SAN DIEGO (January 27, 2022) – Western burrowing owls, a declining species in Southern California, are increasingly being forced from their homes by development. A research team led by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Palm Springs office, developed novel techniques using a bit of creative advertising to protect the displaced owls, including painting rocks to look like stains from bird droppings and playing recorded vocalizations.

Condor parthenogenesis—or reproduction without genetic contributions from a male—takes us by surprise. 

SAN DIEGO (Oct. 28, 2021) – Conservation scientists at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance reported an extraordinary discovery this week in the Journal of Heredity, the official journal of the American Genetic Association, that could have rippling effects for wildlife genetics and conservation science. 

A new study led by a San Diego Zoo Global scientist offers rare insights into the unique social character of forest elephants, the least understood of the world’s three currently existing elephant species. 

In a study that has unprecedented implications to advance both medicine and biodiversity conservation, researchers have sequenced 131 new placental mammal genomes, bringing the worldwide total to more than 250.

In breeding programs aimed at conserving animals from small or isolated populations, scientists must balance the competing needs of adding genetic diversity and avoiding the introduction of harmful genes.