Parrots in Pine Forests – Meet the Thick-Billed Parrot

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Speaker 1: Ruby.

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Speaker 2: Bye, I'm Rick Swartz.

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Speaker 3: But this world I'm Marco Went and this This is Amazing Wildlife, a podcast where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts. This podcast is in production with iHeartRadio's Ruby Studio and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, an international nonprofit conservation organization which oversees the San Diego Zoo and this beautiful location the San Diego.

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Speaker 2: Zoo Safari Park.

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Speaker 1: I love the Safari Park.

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Speaker 2: I love the Safari Park too, and especially in this corner up here, A lot of.

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Speaker 1: People usually make their way up to Saigo.

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Speaker 4: This is one of my favorite spots that we're at Baja Gardens and for guests who don't know, this is like the higher area of the Safari Park in some of my personal favorites, like.

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Speaker 1: The condors, the castawarries are up here. Incally, I know we got some cameras.

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Speaker 4: Going on to I know it's gonna be really hard for me to shut.

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Speaker 2: And a Vaja guards is mostly plans.

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Speaker 5: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: I know, I know, I know when you're right, I got to give hypes.

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Speaker 4: You know, what is it like one point three million plants live you're at the part floor. It's a little that we also, by the way, volunteers, those who are going to be watching our YouTube episodes are going to air a little later in the future, So props of the volunteers.

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Speaker 2: They're out there watering right now.

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Speaker 3: They got some of some sprinklers over there going on this location in the Baja Gardens. From up here, you can see so much of the Samari Park, and like you were saying, yes, you do come across a lot of bird species.

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Speaker 2: Getting up here. It takes you over by condors to you so far enough over.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you might have just heard I was going to say, I just heard of certain bird species.

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Speaker 2: I feel like it was almost a planned intro.

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Speaker 1: I think, so I think they know what we're going to be talking about. A little birdie in the shoulder.

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Speaker 3: Well, I don't know if our audience can hear it, but the thick Fild parents just down the hill here are currently doing their calls, and well, it just so happens we're going to talk.

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Speaker 4: About thicktold parents, I can't wait. I was actually talking to our interviews earlier that I'm going to try really hard not to keep talking over and over and over because I'm super poked about this particular species and the work that the Alliance does with partners in Mexico.

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Speaker 3: So I should nudge you if you're talking too much, talk okay, all right, well with that, then we should let our guests introduce themselves. There are the specials here for the thick build parts you're talking about today, so go ahead.

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Speaker 5: Good morning, great to be here. Thank you.

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Speaker 6: I'm James Sheppin, senior scientists in the conservation science Wildlife Health that San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

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Speaker 1: Oh title, that's a nice title, and good morning.

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Speaker 7: I am Jenna Steller.

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Speaker 8: I'm the wildlife care manager here at the San Diego Zoos Firepark over the bird department.

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Speaker 2: Nice.

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Speaker 4: That's great, And I'm really really happy you guys are here because I feel like you both represent different areas of this really unique conservation work you're doing with this particular species. But you know, I think first things first, right, what's a thick built Yeah, is in case.

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Speaker 1: Someone doesn't know, do you either one?

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Speaker 4: If you want to help our guests or listeners, especially the kids listening right now, describe a thick build parrot well makes the spirits so unique?

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Speaker 5: Well, it's a beautiful little parrot.

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Speaker 6: It's gorgeous colored that used to fly in raucous flocks all the way from southern Mexico right up into the United States. Unfortunately, since the nineteen thirties, the species was extirpated from the United States. It's no longer found here due to regulated hunting. It was shot, it was put in the pet trades, so it's disappeared from its original habitat in Arizona and New Mexico. So now it's only found in its last remaining stronghold in northern Mexico. And so there's only now around two thousand, two thousand, five hundred individuals in the wild left of this amazing species. And that's where we come in to help our partners in Mexico recover and restore the species so that we can hopefully have it back across the border in the United States again. So yeah, as I said, it's a really beautiful little species. As you can hear in the background, some loud little guys down there.

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Speaker 5: They're really charismatic. They fly in big.

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Speaker 6: Flocks in the wild, and they're pretty much restricted to high elevation mountain forests that they call home. So they need old growth, big old trees, not only to forage on their food source, which is primarily pine nuts, so that they, as Genna will explain, they also will feel it on a variety of different things as well, but primarily on the pine nuts. But they also need the cavities in these old trees to nest and to raise the young as well. And so if the trees disappear, the paris disappear. So I'll get off my soapbox.

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Speaker 3: I want to point out real quick what you said there, because for me, I remember when I was in high school and I first learned about the thick bild parrot.

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Speaker 2: I was like, wait a minute, parrots are tropical. They're they're in the jungle there in the rain.

