Cold Penguin, Warm Penguin, and More from the Oceans Conservation Hub

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rick Schwartz.

00:00:05
Speaker 2: What is the s world? Am Marco went Welcome.

00:00:08
Speaker 3: To Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts. This podcast is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studios and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, an international nonprofit conservation organization which oversees the San Diego Zoo and Safari Bark.

00:00:26
Speaker 4: Hey, Rick, so do you remember back in the summer when we did that episode about nocturnal wildlife? Ah?

00:00:33
Speaker 1: Yes, good old episode six.

00:00:35
Speaker 3: That was kind of a special episode we did to kick off the Night Times Zo celebration.

00:00:39
Speaker 4: Right, that's around an ego, and you gotta say, some pretty good feedback from people. You know, everyone enjoyed the way we traded fun facts back and forth, and especially because it was about nocturnal wildlife.

00:00:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. That's true.

00:00:51
Speaker 3: And if I remember correctly, we had a lot of fun recording that episode two.

00:00:55
Speaker 5: Yeah, So are you thinking what I'm thinking that even though bent Trong's aren't pangus, we should still talk about them. Uh No, okay, So probably the other thing about the episode, right, we should do another episode like before where we trade fun facts back and forth, but this time all about penguins.

00:01:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, exactly right. I love it.

00:01:15
Speaker 3: I love it, and especially since we just talked about the polar opposite of the penguin last episode. Huh, polar bears, Marco. Polar bears and penguins are polar opposites. They live on opposite poles of the Earth. Oh man, sorry, not sorry, my friend. It's one of the best ways for people to remember that penguins and polar bears don't live together, no matter what TV or movies might lead you to believe.

00:01:36
Speaker 2: All right, all right, I guess that's a very good point.

00:01:39
Speaker 4: And seeing as we are warm enough to talk about some cool birds.

00:01:43
Speaker 3: Really, you give me a groan for polar opposites, but you're gonna go with warming up and cooling down.

00:01:48
Speaker 4: Huh, rick, I mean we are talking about birds here, man.

00:01:52
Speaker 2: I am in the zone. Anything could happen, that's true.

00:01:57
Speaker 4: Well, anyway, seeing as we were warm enough to talk about some it's pretty cool birds. I wanted to make sure everyone listening knows that not all penguins are found on the South Pole, or maybe it's better said this way. Many species of penguin do spend their time on or around Antarctica, but there are also a lot of them that don't.

00:02:16
Speaker 1: Excellent point Marco.

00:02:17
Speaker 3: In fact, if you come to visit the penguins at the San Diego Zoo, you will see the African penguin, native to the southern coast of Africa, along Namibia and South Africa.

00:02:26
Speaker 2: Ooh, Rick, We're really getting to the facts now, aren't we.

00:02:28
Speaker 1: Yes, we are.

00:02:29
Speaker 2: Well, wait one.

00:02:30
Speaker 4: Second, though, let's waddle over to the viewing area where we can see the beach. You like that, Yeah, so you know, maybe our audience will able to hear some penguin noises during this episode.

00:02:40
Speaker 1: All right, lead the way, my friend.

00:02:44
Speaker 2: All right, everyone, Buenosias.

00:02:46
Speaker 4: Here we are early morning at the San Diego Zoo, and the penguins are out and about and being here at the beach viewing the penguin habitat, it really reminds me that most people usually see the ocean from land, from a boat or even flying over in a plane. Now, obviously, penguins rely on this amazing aquatic habitat for life.

00:03:08
Speaker 2: But did you know this about our conservation hub.

00:03:10
Speaker 4: You know what we see of the ocean from the shore from ships and even from the high tech underwater expeditions, it's just a tiny slice of the world underneath the waves. Oceans hold habitats that are themselves these underwater worlds. I mean, think about swaying kelp forests right or sunlit coral reefs, thick beds of sea grass, the darkness of the deep sea, and so much more. I mean marine plants and vertebrates, fish and of course birds and mammals all rely on each other in this complex undersea web, and they're all dependent on healthy oceans to thrive.

00:03:44
Speaker 2: You know, they really affect.

00:03:45
Speaker 4: A lot of communities, a lot of habitats around the world.

00:03:48
Speaker 2: They got to say, you bring up.

