Sooner or later most zoological professionals will meet a local or national celebrity as part of their work. Some, like our guest Lanie Angeles, have met dozens or possibly hundreds of popular actors, musicians, politicians and other influencers as part of her long career in educational and media outreach. Sharing some of her most memorable encounters, both positive and not so positive, Lanie is quick to remind us that most celebrities, like everyday people, are enamored by animals, which offers...
Jul 03, 2025•32 min•Season 8Ep. 377
Christine Devane is a former elementary school teacher with a new children's book entitled, Elephant Beach . The story revolves around a shy girl who just wants to read her book while at the beach and a nearby playful group of elephants with other ideas. Devane hopes that introverted kids can learn to try new experiences and that extraverted children can be patient with those who may need a little more encouragement to participate in new activities or to make new friends. Also, Dr. Jason Bruck r...
Jun 26, 2025•35 min•Season 8Ep. 376
Pernilla Mosesson is a long time trainer from Sweden having started her career working with marine mammals. We sat with her at the Johannesburg airport to hear her thoughts on the state of marine and terrestrial animal training across the zoological space. While there are many similarities between European and North American facilities, particularly with regard to the current politics surrounding zoos and aquariums, there were a few surprising differences! Animal Care Software...
Jun 19, 2025•15 min•Season 8Ep. 375
Much has changed since Zoo Logic first examined six years ago the North American pangolin consortium formed by several zoological parks despite some pushback from the industry. Providing an update on the status of the species, the handful of animals living in human care, and the consortium is Mark Wanner is Associate Vice President, Animal Care & Conservation for Brookfield Zoo Chicago and the Chair of the North American Pangolin Consortium. He describes their white bellied pangolin program ...
Jun 12, 2025•32 min•Season 8Ep. 374
Dr. Jason Bruck returns to discuss the seemingly increasing erosion of the peer review process by some authors looking to expand their legitimacy through overuse of self-citations and passing opinion articles off as science. The most egregious offenders of the process produce commentaries devoid of data or that refuse to address credible criticisms or contrasting data sets raised by other scientists through peer-reviewed rebuttals. Jason describes what structural business model changes and other...
Jun 05, 2025•38 min•Season 8Ep. 373
Susan Kleven is the long time director of the Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville, TX. She returns to Zoo Logic to discuss her upcoming children's book telling the true story of Nzuri, a premature giraffe whose first time mother was unable to nurse or otherwise care for him. Nzuri Grows Up: A Preemie Giraffe's Story coauthored by Jennifer Keats Curtis is due out in wide release this fall through Arbordale Publishing . Now more than six years old, Nzuri is thriving with the zoological team that beat th...
May 29, 2025•26 min•Season 8Ep. 372
Behaviorist Tim Sullivan has been with the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago for 47 years, nearly half the history of that leading institution. After two decades as a marine mammal trainer and leader, Tim moved to an internal consultant role at the zoo by guiding the change from free to protected contact with their elephant team. Needless to say those were challenging times early on, which led Tim to examine his teaching methods, not so much with animals, but with humans! Since then he has temporarily (...
May 22, 2025•33 min•Season 8Ep. 371
John M. Kinder is director of American Studies, professor of history at Oklahoma State University and author of the new book, World War Zoos: Humans and Other Animals in the Deadliest Conflict of the Modern Age . He chronicles the horrific effects of war on zoos throughout Europe, the US and the South Pacific and the sometimes heroic efforts by keepers and the public to preserve their animal charges even in times of scarcity and personal starvation. Zoos that were spared bombing still had to wre...
May 15, 2025•38 min•Season 8Ep. 370
Tom LaRock is a long time zoo administrator turned wildlife safari travel operator. He founded Rewild Safaris to connect his travel organization with conservation organizations around the globe working on the ground to solve problems and preserve species and habitats. For him, the meaning behind rewild extends beyond the effort to return species to recovered habitats but also to connect travelers with the wild and wildlife. Animal Care Software...
May 08, 2025•26 min•Season 8Ep. 369
The Philadelphia Zoo is America's oldest zoological institution that takes pride in its history of firsts. Dr. Jo-Elle Mogerman, President and CEO, exemplifies more firsts for the organization including serving as the first woman and first African American woman to hold the top leadership role. She describes how this urban Chicago introvert grew to love nature on her parents' front porch. She is candid about her personal interests which she realized in school did not include remote camping or fi...
