An Ocean of Change: How Climate Change and Commercial Fishing Impact African Penguins

Saturday, February 21 | Noon

Como Friends members are invited to “Waddle Into Action” at a special conservation weekend sponsored by Xcel Energy at Como Park Zoo & Conservatory!

Join Aquatics Zookeeper Kelley Dinsmore for an in-depth discussion on the dramatic decline of African penguins in the wild over the past 50 years. Learn how programs like AZA SAFE and SANCCOB are working to stabilize and reverse this trend, and hear firsthand about penguin conservation efforts in South Africa.

Bring your lunch, settle in, and get an inside look at caring for African penguins, both in the wild and right here at Como.

*The content and format of the Community Lunch & Learn is specifically geared toward an adult audience. 

Seats for the Lunch & Learn are very limited, with only 60 places reserved for members. Advance RSVP required. 

Sign up below—if the form does not appear, please call Como Friends at 651-487-8229 to join the waitlist.

After a major meet-cute in Polar Bear Odyssey this fall, young polar bears Astra and Kulu have been giving serious rom-com vibes—diving, chasing, frolicking, and cozying up to each other on the regular. While zookeepers are seeing plenty of green flags in the lead-up to the polar bear breeding season that starts this month, this match is just one of many playing out behind the scenes at Como Zoo, through its active role in a variety of Species Survival Plan (SSP) projects in cooperation with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). By coordinating the individual animals matched up through SSP breeding recommendations, Como Zoo works in partnership with other AZA institutions to maintain a genetically diverse and demographically stable captive population of threatened or endangered animals. While bearing young is an important part of a healthy life cycle for zoo animals and wild ones, these pairings also provide captive animals with companionship that can enrich their lives.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, we talked with Senior Keeper Jill Erzar about what makes a great partnership, whatever your species:

Taking it slow: Ollie and Stevie, and Meadow,
Sago and Ziggy

Unlike the polar bears and other animals that come from harsh climates that dictate their optimal mating moments, Erzar says, “nyalas tend to breed like rabbits.” Even so, Ollie, a new male bachelor recently arrived from the BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo, may need a little time to warm up to his new breeding partners, Stevie and Meadow. Stevie is the mother of Meadow, born in 2024. “He’s never been with another female besides his own mother,” Erzar explains. “Ollie is very alert, and Stevie seems very interested, so we’ll have to see what happens with each of the females.” 

Speaking of slow, Como Zoo’s sloth pair, Sago and Ziggy, have successfully mated once, and zookeepers continue to remain optimistic that they will again, following last year’s on-exhibit birth of an infant that sadly did not survive. While Como Zoo always hopes for new babies, zookeepers are encouraged by previous successes and moments that support the long-term future of each species, and take great care to ensure every animal has the space, privacy, and calm they need during these important mating stages. “We weren’t surprised that she gave birth—we were expecting that,” Erzar says. “But sloths are more reclusive and will typically give birth overnight.” 

Keeping it playful: Maji and Mumford

Introduced as a breeding pair in 2019, Como Zoo’s male and female lions are happily bonded, though they’ve had no offspring. While Mumford is in hospice care for an inoperable nasal tumor, he and Maji continue to wrestle, play, and cuddle up together. The only real bone of contention between them, says Erzar, is Mumford’s “comfort log,” a bit of deadfall that the lion refuses to share with Maji or his keepers. “We call it his comfort log because we first started noticing that he’d carry it around if there was a storm coming, or if he was a little nervous about something,” she says. “Over time it’s been whittled down, so for a while it looked like a dumbbell, and now it’s broken into two pieces that he protects. It’s kind of adorable.”

Attention to good grooming:
Ombe and Wicket

While breeding behavior has yet to be observed between ring-tailed lemurs Ombe and Wicket, “they do sleep together and groom each other,” Erzar says. “They’re definitely companionable.”

Making beautiful music together: Houdini and Mutambi

As light on their feet as Fred and Ginger, grey crowned cranes Houdini and Mutambi have been delighting Como visitors with their ritualistic courtship dances, bowing and leaping into the air as a sign of their mutual interest in each other. “They also do a kind of call and response vocalizing, parroting back and forth, with a kind of trumpeting sound,” says Erzar. While the pair has yet to produce a viable chick, early fertility challenges are typical of new pairings of cranes, which often mate for life in the wild. “We’re pretty confident they’re going to figure it out,” she says.

