Zoo Logic

Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski is the founder and director of the Dolphin Communications Project and has been studying dolphin behavior and communication since 1990, with a focus on tactile, behavioral and acoustic signals employed by dolphins as they share information with each other and across groups. Her husband John Anderson is a veteran documentary filmmaker with nearly 40 years focused on the coastal and offshore marine environment, with 25 years dedicated to conducting marine-related film and video productions. Together, this duo conduct and document small cetacean research and promote conservation efforts with the help of student participants as part of a citizen scientist eco-tourism model. Animal Care Software

On this our 400th episode of Zoo Logic, we are joined by Chris Dold, DVM, chief zoological officer for SeaWorld and Busch Gardens.  While many are familiar with his veterinary career with the US Navy marine mammal program and later SeaWorld of Florida, Chris began his career as a trainer for Dolphin Quest. He discusses his role moving up the ranks to eventually lead the zoological program for one of the largest collections in the world. In addition, as the current board chair for the Association of Zoo and Aquariums he describes some of the opportunities for the greater zoo and aquarium community in areas such as increasing regional and global collaborations, addressing the well being of care givers, aligning animal care standards across regions, and the continued relevance of modern zoological parks. Animal Care Software

Taryn Gillson, Global Humane Society's regional director for Africa returns to discuss conservation efforts supported by their relatively new conservation fund of Africa. In one effort, students in Uganda are trained to become wildlife rangers in order to combat rampant poaching through snares and to provide sustainable occupations and incomes. Taryn also describes the extraordinary journey of one re-wild cheetah at Nyosi wildlife reserve who despite the odds and injury successfully reared four cubs. Animal Care Software

Children's author Christine Devane returns with her latest book, Lola and Sophie's ABC Adventure. She discusses the importance of reading to young children daily to instill the habit of reading early in their lives.  Christine also discusses the importance of pet adoption like the real life characters in her book and gives potential authors some helpful advice on how to get started on the path to becoming a published author. Animal Care Software

Previous Zoo Logic podcast guests, Drs. Bruck, Jaakkola, and Hill conduct original research with cetaceans and each has an extensive scientific publication record. They also have significant experience as journal reviewers. A recent "review" paper was published despite our panel of experts best attempts to adhere to sound scientific norms and the peer review process. After many many hours of analysis of the manuscript and its citations, they urged journal editors to reject publication through their exhaustive written reviews, which are publicly available. The paper's authors, led by a long time critic of marine mammals in human care, held a webinar accusing the zoological industry of trying to censor this publication. Our panel shares their public criticisms of the paper, and the journal that elected to ignore their major concerns, and what such publications do to the process of conducting and communicating science. The paper and the complete reviews can be found here. Animal Care Software