reproductive health, and then common problems that we see the species may have. Any particular specific health concerns. So maned wolves they do have in captivity, it's not really well known in the wild, but in captivity we do know that they are predisposed to a lot of urinary tract issues. Cystinuria is being one of them. So they'll get crystals in their bladder and sometimes it can block them and prevent them from urinating, which that could be a big problem. And then also they suffer from instances of IBD like issues.
So don't want to go too far into that realm. But one of the things that we're really excited about is that what we've been doing recently is we're doing a heart monitor project on a species to be able to understand what their normal heart rate is, understand what are potential stressors that they may have in different environments, if they're close to a road or if they're close to a lot of people. These are really important things for us to understand them better in a captive setting. And this information we can actually share with other zoos. Since SCBI is not open to the public, we do have the ability to have these guys in a more secluded area, but we can then share this information for other facilities. If they're trying to build a new habitat, what's the sort of ideal habitat for them? They'll produce a less stress on the animals.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Oh that-
Juan Rodriguez:
Yeah, and one of the highlights that I really enjoyed about this species is particular is back in 2017, we were actually able to do the very first ever cross fostering attempt on maned wolves. And what cross fostering is basically you take, in this situation, we had one of our females, her name is Layla, she had just had her very first set of pups. So she had two pups, and literally 24 hours later, Zoo Boise had a mom that gave birth to a pup as well.
Unfortunately, that mom was not able to take care of that pup. One of the things that a lot of our conservationist colleagues do in the wild with gray wolves and Mexican wolves is that they'll take a pup that's been abandoned, and then they'll take that pup and give it to another mom to raise with her own pups. No one had ever done this before with maned wolves. We were the first facility to do that back in 2017. So yeah, Lucky came to us from Zoo Boise. But when it comes to conservation it's just not, things aren't always as simple as they may seem.
So being able to take an animal from one state and transport it to another, it's not just like, "Okay, I'm going to pick this animal up and go." There needs to be a lot of preliminary things that happen with that. So the vets need to be able to take blood work to make sure that the animal is healthy and not bringing in any particular diseases or any kind of contagious things that they may bring into our population. So as we were bringing Lucky over from Zoo Boise, we were literally on the phone with the Fish and Wildlife here in Virginia, and literally before the plane landed, they were telling us if we don't have the paperwork ready, that they would unfortunately have to confiscate the animals. So conservation is constantly ... You're always involved with things, you got to be very quick to changes. But we had the right support. We were able to get everything squared away, and we brought Lucky in. So once-
Meaghan Cuddy:
So what happened to Lucky?
Juan Rodriguez:
Yeah. So what was really amazing is that no one had ever done this before. So we didn't know how the mom was going to react. She was a first-time mother, so she could've done a variety of things. She could've abandoned the pups, or worse case scenario, she could have probably killed the pups. But based on the information that we had from our experiences with managing a species, but also from our colleagues that have worked with cross fostering and other canid species. We were very confident that this was going to be successful to some degree. So as we brought the pup in, we immediately realized, even though there's only a 24-hour difference in their birth rate, pups that are raised with mom's milk versus bottle fed, sometimes the nutritional differences might be there. So the pup that came from Zoo Boise, Lucky, she was significantly smaller than her 24-hour-older pups, which were about 800 grams, and lucky was about 250 grams. So it was significant.
Meaghan Cuddy:
I know she looks so tiny in that picture.
Juan Rodriguez:
Yeah. So one of the things that we have to do to camouflage the new pup is that we took ... You could see some of the hay in that basket. We took some of the hay that the mom had in her den, and we were able to rub it on Lucky. But literally right before we put the pup in, with Lucky in with the other two pups that we had to, at this stage in their lifespan, pups cannot evacuate on their own, so they cannot urinate or defecate on their own. So they have to take a warm cloth and rub them along their anal genital area along their rectum, and that induces them to evacuate. So we had to do that for every one of those pups. And basically, it sounds disgusting, but it's actually very effective. We basically use that to then cover up or put some of that on the new pup to make it smell like the pups that Layla had.
And it actually did work for a few hours. We were able to keep Lucky with her foster mom for about six hours. But I think one of these things is that things aren't always going to work the way you want them to in conservation, but you always learn from every little aspect that you do. So one of the takeaways that we got from this is, okay, we weren't able to keep the pup Lucky with Layla, but we did learn that we can actually do this. And what we have to do next time is bring the pup in a lot sooner than it took us about ... To get all the paperwork and everything ready, it took almost just under two weeks to get the pup to us. So in the future, we will know that we'll have to do it much sooner so that the sizes of the foster pup and the current pups are going to be roughly the same.