May 01, 2025•37 min•Season 8Ep. 368
A few weeks ago, Colossal Laboratories and Biosciences grabbed the world's attention when it announced the de-extinction of the Dire Wolf which last roamed the earth more than 12 thousand years ago, with the successful birth of three animals. Matt James, a long time zoo professional now serving as the company's Chief Animal Officer, discusses the science and technology behind the momentous announcement and the methodology's potential to help conserve extant but endangered species like red wolves...
Apr 24, 2025•32 min•Season 8Ep. 367
According to its founder, Rebecca Rosenberg who was born with low vision, the name ReBokeh is derived from a photography term "Bokeh," a technique in which all light sources are out of focus and blurred. Re-Bokeh then represents her organization's efforts to re-clarifying of what is out of focus. When this eventual bioengineer was 17 and looking forward to college, she looked at the technology options for the vast majority of visually impaired peopled and discovered that most were geared towards...
Apr 17, 2025•31 min•Season 8Ep. 366
We begin season 8 of Zoo Logic with a frank conversation with Dr. Jason Bruck and Billy Hurley about the proper role of accreditation organizations, as well as, their limitations. When an accredited institution stumbles or allegations of poor animal well-being are made, what is the responsibility of accrediting bodies to investigate, act, and inform its members and the public as to its findings and remedies? Where is the dividing line between a professional trade organization's responsibilities ...
Apr 10, 2025•32 min•Season 8Ep. 365
First time author Christine Mott has a forthcoming children's book entitled, Free Bird: Flaco the Owl's Dreams Take Fligh t by Lantern Publishing. The story for kids ages 4 to 8 is based on upon actual events surrounding the Eurasian Eagle Owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo. The story enthralled people from around the globe as Flaco was recorded across Central Park for over a year before his untimely death. As an attorney Christine also describes her advocacy work on behalf of animals. A...
Apr 03, 2025•35 min•Season 7Ep. 364
While most North American zoological parks are still weeks away from the start of their summer high season, a few desert southwest facilities are already deep into their peak season. Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium and Safari Park president Kristy Hayden returns to discuss the latest additions to their collection including a baby giraffe and an all new tiger habitat. As important as these megafauna are, Kristy insists it is important to look at animal welfare for all their species, especially as th...
Mar 27, 2025•27 min•Season 7Ep. 363
Kristi Gravrock is a long time animal trainer having worked with dogs, horses, orcas, cats, dolphins and more. Her passion for training goes back to her early childhood pets before her first horse. Today, when she isn't competing in dressage, she uses her decades of experience with zoological species to train service dogs and mini horses. While there are many similarities to training dolphins for swim programs and dogs or minis for hospital and nursing home visits, one key difference is the peop...
Mar 20, 2025•32 min•Season 7Ep. 362
It's our second installment talking with the management team at New England Aquarium following our recent three-day onsite visit with the pinniped and penguin department. With so much institutional and operant conditioning change affecting not only the animals' overall management through greater training and enrichment, but the employees' work experiences and responsibilities, how are the aquarium's leaders helping their teams adjust and thrive? We talk with Associate Curators, Patty Leonard and...
Mar 13, 2025•25 min•Season 7Ep. 361
We are on location at the New England Aquarium talking with long time animal trainer and curator of pinnipeds and penguins, Kristen McMahon. Under her guidance, this unique department has successfully blended animal care providers from different taxa into one productive training team which has improved the social well-being of all the animals. Kristen discusses the aquarium's focus not only on improving animal welfare and training efficiency, but also the work-life balance for all employees. Ani...
Mar 06, 2025•25 min•Season 7Ep. 360
Since he was a young boy, KONG company founder, Joe Markham has been fascinated with animals of every kind. He credits his German Shepherd, Fritz with providing him long ago the inspiration for the famous beehive shaped pet toy. His latest venture petKORE.com is a labor of love to produce training and enrichment devices suitable for underserved zoo, aquarium, equine and farm species. Joining in the conversation about the challenges of developing larger natural rubber based toys for exotic specie...
Feb 27, 2025•33 min•Season 7Ep. 359
The new U.S. administration has put forth a slew of federal employee firings, funding freezes and cancellations, and agency reprioritizations since assuming office barely 1 month ago. One of the most notable moves has been the dismantling of USAID and a funding pause or in some instances, the elimination of the agency's projects to feed, educate, and/ or medically treat vulnerable communities around the globe. However, it's not just humans that will feel the effects of this humanitarian funding ...
