Conservation Speakers

Conservation Speakers

2024

Date: Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Time: 6:30pm-8pm
Speaker: Todd Lehmen
Organization: Wildlife Protection Solutions
Presented at:  Niabi Zoo Discovery Center
Title: Using Technology to Save Species

Register

Date: Tuesday, June 18, 2024. 6:30-8pm
Speaker: Mary Dagg, CEO
Organization: Anne Innis Dagg Foundation
Presented at:  Niabi Zoo Discovery Center
Title: The Woman Who Loves Giraffes: The Legacy of Dr. Anne Innis Dagg

Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2024. 6:30-8pm
Speaker: Dr. Gregory Rasmussen, Executive Director
Organization: Painted Dog Research Trust
Presented at:  Niabi Zoo Discovery Center
Title: Conservation Methods for Saving the Painted Dog

Date: Saturday, April 20, 2024. 10:30am-12pm
Speaker: Travis Livieri, Executive Director
Organization: Prairie Wildlife Research
Presented at:  Niabi Zoo Discovery Center
Title: From the Grasslands to the Zoo: The Importance of Prairie Dogs

Date: Tuesday, February 20, 2024. 6:30-8pm
Speaker: Joel Vanderbush, Curator of Conservation & Education
Organization: Niabi Zoo & Painted Dog Research Trust
Presented at:  Niabi Zoo Discovery Center
Title: Journey to Zimbabwe: A Holistic Conservation Approach

We continue to work on scheduling conservation speakers. Check back monthly to see what upcoming speakers are coming to the Zoo.

Previous Conservation & Science  Speakers

2023

Saturday, April 27-29, 2022
Speaker: Dr. Gregory Rasmussen, Executive Director
Organization: Painted Dog Research Trust
Presented at Niabi Zoo & Augustana College
Title: Conserving Painted Dogs in a Human Dominated Landscape: Fundraising Dinner

2022

Saturday, April 27-29, 2022
Speaker: Dr. Gregory Rasmussen, Executive Director
Organization: Painted Dog Research Trust
Presented at Western Illinois University, St. Ambrose University, & Augustana College

2020

Saturday, March 14, 2020
Speaker: Dr. Gregory Rasmussen, Executive Director
Organization: Painted Dog Research Trust
Title: Protecting the Endangered Painted Dog: Fundraising Dinner

2019

Sunday, December 1, 2019
Speaker: Jennifer Snell Rullman, Assistant Conservation Director
Organization: Snow Leopard Trust
Title: Snow Leopards: A Report from the Field

Sunday, November 10, 2019
Speaker: Brian Ritter, Director
Organization: Nahant Marsh
Title: Wonders of Wetlands

Thursday, October 17, 2019
Speaker: Dr. Elizabeth Ross, Executive Director
Organization: Kasiisi Project
Title: Partnerships provide holistic long-term conservation of chimpanzees of Kibale National Park, Uganda

Thursday, September 26, 2019
Speaker: Aleshia Kenney, Biologist
Organization: USFWS
Title: Native Prairie Restoration: How You Can Be a Habitat Helper

Thursday, August 22, 2019
Speaker: Sarah Nizzi, Biologist
Organization: The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Title: Beetle Banks & Bumble Bees

Sunday, July 28, 2019
Speaker: Dr. Anna Young, Director of Zoo and Conservation Science Program
Organization: Otterbein University
Title: It’s all beak to me: journeys through South Africa to save the Cape parrot

Thursday, June 27, 2019
Speaker: Susie Louis, Creative Director
Organization: Conservation Fusion
Title: Hope for the Wild: Conservation Education in Madagascar

Thursday, May 23, 2019
Speaker: Dr. Kurt & Dr. Jennifer Burnham
Organization: High Arctic Institute
Title: Birds of the High Arctic: 28 Years of Avian Research in Greenland

Tuesday, April 02, 2019
Speaker: Dr. Gregory Rasmussen, Executive Director
Organization: Painted Dog Research Trust
Title: Protecting the Endangered Painted Dog: A Field Report

Thursday, March 21, 2019
Speaker: Vanessa Sage, Assistant Curator
Organization: Figge Art Museum
Title: A Mind and Conscious Akin to Our Own

Sunday, February 17, 2019
Speaker: Dr. Brian Peer, Ornithologist, Professor
Organization: Western Illinois University
Title: Cowbirds, Conservation and Coevolution

Sunday, January 13, 2019
Speaker: Rafael de la Parra, Executive Director, Marine Biologist
Organization: Ch’ooj Ajauil AC
Title: Whale shark conservation through innovative science

2018

Thursday, December 13, 2018
Jennifer Snell Rullman, Assistant Director of Conservation
Organization: Snow Leopard Trust
Title: Snow Leopards: A Report from the Field

Sunday, November 11, 2018
Travis Livieri, Executive Director & Wildlife Biologist, Prairie Wildlife Research
Title: Saving the Endangered Black-footed Ferret

Thursday, October 4, 2018
Ray Wolf, Science & Communications Officer, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
Title: Climate Change – an Ecological Perspective

Thursday, September 6, 2018
Dr. Kira Mileham, Director of Strategic Partnerships, IUCN Species Survival Commission
Title: How Do We Know Which Animals Need Our Help? Working with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for species survival

Thursday, August 9, 2018
Allison Devlin, Research Associate, Panthera
Title: Life of the Jaguar: Studying and Saving the Americas’ Largest Felid in the Pantanal, South America

Thursday, July 19, 2018
Debbie Clemens, Conservation Biologist, Orangutan Outreach
Title: Orangutan Conservation & the Palm Oil Crisis in Indonesia

Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Dr. Kenneth McCravy, Professor of Biological Sciences, Western Illinois University
Title: Bee and Beetle Diversity Studies in Illinois

Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Dr. Gregory Rasmussen, Executive Director, Painted Dog Research Trust
Title: Challenges and triumphs: Protecting the endangered Painted Dog in a human dominated landscape.

Thursday, March 1, 2018
Juan Campos Krauer, DVM, Assistant Professor, Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation, University of Florida
Title: The Gran Chaco of Paraguay: An Animal Paradise at Risk

Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Martha Smith, Extension Educator in Horticulture, University of Illinois
Title: Attract, Observe, & Understand Pollinators

Thursday, February 15, 2018
Dr. Gerald Zuercher, Professor of Vertebrate Ecology, University of Dubuque
Title: Fading into night: the current state of bats in the upper Midwest

Thursday, January 25, 2018
Barbara Todde, Nutritionist, Philadelphia Zoo
Title: Animal Nutrition