Habitat 43 Winter 2016

2 | December 2015/January/February 2016 H ABITAT Celebrating and Saving Wildlife T h e M a g a z i n e o f t h e D e t r o i t Z o o l o g i c a l S o c i e t y Habitat is produced quarterly for Members of the Detroit Zoological Society. EDITED BY Graphinity, Inc. CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jennifer Thomas PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT ArborOakland Group GRAPHIC DESIGN Graphinity, Inc. Copyright © 2015 Detroit Zoological Society All rights reserved. PLEASE CONTACT: Detroit Zoological Society 8450 W. 10 Mile Road Royal Oak, MI 48067 Phone: (248) 541-5717 Fax: (248) 541-2489 www.detroitzoo.org For questions about membership, please contact: info@dzs.org. facebook.com/detroitzoo youtube.com/detroitzoo twitter.com/detroitzoo instagram.com/detroitzoo The Detroit Zoological Society is a non-profit organization that operates the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Zoo. Printed in the USA. The Detroit Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. 2015 has been an eventful year for the Detroit Zoo. We introduced a wonderful new habitat, welcomed a number of animals, took a couple of giant steps on our Green Journey and received some significant accolades. Just a few highlights follow. The beautiful 2-acre Cotton Family Wolf Wilderness opened in the spring, providing a wonderful new home to two gray wolves and educating our guests about these apex predators and their importance to Michigan's ecology. Dinosauria – our wildly popular summer attraction – opened around the same time, ultimately welcoming more than 250,000 guests. It’s no wonder 2015 attendance has already surpassed 1 million for the 10th consecutive year. As work continues on the Polk Penguin Conservation Center (PPCC), we welcomed some of its future residents – three gentoo penguins. The first of their species to arrive at the Zoo, they joined the flock of king, rockhopper and macaroni penguins at the Penguinarium. More gentoos are due to arrive in the coming months as completion of the PPCC nears. We also had some notable births this year – and wasted no time. Shortly after the ball dropped at midnight on January 1, we were celebrating the birth of an endangered male Grevy’s zebra. In the spring, we heard the pitter patter of little warthog hooves as five piglets made their debut. Not long after, a female red panda cub was born, contributing to the population of this threatened species. While we welcomed many new animals, we also said goodbye to an old friend. Wanda – one of two Asian elephants who in 2005 left Michigan’s cold, harsh winters behind for a better life at the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) sanctuary in San Andreas, California – died in February at the age of 57. (Her companion, Winky, died there in 2008; she was 56). We can never thank the staff at PAWS enough for giving these two lovely beings such excellent care and many great years. We took a huge leap forward on our Green Journey when we announced plans to build the first dry biodigester in Michigan and the first zoo-based system of its kind in the country. The biodigester will turn one of our most abundant resources – namely the 400 tons of animal manure generated annually at the Detroit Zoo – into energy that will be used to help power the animal hospital and save us $70-80,000 a year in energy costs. We also successfully weaned our 1.3 million Detroit Zoo visitors off the bottle, wrapping up our three-year initiative to discontinue the sale of bottled water nearly a year ahead of schedule. This means that Zoo visitors are helping to keep more than 60,000 single-use bottled water containers out of our landfills annually. In recognition of our continuous efforts in sustainability, we were honored with the coveted Green Award from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) – making us the greenest zoo in the country – and we were named Advocate of the Year by the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. The AZA also recognized us with the Diversity Award for our efforts to accommodate diverse audiences, notably guests with autism. We thank you for supporting your Detroit Zoo this year and hope you’ll join us in 2016 for more exciting adventures. Happy holidays! From the Director Ron Kagan Executive Director Detroit Zoological Society