Guests tell us they love connecting with nature in our beautiful green spaces during their visits to the Walt Disney World Resort, so I’m especially excited to share some news and a fun video from our third annual Walt Disney World Holiday Bird Count, organized by our Disney’s Animal Programs team for cast members and their families. This year, thanks to Walt Disney World Community Relations, members of four Central Florida Girl Scout troops joined cast members to count 107 different bird species and over 16,000 individual birds! Holiday Bird Count participants spotted some new species this year: Virginia Rail, Sora and a Merlin, as well as 20 Bald Eagles! Highlights included spotting several Great Blue Herons high up in the trees keeping a watchful eye over their nests — two nests in one tree — and a Blue Jay that was mimicking a hawk vocalizing as he chased a squirrel!

 
The day-long event enabled birders of all skill levels to discover which birds are found in Central Florida in the winter. In addition to inviting local Girl Scouts, another new element this year was a Family Birding Festival, where the Girl Scouts and cast members’ kids participated in a variety of fun activities that helped them learn to recognize bird calls and discover the amazing adaptations of various bird species that enable birds to thrive in the wild. Children and adults also participated in a nature walk to identify birds in the area, and they got to meet some of the amazing birds that make their home at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Enjoy the video — and let us know if you see any birds that also live in your hometown.

 
Did you know?

• Since 1995, the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund has provided more than $6 million to support bird conservation around the world. In Florida, the DWCF has helped protect birds, including the Whooping Crane, Bald Eagle, Scrub Jay, Red-Cockaded Woodpecker and Mangrove Cuckoo.
• Our Holiday Bird Count is modeled after the Audubon Christmas bird count, which began in 1900.
• Data collected in bird counts from year to year allows scientists to follow trends in bird populations and abundance over time. These trends help scientists focus their conservation efforts in key bird areas.
• Nearly one third of the Walt Disney World Resort has been set aside as a dedicated wildlife conservation area.
• An abundance of birds make their home in Florida year-round, and even more birds are here during the winter as they migrate from the north to Florida and beyond. You can find out more at Disney’s Animal Kingdom on May 8 as we celebrate International Migratory Bird Day.
• We can help birds and other wildlife by disposing of waste properly, including recycling, to keep trash out of natural areas, and by observing birds and other wildlife from a safe distance and not feeding them “human” food, which is not healthy for them.

 
Read on for more “Wildlife Wednesdays”:

• Wildlife Wednesdays: New Antelope Species, the Springbok, on Kilimanjaro Safaris Savanna at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort
• Wildlife Wednesdays: From Elephants to Educators — Disney Helping African Wildlife by Helping African Communities
• Wildlife Wednesdays: Sea Turtles Ill from the Cold Recovering at The Seas with Nemo & Friends at Epcot

Tagged: Conservation, Video, WDW

Filed: Walt Disney World Resort

At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, we want to share compelling stories with our guests about as many different species as we can to inspire the conservation of wildlife and nature, so we’re especially excited when we can introduce a new animal species to the park. Now Disney’s Animal Kingdom guests have the opportunity to see springbok, a very interesting species of antelope, when they experience the Kilimanjaro Safaris and the Wild Africa Trek.

We’ve just begun the introduction of the springbok—six adult females and one five-month-old male calf—to our African savanna and thanks to vigilant attention from our animal care team, the springbok are adapting very well to their new habitat. The springbok join more than 300 other animals on the Kilimanjaro Safaris. Other kinds of antelope that guests might spot include the addax, bontebok, bongo, eland, greater kudu, sable antelope, scimitar-horned oryx and white-bearded wildebeest. These are joined by many other animals that are favorites of our guests, including the African elephant, African lion, black and white rhinoceros, giraffe, nile crocodile, ostrich, hippopotamus and zebra.

Did you know?

• The name “springbok” is Afrikaans and Dutch (“spring” means “jump,” and “bok” means “antelope” or “goat”).
• Springbok, which are found in southern Africa, are approximately 2.4 – 2.9 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh 70 – 100 lbs.
• Male springbok are larger than females, and, although both males and females have horns, the males’ horns are thicker and longer.
• Springbok can get the water they need from the food they eat, and they can survive without drinking water through the dry season, or even for years.
• The springbok has a fold of skin that extends along the middle of its back to its tail and is lighter in color than the rest of its back. When the springbok is frightened by possible predators, the fold opens up and lifts so the lighter hair is displayed almost like a crest along the back.
• The springbok displays a behavior called “pronking.” Pronking includes springing up repeatedly with legs stiff and close together, hooves bunched together, and back arched to show off the crest. While the exact cause of this behavior is unknown, springbok exhibit this activity when they are excited.
• Springbok, as with all animals, rely heavily on their habitat for survival. Habitat destruction and over hunting threaten the species in the wild. You can help their populations from declining by supporting the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund www.disney.com/conservation and other conservation organizations that are working to protect African wildlife.

