Cincinnati Zoo

  In 1964, Clyde Peeling opened Reptiland in Allenwood, Pennsylvania and for the last 50 years, has been educating generations of visitors about the importance of reptiles in nature. Thane Maynard of the Cincinnati Zoo recently had the chance to talk with Clyde Peeling about his half-century at Reptiland.

In the late 1800's Cincinnatians loved Indians and Indians loved Cincinnati.

Wild West shows at the end of the 19th century were big because the frontier had disappeared and people were enamored with all things Indian. So when a Wild West show in Bellevue, Kentucky closed up, and Cree Indians from Montana were stranded, the Cincinnati Zoo came to the rescue, as far as the Native Americans were concerned.

 We all know the environmental importance of trees. And most homeowners realize they have a significant intrinsic worth as well. The right tree in the proper setting can define a landscape and add significantly to a home’'s resale value. This is the perfect time of year to plant or relocate trees, but picking, positioning and planting a tree takes some careful thought and planning.

When one of the Cincinnati Zoo's Sumatran rhinos died last year, his remains were given to the Museum Center. Friday the Museum Center is unveiling a mounted display of "Ipuh."

Ipuh came to the Cincinnati Zoo in 1991 as part of a captive breeding program between the United States and Indonesia. He was one of the last Sumatran rhinos taken from the wild and was believed to be around 33 years old when he died.

  Earlier this year, 25 highly-respected educators from the United States and Canada were selected as 2014 Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic Education Grosvenor Teacher Fellows.

Seven gorillas, including two babies, got a special treat at the Cincinnati Zoo Thursday and it's not even Halloween yet. Gorill-A-Lanterns were filled with granola, raisins, sunflower seeds, peanuts, grapes, popcorn and apples.

The calm before the storm

The arrival of the gorillas into the exhibit was carefully orchestrated so nobody (except maybe the silverback Jomo) got special treatment.

Curator of Primates Ron Evans, who designed and carved some of the pumpkins, radioed staff to let the gorillas come out.

  There was a time not long ago when wetland areas were thought of as useless, or worse, breeding grounds for disease. But wetlands provide values no other ecosystem can, including natural water quality improvement, flood protection, and shoreline erosion control, along with the opportunities they give us to examine and enjoy nature. Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Director Thane Maynard speaks with Brian Jorg, the Zoo'’s Manager of Horticulture, about the vital role wetland areas play in our ecosystem, and ongoing efforts to preserve and restore them.

The Zoo is holding a native plant sale at its EcOhio Farm this weekend, for information, click here.

  The Passenger Pigeon was once probably the most numerous bird on earth. Population estimates from the 19th century ranged from between one and four billion. But on September 1,1914, the last Passenger Pigeon, Martha, died at the Cincinnati Zoo.

  John A. Ruthven is a naturalist, author, lecturer, and internationally acknowledged master of wildlife art, often called the “20th Century Audubon.” In 1974, he led the effort to save the last of the Cincinnati Zoo'’s 19th century bird pagodas – the one where Martha, the last of the passenger pigeons, had once lived. Mr. Ruthven is the final speaker in the Cincinnati Zoo’'s Barrows Lecture Series this year (the event is sold out). The Zoo’'s Thane Maynard talks with John Ruthven, who is the recipient of the 2014 Cincinnati Zoo Wildlife Conservation Award.

In January of this year, Thane Maynard spoke to Joel Greenburg, author of A Feathered River Across the Sky: The Passenger Pigeon's Flight to Extinction. You can hear that interview by clicking here: Thane and Joel Greenburg

  Next Thursday, August 28, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden presents its fourth-annual Plant Trials Day, where the zoo shares the results of its testing program. Learn about the best new plants most suitable for our area, and hear presentations by horticulture experts on a variety of gardening topics, perennials, miniature trees, selecting the best plant materials and more. Here to give us a preview of Plant Trials Day are the Director of Horticulture at the Cincinnati Zoo, Steve Foltz, and zoo horticulturist Scott Beuerlein.

The Cincinnati Zoo is expecting a baby gorilla any day now. But, the little tyke won't actually belong to Cincinnati.

Neither the unborn gorilla nor its parents, Asha and Jomo, are Cincinnatians, so to speak. Though all three will live here, ownership falls to the parents' zoo of origin.

It's all part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan which helps zoos in North America regulate breeding. Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard says it's complicated but important.

  Dr. Alan Rabinowitz is one of the world’s leading big cat experts, and has been called ‘The Indiana Jones of Wildlife Conservation’ by TIME Magazine. He has traveled the world on behalf of wildlife conservation and is responsible for the world's first jaguar sanctuary, the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve in the mountains of Belize. The Cincinnati Zoo’s Thane Maynard had a chance to talk with Alan Rabinowitz about his work, and A Boy and a Jaguar, his picture book that tells the real-life story of his own childhood.

The next speaker in the Cincinnati Zoo Barrows Lecture Series is Dr. Terese Hart. Dr. Hart is the director of a Lukuru Foundation project that is working to create a new national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On Wednesday, May 28 at 7:00 PM, she will present, “The Challenges of Protecting Wildlife in the Congo.” Dr. Hart spoke with the Zoo’s Thane Maynard about her work.