Living Desert Zoo Hosts Wild Nature Institute

On August 2, the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens hosted Wild Nature Institute's Derek Lee, David Brown, and Monica Bond for two fun-filled, productive days in Palm Desert, California. The Living Desert promotes desert conservation through preservation, education and appreciation by preserving a large portion of its grounds in a natural state, fostering appreciation of deserts worldwide through interpretive exhibits, helping build up populations of endangered desert species, and financially supporting education and conservation that protects desert species. We are deeply grateful to the Living Desert for being our partners in our "Celebrating Africa's Giants" education program for the conservation of giraffes, elephants, and rhinoceroses.

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The Living Desert staff were wonderful hosts, showing us around their beautiful grounds and introducing us to all the animals - including their herd of giraffes! Monica enjoyed feeding Twiga a few carrots. We also visited the zoo's Tanzanian Schoolhouse, where children read our storybook Juma the Giraffe and do the hands-on activities that accompany the book - so learning about giraffes can be fun!

We presented our conservation science and education work to 85 zoo staff and members.

We are working closely with the Living Desert conservation and education staff, who are applying their considerable skills and talents towards helping us to develop our Celebrating Africa's Giants educational materials and to promote these materials for use in zoos that hold giraffes, elephants, and rhinos throughout the USA. Thank you Living Desert, and we look forward to expanding our programs together.