Projects

Learn About the Zoo's Research Projects

Gombe Field Research
Lincoln Park Zoo is proud to partner with the Jane Goodall Institute on research projects in Gombe Stream National Park. Zoo scientists take advantage of resources that have been established over nearly half a century to study chimpanzee health, play and the mother-infant relationship.

Serengeti Health Initiative
The Serengeti Health Initiative aims to preserve the African region's rich wildlife while benefiting local people. Through wildlife surveillance, vaccination programs, animal conservation projects and research on how wild animals, domestic animals and humans interact, this collaborative effort will build a better understanding of the Serengeti ecosystem, one that can help keep it healthy and whole.

Goualougo Triangle Ape Project
In a remote region of the Republic of Congo, researchers are conducting groundbreaking research into how gorillas and chimpanzees live alongside one another in one of the most pristine landscapes on earth.

Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake Recovery Efforts Habitat loss has caused this shy species to be endangered through much of its range, including Illinois. Lincoln Park Zoo works with partners across the country to guide its recovery.

Restoring the Smooth Green Snake Lincoln Park Zoo is working with the Lake County Forest Preserve District to return the region’s smooth green snakes to their natural habitats.

The Mind of the Chimpanzee: Ecological and Experimental Perspectives Featuring a foreword by Jane Goodall Edited by Lincoln Park Zoo scientists Elizabeth Lonsdorf, Ph.D., and Steve Ross, Ph.D., along with colleague Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Ph.D., the Mind of the Chimpanzee features contributions from 30 of the world’s leading chimpanzee researchers. Exploring topics ranging from tool use to chimpanzee culture, this exciting scholarly volume collects the latest knowledge on our closest living relative.

Urban Wildlife Biodiversity Monitoring Monitoring stations from city to suburbs will help scientists chronicle the wildlife of the Chicago region.

Conserving the Black-Footed Ferret Thought to be extinct, the black-footed ferret was rediscovered 30 years ago, starting a recovery program that's reintroduced 2,000 individuals back to the wild. Now a special partnership between Lincoln Park Zoo and Montana’s Northern Cheyenne Reservation is advancing efforts to bring the species back from the brink.

Rabbit Management Study at Lincoln Park Zoo The zoo’s commitment to finding non-lethal solutions for conflicts between animals and people begins at home.

Urban Black-tailed Prairie Dog Ecology A long-term study to unravel the role of black-tailed prairie dogs in urban ecosystems.

Black Rhinoceros Conservation in Addo Elephant National Park Lincoln Park Zoo scientists are assisting the recovery of endangered black rhinos in South Africa’s Addo Elephant National Park. Black rhinos was nearly driven extinct during the 1990s by habitat destruction and poaching, their population dropping from 65,000 to 2,000 animals.

Protecting the Puerto Rican Parrot Lincoln Park Zoo is lending its population-planning expertise to help the endangered Puerto Rican Parrot continue on its path to recovery.

ZooRisk Developed by Lincoln Park Zoo scientists, ZooRisk assists managers in making scientifically based decisions for animal populations.

Avian Reintroduction and Translocation Database By providing a single source for researchers and wildlife managers seeking information on avian reintroductions and translocations, this conservation resource will enable them to learn from the past to achieve better results in the future.

ChimpDATA Nearly 500 chimpanzees live in sanctuaries across North America. Lincoln Park Zoo scientists have volunteered their expertise to help sanctuaries manage the lifetime care of chimpanzees while planning for a better future.

PMCTrack Zoos across the country cooperate on breeding and transfer plans to ensure healthy populations. In developing PMCTrack, Lincoln Park Zoo scientists have made it possible to evaluate the outcome of every recommendation for the first time—improving population planning everywhere.

Lincoln Park Zoo's Project ChimpCARE There are an estimated 2,200 chimpanzees living in the United States today, more than double the number estimated in their home range country of Tanzania in East Africa. Project ChimpCARE is committed to providing sustainable care for all chimpanzees.

Chimps Should Be Chimps Produced by Lincoln Park Zoo's Project ChimpCARE, this free, interactive iPad children's book shares how chimps should be free to be themselves, from chimp head to chimp toe!

Predicting Capacity for African Ape Sanctuaries Every year sanctuaries across Africa are inundated with orphaned primates from the bushmeat trade. In partnership with the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance, Lincoln Park Zoo scientists analyzed population trends for African sanctuaries, helping these havens plan for future care.

The Impact of Vaccinations on Domestic Dogs Vaccinating domestic dogs in villages surrounding Serengeti National Park protects people, pets and predators from disease. Zoo scientists are now studying how vaccination affects domestic-dog populations—key information for planning future campaigns.

PopLink PopLink is a computer program developed by Lincoln Park Zoo scientists to track data on individual animals over their lifetimes and use that data to help their management.

