I am more and more impressed with the mission of the local zoos to act as refuges for species that face extirpation in their native habitats, while providing educational information as well as entertainment.
This looks a lot like “Blu” from the movie Rio, but Blu was a Spix’s Macaw which is possibly extinct in the wild, and only exists in captivity (zoos and the like). This Hyacinth Macaw has become a popular part of the bird show at the Minnesota Zoo, which gives handlers an opportunity to explain how zoos assist in the conservation of endangered parrots.
Nothing impresses the kids quite as much as birds flying overhead into the bird show at the MN Zoo
The Amur Leopard faces extinction in its native northeastern Asia because of habitat loss and human population expansion.
Clear glass exhibits like these at the MN Zoo help kids get “up close and personal” with these charismatic and threatened species.
Several pairs of orphaned moose calves have been adopted and raised at the MN zoo this year. A warming climate combined with exposure to cattle and deer diseases has reduced the adult moose population substantially in Minnesota over the past decade.
These youngsters are probably too tame to be released to the wild, but could be used in a captive breeding program for reintroduction of moose to their native habitat in future years.
Native to southeastern Asia in a wide variety of forest to scrub habitats, the Asian wild dog (Dhole) is an intelligent carnivore that hunts in packs. Their status is listed as endangered but with shrinking habitat and exposure to dog and cat diseases, they are vulnerable to extinction.
The grandkids thought riding a Dhole wild dog would be fun.