Goings on Archives - Safari West

A New Habitat for our Fennec Foxes!

Mark Pressler — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 21:28:04 +0000

We’re always working to expand our habitats and improve the welfare of the animals living at Safari West, and we recently finished another project: a brand new habitat for our fennec foxes!

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National Zookeeper Week

Mark Pressler — Sun, 20 Jul 2025 18:35:28 +0000

We’re thrilled to celebrate National Zookeeper Week by shining a spotlight on the incredible dedication, compassion, and hard work of our animal care team. From early mornings to late nights, our keepers and animal care interns go above and beyond to ensure every animal receives the best possible care. To honor their efforts, we spent time capturing special moments between each of them and one of their favorite animal companions. These photos are a small but heartfelt way to say thank you—and to share with you the unique bonds that make this work so meaningful. Here’s to our keepers—thank you for all you do!

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Discovering the Wonders of Bats at the Safari West Conservation Speaker Series

Nancy Anne Lang, PhD — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 21:25:36 +0000

I invite you to join me at Safari West on Friday or Saturday evenings for a fun and inspiring half-hour conservation presentation and a conversation with one of our speakers. The talks take place at 8 pm in our Elephant Room following the 7 pm Safari West dinner service. The calendar for the Conservation Series can be found below.

Our Conservation Speakers Series was kicked off on March 1st by Corky Quirk who hails from the Northern California Bats. She has spent the past 25 years dedicated to rescuing, caring for and rehabilitating injured and orphaned bats.

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Creating a Research Project: Oak Regeneration!

Mark Pressler — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 22:57:00 +0000

At the beginning of 2022, I was asked to join a fledgling committee at Safari West. This new committee was dedicated to starting and maintaining research projects that would advance scientific knowledge in zoological facilities, improve the wellbeing of the animals in our collection, and provide a better understanding of native wildlife that lives on Safari West property. I was asked to join to help with the last of those three goals—I had previously worked as a research technician on a few projects studying the population dynamics of endangered birds in the Western US, and our research director Erika Defer hoped I could use some of the knowledge gained on those projects to start research at Safari West that looked at the interaction between our collection animals and the native landscape.

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Safari West partners with Zoolife for Giraffe Livestreams

Mark Pressler — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 23:11:57 +0000

Safari west has a new and exciting partnership to share with you! We have partnered with Zoolife, the world’s first online zoo, to show a livestream of our giraffe tower and the animals they live with, 365 days a year.

Zoolife was started at the Toronto Zoo, providing a live stream of the zoo’s giraffe habitat during the pandemic to help guests stay connected with the zoo during an uncertain and difficult time. Over the last 5 years they have expanded to partner with dozens of zoos and showcase more than 100 different species across the world, from koalas at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Australia to maned wolves at the Endangered Wolf Center here in the US.

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Being Small in a Big World

Mark Pressler — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 21:14:58 +0000

One of my favorite parts about the field of wildlife biology is that there are basically no rules! Biologists have been trying for centuries to impose order onto the beautiful mess of the natural world. Some patterns and trends have emerged over time, but whenever someone tries to proclaim that something is absolutely true, we find exceptions in the endless variation of life on our planet. The word “rule” is occasionally used in wildlife biology, but much like the pirate’s code, these “rules” are more like guidelines than actual rules.

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Monarch Butterflies at Safari West

Nancy Anne Lang, PhD — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 23:12:29 +0000

Thank you, Sergio and Merle, for your fantastic butterfly show at Safari West!

With so many Sonoma County residents providing critical butterfly habitats, we hope our magnificent butterflies will continue to thrive in and around our homes, parks, and open spaces.

It is a delight to stroll the grounds of Safari West and see so many enchanting monarch butterflies floating and dancing above the grasses and throughout the flower beds and trees.

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Meet our hand-reared kookaburra chick

Safari West Staff — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 20:41:45 +0000

Meet our youngest laughing kookaburra chick, currently being hand-reared by our animal staff at Safari West. Early in the morning on July 7th, keepers found this little one in the nest box lying on their side, appearing weak, cold, and underweight. These parents are experienced and have successfully reared chicks in the past, so keepers were unsure why there appeared to be a lack of parental care for this individual. Due to their concerning condition, they were immediately removed from the habitat and brought down to our vet clinic where keepers began the process of warming them up and providing subcutaneous fluids. Several hours later, once they were warm and appeared slightly brighter, keepers began slowly syringe-feeding a nutrient-dense slurry made by mixing warm water with Harrison’s Recovery formula powder.

We still don’t know whether the baby is a male or female yet, so for the time being, they’ve been given the nickname: Lil Beeb.

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Safari West’s Heroic Effort Saves Critically Ill Newborn Giraffe

Safari West Staff — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 19:43:46 +0000

On June 26, 2024, Safari West welcomed its 52nd giraffe calf, Safiri, whose name means “Journey” in Swahili. From the moment of her birth, Safiri’s journey became a fight for survival that would challenge and inspire the entire Safari West team.

In the early hours of that morning, animal caregivers discovered Safiri shivering, wet, and splayed. The animal team quickly assisted the calf by helping her position her legs appropriately and started a brief exam where they found her body temperature had plummeted to a dangerously low 92°F, far below the normal 101°F for giraffes. Initial blood tests revealed infection and critically low glucose levels.

Dr. Emily Cehrs, staff veterinarian for Safari West, working closely with Animal Collection Manager Nikki Smith and Animal Collection Assistant Manager Erika Defer, quickly developed a comprehensive treatment plan. They used blankets and a Bair Hugger warming system to stabilize Safiri’s temperature while administering IV fluids and antibiotics to combat infection and low glucose levels.

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What is enrichment?

Mark Pressler — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 23:50:35 +0000

Enrichment! What is it?

The quick answer: novel stimulus.

Behavioral enrichment comes from the understanding and acceptance that, for both pets at home and animals in zoos, these are animals that are living in a smaller, safer space and therefore exposed to less stimulus than their ancestors or their wild counterparts. Enrichment is a tool used to try to bridge that stimulus gap.

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