Finding and addressing real world knowledge and evidence gaps is one of the most meaningful research. I believe in evidence based practice, whether veterinary medicine, conservation, or animal welfare. But sometimes we don’t have enough evidence, we don’t actually know what would be best practice or what impact something or the lack thereof can have. Do reptiles which evolved to hibernate or brumate - go into temporary inactive periods throughout the seasons’ changes - do better if we provide this in human care? Or is it just one of those resource challenges wild animals face and they would happily skip it? We don’t fully understand it. Jean-Paul, our summer intern at Perth Zoo, workes on this. Uncovering poorly understood, but very practical issues is an important way to ensure we can maximise animal welfare and conservation impact, and maintain good health in animals in our care. Well done Jean-Paul, and thanks for the excellent supervisors Harriet Mills, Emily Polla, and Robert Davis! #zoo #conservation #animalwelfare #research #internship
It was a pleasure to attend the DBCA Science Summer Scholarship seminars this morning and to hear about the great research undertaken by the 15 students who participated in the 2023/2024 program. Jean-Paul Coning was supervised by myself, Emily Polla and Dr Rob Davis from Edith Cowan University. He investigated environmental parameters and brumation behaviour for a variety of reptile species, with the aim of providing information to improve welfare outcomes for animals at Perth Zoo. Congratulations, Jean-Paul!