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Speaker 3: But here's the species that has figured out it's a true parrot. It lives in much colder climates, sometimes referred to as a snowparrot because of that. It survives off of pine nuts, it lives in high elevations.

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Speaker 2: Like, wait a minute, this guy rewrote the whole book. So I'm really curious to learn more about that.

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Speaker 3: But I do want to hear from Jennet to about what else do they eat and how would you describe a thick build part.

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Speaker 4: And even the work here at the park, right, because we have a long history here at the Safari Park with thick bill parrot, right.

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Speaker 8: Jenna, absolutely, and I think James covered a good portion of that, so well done. But yes, the high elevation is one of my favorite parts of these birds, Like it's the only species that you're gonna find in those high elevations when it snows.

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Speaker 7: And the closest species to them is.

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Speaker 8: The maroon fronted parrot as well, which is also an endangered species or is it critically endangered species?

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Speaker 1: Critically?

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Speaker 7: I think yeah, so very cool.

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Speaker 8: And when I generally get the question is it an Amazon, it's not an Amazon. It looks somewhat similar, but amazons have that thicker body and a shorter tail. Is it a macaw, like a smaller macaw? And it's not a macaw? You know, it kind of looks like a miniature macaw.

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Speaker 7: But they're their.

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Speaker 8: Own subspecies, right, the thick build and the maroon fronted, so it makes them very unique.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and particularly I like the long tail that they have, so kind of unique for that medium, smallest kind of parrot. But it also makes me think of like you guys know what Cooper's hawk. It's like this forest kind of hawk. But they have a long tail as well for that maneuverability. And I've never seen it before, but I'm sure you hopefully have seen it in the wild, watching these parrots maneuver these pine areas in these kind of like a arid got a little more rough area I would say in Mexico, right, So we're talking the Sierra Madre Oxidindal. It's like a mountain range we would say, like south of Arizona, in between Shihuahua and where my dad's from.

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Speaker 1: Actually, so not a Mexico So it's really really unique area.

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Speaker 4: But have you been out there? I know, John, I know you have. What about you, James, You've been out there with this project.

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Speaker 6: Yes, I've been privileged to go there a few times, and it's absolutely stunning part of the world.

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Speaker 4: It's Describe it, Describe it, I want to know, tell me, tell me.

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Speaker 6: So it's officially recognized as a high Biodiversity hotspot and it runs from basically the Eco tone runs from kind of the Arizona, New Mexico side of things all the way down into the southern states of Mexico like Durango, and it comprises this chain of high elevation mountains that support a wide variety of endemic species that have just found there as well. And it's just absolutely stunning beautiful habitat. If you ever get a chance to go down there, I highly recommend it.

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Speaker 4: That man, my name's on the list.

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Speaker 1: I really want it.

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Speaker 7: We've tried, James.

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Speaker 2: You use the term biodiversity. Oh yeah, hot spot er.

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Speaker 3: Yes, So for somebody listening who may not know what those words pieced together might mean, can you explain a little bit of what that means and why that's the case there.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, So in a pine nutshell, it's there's a white variety of No, there's two. I'm a dad, I'm allowed to make that. So there's a wide variety of species found within a relatively small area.

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Speaker 5: It's basically whatever it says.

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Speaker 6: So we've been working very hard with our partners there in the grounds to trying to improve formal protections for this area to ensure that it is preserved and restored for future generations and to support not only the white variety of species, the plants, the animals that make their home there, but also the local livelihoods for the local communities there as well.

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Speaker 4: I'm personally very connected or that, you know. I love Mexico for a lot of reasons. But all the different species we've helped supported from the peninsula prong horn and of course the thick Bilt parrot. By the way, I'm going to laugh right now because while we're talking, the sun is on our face everyone who are watching the visual.

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Speaker 1: But let me describe a man this working really hard trying to get this shade structure off.

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Speaker 2: You know, what I have found is you can't stop the sun from doing something.

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Speaker 1: You cannot you know, there's a song in there somewhere. Oh anyway, I digress, I digress.

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Speaker 4: So in case our listeners don't know, we have eight conservation ups around the world. One of my personal favorites is the Southwest, which encompasses these really unique species. And last year was it that you got to go out there to be part of this project as well?

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Speaker 7: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, don you guys tell me the partner. By the way, who's the partner in Mexico we work with.

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Speaker 4: It's OVIS, right, OVIS, that's Organization for Wildlife Or going to assume to be this invested, I think is in Spanish.

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Speaker 1: Right, that's really really cool.

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Speaker 4: What are we doing with them and what in particularly we're trying to do to help out this bird species.

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Speaker 8: So James's been working with them. We've been working with them for about twenty five years or more now, and James can speak on a lot of the work that they're doing with transmitters, and he's just got a new partnership to get maps so that we can see how the species is doing in terms of fires coming through, which is really important to make sure that their habitat is still okay.