00:03:49
Speaker 3: A good point, Marko, because it's one of those things where I think some people might have their favorite aquatic animal or marine life that they see when they're at the beach or at the zoo. Yeah, but you bring up the point where it's huge ecosystem. It makes up the majority of our planet when you look at percentages, and not only is it its own huge ecosystem, but then there are a lot of human communities and coastal wildlife and coastal ecology there really relies on everything the ocean doesn't offers.

00:04:15
Speaker 2: Oh no, totally.

00:04:15
Speaker 4: And you know, when we think of all the hubs, right that representing all around the world. In my opinion, I'm sure you can agree, Rick, the ocean just is probably the one that really affects all those hubs out there. And there's so much diversity, right, there's that word again, guys, diversity. Yeah, right, so many interesting animals, organisms, plant life underwater. So it's really amazing that we get to talk about this hub today here at the San Diego Zoo.

00:04:39
Speaker 2: It's a bright, beautiful day.

00:04:41
Speaker 4: Oh and by the way, guys, if you haven't figured it out yet, yeah, we're here.

00:04:44
Speaker 2: At the San Diego Zoo. Over here at Africa Rocks.

00:04:47
Speaker 4: We hear the waterfall cascade behind us right now, the penguins are out and about I see turtle swimming.

00:04:53
Speaker 2: It's it's really a beautiful spot, right.

00:04:55
Speaker 1: It is it is.

00:04:56
Speaker 3: And I love the fact too that you're talking about with the ocean and all the diversity.

00:05:01
Speaker 1: We do have African penguins.

00:05:03
Speaker 3: Here at the San Diego Zoo and a lot of times we think of penguins, we think of the Antarctic.

00:05:09
Speaker 1: Well, I want to if you will Marco Entertainment.

00:05:12
Speaker 3: Here, I'm going to dive into a few fun facts about the different species of penguins.

00:05:16
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, I like the word chowice dive.

00:05:18
Speaker 3: For example, Marco, you mentioned in the beginning of the episode here that not all penguins live at the South Pole or the Antarctic. So there are a total of eighteen recognized species of penguins alive today, but out of that eighteen, only two can truly call the Antarctic their home and three other species. Three additional species use the northern tip of Antarctica for the breeding season. So when you do the mouth, that means there are thirteen species of the eighteen species of penguin that are living somewhere.

00:05:48
Speaker 1: Else in the world.

00:05:49
Speaker 3: That's crazy, right, And knowing that, then you might think that they're all probably close to Antarctic, like the African penguin friends that we have here at the San Diego Zoo living in that southern portion of Africa.

00:06:00
Speaker 1: And if you do think that, you aren't entirely wrong.

00:06:02
Speaker 3: There are some penguin species found in the southern coastal areas of South America, Australia, the Falkland Islands, and New Zealand and just to name a few of the many locations.

00:06:12
Speaker 1: But here's the fun one. There's always an exception to the rule, Marco totally. They exception to the.

00:06:17
Speaker 3: Rule when it comes to penguin species living in and around or near or within proximity to Antarctica is our good friend, the Galopagus penguin. They live on the Galopogus Islands, and for anybody listening who doesn't know those islands strautle the Equator, they're right off the coast of Ecuador, and therefore they are the only species of penguin known as the species that lives in the Northern Hemisphere or north of the equator, nowhere near Antarctica, and technically if they're in the northern Hemisphere, closer to.

00:06:47
Speaker 1: The Arctic the North Pole, but by quite a way.

00:06:52
Speaker 2: I'm loving honestly, you know.

00:06:53
Speaker 4: I gotta say it's a little embarrassing because I am a bird guy, right, I'm saying that this whole season. But we were just talking about it the other that I actually never worked with penguins before.

00:07:02
Speaker 2: I'm already learning a lot.

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Speaker 4: By the way, excellent, so this is great for all the listeners, you know, we're learning as you're learning, guys. And when I think of penguins, my immediate thought goes like, why do I love birds so much?

00:07:12
Speaker 2: Right?

00:07:12
Speaker 4: There's such a fascinating organism. They've mastered the air, the skies, of course land when I think of an emu or a cassowary, and of course the oceans as well.

