San Diego Zoo Global welcomed a new member to its executive leadership team this month: David Gillig has been named chief philanthropy officer of San Diego Zoo Global. In his new role, Gillig will lead the nonprofit conservation organization’s crucial fundraising efforts to support further growth of the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, while also raising the bar on the organization’s commitment to support worldwide conservation efforts in service to the mission of saving endangered wildlife.

New information about thick-billed parrots, gathered using state-of-the-art technology, is likely to identify important steps to conserving this endangered species. In September, a team of biologists—including members from Organización Vida Silvestre A.C. (OVIS) in Mexico, the Arizona Fish and Game Department, World Parrot Trust and San Diego Zoo Global—worked together to place small transmitters on thick-billed parrots in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Teams of biologists and community scientists supported by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and San Diego Zoo Global are again sounding the alarm for the bright orange butterflies that are iconic images of Coastal California.