You may remember the exciting news about The Wilds joining five other partners to form the American Institute of Rhinoceros Science (AIRS) in the fall of 2021. This multi-disciplinary, multi-institution effort – funded by a three-year National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) – is focusing on high-priority research questions addressing the health and well-being of rhinos in human care. 

The project’s Operations Manager, Dr. Parker Pennington, started work at The Wilds in early 2022. She brings several years of post-doctoral experience as a rhino reproductive physiologist to our programs. One of her first tasks is to work through the project checklist with our staff to determine which parts of the project would involve the animals in our care. As we had hoped, our team and our rhinos will be participating in almost every aspect of the project. 

One of our first jobs at The Wilds is to help work out any challenges in the research methods before the project expands to other zoos. We have already hosted two teams from other AIRS partners this spring. These groups have been strategizing the best ways to take measurements and make observations, and have started to train students that will fulfill the work at other zoos. It always proves interesting when the ideas on paper meet the real world. Placing a fitness tracker on a rhino is a great idea to collect activity levels and show how the rhinos use their habitat space. A team from one of our AIRS partners spent an extended time investigating options for straps, connectors, and electronics to make a custom rhino model. Their prototypes looked great until the rhinos had them out in the mud for a few days. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to work through these kinds of problems before the project goes nationwide. Stay tuned for more AIRS updates as work moves forward.