Tagged: Conservation, DAK, WDW

Filed: Disney's Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World Resort

So what do elephants and educators have in common? Here at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, they happen to have quite a bit in common: it was our conservation work with elephants in the wild that led to our conservation education work in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, where we are connecting with communities by engaging local South African educators in hands-on workshops.

 
As shared in the accompanying video, Disney’s Animal Programs educators have created a hands-on workshop that is offered to educators living in rural communities in South Africa, where there is a diversity of landscape and vegetation that shelters an abundance of wildlife, including not only the “Big Five” animals (elephant, rhino, cape buffalo, lion, leopard), but many other species as well, such as cheetah, giraffe and hippo.

To aid the educators in better understanding how to protect and care for African wildlife, we incorporate conservation actions into the workshop that can be integrated into classroom lessons for the students. As these teachers increase their connection to the natural world through the workshop training, conservation lessons learned, and experiences provided, they have the capacity to influence not only the thousands of school children they teach collectively, but also the multitude of families who live in their communities.

Helping the people who live side by side with endangered wildlife is an essential part of conservation, and that truly is the essence of this program, along with bringing just a little bit of our Disney magic to nature’s magic for the benefit of African wildlife.

Want to help? Spread the word by sharing this blog post with your friends and family. Learn more about Disney’s conservation efforts around the world. Experience more of our conservation work by participating in our guest offerings, such as Backstage Safari at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, or visiting our African Cultural Representatives at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. Learn more about the organizations Disney is working with on this project – &Beyond Africa and Africa Foundation.

Readers of the Disney Parks Blog may remember some earlier posts that referred to this work in South Africa — check out these other posts in the Wildlife Wednesdays series:

• Wildlife Wednesdays: It Takes People to Save Wildlife and Nature
• Wildlife Wednesdays: First Birthday for Baby Elephant Luna and Conserving Elephants in the Wild

Tagged: Conservation, Video, WDW

Filed: Walt Disney World Resort

Sea turtles suffering from hypothermia were rescued from New England beaches and are recovering at The Seas with Nemo & Friends at Epcot.

Eight Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, one of the most endangered species of sea turtles in the world, arrived via airplane the weekend before Christmas and were picked up by Disney’s Animal Programs team members. The turtles were examined on Christmas Eve by our veterinarians in view of guests at the animal hospital at Disney’s Animal Kingdom before being transported by our animal care experts to a rehabilitation facility backstage at The Seas with Nemo & Friends. Medical exams included X-rays and blood tests, as well as complete physical assessments.

Disney and other rehabilitation centers came to the aid of the New England Aquarium, the first stop for these sea turtles. The aquarium was very grateful for the assistance – their sea turtle hospital had reached capacity and more turtles ill from the cold were arriving every day with months of winter to come. In addition to caring for the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, Disney’s Animal Programs cast members are providing support by transporting loggerhead sea turtles impacted by the cold temperatures in New England from Florida airports to other rehabilitation centers on the state’s west coast.

The team reports that the sea turtles at The Seas with Nemo & Friends are eating well and recovering nicely. Our animal care experts are focused on increasing the turtles’ body weight so they have the strength to swim in the open ocean. The goal is to help the turtles get healthy and then release them back to ocean, under direction from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Did you know?

• Sea turtles are ectotherms (often referred to as “cold-blooded”), which means that their body temperature depends mostly on external sources, such as water temperature. As a result, frigid waters slow their metabolism, which may lead to life-threatening comas.
• Since 1986, Disney’s Animal Programs teams have nursed more than 300 endangered sea turtles back to health and returned them to their home in the sea.
• Since its inception, the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund has directed more than $1.1 million to sea turtle conservation efforts.
• Disney’s Animal Programs often is called upon to help distressed animals. Disney animal care experts help to support the rescue and rehabilitation of hundreds of injured and orphaned animals every year.

Look below for more posts from our “Wildlife Wednesdays” series:

• Wildlife Wednesdays: Get a Glimpse of New Rafiki’s Planet Watch Film – Showing Now at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
• Wildlife Wednesdays: Disney Efforts Help to Protect the Golden Lion Tamarin’s Forest Home
• Wildlife Wednesdays: Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund Helps Rescue Animals from Hurricane Sandy and Other Disasters

Tagged: Conservation, Epcot, WDW

Filed: Epcot, Walt Disney World Resort

Throughout the year, we’re very proud to share on the Disney Parks Blog stories about our conservation efforts and how we’re connecting families with animals and nature. Some of these stories are now featured in a new film that Disney’s Animal Kingdom guests can see when they visit Conservation Station at Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

The film, which is hosted by Disney’s Animal Programs Conservation Director Dr. Anne Savage, has four segments. The segment shown here focuses on conservation projects to protect coral reefs in The Bahamas (in partnership with Disney Cruise Line) and two endangered species: Puerto Rican crested toads and sea turtles.
The next time you visit Rafiki’s Planet Watch, be sure to stop by and view some of the other segments, which feature animals that live on the land and those that make their home in the sea, including gorillas, elephants, manatees, cotton-top tamarins and tigers. Here’s to a new year filled with nature’s magic!

