2019 was a big year for SEZARC, as we celebrated our nine-year anniversary. The SEZARC team accomplished a great deal this year, with seven new publications and three completed book chapters.
Our laboratory based at White Oak Conservation Foundation assayed ~4,600 samples, with the help of five interns and three volunteers. Meanwhile, our laboratory based at the University of North Florida assayed ~4,800 samples, with the help of three interns and twelve volunteers.
SEZARC staff attended many professional conferences last year, including the American Elasmobranch Society, Association of Zoos and Aquariums, International Society of Wildlife Endocrinology, and Regional Aquatics Workshop. Some of our staff even had the opportunity to present their work, with a range of subjects, from sand tiger shark space use to ovarian suppression in giraffe.
Coral spawn was another huge success in 2019 with seven genotypes of pillar coral and nine genotypes of staghorn coral added to the genome resource bank!
Many expectant mothers at our member institutions were monitored throughout their pregnancies by our staff, with many successful births, including a gorilla born at the Dallas Zoo and giant river otter pups born at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. One of the most memorable births this year took place at Zoo Miami, where a greater one-horned rhinoceros calf was born. Her birth became the first successful AI in a greater one-horned rhinoceros while under full sedation and following induced ovulation.
As 2020 begins, SEZARC staff will be celebrating all the accomplishments that 2019 brought, big and small. We have big plans for the future and look forward to continuing our mission this year. We want to thank all of our supporters; we wouldn’t have been able to make these achievements without you. We wish you all a Happy New Year!
Photo credit: Zoo Miami