Sharing the child care: Reggie and Ilsa 

Emperor tamarins Reggie and Ilsa have also mated successfully, resulting in the arrival of baby Bleu last March. Male tamarins are known for being highly engaged fathers, often assisting with birth, taking and washing the infant immediately after birth, and frequently carrying the infant to let the mothers recover and nurse. Communal rearing behavior like this even extends to future siblings like Bleu, who can be expected to do plenty of babysitting.

You can’t hurry love: Mr. Pancake, Peanut Butter, and Banana 

Like all of Como Zoo’s breeding companions, this trio of pancake tortoises, now living behind the scenes, are under no pressure to reproduce. While they’re part of a Species Survival Plan breeding recommendation (and have names that would make a great breakfast), keepers don’t do anything special to encourage mating behavior between animals, allowing nature to take its course. “We’re very hands-off with them,” says Erzar. “If they want to lay eggs, they can lay eggs. Whatever happens with the pancake tortoises is great.”

Show you care this Valentine’s season with a very special delivery for the animal lovers in your life! Get your animal sponsorship sweetheart deal on this adorable trio of sloth, flamingo, or polar bear mini-plush—plus a Valentine’s card and gluten-free candy—for only $25. A great gift for nature lovers of all ages, sweeten the deal with two for just $45, or three for $65.

To get your last-minute Valentine’s minis, please visit the Como Friends Gift Shop at Como Park Zoo & Conservatory!

Behind the scenes at Como Zoo’s Animal Support Building, a cavy, a chicken, and a rabbit have created an unusual inter-species bond

One of the loudest, liveliest buildings on the campus of Como Park Zoo & Conservatory is one that visitors will never see. Located along the private service drive to Como’s back door is where you’ll find the Animal Support Building (ASB), home to nearly 200 individual animals representing more than 40 species. 

“It’s actually the most diverse collection of animals we have in one place,” keeper Brooke Johnson says about the ASB’s colorful array of residents, from the squawking pink flamingos waiting out winter in the central heating, to the tiny Panamanian golden frogs tucked away in a biosecure room. While the birds, reptiles, invertebrates, and mammals that make their home here come from all around the world, the common denominator that unites them is advanced age. “Some of them are animal ambassadors that retired from our education programs,” she says. “Although they are not all older, it’s a bit like a 55-plus community.” 

Of course, the demands of high-density, apartment-style living can make for some roommate arrangements you’d never see in nature. For instance, the Chilean flamingos that fly far below the equator share their space with several red-breasted geese that breed in the Siberian tundra. Hissing cockroaches from Madagascar live next to tarantulas from Brazil. But the strangest bedfellows in the building would have to be this threesome: Jasper, a rabbit, Bowie, a chicken, and “Cavy Crockett,” a Patagonian cavy, a hare-sized rodent from the guinea pig family. 

“A few years ago, we noticed that when they were allowed to roam, they tended to gravitate to the same spots and hang out together, and we found that when we moved them all in together, it just worked out,” says keeper Allison Pizel, adding that the communal living arrangement may be familiar to each of them. “Cavies live together in big groups in the wild, and domestic chickens tend to live in groups, and rabbits live in colonies, but here, they’re each the only one of their kind,” she says. 

The oldest of the trio is Cavy, age 13, who is now deaf, blind, and prone to stepping on Jasper the rabbit as he explores his environment. Their keepers report that while there is occasional squabbling, Bowie, the alpha chicken, keeps the peace and sets the boundaries. On occasion, the three animals can even be found curled up together in the morning. “It’s not the recommended arrangement, but it seems to work for all of them,” says Pizel. “And with animals this old, we want to keep things stable for all of them.”

