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. 

A team of biologists—including members from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Endemic Environmental Services Inc., Citrus College and San Diego Zoo Global—worked together over the last couple of weeks to find and rescue the last remaining reproductively viable population of southwestern pond turtles (Actinemys pallida) in the San Gabriel Mountains.

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.

San Diego Zoo Global conservationists reared young desert tortoises for one to two years before the planned release—a strategy referred to as “headstarting,” which provides a safe environment during their most vulnerable period, before translocating to the native habitat.

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park has been recognized by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) with Top Honors in AZA’s Exhibit Award for 2020, for the Walkabout Australia experience.