Amur Leopard North American Initiative
The Amur leopard is the rarest of large cats with only 30 estimated remaining in the wild. In July 2006, the Minnesota Zoo was awarded coordinatorship of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Amur Leopard Population Management Plan which manages captive breeding in North America and is also establishing a North American Amur leopard field conservation effort led by Minnesota Zoo Director of Conservation Dr. Ron Tilson, a world-renowned tiger expert.

Mexican Wolf Reintroduction
In 2006, a female wolf born and raised at the Minnesota Zoo was paired with a male and released with their two pups in the Blue Mountains of Arizona as part of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Mexican wolf reintroduction project. This unique program involves many organizations working together to restore and ensure the survival of the Mexican gray wolf to its historic range in the southwest U.S. and Mexico. The 2006 wild population currently has 59 animals--all with ties to the zoo community in the U.S. and Mexico.

Asian Wild Horse Recovery
Asian wild horses were extinct in the wild by the mid-1970s. Captive breeding in zoos allowed reintroduction projects in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and China, with a stallion from the Minnesota Zoo as one of the founders of the wild population. To continue conservation efforts, the Minnesota Zoo recently provided funds to purchase a GPS satellite radio collar to allow tracking of one of the released horses in collaboration with the Smithsonian National Zoo's tracking project. The Zoo is also in the process of importing mares from Europe to continue captive breeding for future release projects.

Pallas Cat Conservation
The Minnesota Zoo was selected to coordinate the AZA Pallas Cat Species Survival Plan (SSP) which recommends breeding pairs of Pallas cats in the North American population based on genetics. The Zoo also supports a field conservation program that studies the wild population to determine its current level of threat from humans and studies its biology and natural history to help develop sound conservation policy for the wild population. In the summer of 2006, a Minnesota Zoo staff member spent eight weeks in Mongolia developing an education component for the project with the local herdsmen and radio-tracking cats.

Adopt-A-Park - Bowling-for-Rhinos
In 1990, the Minnesota Zoo charted a new course for wildlife conservationists in zoos worldwide by "adopting" an Indonesian National Park. Through this in situ (on location) conservation project, the Zoo provides direct assistance to Indonesian forestry rangers in their efforts to better manage and protect their national parks. In 2006, the American Association of Zoo Keepers (AAZK), through their fund-raising program called "Bowling for Rhinos," awarded $47,055 to the Zoo's Adopt-A-Park program. Since 1996, over $300,000 has been raised by AAZK to support a variety of conservation initiatives for Javan rhinos in Ujung Kulon National Park, Indonesia, the Javan rhino's last refuge. To date, the Zoo’s conservation efforts are working since there have been no reports of Javan rhino poaching in Ujung Kulon.

The Ulysses S. Seal Conservation Grant Program
This small grants program honors a man who inspired the Minnesota Zoo to achieve greatness and is designed to empower staff to participate directly or indirectly in the conservation of endangered species. In 2006, the program awarded $35,010 to projects in 16 countries. From Canadian lynx in Minnesota to Mexican wolves in Arizona; from golden lion tamarins and blue-throated macaws in Brazil to pudu in Chile; from sun bears in Borneo to Blakiston's fish owls in the Russian Far East; and from red ruffed lemurs in Madagascar to cheetahs in Zimbabwe, the Zoo’s conservation dollars had a wide-ranging reach in 2006. The Program has significantly expanded the conservation impact of the Minnesota Zoo and excited Zoo staff about conservation.

Conservation World Tour
Melanie Sorenson, a Minnesota Zoo education interpretive naturalist, took a one-year sabbatical from her position to travel the globe serving as a volunteer with four different conservation projects. She spent eight weeks developing education materials for the Pallas Cat Conservation Project in Mongolia, three months working with a conservation group called AROCHA developing curriculum and community conservation education in Kenya, and three weeks in a rural community on Fiji called Votua Village mapping out nature trails on coral reefs and teaching local guides. She is currently serving in Costa Rica for four months at an eco-lodge outside Monteverde as a naturalist leading conservation tours. She will return to the Zoo in May, 2007, to share her experiences and broaden the Zoo’s education programs.

Wolfquest
The Minnesota Zoo was awarded a $500,000 education grant from the National Science Foundation for the project, "WolfQuest: Learning through Gameplay," developed with eduweb, a leading developer of digital learning experiences based in Saint Paul, MN. Scheduled to launch in December, 2007, WolfQuest (wolfquest.org) brings the immersive, compelling drama and action of video games to informal science learning. The game will immerse players in the life of a gray wolf and through this experience players will develop empathy and understanding of the world that transcends the human perspective.

Fishing Cat SSP Breeding
Five AZA-accredited North American institutions have produced fishing cat kittens in the past three years. Of these, the Minnesota Zoo is the only one to have any surviving kittens produced based on SSP recommended pairings. Because Minnesota's female is from Thailand and a founder for the SSP population, her offspring are extremely valuable to the SSP's genetic diversity. She is expecting a new litter sometime in the next few weeks.

Peregrine Falcon Conservation
Restoring the peregrine falcon to the Midwestern U.S. began when the first captive-bred peregrines were released along the Mississippi River in 1982. The next milestone was met when a single chick, produced in the wild from a pair of captive-bred birds, fledged from a building in downtown Minneapolis in 1987. This was the first peregrine falcon produced, incubated, hatched and fledged from a pair of falcons in the wild, specifically the Midwest, since the 1950's. Success of the program resulted in the de-listing of the peregrine falcon from the Endangered Species list in 1999. Jackie Fallon, Minnesota Zoo Northern Trail keeper, coordinates the monitoring of peregrines in Minnesota for 43 of 52 nesting sites and is responsible for identifying all known adult falcons, confirmation of breeding success, banding of young produced, and collecting biological samples for study.