In fact, geriatric care is a big part of the day in the ASB, which also includes many animals like Sassy the chinchilla, who were retired from the zoo’s ambassador animal program when it came to an end during the pandemic. Instead, Como made the pivot to virtual programs that allowed classrooms to see and learn from animal ambassadors online, while allowing resident animals to make their own choices about whether or not to visit other parts of the zoo. Como Zoo recently completed a formal assessment to determine which animals would participate in the animal ambassador program, based on their ability to travel safely and comfortably to other areas of Como. The program includes species-appropriate stations and enrichment designed to ensure animals remain comfortable in environments outside their normal habitat.

For instance, when Dilla the six-banded armadillo is looking for some excitement, she’s trained to step on a green mat in her habitat that indicates she’s up for being handled. Check out this video on Facebook of her holiday visit to the Sunken Garden, helping horticulturists dig up the soil before the Holiday Flower Show. When she chooses to sit on her red mat, her keepers know she would prefer to stay home and chill. The communication between Dilla and her favorite keeper runs even deeper: Johnson is such a fan of the armadillo that she helped get Dilla moved to Como Zoo from another AZA institution. The pair have known each other for more than 13 years.  

“We form real bonds with these animals because we’re with them more than our pets at home,” she explains, adding that keepers are always looking for ways to delight the animals in their care. To that end, Johnson and Pizel recently applied to Como’s animal enrichment committee for funding—supported by your contributions to Como Friends—to bring an oversized cat exercise wheel into Dilla’s habitat. “You wouldn’t believe how fast she can run, and then she goes back to sleeping for 18 hours a day,” says Johnson. “The hard part is that many of these animals are very old and they won’t be with us forever. But while they are, we want to make things as good as we can for them.”

Como Zoo aquarist Gina Julio fulfilled a lifelong dream as a Conservation Champion, traveling to Fiji to support marine conservation in the South Pacific reef

From  trout to tuna, marlins to mahi mahi, Gina Julio really knows her fish.

One of Como Zoo’s team of aquarists, Julio is responsible for the care and feeding of dozens and dozens of underwater denizens, including epaulette sharks, lionfish, sea anemones, and even a bright orange lobster who goes by the name of “Ryan.” 

“All areas of zookeeping have specific challenges, but I find the math and chemistry required to take care of fish to be really fascinating,” says Julio. “Also, once you start getting to know fish, you find out they’re so smart, and have great little personalities.”

Being on a first-name basis with so many different species made Julio a very valuable addition to a marine conservation initiative in the South Pacific run by GVI, a travel-based conservation organization. As part of Como Friends’ Conservation Champions program, Julio recently traveled to  Dawasamu, Fiji, to help support a variety of projects the group operates in the area, ranging from preserving the coral reef, to protecting spinner dolphins, reef sharks, and sea turtles. 

As a support volunteer at GVI, Julio helped a corps of primarily college-aged interns dive into their first experiences with conservation fieldwork. For two weeks, she took part in a range of work, from surveying the health of mangrove forests, to studying the challenges of establishing sustainable fisheries for local communities. Her favorite contribution was creating a detailed fish identification guide that will allow the group to collect even better data about the health of the South Pacific reef. “And I made it waterproof, so they can actually use it underwater,” she says. 

As part of the trip, Julio also immersed herself in the life of a small fishing village, seeing firsthand how thoughtful conservation projects can benefit wildlife and the local populations that depend on them. “Staying in this small fishing village, we became a part of the community, going to church and going to community events with our hosts,” she says. “As an anthropology minor in college, I loved the chance to learn more about Fiji’s culture.”

Seeing the South Pacific was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for Julio, who made frequent trips to Como Zoo as a kid. Though she once imagined herself taking care of large cats, internships at Duluth’s Great Lakes Aquarium inspired her with the beauty and diversity of life underwater. “When I started my internship, I was actually kind of afraid of fish, which seems really funny to think about now,” she says. “It was like exposure therapy and as I got to know fish, I got really interested. There are so many different kinds of fish, including ones we don’t know about yet because we haven’t explored the entire ocean. I find the vast mystery of fish is really appealing.”

Now the fish health and quarantine specialist at Como, Julio says that field conservation experiences made possible by the Conservation Champions program advances zookeepers’ understanding of the animals in their care and in the wild. “I’ve never worked at another zoo or aquarium that does anything like this, but it’s so important for zookeepers to go out and do field work,” she says. “We know a lot about captive animals, but to have that exposure to wild animals and data collection is important, because you need the whole picture to take really good care of your animals.”