Tagged: Conservation, DAK, DCL, Video, WDW

Filed: Disney's Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World Resort

About the size of a squirrel and with a beautiful silky reddish-gold coat, the golden lion tamarin is truly one of nature’s wonders. Guests who visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom can see this tiny endangered monkey at Rafiki’s Planet Watch. I was fortunate enough this summer to see these animals in the only place in the world where they are found in the wild: the forests of Brazil.

I have to say it was quite an adventure to meet my first wild golden lion tamarin thanks to The Golden Lion Tamarin Association (Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado). With support from the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF), the Association has been leading the effort to save forests for these amazing animals for the last 25 years.

Golden lion tamarins are quite a story. With the population hovering at only a few thousand, zoos around the world banded together to reintroduce golden lion tamarins born in their facilities to the wild. It was a success! These animals joined wild golden lion tamarins to form breeding groups that have brought this species back from the brink of extinction. Now, the country of Brazil even pictures a golden lion tamarin on the currency—that’s progress!

Today’s conservation efforts focus on working with people to protect Brazil’s tropical forests to make sure the tamarins continue to have a home. The DWCF has helped support long-term conservation efforts to protect these forests and to develop public education programs that reach millions of people in rural communities and in the largest cities of Brazil.

And, as you’ll see in this new video, the DWCF, along with Disney’s Friends for Change, has helped The Golden Lion Tamarin Association engage the next generation of conservationists — Brazil’s young people — to protect the tamarin.

This is truly a program that we can all be so very proud of, as people in Brazil have rallied to protect this amazing animal for the future.

Did you know?

• Golden lion tamarins measure only about a foot from the top of their heads to the base of their tails and weigh little more than a pound.
• These small monkeys live high atop the canopy of the rainforest, where they can leap from branch to branch with amazing agility as they forage for food.
• They live in family groups of 2 to 8 individuals, and all individuals in the group assist in the rearing of the newborn tamarins.

 
Check out these other posts from the Wildlife Wednesdays series:

• Wildlife Wednesdays: Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund Helps Rescue Animals from Hurricane Sandy and Other Disasters
• Wildlife Wednesdays: Orphaned Gorillas in Africa Under Watchful Care at Rehabilitation and Conservation Center Supported by Disney
• Wildlife Wednesdays: Disney’s Animal Kingdom is Batty about Bats on Halloween and Every Day

Tagged: Conservation, DAK, Video, WDW

Filed: Disney's Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World Resort

In this season of giving, it seems especially fitting to give thanks for the people who tirelessly work to help animals every day. If you have contributed to the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF), you have joined Disney in supporting their noble efforts. The DWCF, with your help, has enabled wildlife conservation projects around the world, but it has also aided animals (and people) in need right here in the US.

We are proud to share that the DWCF recently awarded $250,000 to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), whose animal rescue team rushed to join the effort to save animals after Hurricane Sandy. This grant helped equip a disaster response trailer used by IFAW responders and it will continue to provide immediate resources for disaster response as well as help IFAW to plan for the future by providing training sessions for disaster preparedness globally. The funding for this Animal Rescue and Readiness initiative was provided through DWCF and a collaborative effort with Disney Friends for Change to help the planet by directing the proceeds from the iTunes downloads of several of their popular anthems, including “Rise” and “Send it On.”

Our colleagues at IFAW shared that their Hurricane Sandy rescue team members found that, time and time again, families affected by the storm were more concerned about their pets than they were about themselves — and that they were overwhelmed with relief knowing that their pets were going to be safe thanks to the animal agencies responding to provide care and housing for pets. Thank you, IFAW. It is good to know that animals affected by the disaster are receiving care while impacted families can focus on rebuilding and recovery.

The DWCF has supported IFAW’s efforts for more than 10 years, including the rescue of 20,000 endangered penguins from an oil spill in South Africa in 2000, and support for the animal victims of Hurricane Katrina, the Asian tsunami and the Haiti earthquake.

Check out the posts below for more from the “Wildlife Wednesday” series:

• Wildlife Wednesdays: Orphaned Gorillas in Africa Under Watchful Care at Rehabilitation and Conservation Center Supported by Disney
• Wildlife Wednesdays: Disney’s Animal Kingdom is Batty about Bats on Halloween and Every Day
• Wildlife Wednesdays: Sea Turtles Race to the Finish Line While Their Nests Hatch Near Disney’s Vero Beach Resort

Tagged: Conservation, DLR, WDW

Filed: Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort