Quito Zoo in Guayllabamba and Wildlife Vet Conference in Quito

Captain's Log for end of April/May 1-2: Thanks to the hospitality of the Recalde family, I got to visit Quito for a few days to attend a seminar about zoo and wildlife medicine held for and by Ecuador's leading exotics veterinarians. My colleague and friend from Amaru, Alejandra Recalde, and I got to attend and send Ernesto our impressions and lessons. Additionally, I got a personal back-scenes tour of the Quito Zoo in Guayllabamba from the director Juan Manuel Carrion, and administrative director Maria Isabel Aliaga, so I could get to know their successful Andean Condor breeding program a little better. They currently have two chicks isolated with their parents...

Zoopeople. 

It's a fascinating opportunity to be here in Ecuador as Conservation medicine takes off. The seminar held at the beginning of May brought together vets from Ecuador, Mexico, and visitors from Argentina, Bolivia, and Spain; the expansion and initiation of breeding programs for endangered species such as the ones at the Quito Zoo are getting more and more attention on the national level. The recent birth of an Andean Bear cub at Bioparque Amaru--congrats to Coya, Jubal, and Ernesto, the happy godfather!!--is making waves in Cuenca as I write this, and people are really reacting strongly to the news of the death of Felipe, the first Andean Condor to be monitored with radio-tags in Ecuador. All good news for anti-animal-trafficking education, interest in Zoo medicine, and conservation education.

Here are some pictures of my time at the Quito Zoo and veterinary conference! Enjoy.

Guayllabamba is a town about 45 minutes outside of Quito. I jumped on a bus from the Terminal Carcalen to get there; it wasn't too difficult, and definitely worth seeing if you've got some time in the city's capital. 

The administrative director, Maria Isabel, showed me around the large raptor aviaries. Here we are at the Condor exhibit; like Amaru, they did a good job of putting native plants in and giving the condors ledge-like perching to fly to. 

They also had some extremely handsome Crested Eagles. These animals, like those at Amaru, are also rescues, often confiscated from trafficking activity and unreleaseable for various reasons. 

Ohai there, Crested Eagle. Didn't mean to interrupt your lunch. 

The  Quito Zoo has two aviaries for their Condors: the main exhibit, equipped with a maintenance area with three holding cages, and an isolation aviary, where the two recent Condor chicks are currently located.  

They are kept away from the public, and covered with mesh to decrease stress from keepers. The chicks are doing very well, and their hope is to find a way to release them into the wild when they are older: six to eight months from now. 

Another view of the Condor Isolation Aviary. 

Squirrel monkey mom with babyyy. Yee!

They had some interesting exhibits at the zoo. The Quito Zoo is probably the best known next to the San Martin Zoo in the country, and has been around since the late seventies. 

Juan Manuel Carrion, the zoo's director, is extremely active in conservation projects throughout the country and internationally. The Zoo has a definite commitment to Conservation education, and with over 46 staff members and regular volunteers, they are able to do many more enrichment and training projects with the animals. I have a few friends who did their veterinary practica here, as well. 

Galapagos tortoises galore. 

I'd never seen this common name for Black-Chested Buzzard Eagles before!

Rough Translation: Our wildlife is threatened! We invite you to reflect upon the threats that weigh on the wildlife of Ecuador. 

Ocelot hideouts. 

Two Jaguars and some visitors. 

Dusky titi monkey group. 

They had a HUUUUUUGE Condor education wall! It was very well done. 

There are less than fifty individual Condors in Ecuador now due to hunting, habitat loss due to mining and ranching in the paramo, and animal trafficking. 

Talk about Condor breeding successes in captivity at the Quito Zoo, and their desires to use their breeding successes to support the wild populations.  

View from the dry forest trail at the Quito Zoo. 

There were a ton of native birds and plants on the zoo property, as well: beautiful setup, and an excellent showcase of native biodiversity. Ecuador is incredible. 

The Quito Zoo is advertising their walk-through Aviary: the first in the country! Bringing people closer to native, rescued bird species. They have a docent for limited hours to take visitors through. 

Toucans, moorhens, whistling ducks, macaws, and some other parrot species. It was a really pretty Aviary, with a nice running water system. Happy birds inside. 

The Andean bears on exhibit: lots of foraging enrichment! 

They also had some awesome amphibian exhibits. 

...and breeding/research programs for Marsupial Frogs and others. 

Marsupial frogs are the ones that hatch their tadpoles out of their back. Gives my Dad nightmares, but I think they're super cool.  

Super-sapo-diverso! Sapo, for those of you who don't do the Spanish thing, means toad, but is often used interchangably with species we would consider 'frogs'. 

An excellent visit. Thanks, Maria Isabela! 

The next part of my Quito adventure was to attend the emergency and medical seminar for wildlife and zoo animals. 

All in SPANISH. Wheee! What's funny about my Spanish level now is that I can understand most biological and medical talk easily; when I'm out with friends and they're talking reaaaaaaal fast about everyday stuff is when I trip up. I know what I've been exposed to the best. Heh.

I had heard Dr.s Diego Medina, Fernando Paredes, and Andres Ortega present before, but the other doctors present were new faces for me. 

Dr.Enrique Yarto from Mexico gave a number of excellent seminars, and shared some interesting methods of conservation medicine that vets in Ecuador were all a-buzz about. Breeding programs, in-zoo medical research projects, and medical methodology.  

TIGER MEDICINE in Mexico. Incredible photos and insights...I wish I were further along in my training, but I took a bunch of notes and was fascinated all the same.  

Me and Doctora Alejandra Recalde! Yeee.

There were a large number of case presentations, and this one was mind-blowing: two caesarian sections for a female iguana. Look at all those EGGS. So many!

She survived both and is doing quite well. 

The Andean Bear Conservation Organization had some amazing presentations of their work as well. 

Check out the Andean Bear Conservation Organization: they have some awesome volunteer opportunities if you speak spanish, and are doing excellent work to save Andean bears in Ecuador. 

GIS maps of collar-radio-tagged Andean Bears. They have MASSIVE ranges: the males more than the females. Many thousands of hectares are needed to sustain a single bear. Bad news for the future of the species with the rate their habitat is disappearing. 

The same organization is also working to help save the Mountain Tapir in Ecuador. 

Adoooooooooorable Tapir babies!

Tapir movements on a GIS map. 

They have a number of national and international volunteers working to save the Mountain Tapirs and Andean Bears.  Visit their web page, http://www.andeanbear.org/, to learn more!

Supporters.

Dr.Diego Medina gave a few interesting seminars about reptile and amphibian medicine!

Since Amphibians have gas and chemical exchange through their skin, it is possible to administer drugs via bath. So cool. 

Amaru's Center for Conservation of Amphibians often works with Diego Medina's clinic in Latacunga!

Red-eyed treefrog. yee

Dr.Yarto had a lot to say about zoocare, nutrition, and juvenile/geriatric care. He did a great job of stressing the need for preventative medicine, top-tier nutrition, and enrichment for zoo animals: a lot of Ecuadorian zoo vets were scribbling furious notes. 

Ecua-zoo-conference picture. I was the token gringita, and grateful: can't wait to return to study under the direction of some of these amazing people in the future. Thanks again, Ale, for putting me up!

Feel free to e-mail me at nbecich@gmail.com if you have any questions concerning conservation and veterinary medicine in Ecuador! There is a great need for exotics veterinarians and veterinary technicians down here, and if you speak a little Spanish, there are people who would love to chat with you about work.

Cheers, all.
-NB