Feb 20, 2025•34 min•Season 7Ep. 358
The Mississippi Aquarium in Gulfport recently announced the successful hatching of 2 endangered black-footed penguins. As a newer facility in a medium sized city, President and CEO Kurt Allen returns to discuss the State's historic hatchlings, the challenges of meeting public and financial expectations, and the importance of remaining adaptable to meet customer needs. Animal Care Software
Feb 13, 2025•30 min•Season 7Ep. 357
The zoological community lost an important colleague recently with the passing of Jeff Andrews. First a long-time orca trainer and curator for SeaWorld, Jeff eventually took his talents to the terrestrial side to manage elephants. Not satisfied with the status quo of elephant management at that time, which was largely based on establishing a dominance hierarchy through punishment with the trainer as the leader, Jeff adapted the skills he learned using positive reinforcement with orcas and applie...
Feb 06, 2025•33 min•Season 7Ep. 356
With a new administration and one party control of both houses in Congress, the impact on animal-related legislation, facility oversight, and code enforcement is likely to change from the previous administration. Tom Albert, government affairs consultant for the Zoological Association of America discusses the differing historical perspectives of the two major political parties on the role of zoos as well as steps professionals can take to help garner more bipartisan support for the work of zoos ...
Jan 30, 2025•36 min•Season 7Ep. 355
The animal and behavior training world lost a true revolutionary recently with the passing of Karen Pryor. Prolific writer, scientist, trainer, lecturer, and business woman with an entertainer's spirit, she changed the exotic and domestic animal training world forever with her ever popular book, Don't Shoot the Dog . She followed up her writing successes with the launch of Clicker Training and legions of trainers, students and fans, workshops, Karen Pryor Academy, and much much more by advancing...
Jan 23, 2025•35 min•Season 7Ep. 354
Julia Wilder, Executive Director of ZDR3 ( Zoological Disaster Response, Rescue, and Recovery ) returns to discuss the unfolding fires in Los Angeles. While her team is not presently deployed on scene, they are coordinating help through local MOU members as was one of the original goals of the now 200 facility member strong group across nearly 40 states. Julia describes how the risks and response to wild land fires are different in nature and immediacy compared to the hurricane disasters ZDR3 ha...
Jan 16, 2025•28 min•Season 7Ep. 353
Director of Research for the Dolphin Research Center , Dr. Kelly Jaakkola returns to discuss her upcoming free webinar summarizing recent dolphin cognition studies hosted by the Dolphin Communication Project and her just published invited rebuttal to a paper in the journal Science about marmosets supposed use of individual names. Few species have been shown to use names much like we humans do as labels to identify specific individuals. She discusses how authors of a recent study that relied on m...
Jan 09, 2025•32 min•Season 7Ep. 352
With this first episode of Zoo Logic in the New Year, we hand this week's hosting duties over to our number one supporter and spouse of nearly 35 years, Karen Stafford to review key issues from the previous zoological year and the regular host's thoughts on the new podcast year ahead. Animal Care Software
Jan 02, 2025•39 min•Season 7Ep. 351
On the heels of 2023's Secrets of the Octopus, a ward-winning and best-selling author, Sy Montgomery returns to discuss her latest title, What the Chicken Knows from Atria Books . As with all of her books about animals and Nature, Sy does her research. In this case much of her source material came from decades of raising, observing, and learning from chickens... and those that love and study them. As a prolific and successful writer, Sy offers some suggestions to listeners who think about writin...
Dec 26, 2024•33 min•Season 7Ep. 350
Jenna Palmisano is a doctoral student at the University of Central Florida tracking a parasitic tongue worm infecting nearly 2 dozen native species of snake, including the pygmy rattlesnake, and other ectotherms in central and southern Florida. While much is not known about this parasite, often referred to as a lung worm when it is actually a type of crustacean, it is believed to have been introduced by the many diverse invasive species, especially Burmese Pythons that are now endemic to Florida...
Dec 19, 2024•35 min•Season 7Ep. 349
Veterinary epidemiologist, Dr. Dominic Travis, Chief Programs Officer for the Marine Mammal Center returns to discuss the virulent and usually lethal strain of avian influenza affecting a variety of species, especially marine mammals. Given the COVID pandemic fatigue felt across society, it is important not to let our guard down about monitoring for known risks such as influenza which has been front and center among researchers, clinicians, and public health agencies for decades. Celebrating its...
Dec 12, 2024•36 min•Season 7Ep. 348