Astra the polar bear’s recent arrival at Como Zoo is part of an international effort to increase breeding success for this vulnerable species

When new animals arrive at Como Zoo, they typically meet their assigned roommates through a process zookeepers call a “Howdy”—a chance to see, hear, and smell the resident animals on the other side of a steel mesh barrier. The initial step before a full-on introduction, these first impressions can give keepers important clues about how animals on both sides of the mesh might be feeling about the meeting. 

But when Como Zoo’s two youngest polar bears, Astra and Kulu, had their first howdy this fall, their behavior made it clear they were eager to get even closer. “They seemed to be really wanting to play together,” says aquatics keeper Kelley Dinsmore, part of a behind-the-scenes team that’s been watching the bears’ every move since four-year-old Astra’s (She just turned five on November 17) arrival in October from Tacoma’s Port Defiance Zoo. “They’d be laying at the howdy doors near each other, and trying to pass toys through the mesh, so we had a very good feeling that we could just go ahead and introduce these two, since they seemed to want to be near each other.” 

During their first encounter outdoors at Polar Bear Odyssey in early November, Kulu chased Astra around the habitat, eventually following her in a belly flop right into the deep pool. “There was never any aggression,” says keeper Becky Sievers. “They just played, and if he stopped chasing her, she would turn to see if he was still coming. They put on a really good show for everyone.”

It’s a population that Jungheim knows well in her role as program leader and studbook keeper for North America’s polar bears, where she tracks the genetic health and history of 56 individuals living in partner zoos across Canada and the U.S. A project of the Bear Taxon Advisory Group through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the studbook is one of the ways that zoos work together to ensure that managed populations of polar bears are living their best lives. Another is the new Polar Bear Population Alliance (PBPA), a collaborative network launched last November, that’s been making new breeding recommendations across the country, including the new match between Astra and Kulu. 

“The Polar Bear Population Alliance is working to make sure that polar bears are going to be here in the future by increasing the number of polar bear cubs born annually to achieve a sustainable population,” says Jungheim, who is both a founding member of the PBPA and serves on the PBPA’s Polar Bear Management Group (PBMG).  One of the group’s first priorities is to move reproductive-age females like Astra into optimal breeding spaces like Polar Bear Odyssey. The next is to create additional pairings with other females, preferably with one male for every two females. 

“The hope is that having two females will create competition, and get these bears going reproductively forward when breeding season comes around late winter,” she says. “Polar bears that have been housed together during the summer have proven to be more successful, while bears that have a history of contraception—a common practice when the polar bear population was larger—have been less successful.”  

While data points like that are helping to determine where the zoo population’s reproductive bears should move in the months ahead, there’s no guarantee that every pairing will be successful. Not only do polar bears reproduce through delayed implantation, new cubs also have a 50 percent mortality rate during their first year. Even so, Como’s keepers are encouraged by the positive and playful behavior they’re observing from Astra and Kulu, though breeding behavior may take some time. 

“It may take these two young, innocent bears a little bit of time to get it right, but that’s something we’ve seen with many other animals at Como,” Jungheim says. “Nature always finds a way.”

While Como Zoo’s Nicky and Cerberus are easy to spot, wild wolves can be elusive during the summer months. Not only does heavy summer foliage make them harder to see, but wolves are most active at dawn and dusk, saving their energy when the sun is at its peak.

If you’ve been camping in the north woods this summer, chances are good you’ve heard the eerie call of the gray wolf echoing in the distance. But it’s rare to actually see a wolf during the summer months—a fact that’s left gaps in our understanding of wolf behavior and ecology. 

So what exactly do wolves do during the summer?

That’s the question driving the researchers with the Voyageurs Wolf Project, a University of Minnesota initiative aimed at creating a deeper understanding of the summer ecology of wolves in northern Minnesota’s Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem. Voyageurs Wolf Project is a research organization whose work contributes to wolf conservation. It’s a topic that’s also fascinated Tieran Rosefield, a former Como Zoo attendant turned temporary hoofstock keeper, who just earned a Conservation Champions grant from Como Friends to help support this nonprofit initiative.