But Lucky, even though she was not able to be raised by Layla, she did go off to the Endangered Wolf Center in Missouri, and now she's a full-grown adult and she is part of their breeding program, but she has not had any pups of her own yet. But she is an ambassador species now for the Endangered Wolf Center and for all maned wolf species, for us to educate our public on this beautiful species.
Meaghan Cuddy:
That is incredible. What a cool story. And it's so amazing the things that you learn and all of the detail that goes into something that might, from the outside, seem like a simple process, but actually has tons of people involved in lots and lots of different components to make it work successfully.
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely. It took a lot of people to make that happen, and it goes back to the whole collaboration. We can't do this on our own. It has to be a really joint effort for everyone to work together as a team to make some very positive things happen.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Absolutely. Well, Juan, thank you so much for sharing all of your amazing work with us today.
Juan Rodriguez:
My pleasure.
Meaghan Cuddy:
This has been so cool. It's been so fun to hear about what you do at SCBI. And we do have some time for some questions. So do you have some time to answer some?
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you.
Meaghan Cuddy:
All right. So viewers, we are coming up to about 3:30, which is the end of our planned content for the day. But we have a ton of awesome questions from you and Juan here to answer them. So please stay online as we do some Q & A with Juan.
So we did get a lot of really great comments about how cool all these animals are and how amazing your job is, Juan. Just so you know.
Juan Rodriguez:
Thank you, thank you.
Meaghan Cuddy:
So we have a ton of great questions from our audience. Sophie would like to know, "Which animals have you been involved with releasing into the wild?"
Juan Rodriguez:
Unfortunately I haven't been, because I've been really focused on carnivores. Carnivore is a really hard species to reintroduce into the wild. So unfortunately I've not had that privilege and pleasure to do yet. What I can say is that having worked with giant pandas in the past and currently with these species, I'm very optimistic about the fact that we are breeding these species in captivity and is my hope that future conservationists, hopefully mostly you all online today, can be the ones that are actually releasing them back into the wild. So it's sometimes it may not ... I think it's going to take a lot of individuals to make that bigger picture. So understanding that the work that we're doing today is hopefully giving you all a chance to build on that in the future and then bring our dreams to fruition, see them in the wild. Yeah.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Absolutely. I think we probably have a lot of budding conservationists who hopefully be able to do some cool work in the future.
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely. Yeah.
Meaghan Cuddy:
All right. So Natalie would like to know, "What do you see as current barriers to increasing awareness about conservation?"
Juan Rodriguez:
Very good question, Natalie. So some barriers to ... Let me see here. I think sometimes that falls on us. I think we have really, in a lot of the research and conservation we do, I think it's easy for us because we're in it for so many years and we love what we do. It's easy for us to say like, "Oh yeah, obviously everyone is going to be interested in this." But I think some of the barriers is being able to connect to our audiences a little bit better, particularly our younger audiences. To be able to help people, help folks understand why zoos are here, why they're necessary. So I think we do need to do a better job of messaging that.
But I think also being able to encourage a more diverse group of individuals that are coming into this field. I'm from Puerto Rico and there are not a lot of Latinx individuals in this profession. So one of my things outside of being able to reproduce these endangered species, another one of my personal goals is to be able to let others know from diverse backgrounds and from underserved communities in particular, to be able to understand that this is also a potential, a career profession that everyone can be involved in. And I think having the differences of ideas, bringing more of that into this profession, I think is going to be very critical for any organization, but definitely for us would be, I think a very important thing to do.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Absolutely.
Juan Rodriguez:
Good question. Yeah.
Meaghan Cuddy:
And we talked so much today about how collaboration is so key in the work that you do, and so bringing in new perspectives and a wide array of ideas and backgrounds I think is really important in making your work successful.
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, if we don't have the buy in from our audiences, then we're going to go extinct pretty much. So it's important to be able to have folks understand the importance of what we're doing for sure. And make that very clear and bring in their ideas so we can do a better job of doing that.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Completely. Great question, Natalie. Yep. Jed has a question about the species you work on. He'd like to know, "Are red pandas carnivorous?"