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Speaker 7: Is coming through because we can't be there on the ground.

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Speaker 8: But my part when I got to go back in I think it was twenty sixteen, was teaching the field team how to properly handle a thick bill parrot.

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Speaker 1: And if anyone experience here, right, yeah, part yeah.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, And I've grown up with parrots my entire life, So if anybody has seen a parrot or work with a parrot, they know that they are.

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Speaker 7: Hard to handle. They have a harsh bite.

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Speaker 8: That beak is so strong, so they can crack open walnuts and brazil nuts, fine nuts, like breaking through all those pine cones. So trying to prevent further injuries because their team was having a lot of bites and getting these birds out, so that I had the opportunity to go out and I really enjoyed it. The team was incredible, And this past year I was able to go out because we started the Azia Safe thick bill parrot, which became the forty six Safe Species, which that means safe is saving animals from extinction and it's run through the Association of Zoos and Aquarium so AZYA, and it it brings together all of the AZA facilities and their field partners to better protect species and save them from extinction and so on that.

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Speaker 2: Real quick too.

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Speaker 3: I want people to understand zoos across the nation that are part of AZA, and even outside of our nation too, they all have their own partners that they work with, and so the Safe program bringing everyone together is just that much more powerful of an impact. That our partners now also are communicating with other Zoo's partners and either through the Zoo Channel or however, and that collective group of all of us doing this work, sharing that information, showing up together at the forefront of doing this is so important.

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Speaker 8: So that exactly share that, Yeah, you make a much bigger impact working together than you do trying to go to Loane and separately.

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Speaker 7: And we're lucky here.

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Speaker 8: You know, we have our scientists and our conservation team and other facilities have that as well. So being able to bring all of us together, bring those expertise together and really give this species a lot of momentum has been in credibly exciting. So it officially became a safe program at the end of August last year.

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Speaker 7: SOW four.

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Speaker 8: I'm the program leader and James here is our vice program leader. But we work very collaboratively in the whole program with our teams. Yeah, it was lucky enough to go out last year and they started for the first time a intensive clutch management program. So the field teams will periodically they keep track of all of the active nests where they are making sure that they're safe from predators, checking the nest for parasites. But they were seeing some desks and clutches that were larger than three, sometimes.

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Speaker 1: Larger than two.

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Speaker 5: Real quick.

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Speaker 7: Clutch, sorry, good, good question. So that is the amount of chicks in a nest.

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Speaker 2: It's a group of eggs.

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Speaker 8: So when you think of a clutch, some birds will lay one clutch, meaning they lay one egg, or they lay two eggs, three eggs, four eggs. For thick Bills, it's generally up to four war and if all of those eggs fail.

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Speaker 7: They will lay a second clutch.

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Speaker 8: So it's kind of referring to how many they can have in a given season. So this past year, our field partners did an intense clutch management program to have more success and get the most success of all the chicks basically surviving in a season. So what they were looking for was between two different breeding sites, there were six nests in each and every single day the tree climbers who up those trees, they collect those chicks.

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Speaker 4: Really high off there too, do yeah, trying to climbor having little beer. Yeah, yeah, I mean, but we're doing this for a lot of reasons, right, James's gonna ask your friend, give me some of the main things that are really affecting thick Bills right now in areas in Mexico, Like what's really facing them at the moment.

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Speaker 6: Sure, So, as Jenna alluded, we've been partnering on this program since the nineteen nineties. Yeah, and Jenna's team and my team are kind of different sides of the same conservation coin, so her teamwork where the population in our care an assurance population that they're breeding as well to provide more birds, coordinate with zoos that have thick bills throughout North America, and then take that knowledge from the animals in our care and apply that to the birds in the wild to improve outcomes for breeding success down there as well. So we've been partnering with this Mexican conservation in gia Ovis, who are just they're my heroes. They just do a phenomenal work that they're biologists. They're so intrepid, so devoted and dedicated to the thick bill parrot. It's just inspiring and they do an incredible amount with comparatively little resources. As we said, they climb these trees regularly to check on the birds to do health checks, applying the knowledge that gener and a team have gained about how to improve breeding outcomes for the species. And then when I joined this program, one of the interesting things that stood out was for a species that's so charismatic, so iconic, that's considered an umbrella species for this region, comparatively little was known about its ecology in the wild because they're so hard to observe in the wild, and they're so mobile, right, they're always moving. For instance, one of the things that we didn't know is where do these guys go in the winter. Oh yeah, right, So there was like anecdotal evidence, Oh they go south, and we've seen them somewhere in these southern states. Nobody had any real definitive idea of where they actually spent the winter. And so one of the big issues facing the conservation status of the species is the habitat and it's under increasing threat from wildfires, from illegal logging, drought exacerbated by climate change, and as they said, they need those old growth big trees to survive. Unfortunately, there's less than five percent of that original old growth trees remaining. So it's critical that we understand where their key habitats are and then push.