As part of her pitch to Como Friends’ selective microgrant program, Rosefield suggested a contribution to support the Voyageurs Wolf Project’s nonprofit operations, combined with new interpretive signage at Como Zoo’s wolf habitat to teach visitors more about why wolf conservation matters. Though wolves sometimes get a bad rap, from fairytales to farmers concerned about predation, recent findings from the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park and other habitats show that wolves help many other species thrive, from boosting beaver populations, to protecting trees from over-browsing. 

Raising public awareness about wolves and other conservation stories is also part of Como’s growing commitment to empathy-focused education, a campus-wide strategy aimed at deepening connections between Como’s visitors and animal ambassadors. Through Como’s growing partnership with Advancing Conservation through Empathy (ACE) for Wildlife, a nationwide learning network, Como’s education programs and interpretive signage are being updated to reflect the growing body of research that shows that fostering empathy with animals and plants is a powerful tool in building life-long conservation behaviors. Como Friends’ funding, as well as special projects like Conservation Champions, has helped to drive the initiative, which will continue this year with updated signage for polar bears and other animals.

To cap off her Conservation Champions project, Rosefield also created a new keeper talk to highlight what’s happening with Como Zoo’s animal ambassadors, Nicky and Cerberus, and to share new findings from the Voyageurs Wolf Project and other wolf conservation efforts. “I feel like wolves are a little underappreciated, and so I wanted to call attention to this really important species,” she says. “Wolves are highly contended all over the world, and that is why I wanted to bring attention to this incredible species. I also wanted to bring attention to the work done by the Voyageurs Wolf Project, because their research can provide the framework for our care here at Como as well as conservation efforts in Minnesota. I would love to see what else they can do with a little help from Como.”  

Como Zoo’s life support specialist EJ Smith traveled to the Caribbean to support a promising project to rebuild the vanishing coral reefs

Vivid with color and teeming with life, coral reefs are among the most amazing ecosystems on the planet, accounting for just one percent of the ocean floor’s surface, yet supporting nearly a quarter of all marine species. 

But with growing greenhouse gas emissions, rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification, and a host of other factors, reefs around the world are in danger of dying out. While more than half of the world’s living coral has been lost since 1950, scientists predict more than 90 percent could disappear by 2050. 

While the challenges are daunting, Como Zoo life support specialist EJ Smith recently found some cause for hope in the Caribbean where a new conservation group called the Elkhorn Marine Conservancy is working on a solution. With the help of a Como Friends Conservation Champions grant, Smith spent three weeks at the EMC’s sites in Antigua and Barbuda helping the small nonprofit with a promising approach to reef restoration. 

“To help these reefs rebound, they’re working to create coral nurseries,” Smith explains. “They’ll look for healthy, [stress resistant] coral colonies out on the reefs, and take small chunks of them back to the nursery where they’re broken into micro fragments. Corals grow at an incredibly slow pace, but these micro fragments are found to grow faster in small colonies, speeding up that process of coral growth.” Corals are cultivated on ropes and coral “trees” made of PVC piping that can then be replanted onto degraded reefs. EMC’s nurseries are currently fostering 14 species of reef-building corals, many of which are critically endangered. 

An expert diver, Smith is responsible for all of Como’s aquatic habitats, ensuring water quality for dozens of species, from polar bears to pacus, and regularly diving into Como Zoo’s aquatic habitats to troubleshoot. “I once did the math and figured that professionally and recreationally, I’ve spent about two months of my life submerged in the water,” he says. “But diving with [EMC’s staff] was like working with superheroes. Some of these folks had such amazing physical capabilities they could hold their breath for minutes at a time. It was just astounding.” 

The water chemistry skills Smith has honed at Como Zoo are valuable to EMC’s work, and their plans to expand their coral nursery operations. To deepen the connections between conservation efforts in the Caribbean and at Como Zoo, Smith’s colleague Asher Berg, Como Zoo’s Aquatics Keeper, will be taking a Conservation Champions trip of his own this fall to support the renewal of coral near Antigua’s Green Island, York Island, and Cades Reef.