00:07:21
Speaker 2: And the thing that I think about the most when I think of birds are feathers.

00:07:25
Speaker 4: From right, Yeah, I mean it's a very iconic thing when you think about a bird and all the nuances of feathers, right, I mean, they're so diverse, right right.

00:07:32
Speaker 3: And here's the thing, real quick, I have a feeling I know what you're going with this, and I can't wait to hear what you have to say about penguin feathers. But I'm gonna interrupt real quick because I want to make sure that our audience is following along and just how diverse feathers.

00:07:43
Speaker 1: Really are before we get into penguin feathers.

00:07:45
Speaker 3: So, you have just on a regular flighted bird, right, you have primary feathers on the wing to give them lift. You have the tail feathers, you have contour feathers, you have the downy feathers for installation, all.

00:07:54
Speaker 1: These different things.

00:07:55
Speaker 3: But then you look at something like different pheasant species or even the peacock, and they have those huge plumage.

00:08:00
Speaker 1: It's just for decor, but also.

00:08:02
Speaker 3: For flirting with the ladies and everything else in you know, trying to challenge others, right, But that's a feather structure as well.

00:08:07
Speaker 1: And then we get to.

00:08:08
Speaker 3: The penguin friends, and they're flightless and they're pretty much black and white. So Marco, what do you got for us on feathers for the penguins?

00:08:17
Speaker 2: No?

00:08:17
Speaker 4: I know, And honestly I tried to condense his friend because there's so much to talk about just with feathers alone. As Rick was talking about, you guys, I mean, just close your eyes. But if you're driving, don't close your eyes. Don't close Think a condor wing, right, Think how a hummingbird flies.

00:08:30
Speaker 2: Think about some of the adaptations Rick was just talking about.

00:08:33
Speaker 4: I mean, some of the reasons birds have feathers for camouflage like an owl, for hunting like a falcon, or staying warm or staying cool. Well, like you mentioned, attracting a mate like a peacock. Right, But when it comes to a penguin. These aren't birds that have decided, you know what, flying maybe it's not for me, right, I mean, you think about all these species one thing in common. They're attached to this ocean hub, right, they were talking about they have this deep rooty connection with the sea, and at one point this she's needed to decide, you know, am I gonna fly or am I gonna swim? And when you think of all the birds in the world, penguins, by far.

00:09:07
Speaker 2: I think, are the best swimmers out there and divers.

00:09:09
Speaker 4: And when you think of those feathers, you guys, the standard feather that we all think about in those filaments, as Rick was saying, the primary feathers or those feathers that we talk about that are on the flight the wing for the bird species to take off and gain flight. For penguins, they're different, so they're not designed for flight. They're tightly compacted.

00:09:26
Speaker 2: So for instance, penguins have more feathers than any other bird on the planet.

00:09:30
Speaker 4: It's literally about one hundred feathers per square inch I fin of the one square imagine that.

00:09:36
Speaker 3: So it's funny because I never thought of that. But yeah, I mean, you think of condors and they're huge, right, so they must have all these feathers, right, But because the feathers on penguins are so small and dense, oh wow, tightly.

00:09:48
Speaker 4: Compacted, right, And if you think about an animal like a sea otter or kind of the same idea, right, tightly compacted hairs, and these shiny little feathers are uniformly overlapping the penguin's skin. So penguin others, they're highly specialized. The short they're broad, they're closely spaced, and as we said, this helps keep water away from the skin.

00:10:07
Speaker 2: Right.

00:10:07
Speaker 4: And of course those tufts are downy feathers. You can call them the really white fluffy feathers. You know, those are really made that insulation, right, So I think that's great. And one other little thing about the feathers that wanted to add. Everyone knows about a molt, or maybe for not the middle of the molt. You know, it's like it was just a low right, you know. It's like, for instance, you comb your hair, hair follicles, cast it away, right, you find it there, you grow a new one in place.

00:10:28
Speaker 2: Birds kind of do the same thing.

00:10:29
Speaker 4: They're shedding feathers throughout the year, depending on the species.

00:10:32
Speaker 2: Some do it more than others.

00:10:33
Speaker 4: A warmer bird like a macaw, has a specific time in the year to do it. Some raptors do it spacing out the whole year because they need to hunt to fly, and with penguins they need to swim, you guys.