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Speaker 5: To improve protective measures for these habitats.

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Speaker 6: Now it's a big challenge to preserve a habitat if you've only got a vague idea where that habitat is. Right, and so one of the things that I thought was I could bring my background as a spatial ecologist, so I study how animals and plants interact with their environment through space and time.

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Speaker 5: Now that's really cool, thank you.

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Speaker 6: I apply a lot of like cutting edge technology, like tracking devices, you know, satellite imagery to build a detailed picture of how these animals are moving around their habitat right, And so I thought, hey, let's capitalize on recent innovations in wildlife tracking technologies with the shrunk these tracking transmitters down to where they can be safely and ethically applied to a smaller species like birds. And we've been tracking birds for many decades now, and I thought, well, this is a great opportunity to help us find out where these birds spend their seasonal range in the winter. Right using these tracking devices, I've tracked birds like the California condor the Hawaiian hawk.

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Speaker 5: So I thought, maybe the.

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Speaker 6: Time is right now to apply these transmitters to the thick pair. Yea, So it's an interesting story. So I pitched this I dare to our partners at Ovis and they said, nope, there's no way you'll keep a transmitter.

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Speaker 4: And I said the same thing when they brought it up. I remember working down in here and they were bringing this up to you, and I thought, I admittedly thought the same thing, Like a parent beak there's no way, no way.

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Speaker 6: And so I even contact the tracking device company and they're representative initially refused to send the devices. She said, we value you as a client. You're just going to waste your money. These birds have a cannon for a face. They'll just rip the device off and I.

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Speaker 1: Mean no doubt.

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Speaker 6: So I thought, well, I still think it's worth a shot. So we actually had a bird come in from the Living Desert Zoo, who we partner with a lot as well. They had one bird, lonely bird out there. His name was Sarge, and he was by himself, and they said, well, San Diego Zoo, you've got a flock of parrots in your care. Why don't we just try and integrate Sage with your flock. I thought, hey, what a great opportunity to see if we can keep a transit that are on a bird. So Sage had to go into quarantine for a few weeks, and so he was under constant video surveillance. So I manufactured a dummy transmitter and put it as a backpack on Sage and then we stitched that on and gave him like this custom backpack, and then we put him out there and then him loose and immediately he just totally ignored it and went started to like feed his face with some nuts and berries and stuff that were in this enclosure.

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Speaker 4: And I know, I want to think because right now it's actually a National zoo Keeper Week, right, so I want to give promotions to all the zoo keepers out there.

00:17:31
Speaker 1: We call them wildlife care specialists.

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Speaker 3: Till now, fairness, when this episode comes out, Oh national keeper could already have passed, already passed.

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Speaker 2: It's the week of July twenty first.

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Speaker 3: What is their third week of July every year to national proclamation.

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Speaker 2: So yes, props to the zoo keepersers.

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Speaker 4: But also just to point out to our listeners, you know different things that zoos can do to help benefit wildlife out in their natural habitats, and this is a perfect example of that.

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Speaker 1: So that was really awesome.

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Speaker 5: Thank you.

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Speaker 3: So you had mentioned he goes into quartina, which is a normal thing, and he zoo bringing in a new animal, even for another she always has that quarantine period.

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Speaker 2: Gave you this opportunity. You get this backpack on sarge.

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Speaker 3: He's like, yeah, cool, what ELVs do The other birds were like, we just come from school, guy, did anybody else try to pick at it or do anything.

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Speaker 2: Or no, no one cared.

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Speaker 6: I was alone initially, but yeah, otherwise they just said, hey, is this jan sport?

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Speaker 5: This is like a really cooling. They ignored it. They ignored it.

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Speaker 3: So I know, and I'm sure all of us, we've all worked with animals. Sometimes you have one animal that does behavior or doesn't do behavior, or cares about something, who doesn't care about something. But then you're like, okay, so my test subjects showed this, Now the rest of the group. Have you had any of the parents go nope, this is not staying on or everyone's just kind of like everyone's good.

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Speaker 5: So everyone's good. Yeah.

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Speaker 6: So once we proved that we could do it with such then our patner's and the manufacturers gave us the go ahead, and so we ordered a batch and then we went down to Mexico and when we deployed the initial batch of transmitters on birds. These are very very lightweight transmitters. The profile, they don't interfere with the bird's survival, with its flight, with its breeding, with its behavior at all, and their solar powered which is amazing really.

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Speaker 5: Once the transmitters attached.

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Speaker 6: We carefully make a little custom lightweight backpack hardness for them, and then they're released, the birds just fly off. And then once the birds are flying off, I can come back here to my office in San Diego and download the location of every bird as it's flying around in Mexico. Which so it's an amazing satellite tracking technology.

