(Utica, NY – March 2015) Utica Zoo has received a $20,000 grant from the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund to explore the formation of a Comparative Psychology Program for local college students. This program would occur within the Zoo’s Education Department, thus expanding it to include academic partnerships with colleges in the region.
The grant will be managed by Dr. Joan M. Sinnott (PhD), a Comparative Psychologist Emerita who recently retired from the University of South Alabama and returned to the Mohawk Valley to continue academic research at the Utica Zoo. She is currently developing several “task-oriented-feeding” projects using a Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Pig, an African Crested Porcupine, and three Sulcata Tortoises. These projects involve training the animals via operant conditioning techniques to perform various mental and physical tasks that teach them how to think and solve problems. For example, the pig and porcupine are learning to “go left” versus “go right” to obtain food treats in response to a verbal cue called out by a trainer. The tortoises are performing on a “barrier test” in which they learn how to go around large objects, such as landscape timbers and concrete blocks, to obtain food treats. Joan’s goal is to combine academic research, animal enrichment, and Zoo visitor experience.
Grants such as these enable the Utica Zoo to continue fulfilling its mission of fostering public understanding and appreciation of the animal kingdom through education, conservation and recreation. To learn more about supporting the Utica Zoo’s mission and growth, visit uticazoo.org or follow us on Facebook or Twitter @UticaZoo. For further information, call 315-738-0472 Ext. 41.
Remembering Bella
Bella, one of the Utica Zoo’s Mexican gray wolves has passed away on Monday, Feb. 23. She was the Matriarch and Alpha of the pack at the Utica Zoo, which also consisted of her two daughters Sierra and Aztec. Bella would have been 17 years old in May. The average lifespan for a Mexican gray wolf in captivity is 15 years. She maintained her Alpha status until her death, which is usually taken over by the younger wolves in the pack.
Bella was born on May 5, 1998 at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Park in Colorado Springs, Colo. She arrived at the Utica Zoo in December of 2006 from Stone Zoo in Massachusetts along with her four female pups; two of which are still at the Utica Zoo (Sierra and Aztec). There were eight pups in the litter and the four male pups stayed at the Stone Zoo with the Father. Toluca, one of Bella’s female offspring is currently at the Wolf Conservation Center in Salem, NY where she will help with conservation efforts of the Mexican gray wolf population.
Bella had one personality characteristic that separated her from the rest of the pack at the Zoo. She was much more social than Sierra and Aztec, and keepers were able to hand feed her on a daily basis. Bella’s genes were of high quality and importance, so in January 2012 her reproductive organs were removed and preserved for future generations. Mexican gray wolves are the rarest subspecies of gray wolf, and are part of the Species Survival Plan (SSP). There are an estimated 83 wolves in the wild, and approximately 300 in captivity.
Utica Zoo staff has the opportunity to hear the pack howl in the morning and at night when leaving the Zoo, and it won’t be the same now that she is gone.
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