00:10:43
Speaker 2: So they actually go through one very extreme molt.

00:10:46
Speaker 4: Except for the Glopicgus galopicus penguin, the unique penguin it is, it.

00:10:50
Speaker 2: Goes through too.

00:10:51
Speaker 4: But what these pingles need to do, they need to eat a lot of food to build up these fat reserves before they go to this molt. They're dropping all these feathers. They're not eating really, they're on the shore getting through this mold and then eventually they can grow into these new feathers and then get back into the ocean and do what they do best.

00:11:06
Speaker 2: I mean, seventy percent of their life.

00:11:08
Speaker 4: A lot of these penguins are in the water, so feathers are a key thing I think for penguins and that aquatic lifestyle.

00:11:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.

00:11:15
Speaker 3: And to go on just a little further too, I want our audience to know that, you know, feathers are made of keratins, so it's a protein, right, So that's a lot of energy for them to a get rid of them all at once pretty much and then grow in a whole body suit. And you just talked about how many there are per square inch. That's a lot of feathers to grow in a short amount of time exactly, So they really do have to bulk up for that molt. And if you come to the zoo you can actually see our African penguins.

00:11:37
Speaker 1: Go through a molt as well. They look real scruppy when they're losing those feathers. They're like, oh, that one doesn't look okay, and.

00:11:43
Speaker 3: They just gonna sit there and they're just gonna poudy because they can't go in the water. But it's a natural part of what their body goes through every year, whether it's the zoo or out in the wild.

00:11:52
Speaker 4: Totally, man, I thought that was an awesome penguin factor.

00:11:55
Speaker 2: Yeah right, the feathers. All about the feathers.

00:11:57
Speaker 1: The feathers are a cool ad uptate, thank you.

00:12:00
Speaker 3: And speaking of the cool adaptations of penguins, this is an adaptation I read about a long time ago about geese which would swim in cold water during the winter. Okay, and then later when we got penguins here at the zoo. Yes, I've been here long enough that we didn't have penguins here. When I first started, I was reading that penguins have this adaptation as well, and it's one that I wish I had in the winter. I know, I know San Diego does not get that cold in the winter, but for those of us that are used to the warm weather here, when it does get cold.

00:12:27
Speaker 1: I have to put on socks and slippers.

00:12:29
Speaker 3: Well, many penguin species, of course, as we talked about, do live in very cold water, and some even spend large amounts of time on ice.

00:12:36
Speaker 1: So keep in mind they're standing barefoot on ice with no boots on or socks are slippers. So how does it work? How come their feet don't freeze? So get this.

00:12:49
Speaker 3: Penguins, along with other birds that swim in cold waters, have the ability to regulate or control the blood flow to their feet. This allows them to use their body heat to warm up the blood that go to their feet. It is essentially, for lack of a better comparison, it works like a built in heat radiator for their feet. But that then led me to wonder, why doesn't the colder blood that's going back into the body, cool the penguin down.

00:13:14
Speaker 1: And that's because they have special vessels that.

00:13:17
Speaker 3: Reduce the overall heat loss, so it's not even an issue at all.

00:13:20
Speaker 4: It's really amazing, like a central air conditioning system right with the heat option as.

00:13:26
Speaker 3: Well, right exactly exactly, so it goes right into all these different little adaptations. Different species of penguins have to specialize and live in the environments and the extremes some of them do live in to survive and reproduce and keep living.

00:13:40
Speaker 4: I love those, not only like those physical adaptations, but behavior adaptationcy right that many birds ce you to try to survive in either hot or really cold climates. Right all right, now, I'm really excited about this next one friend that I wanted to talk about.

00:13:51
Speaker 2: Okay, it's all about the beak. Oh yes, oh man, I love bird beaks. And this is the conversation. I'll try to come down. But as I'm.

00:14:01
Speaker 4: Talking, I'm seeing a redtail just flew by, the little finches cruising around. And the one thing I always tell guests that I love to do with kids a fun game. You guys, next time you visit the San Diego Zoo or the Safari park is guess what the bird does by the size and the shape of the beak.

00:14:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a really cool game. I mean you can learn a lot.

00:14:19
Speaker 4: Think about a duck versus a hummingbird versus a cast.

00:14:25
Speaker 2: Really good or a full mingo.

00:14:27
Speaker 4: I mean, as Rick was saying with the feather, this is also made of keratin as well. So again not if you're driving, but kids, look at your fingernails and touch your hair right now, and if you're gonna touch your sister, brothers or after first, But it's home made up of the same thing, you, guys, It's really cool. And with a penguin, think about it. What are they doing?

00:14:44
Speaker 2: Right? What are they eating?

00:14:45
Speaker 4: You guys, I'm sure you said fish right, Maybe even krill as another example, now, maybe even crustacean. So depending on the shape of the beak of a penguin, it can vary a little bit. Now, as I was mentioning, every bird's beak is designed to do and penguins have a variation depending on the.

00:15:01
Speaker 2: Type of prey that they eat.

00:15:02
Speaker 4: So I mentioned fish, squid, crustaceans could be an option.

00:15:06
Speaker 2: Now, generally for a penguin, the beak or the bill.

00:15:09
Speaker 4: Tends to be long and thin in some species that are primarily the fish heaters, which makes a lot of sense, right, and they're shorter and stouter in those that are mainly eating quill I think, like a shrimp like organism as well. And what's also really cool now, there's some fun photos on the San Diego Zoo website. You can see a picture of this the mouth of the penguin. It's aligned with these horny, rear directed spines and this aids them swallowing that slippery prey so jump out of their mouth and then trying to eat, which.

00:15:37
Speaker 2: I think is really cool as well.

00:15:39
Speaker 4: With also a little hook at the end of that beak that is like friend, the perfect leatherman for a fish line, right, I mean, don't you think?

00:15:45
Speaker 3: Well, absolutely, and I think you bring up a good point. The beak has certain structures to it. Everything about the penguin beak has a reason. So if you do go to our website and check out those pictures, you also see there's certain grooves in there. And I was reading not too long ago, the grooves in the penguin's beak help them use their beak. Then when they're swimming at high speeds, sort of as a front end rudder, so they can utilize that to help with their directional steering, I guess because they're so fast and agile in the water as they chase these fish and then it turns around. And also, like you said, it's a perfect leathermen or tool for them to grab onto their prey and not lose it. Well, I think we would be remiss, honestly, Marco, if we did not also mention something that's very important and near and dear to our hearts, which is the conservation side of penguins. No One thing we talk about here a lot at the San Diego Zoo because we're a part of it, is the African penguin conservation And how zoos not just the San Diego Zoo, but zoos across the nation, across the world, really have worked very hard in conjunction with an organization called sand Cob. Sandcobb stands for a South African Foundation for the Conservation.

00:16:45
Speaker 1: Of Coastal Birds.

00:16:46
Speaker 3: They do a lot of work for coastal birds there in South Africa, including the African penguin.

00:16:52
Speaker 1: So just a fun little background's kind of funny.

00:16:53
Speaker 3: The fun fact I shared earlier was how penguins can stand on that cold ice for long periods of time and their body can regulate.

00:16:58
Speaker 1: The temperature with no problem.

00:17:00
Speaker 3: African penguins have a different problem because they will build their nests on the beaches. They have to protect them from the heat. They have to protect the eggs from the heat or the cold of the night. So they build little dugouts in guano or basically built up bird poop, and these act like a little Adobe huts for them, protecting the eggs, protecting them from the direct sun as well, and it keeps it at a perfect temperature. Unfortunately, guano has been harvested for many years for fertilizer, leaving these birds without opportunities to make their nests. So the San Diego Zoo, along the zoos across the nation, under sand Cobs direction, started testing different types of prototypes of man made nest shelters and essentially they deploy these across all these different zoos that have African penguins and let the penguins show us which ones they preferred, which ones worked best for them. Instead of us saying, oh, this is the best design here, penguin use this, we let them show us out of the many different designs that we all came up with what works best, and then.

00:17:53
Speaker 1: The top few that seem to work best, they deployed those onto the.

00:17:56
Speaker 3: Beaches there in Africa and let those penguins then say these are the best ones to use. And it really has made a difference sce opportunity for these penguins to utilize their native nesting space even though the guano's not available, and therefore bring that population into a sustainable or at least somewhat balanced area in very trying times for the species. It's been really cool to be a part of that to see how it works. Visit the Sankab website and our staff go out there all the time once a year is sometimes more, to work with them and be a part of all those efforts to make sure those penguins have a future.

00:18:27
Speaker 2: I absolutely love it.

00:18:28
Speaker 4: Friend the connectivity for one of the idea like communities working together and the word listen. They're listening to the penguins right They're deciding on their own. There's a term we use here at the Zoo and Safari Park called choice to control with our wildlife that they have the ownership of their environment.

00:18:42
Speaker 2: They decide what works what doesn't work.

00:18:44
Speaker 4: I absolutely love it, and I just actually got back from a Mexican aza. It's called the Sisuona Quadios Loicos a Mexico. It's a mouthful, I know, but there was a crew that I wanted to point out in the Guadalajatazoo. If they're listening, shout out to all the work that you guys are doing with penguin species. It's a community, and this is what this is about, because, as we talked about in the beginning of this episode, oceans are so important folks. We call it a blue planet for a reason, and oceans are connected to us all. So shout out to all those people, especially in South Africa, our friends out there doing all that amazing work.

00:19:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it. I love it. I couldn't agree more.

00:19:19
Speaker 3: Marco, you know I hear I'm talking about South Africa and Sankab. You're talking about your friends in Guadalajara and the people you met when you were there in Mexico. It is one of those things where it's so important for people to understand that the conservation for penguins is not just us. It's not just one location. It is a global effort. There's a lot going on, and I really think it's cool that everyone is coming together to work for these wonderful birds.

00:19:41
Speaker 2: Oh friend, I absolutely love it.

00:19:43
Speaker 4: And I think wrapping up our penguin episode on African penguin conservation is bedfect though.

00:19:49
Speaker 3: Well, I completely agree, But I do want to say as we start to wrap those up before we go, I want to take a moment to remind everyone listening that you don't have to work for a conservation organization like the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alion to participate in conservation, or any of the other places that we mentioned.

00:20:03
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, that's absolutely right, Rick, I mean, anyone can help penguins or any other species out there right from their own home. You can do a beach clean up to help true the ocean's healthy right as an example, or even a park cleanup to help prevent traction litter from getting into streams and eventually flowing into the oceans.

00:20:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, so even if you don't live near the ocean, you can still participate in helping because yes, creeks flow into rivers, flow into the ocean, and it's all connected. And another big one people can do is fundraising. Anyone can help raise money for conservation and donate it to organizations that are out there doing the work. As our listeners probably already know from us covering our conservation hubs.

00:20:39
Speaker 1: As a nonprofit conservation.

00:20:40
Speaker 3: Organization, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Aliance does important work for wildlife all over the world.

00:20:46
Speaker 4: Man, it really is an awesome organization to be part of. A gouty to say it makes me proud. And speaking of conservation hubs, amigo, I think we should head.

00:20:55
Speaker 2: Up to our reptile department for our next episode. What do you think?

00:20:59
Speaker 1: Ooh, let's see reptiles here at the zoo. They live just about everywhere. Give me a hint what you're thinking about.

00:21:06
Speaker 4: Well, there are local species, for one, and they've had a lot of challenges. We have some here at the zoo as a hint, but we're also planning on sending some back to their native habitat. Oo.

00:21:18
Speaker 3: Let's see, Well, if they're local, that means we're coming back to the Southwest Hub.

00:21:22
Speaker 1: They are under the care of our reptile team.

00:21:25
Speaker 3: And we have some but planning to send them back to the native habitat.

00:21:29
Speaker 2: One more hint, all right, one word? Pond?

00:21:33
Speaker 1: Pond? Oh, pond oh, I know now, all right?

00:21:36
Speaker 3: Everyone, be sure to subscribe and tune into our next episode, in which Mark and I dive into a pond instead of the ocean to find out more about the amazing and sometimes overlooked pond turtle.

00:21:51
Speaker 2: Al Marco Lent and I'm Rick Schwartz.

00:21:53
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.

00:21:56
Speaker 3: For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Part go to SDZWA dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studios. Our supervising producer is Nikiah Swinton, and our sound designer and editor is Sierra Spreen. For more shows from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.