Juan Rodriguez:
Yes. Red pandas are just like giant pandas. They are very unique species, they're obligate bamboo eaters, but if you look at their GI tract, it's very similar to that of a carnivore. But they've evolved through time to specialize in eating bamboo.
I always like to do this when I'm in person. I always ask folks, "Why do you think that is? Why do you think an animal that's a carnivore is eating vegetation? That's kind of weird. Why would it be doing that?" So, I don't know. I could leave it up to you to answer me or answer us. Let us know what you think, or if you prefer, I can answer that now. But those are some types of things I like folks to think about. It's like, if this is animal is a particular ... If it's a carnivore, then why is it only eating bamboo? They have been known to a little bit of meat, but bamboo is their primary diet.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Does anyone have any ideas? You can type your answers into the Q & A, if you have any ideas for why this might be. And Juan, you can let us know.
Juan Rodriguez:
Sure, yeah. I'll take a look right now.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Sophie said because bamboo is available to them, so what do you think?
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely, absolutely. So to take that a little bit further. Bamboo for the most part is not a deciduous species for the most part. So that basically they don't drop their leaves. They're pretty much, the leaves are around for the most part all the time. So it is a food item that they can have access to all the time. So if you're thinking about other carnivores, which if the fall comes, like for example, our North American bears, when fall gets here and winter gets here, they go into hibernation. Primarily because there's not a lot of food around. So they just sort of go dormant. Whereas red pandas and giant pandas are benefiting from the fact that they don't have to do that. They can pretty much be awake and be active year round.
But the bad parts of that is, is that because they're so specialized in eating bamboo, if that were to be removed. So we are finding that climate change is having an impact on bamboo, not necessarily on its growth, but on how it tastes and what the chemical compositions are. So these are things that we're actually starting to understand now. So if they cannot eat their food and they only eat bamboo, that's a big problem. So specialists like red pandas and giant pandas who are predominantly eating bamboo are, even though they have the advantage of still eating something that other carnivores aren't eating, the disadvantage is that if that food source goes away, then they don't really have a chance. They don't really have the ability to reverse evolution and then say, "Okay, I'm going to adjust to eating just meat." It doesn't work that way, unfortunately.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Yeah, that's kind of an amazing evolutionary story. It's kind of crazy about how evolution works sometimes.
Juan Rodriguez:
Yep. Yep.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Awesome. Isabelle would like to know, "What is your favorite part of your job?"
Juan Rodriguez:
That's a good question. It's kind of hard having worked with ... And this being in the profession for 20 years. I think the biggest thing is being able to obviously work with the animals is amazing. The people I've worked with have been amazing. I've been being able to go to China and to Africa and Thailand and work with conservationists in those fields. But I think the biggest rewarding thing is to be able to share what we've learned to a younger generation and just to our audiences in general. And to be able to see their excitement and their passion for this profession. That's probably the most exciting thing for me.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Yeah, that sounds like a really incredible and rewarding part of your job.
Juan Rodriguez:
Definitely. Yeah.
Meaghan Cuddy:
All right. Let's see what we have here. Elena would like to know, "Have you ever worked with the lions or the cheetahs at the zoo?"
Juan Rodriguez:
So lions, I've only worked peripherally. So I used to ... The curator of our lion department we and I are sort of brothers from another mother. So I've worked with him on lions peripherally. But cheetahs, cheetahs are actually the very first carnivore I worked with when I worked at the National Zoo. So they're definitely very ... Even though I work with clouded leopards it's another cat species, but cheetahs are always going to have a special place in my heart. So yeah, cheetahs are cool animals too.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Yeah. Great. We have a follow up question on that actually from KB who would like to know if you're doing cross-fostering like the maned wolves with any other species and they're specifically curious about if you've done it with cheetahs?
Juan Rodriguez:
My understanding that yes, it has been done with cheetahs before. I can't tell you exactly when that happened with our- I know we have a lot of cheetahs at our Front Royal facility. I would have to reach out to our curator of cheetahs, Dr. Adrienne Crosier. But yes, I'm pretty certain that it has been done with other species, including cheetahs. Yes.
Meaghan Cuddy:
That's amazing. That's such a cool strategy to use, to help perpetuate these species.
