Our Conservation & Research team works year-round on a variety of projects here at the Zoo and out in the field. They are also actively involved in community engagement, helping to raise awareness about the importance of wildlife and habitat conservation. This year, we saw the roll out of our new Conservation Strategy, where we focus on four major areas, including understanding the changing Arctic, preventing species extinctions, protecting urban biodiversity, and cultivating conservation connections. We aim to provide more detail on these in the coming year.

Each December, we look back on all of the activities we’ve been a part of as a team to achieve conservation research and action. This year was another record-breaking year to help move forward conservation in Manitoba.  We’ve been thankful to continue some of our long-standing work, like Beluga Bits and Grassland Butterfly conservation, as well as beginning new and exciting avenues for conservation research, such as the installation of a new Motus tower at Qualico Family Centre and environmental DNA sampling for Manitoba mudpuppies.

Here are a few highlights of what our team has been up to over the past year:

Understanding the Changing Arctic 

  • 178 hours of polar bear observational behavioural data collected  
  • Over 50 hours of underwater beluga video footage   
  • 30,074 registered volunteers on the Beluga Bits project to date  
  • 7.5 million Beluga Bits classifications submitted to date  
  • 6 harbour seals outfitted with satellite transmitters

Preventing Species Extinctions 

  • 210 Endangered Poweshiek skipperling butterflies released into the wild  
  • 5 pairs of Endangered Poweshiek skipperling butterflies bred at the Zoo  
  • 51 Endangered Dakota skipper butterflies released into the wild  
  • 276 Poweshiek skipperling larvae in the freezer for winter diapause  
  • 11 sites sampled for environmental DNA, for species like the Manitoba mudpuppy 
  • 11 aquatic habitats surveyed for habitat suitability for Species at Risk 

Protecting Urban Biodiversity 

  • At least 3 chimney swifts fledged from our artificial chimney; the sixth consecutive year of nesting swifts in the chimney  
  • 2 purple martin fledglings banded 
  • 7 tree swallow fledglings banded from Zoo nest boxes 
  • 10 occupied Zoo nest boxes containing at least 5 eggs each from four bird species  
  • 4,960 iNaturalist observations added to the Assiniboine Park project by APC Biodiversity Volunteers 

Cultivating Conservation Connections 

  • 8 student projects and student volunteers supported 
  • 40 media interviews given by Conservation Research staff 
  • 28 laboratory tours for a behind-the-scenes look at our Conservation Research 
  • 52 presentations, posters and webinars given by research staff

As we look forward to 2025, we are thankful for all the support we receive from numerous funding agencies, sponsors, APC Members, and volunteers who help keep this work moving forward.

If you’d like to learn more about our research and how you can support this work and more, please visit our website.