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Speaker 3: So this gives you then the data which was missing before as to where do they go when they migrate or.

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Speaker 2: How far et cetera.

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Speaker 3: Yes, but then this also offers an opportunity to know how weather patterns are going to influence behavior, fire, my influence behavior humans in the area, et cetera. So how many years have you been able to gather this data?

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Speaker 6: So we're in our fourth year of tracking now, and so the amazing thing is we're able to for the first time quantify like when these birds leave, how they move, how they moving together, are they following specific highways in the sky towards their southern migration over wintering sites. Were able to for the first time identify and characterize the dimensions of their southern overwintering habitat in the Southern States, and then the timing of their return migrations back to their nest sites in the northern part.

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Speaker 5: Of their range for the very first time, which was phenomenal.

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Speaker 6: And we've already used this information to strengthen the case for a new protected area in some key nesting habitat. Based on the tracking data, we could definitively say these are key important areas for the well being of the wild population of the species.

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Speaker 5: These areas need to be preserved.

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Speaker 6: And that's what happened as a result of the supplied conservation science, which is why we do this work.

00:20:37
Speaker 1: That's so good, isn't it.

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Speaker 4: I Mean, I love it all different people getting to gather different walks of life. This is transcending borders, everyone united to help. Just a really unique parent species. And I know we said it earlier, but so our guests don't forget. This is one of our only native parent species. We had one here, right, the Carolina parakeet that lived in the eastern part of the United States too early nineteen hundreds unfortunately, and just spent hunted to extinct.

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Speaker 2: And basically, I know, I.

00:21:01
Speaker 4: Think feel parents having a lot of issues with that as well in the past, I think for feathers and whatnot.

00:21:04
Speaker 1: But I know, Jenna, you're everyone knows you unofficially as.

00:21:07
Speaker 4: A pair of girl because you are a parent, But could you, because I love your passionate about it, can you tell the world like, why does it matter to help out a parrot? Basically, you know, they're loud, they're messy. Why why are we doing this?

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Speaker 7: I mean they're just beautiful.

00:21:20
Speaker 8: I have so many reasons, but I mean environmentally, they are seed dispersers, so they do benefit our native habitats.

00:21:32
Speaker 7: When they eat, they are so messy, and if you.

00:21:35
Speaker 8: Have them at home, you don't appreciate the mess, but out in the wild that mess is very much appreciated because it is what helps disperse those seeds, make new trees, get new pine forests.

00:21:48
Speaker 7: Everything that they eat they are messy at so they leave.

00:21:50
Speaker 8: Maybe they'll eat twenty percent of it and the other eighty percent ends up on the ground. But that is really benefiting our forests and rejuvenating those populations.

00:21:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, because you brought it up.

00:21:59
Speaker 4: I was and bring it up later, but you brought it up already that that parents at home can be really messying. Not that you and I in the past try to discourage people from having parrots, but you and I both have parrots.

00:22:08
Speaker 1: For different reasons.

00:22:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, rescues. I was gonna say, I.

00:22:10
Speaker 1: Wasn't looking to have a parrot in my home.

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Speaker 4: I mean really quickly, if you're not aware, they're really long lived animals.

00:22:15
Speaker 1: So you can live like sixty to seventy years. A friend of mine had to go with you describing it.

00:22:19
Speaker 4: It's like having a two year old with a pair of scissors in one hand and a blow horn in the other.

00:22:23
Speaker 1: And that means one.

00:22:24
Speaker 4: They're so loud and to that beak is constantly growing and to really, I think, in my opinion, properly have a parrot in your home.

00:22:31
Speaker 1: It takes a lot, a lot of work, right.

00:22:34
Speaker 2: Challenging your place, a whole dedicated.

00:22:37
Speaker 4: Oh we have the same builder, by the way, but everyone who's listening can work, yeah, for a very very long time. So not to discourage people, but this is one of the big things I think, especially me, I can speak to this a lot in community. It's a big thing ingrained in the culture I grew up as a little kid. There's always a bird in our home. I hear stories of my alb w Ealita. You know, we have this amazon, But in my head I cringe a little bit like where'd you get the bird? It reminds me for people, one, do your research regardless of what animal you're going to have in your home. Right And if you're really heart set on a parrot, like, find out where that animal is from.

00:23:10
Speaker 1: Right, would you have any of the recommendation?

00:23:12
Speaker 8: And I would say go to a rescue. Oh, that's a great, go to a restume many parrots. There are probably more parrots in rescues than there are left in the wild. So I would say, if you are dead set on it, do your research and go to a rescue, because there are parents that desperately need homes.

00:23:28
Speaker 7: Wow, rescues are at.