With a new tank of coral beds coming soon to the Aquatics Building, Smith says he’s looking forward to sharing his insights about coral conservation in upcoming keeper talks. While the health of the world’s coral hangs in the balance, Smith says he finds hope in the visit he made to Antigua’s St. Andrew’s School, where he talked with elementary school students about his work in life support, and how coral restoration can benefit the local economy, food chain, and climate resilience. 

“This next generation of island people are already tied to conservation, because their lives really are impacted by the health of the reefs,” he says. “To hear these kids talk about how they want to work in conservation, or maintaining fish stocks, or protecting the reefs when they grow up was really heartwarming, to be honest. It makes you hopeful that conservation projects like this are making an impact.”  

What’s the best time of day to come to Como? With more than a dozen free daily programs offered throughout the summer, the answer is all the time, and again and again. As summer heats up, make the most of every visit to Como with this roster of family-friendly programs and special events, all free to every visitor. 

Special Programs

Conservation Champion Andrea Persson traveled to Sausalito’s Marine Mammal Center to learn the secrets of seal and sea lion care

If you’ve been to a Blaze Sparky Show at Como Zoo, you know that sea lions like Sparky are capable of some amazing feats, from diving nearly 60 stories below the ocean’s surface, to holding their breath for up to 20 minutes at a time. 

But some of the adaptations that work swimmingly in the sea can make veterinary care very complicated for seals and sea lions, particularly when it comes to anesthesia and  other medical interventions. “They’re so trainable and willing to participate in their own health care that you can accomplish quite a lot when they’re awake,” says Como Zoo veterinary technician Andrea Persson. “But it can be much trickier when they’re sick and need to be immobilized, in part because of the dive response that allows them to conserve oxygen and also because we just don’t have to do it very often.”

That’s why Persson recently traveled to Sausalito, California, to attend an intensive veterinary training program at the Marine Mammal Center, the largest marine mammal teaching hospital in the country. Made possible by a grant from Como Friends’ Conservation Champions program, the five-day program allowed Persson to support the Center’s work, rehabilitating stranded seals and sea lions, while learning veterinary tips and tricks from experts who provide daily care to more than 80 elephant seals, harbor seals, and sea lions.

Drawing blood from a seal requires making a puncture near the animal’s spine. “One of my main objectives was to become proficient in blood collection. Blood samples are very important in providing information on the health of the animals we care for and with our relatively small population of seals at the zoo I had limited opportunities to refine my venipuncture techniques. It was great to be able to collect blood on multiple animals each day while I was at the MMC and I am now very confident in my ability to collect blood from our animals at the zoo.” 

Since 1975, the Marine Mammal Center has rescued more than 26,000 marine animals along 600 miles of California coastline and in Hawai’i, typically answering more than 10,000 distress calls about sick, injured, or entangled marine mammals every year. During Persson’s stay in April, the Center was providing safe harbor to dozens of orphaned elephant seal pups, which are born at about 75 pounds and weigh nearly 300 pounds just a month later when they’re fully weaned from their mothers. In spite of their impressive size, young seals can often be separated prematurely when strong storms wash them off of beaches before they’ve learned how to survive on their own. Climate change makes the problem worse, as rising sea level and storm surges are more likely to sweep mothers and pups away from each other. 

Distressed elephant seal pups are routinely rehabilitated at the Marine Mammal Center, but before they can be returned to the ocean, they need to be taught how to eat an adult diet of fish, squid, krill, and algae. “But you have to do it in such a way that you’re not habituating them to people,” says Persson. “It’s very difficult to get them to eat, because if they get even a little bit of water in their mouth with the fish they don’t know what to do, and they start gagging.” 

The time Persson spent with pinniped pups may soon come in handy thanks to a new breeding recommendation for Como Zoo’s Atlantic gray seals, Wally and Medusa. And getting the chance to see wild harbor seals and sea lions on the California coast gave her even more appreciation for the species. “I would say the whole experience was invaluable, and gave me so many ideas to bring back to Como Zoo to improve care for our animals,” says Persson. “I’m very grateful.”