Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Wine & Wildlife: Rescuing Rhinos



Tonight I had the total pleasure to attend the Lincoln Park Zoo lecture about rhino conservation and the arrival of baby King.  
  
Mark Kamhout, Curator of Mammals, spoke along with Sarah Long, the Director of the Population Management Center, and Dr. Rachel Santymire, the Director of the Davee Center for Endocrinology & Epidemiology, about the match-making process and arrival preparations put in place for this baby black rhino.  

I was in awe the entire talk.
   
Did you know that there are only around 5,000 Eastern black 
rhinos left in the wild? The species was nearly driven to extinction in the 1990s when their numbers dropped from 65,000 to just 2,000 -- a drop largely attributed to an increase in the poaching of rhinos, whose horns are falsely believed to have medicinal properties. Break my heart in half :(

Was an awesome reminder of the brilliant work these doctors do and the impact they are having to help these species survive. Cheers to the zoo and all that you do!

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