Ethically Managing Free-Roaming Cat Populations The Urban Wildlife Institute and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are studying methods to effectively—and ethically—manage free-roaming cat populations.

The Outcomes of Wildlife Relocation Translocation is a common technique for managing human-wildlife conflict. Yet little is known about what happens to “nuisance” animals upon release. Lincoln Park Zoo is collaborating with the University of Illinois to study woodchuck translocations throughout the region, building a better understanding of translocation's effectiveness as a solution.

Ape Conservation Database
Although public concern for ape conservation is growing, no central clearinghouse exists for information about conservation projects and research sites. To help fill this gap Lincoln Park Zoo designed and maintains a comprehensive “Ape Conservation Database,” which organizes data on everything from scientific research projects to surveys of ape habitats.

Tarangire Elephant Modeling
This project focuses on analyzing and modeling the demography of the elephant population in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania, which has been studied since 1993 by Charles and Lara Foley. In collaboration with the Foleys, Lincoln Park Zoo scientists have been working to analyze the 10+ years of demographic data collected to document the dynamics of the population, which may be one of the most rapidly growing on record. We have also developed a demographic model to project future population dynamics, which will help assess the potential impacts of management options for the population in the park.

Risk Assessment-Based Decision Tree Analysis for the Management of Avian Mycobacteriosis in Conservation Programs
Infectious diseases can impact the health of individual birds as well as populations in captivity, in the wild or during reintroduction efforts. When the disease is chronic and difficult to diagnose, the situation further worsens. Such is the problem of Mycobacterium avium, or avian mycobacteriosis (tuberculosis). This disease is prevalent worldwide in both captive and wild populations. Once infected, an individual may become sick and die or remain healthy while releasing large amounts of viable infectious organisms into the environment, further spreading disease. Prevention and control are hampered by the lack of reliable testing, which results in an overreliance on slow-growing bacterial cultures for disease confirmation and an inability to effectively treat the disease. All of these factors have made this disease highly problematic for those needing to move animals between zoological institutions. As such, a science-based approach to assessing the risk of this disease is highly needed.

In order to address this need, Lincoln Park Zoo’s veterinary (Kathryn C. Gamble, D.V.M., M.S., Dipl. A.C.Z.M., director of Veterinary Services), conservation (Dominic A. Travis D.V.M., M.S., director of the Davee Center for Epidemiology and Endocrinology), and collection departments (Robyn Barbiers, D.V.M., vice president of Collections and Megan R. Ross Ph.D., interim general curator and Hope B. McCormick Curator of Birds) led the development, with a team of avian managers and veterinarians, of an easy-to-use risk assessment tool useful for all avian species and various collection sizes. Its use encourages managers and veterinarians to jointly fill out a survey in Microsoft Access that results in a “risk grade” for the potential of spreading this disease between housing facilities via the shipment of an individual or group of birds. "Risk grades" are set up in a stoplight fashion, resulting in three categories: red (high risk), yellow (medium risk) and green (low risk), with associated management recommendations. It is important to keep in mind that this tool is not meant to provide THE answer, but should be used as a starting point for discussion.

In order to download the tool and associated materials, click on the links below.  These links include the tool in Microsoft Access format (you must have this software to open it); an instruction manual for installing and using the tool—including how to print and open reports; and three example reports, one for each risk level (these report files are in .snp format and must be viewed through Microsoft Access or opened using Microsoft Snapshot software available separately).

Given that there is no such thing as “zero risk,” we hope this tool is useful for making decisions regarding avian shipments in the face of uncertainty. Please feel free to send feedback to any of the project coordinators listed above at Lincoln Park Zoo.  

Avian Mycobacteriosis Risk Assessment Tool v10.11 (Microsoft Access format)

Documentation and Instructions for v10.11 (PDF)

Risk Level Examples: (Note: the example files are in .snp and require Microsoft Access to be viewed. Right click the links below and choose "Save Target As..." in the popup menu.)

• Red
• Yellow
• Green

Ape Behavioral Monitoring and Space Use Project

Data Standards for Studbook and Institutional Records
In 1997 the zoo received an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to develop data-entry standards for studbook and institutional records. This process brought together 27 experts in mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, and zoo collections to develop data-entry guidelines that have been used for eight years across AZA institutions. Click on the links to download a PDF of the studbook or institutional records standards:
Studbook Standards (1.8MB PDF)
Institution Record Standards (1.1MB PDF)

Investigation of Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Hornbills
The captive population of giant Indian hornbills (Buceros bicornis) consists of only 70 individuals and has experienced seven deaths due to invasive squamous cell carcinoma, a cancer that affects the hornbill’s casque (bill). Lincoln Park Zoo veterinary researchers are working to identify potential causes for this fatal illness by systematically sampling captive populations in the United States and Europe and in in situ populations in Asia.