SAN DIEGO (Dec. 6, 2023) – The Endangered Species Act turns 50 years old this year. A new report released by the Endangered Species Coalition, Ten Stories of Hope: The Endangered Species Act at 50, highlights 10 case studies of conservationists using different strategies to protect and recover imperiled fish, birds, plants and mammals in the United States. Ninety-nine percent of species protected under the Endangered Species Act have been saved from extinction, including the humpback whale, grizzly bear and bald eagle. The Top Ten report features the Stephens’ kangaroo rat and the efforts of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance to help recover the species using conservation translocation.

SAN DIEGO (Nov. 30, 2023) – Scientists at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance have achieved a major milestone in saving wildlife species: With a blue-eyed black lemur’s cells recently added to its Wildlife Biodiversity Bank’s Frozen Zoo®, the nonprofit conservation organization’s unique collection of genetic material now contains 11,00o individual cell lines from more than 1,250 species and subspecies—some critically endangered. No other biobank in the world has a comparable number of living cell lines, with the potential to reverse losses of genetic diversity and contribute to population sustainability for  endangered and threatened wildlife species.

It takes a team and some careful observation to keep the San Diego Zoo's colony of 25 black-and-white African penguins in the pink.

SAN DIEGO (Nov. 9, 2023) – A binational team of scientists, using creativity and innovation, adorned dozens of endangered thick-billed parrots with tiny solar-powered satellite transmitters to track and reveal their winter migratory nesting sites in the remote treetops of the Sierra Madre Occidental ranges. Their research reveals new critical habitat, 80% of which has no formal protection.

Biodiversity banking is a critical component of conservation, and the need for it is more urgent than ever. 

LOS ANGELES, SAN DIEGO, and PORTLAND, Ore. (Oct. 16, 2023) – The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) is sharing early results from the historic vaccine trial for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in California condors (Gymnogyps californianus). As reported by the Service’s Incident Command leading the effort, results from the first test group showed that 60% of the condors produced measurable antibodies that are expected to provide partial protection against mortality from HPAI if the birds are exposed. 

SAN DIEGO (Oct. 11, 2023) – San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has been recognized for its expertise in wildlife biobanking, and has partnered with the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the world’s largest conservation organization—the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)—to form the new Center for Species Survival: Biodiversity Banking. The new center is the first ever to have a strategy focus rather than a taxonomic one.

Challenges are lurking in the watery world of black caimans—and their reptilian relatives.

Technology takes wing, and is playing a key role in Hawaiian hawk conservation.

SAN DIEGO (July 13, 2023) – After more than two years of dedicated work, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance conservationists are achieving success breeding a critically endangered coastal bird: the milky stork. This breeding program is part of an 11th-hour effort with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Taxon Advisory Group (AZA TAG) to assist the last remaining individuals of the species living in North America—helping them successfully reproduce, and bolster the world’s population of milky storks.