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely. Yeah. You have to be really creative. You know, you look back 15, 20 years ago, and even to this day there are a lot of species that we just haven't quite perfected the artificial semination process. So being able to use the tools you have right now, if you have a mom that's that's already rearing young to be able to take on that new, either cub if it's a cheetah or clouded leopard, or a pup, if it's a maned wolf. And then in some instances in other hoofstock too, we can do that as well. So it really depends on the animal, the individual, if they're prepared for that change, and then to be prepared that if that doesn't work, that you have to be prepared to be able to hand-rear that animal if you have to.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Yeah. So it sounds like this is also a lot about being creative and being good at problem solving and thinking on your feet.
Juan Rodriguez:
Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, that's kind of important in this profession for sure. Yeah.
Meaghan Cuddy:
For sure.
Veronica would like to know, she knows that you work with animals in these breeding programs, but do you also work with animals in need of rehabilitation?
Juan Rodriguez:
No, unfortunately we do not. Well, it depends. Let me see if I can think back of any instance of rehabilitation. No, unfortunately, personally I have not. Most of the animals we work with were already born in a captive setting. So if we are doing some sort of rearing, it's going to be an animal that we're going to hand-raise. And then with that comes certain challenges too, at least for clouded leopards and maned wolves, when we do get to a point where we can do reintroductions, we're not there yet. Right now, our main goal is to focus on propagating the species of breeding them so we can have a safety net of animals, a healthy population in captivity so that we can then reintroduce later on.
Being able to get to the point where we're doing introductions, if you're hand-rearing an animal, that sort of presents a challenge because you have to balance, "Okay, I'm hand-rearing this animal, but now they're being imprinted on by us as humans." So I'll give you an example of the Andean condor. When they were doing reintroductions for this species and bald eagles as well, when they were suffering the declines back in the '70s, they basically had to do a situation where they're rearing these young, but they have to be wearing some sort of outfit that sort of camouflaged them. So they either look like a bird in the instance of the Andean condor or something to that effect are ... And as a matter of fact, some of our colleagues in China, they're actually ... You all may have seen this, they're actually dressing up as pandas so that the pandas don't, they're not all immediately imprint on the human so that when they are released into the wild, they are not automatically drawn to being around humans. They'll keep a safe distance and that sort of fear and concern will keep them alive.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Yeah, it's amazing the things that we have to think about when we're reintroducing these animals and also the fashion choices that you have to make as a-
Juan Rodriguez:
Exactly.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Awesome. So Maddie would like to ... She's curious about maned wolves. She was curious about what kind of adaptations they have to survive in their habitat. I know they have those crazy long legs, so what else do they have?
Juan Rodriguez:
Yeah, yeah. I'm not sure if you can bring up that picture again. I'm not sure if that's feasible in that.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Sure.
Juan Rodriguez:
Yeah, another adaptation that they have, like you pointed out, Meaghan, the long legs, they also have those really large ears. Those large ears, these guys are typically found in grassland areas. So being able to have those stilted legs to sort of look above the grasses, but it can also hide beneath the grasses and they can keep those ears up. And those ears, they're really great at hearing. So those ears are, their adaptations are really good. So their hearing, their sight and their sense of smell is quite remarkable as well. But yeah, those long legs basically keeps them a little bit taller because they are in grassland. So they have a better view of when they're hunting for their prey that way.
Meaghan Cuddy:
They seem very well adapted to their environment and also very adorable.
Juan Rodriguez:
That they are.
Meaghan Cuddy:
All right. Well, Juan, that's just about all the time that we have for today. So thank you so much for sharing all of your amazing stories from conservation of these really cool species with us
Juan Rodriguez:
It's been a pleasure. Thank you all for joining us today, and thank you for having me.
Meaghan Cuddy:
Yeah, thanks to everyone who joined us this afternoon. I know that I'm feeling extremely optimistic about all the things that Juan told us about how we can be involved in helping to protect these species and really playing a role in protecting our planet. So thank you so much for joining us today. If you are interested in learning more about what Juan does and getting some resources about species conservation, you can contact us at the YouthNMNH@si.edu email address. And if you enjoyed this program, please feel free to join us again next Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. when we're going to be talking to Jen Kretser about her work with Youth Climate Activists at the Wild Center. And you can register for these programs and see our full schedule of online programs at naturalhistory.si.edu. But for today, that's all we have. So thank you again, Juan, so much for joining us, and I hope you all have a great rest of your day. Bye.