00:23:29
Speaker 3: And as well as issue where you want to encourage people to actually go to the location where the bird is, meet the bird.

00:23:34
Speaker 2: Meet the facilities.

00:23:36
Speaker 3: Sometimes people like they get a namel or something in the pet store and there's no telling where that thing came from and what you're supporting.

00:23:40
Speaker 2: But yeah, go to rescues.

00:23:41
Speaker 3: Absolutely, you know you're the rescued pets are always the best, whether it's dogcat.

00:23:45
Speaker 2: Or birds.

00:23:46
Speaker 8: And I have all rescues, and I will say I've had many, many more that I've fostered in place.

00:23:51
Speaker 4: It's sure I've seen it, and he's got more than me.

00:23:55
Speaker 7: You know, you never know what it is.

00:23:56
Speaker 8: It's somebody found an Amazon in their backyard being attacked by rave ends, or you know what.

00:24:01
Speaker 7: Every story is different and hard.

00:24:03
Speaker 1: Is the way.

00:24:04
Speaker 4: That's the hardest one.

00:24:06
Speaker 8: To Yeah, and I would just say that every parent's personality is different, and I let them choose who they want. So it's not like this person has interests and they get placed into a new home.

00:24:18
Speaker 7: If they're with me, they get to choose.

00:24:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have personalities.

00:24:21
Speaker 7: That's fascinating you right away.

00:24:23
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I've worked with them over the years.

00:24:25
Speaker 3: Obviously, Marco has two. They all have their own personalities. They all have that. So mentioning that you let them pick who they get to go with after you've taken care of them foster and whatnot, it's a great idea because there is that possibility for personality conflict.

00:24:38
Speaker 2: I've seen it at work. They'll pick and choose who they liked, They'll discriminated who they want to be around.

00:24:42
Speaker 7: The hair color.

00:24:45
Speaker 1: Is divorcing because of a parent.

00:24:50
Speaker 3: So honestly, we're talking about a lot of anecdotal, silly stuff, but that does play in the fact These are intelligent animals. They have bonds, they create, they have personalities with the work that you guys are doing with a thick build parrot. Is there anything else that we haven't touched on that's important for this project or the species.

00:25:06
Speaker 6: Yeah, there's plenty of conservation issues. So big one is those nest cavities.

00:25:10
Speaker 5: In the trees.

00:25:11
Speaker 6: There are enough of them to put it plainly. So what the Oversteam have been doing is they've been constructing artificial nest boxes and then climbing up into the trees and attaching these nest boxes to the side of the trees, and then the birds will come in lay their eggs, successfully fledge and then the checks of the heart, and it's really successful. It not only provides a great kind of like nesting substrate, but also protects the nests from predation by things like bobcats and so oh yeah, what Jenner and I and our partners have been doing is enabling the Ovis team to build more of these boxes through the safe program as well through some of those fantastic donations there.

00:25:48
Speaker 1: And it is a direct effort our listeners can help out right.

00:25:51
Speaker 4: Just go to our website at San Diego zoo wilef lines dot org and you can find the link out there for Thick Builds and give some parrot support.

00:25:58
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's a thick built, safe, dedicated PA. And one thing I want to add to that is, you know, we've had some of our AZA partners reach out and say, well what if we construct some of these with the design that you've had and send them down, which is fantastic. We love that that passion, but getting them built in Mexico is actually providing jobs and it's bringing the community.

00:26:17
Speaker 1: Into it something we talk about it.

00:26:20
Speaker 8: Then it's creating pride within the community to be a part of the project.

00:26:24
Speaker 7: So they've really done an amazing job.

00:26:25
Speaker 8: It's a environmentally safe way of getting that wood, so it's not like illegal right right, And just the fact that they're bringing the community in and the community is helping construct those there's already a pride of the species. They are the flagship species, like James said, but this is just bringing it to a new level and creating much needed jobs for there. So yeah, this campaign over now, it's.

00:26:49
Speaker 7: Like two years.

00:26:50
Speaker 8: So in twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five season, the goal was one hundred and twenty new nest boxes to be deployed into five breeding sites, and we're getting close. We're getting very close, and we're able to get fifty thousand dollars grant through Azya.

00:27:04
Speaker 7: Thank you James. He is a master grant.

00:27:09
Speaker 8: And we've gotten multiple other donations as well, so it's just enabling us to get more and more nests out there.

00:27:14
Speaker 2: This is the way our listeners can get involved.

00:27:16
Speaker 3: Go to the website SZWA dot org, go to the safe link and then find the page dedicated for thick Bills and our listeners can get involved by donating, which goes directly then to the community there where they can get paid to build these boxes. And that's what we've talked about multiple times and heard multiple times. I should say from our guests that it's about community involvement there in the location where the species lives and that's where the impact really happens.

