Brooklyn , NY – November 10, 2009 – “Franklin,” a magnificent male wild turkey, resides with his female companions at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Prospect Park Zoo. The wild turkey is an American bird, originally brought to Europe in early 16th century by Spanish conquistadors. The species was transported to England and throughout northern Europe. The English then brought the domestic turkeys back with them when they settled the colonies. In 1776, in search of a national bird,...

WCS’s Bronx Zoo Has Welcomed More Than 236 Million Visitors Since Its Gates Opened November 8, 1899 WCS’s Bronx Zoo is a Cornerstone New York City Cultural Institution and Headquarters for Global Conservation Efforts WCS’s Bronx Zoo Continues Award-Winning Tradition of Forward Thinking Exhibit Design Bronx, N.Y. – November 8, 2009 – Today, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo celebrates the 110th anniversary of its opening.  Since November 8, 1899, more than 236 million ...

WCS receives $100,000 for Arctic wildlife conservation and climate change research from Disney’s Friends for Change: Project Green.

Wildlife Conservation Society receives $100,000 for Arctic wildlife conservation NEW YORK (November 6, 2009)—The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has received a $100,000 boost in funding to support conservation studies on the effects of climate change on arctic wildlife, thanks to kids who participated in Disney’s “Friends for Change: Project Green.”During the month of August, kids voted online for their favorite environmental causes through the Disney initiative, which also calls on ...

WCS Applauds the Leadership of Representative Blumenauer NEW YORK (NOVEMBER 4, 2009) - The Wildlife Conservation Society applauds Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore) for introducing H. Res. 839 – a resolution condemning the illegal extraction of natural resources in Madagascar and also its impact to livelihoods and rural communities. The ongoing plunder of resources threaten not only years of effort made by the U.S. government and its partners but also the substantial progress being...

Disease ecologists must consider health of individual animals and populations in research and conservation plans NEW YORK (October 30, 2009)—Whereas healthy animals are able to fend off diseases and infections, individuals in poor condition become susceptible to a “vicious circle” in which animals in poor health are more prone to becoming infected, triggering a negative loop where they become weaker in the process, according to recent work by health professionals from the Wildlife Conservatio...

Scientists from WCS and the Lava Lake Institute have found a new long-distance migration route for a population of pronghorn antelope in Idaho, hailed as the “true marathoners of the American West.”

GPS collars reveal that southern Idaho pronghorn population has one of the longest overland migrations in the American West Effort underway to protect herd numbering 1,000 animals threatened by increasing development BRONX, NEW YORK (October 29, 2009) – Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Idaho-based Lava Lake Institute for Science and Conservation discovered a new overland migration route of pronghorn antelope that ranks among the farthest for an...

Brooklyn, NY - October 29, 2009 - Prospect Park Zoo recently "rocked the house" with a trio of new yellow footed rock wallabies in the Australian Walkabout on Discovery Trail.  The new wallabies share their home with Western great grey kangaroos, Bennett's wallabies, a Cape Barren goose and a pair of emu, giant flightless birds.  The male rock wallaby, "Darwin," hails from Lowry Park Zoo in Florida while the two females, "Sydney" and "Adelaide," came all the way from the Adelaide Zoo in Australi...

USAID develops initiative to monitor diseases that move between animals and people NEW YORK (October 23, 2009)—The Wildlife Conservation Society will play a key role in a new international effort to monitor diseases that move between animals and people in order to prevent the next global pandemic. The global early warning system—named PREDICT and created with incremental funding of up to $75 million over 5 years from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threa...