00:27:39
Speaker 8: It's also paying for those field biologists to monitor that box for two seasons as well, so it's employing that cones.

00:27:46
Speaker 3: Then even though we might get all the boxes built we need, there's still that need for that fun to then keep the monitor, to keep donating, keeping what a great opportunity.

00:27:56
Speaker 2: That's cool.

00:27:56
Speaker 7: I already seen birds move in this.

00:27:58
Speaker 1: Season, already moving it. Yeah, because that's wonderful.

00:28:02
Speaker 8: I mean, I'm so excited about that. I think it's a huge success.

00:28:05
Speaker 5: Yea.

00:28:05
Speaker 6: And to build on that, you know, this is not only an ecologically important species, but it's also a culturally important species. More all about local capacity building to you know, encourage local engagement. There's a lot of pride from especially the local hetero communities for the species, so they're all in and we're already seeing dividends. So to add a hopeful note, we've started to see a change in the conservation trajectory of this species the last population census or an increase of ten percent, which is just phenomenal.

00:28:35
Speaker 1: We can say that that's right.

00:28:37
Speaker 7: Yes, the work is paying.

00:28:40
Speaker 4: And to listen to I know you get you're pumped up about parrots. I know you are sitting in your car listening to this. And make sure you come to the Safari Park in case you're not aware we mentioned it.

00:28:48
Speaker 1: But go to Condoor Ridge.

00:28:49
Speaker 4: You go past Hagers or Australia and you're going to hear them before you see them. But I recommend just sitting there for a little bit and just watching them because they're so animated. It's so much character.

00:28:58
Speaker 3: It's fair to say too, with their green red color in their habitat. If you walk up and you're like, okay, you may not see all of them, they blend it.

00:29:06
Speaker 2: Because they blend they spend some time because as they start to move around like.

00:29:09
Speaker 5: Oh wait, there's one, there's one that's awesome.

00:29:11
Speaker 2: So yeah, and yes, you'll definitely hear them before you see them.

00:29:13
Speaker 8: And right now there are six kids on habitat really and they are all our offspring, so they're all siblings.

00:29:20
Speaker 1: All right, It's going to get extra squawky soon.

00:29:22
Speaker 8: We are hoping that they will get paired off and like dating game, go meet their future mate at other facilities. And we're just in the beginning of the breeding season right now, so we might have more chicks joining them soon.

00:29:34
Speaker 2: Nice, very nice.

00:29:35
Speaker 1: I'm excited. This is going to be very great.

00:29:37
Speaker 3: Well, one thing we always like to wrap up with is by asking our guests, how did you get to the unique spot where you are when it comes to your career. Obviously, we have listeners that are maybe thinking about getting into this line of work or maybe even switching out completely from the career. They're into something else. So Jena, let's start with you. How did you find yourself?

00:29:54
Speaker 2: What was it? The parent queen you.

00:29:55
Speaker 1: Call girl and that you guys, it's just so obviously.

00:30:01
Speaker 3: You know your stuff. You know birds very well. You did mention you have always had parrots in your life. But so for someone who maybe doesn't have the opportunity of parrots in their life, what would be the career pathlet how did you find yourself here?

00:30:11
Speaker 8: I mean in terms of other people looking for a career path in this field, I would say volunteer anywhere and everywhere you can. There are local rehabs, rescues, research going on in your local communities.

00:30:24
Speaker 7: Look for it. We have a ton of it here.

00:30:26
Speaker 8: I grew up in the Ventura County area, so I did a lot of working at sanctuaries and rehabbers and volunteering at the zoo locally. So that's kind of how I got my foot in the door. But I will say it's probably.

00:30:40
Speaker 7: From my father.

00:30:40
Speaker 8: I mean, he grew up on a farm and he grew up with lots of animals, and when I came into this world, he had a double yellowheaded Amazon. When I was three, he had an umbrella cockase. He brought an umbrella coxt the the pictures super cute. Yeah, always parrots and lots of animals around. So I think that that really barked my interest very young, and we grew up in farm areas looking at owls and hawks and everything around us. And then when I was a teenager, I stumbled upon Alex the African gray parrot and then work with Tyrene Pepperberg, and I was like, oh my god, they're so smart. Like like a five year old time, I could not.

00:31:16
Speaker 7: Believe how intelligent they were.

00:31:18
Speaker 8: So from that point forward, I was like, Okay, I know I want to work with animals in some capacity. I didn't know if I wanted to work with them like in the animal training field for movies and whatnot. So I volunteered with a company doing that when I was really young, like sixteen, and then I started volunteering.

00:31:33
Speaker 7: At the zoo local zoo.

00:31:35
Speaker 8: And when I started working at a zoo and realizing all the conservation work behind the scenes that was taking.

00:31:41
Speaker 7: Place, that's what sold me and I didn't look back.

00:31:46
Speaker 1: I'm lucky to have you friend. Yeah, that's awesome.

00:31:48
Speaker 5: How about you, James, So I blame Attenborough.

00:31:52
Speaker 1: I blame him too.

00:31:53
Speaker 5: Yes, what a terrible man. Now he's a living treasure.

00:31:56
Speaker 6: And I grew up his little boy watching David Atenburgh documentary and that's how I got the bug for pursuing career in conservation. And just to build on what Jenna was saying, if you are interested, and you do have a passion for wildlife care and conservation, then just put your hand up. Volunteer, get that experience, decide you know what kind of avenues and opportunities to explore, and you'll be amazed if you do do this path. Just how non linear it can be, and so you can bounce around from different species to different projects, doesn't matter. It gives you the confidence and the experience you need to make yourself more competitive for specific jobs opportunities that you can grab. So yeah, just put yourself out there and go for it. And it's incredibly rewarding. And if it's a passion, then it's not really a job.

00:32:41
Speaker 1: Really keep saying that, saying that, right, just find what you love, make a career out of it.

00:32:47
Speaker 2: You're golden.

00:32:48
Speaker 3: I like what you said, James O too, as far as being open to exploring different avenues of it. Two and put your hand up for opportunity. Because we've talked to so many people on this podcast.

00:32:57
Speaker 2: Well I went in with this.

00:32:58
Speaker 3: Love for tigers, but now I'm baby birds in the APC or whatever. You never know what's going to strike your fancy until you're exposed to it is. You only know what you know at the time. So yeah, I love that idea, like just put your hand up and keep exploring and Jenna following your passion and all that. And also too, you went to the movie television world side of Things and then the zoo and like, oh wait, no this you know?

00:33:18
Speaker 2: So yeah, absolutely absolutely love those stories.

00:33:20
Speaker 5: Guys.

00:33:20
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Thank you for the.

00:33:23
Speaker 1: Work, you know, for spending time with us talking about it.

00:33:26
Speaker 4: And I look forward to the future to see how much more advanced we are in that conservation program with thick build parrots.

00:33:30
Speaker 1: That's awesome.

00:33:31
Speaker 2: Thanks guys, really appreciated, Thank you.

00:33:33
Speaker 1: Thank you.

00:33:36
Speaker 5: Man.

00:33:36
Speaker 4: I'm so happy that was so good we contained it. I was gonna say I was going to be an hour. I was really restrained. I wanted was talking to.

00:33:44
Speaker 2: One time I almost had Jenna jumped in and saved you, but.

00:33:47
Speaker 1: They're so great and they inspire.

00:33:49
Speaker 4: So many parrots are just awesome for a lot of reasons, but this particular species really hits home for me too.

00:33:53
Speaker 3: So the one thing I really love about the thick build parrot. And again, I love all parrots. I've worked with so many different species over the years, but just the fact that they are sort of that North American representatives, you know, in the parent world and giving us the opportunity to reflect, like, wow, they're almost gone. They are gone from the United States, but thankfully we have that population in Mexico. But even they're like just holding on. So the work that's been done not only very important, but what a great lesson to think about how we as humans are activity impacts other species.

00:34:22
Speaker 2: Around us in our environment.

00:34:23
Speaker 4: Even like the last episode we talked about human elephant conflict and what issue is there, and here we're seeing a different scenario with humans and the filled parents.

00:34:29
Speaker 1: But you know, we can work together, we can make a difference.

00:34:32
Speaker 4: Right, I'm getting a little more excited story because I just realized that we're not going anywhere, but we're saying right here for the next.

00:34:37
Speaker 1: Episode, Am I right? I'm right about this?

00:34:39
Speaker 8: Right?

00:34:40
Speaker 1: Here, well, I mean we might move low, okay?

00:34:42
Speaker 2: Or will we get to survive?

00:34:44
Speaker 3: And yes, because we are talking about a bird that has had a lot of challenges due to human behavior, which then humans come in and change the behavior.

00:34:53
Speaker 2: And I'm making a difference. Yep.

00:34:55
Speaker 3: I could be talking about the thick bild parent or I could be talking about our next species.

00:34:59
Speaker 2: I don't know for pump.

00:35:00
Speaker 4: Maybe you guys have to just wait and see what bird we're gonna be talking about. But we're gonna say right here at the Safari Park, and it's gonna be a great time regardless of absolutely.

00:35:06
Speaker 3: All right with that, Marco went and I'm Rick Schwartz. Thanks for listening and for watching. For more information about the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to SDZWA dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio. Our supervising producers are Nikia Swinton and Dylan Fagan, and our sound designers are Sierra Spreen and Matt Russell. For more shows from iHeartRadio, check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.