Dr. Corinne Kendall gave an outstanding presentation for Roots and Shoots. She is the Assistant Curator of Conservation and manages NC Zoo-based research programs, but has done extensive work in Africa with African Elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, and her speciality: the African Vulture. She described African Vultures as the "Soap of the Savannah," since the vultures remove decaying animals and therefore disease. These vultures are facing a 50% decline in population because they are ingesting poison from animals that were killed by pesticides. The solution? Attach a satellite tracker to the vultures in order to monitor them, find the source of the poison, and hopefully eradicate the problem. The trackers send Dr. Kendall messages with the vultures location, so she is essentially texting vultures. Dr. Corinne Kendall not only receives text messages from vultures, but also works in the NC Zoo, which works with species in North America such as Hellbenders and the Pine Barrens tree frog. Radio transmitters are placed on the tree frogs as backpacks to track them as a representative for all amphibians as their surroundings are burned. Further, Dr. Kendall has been involved in research at the zoo such as studies on body composition of elephants and night-time behavior of elephants.

If you are interested in working with Dr. Corinne Kendall, there are internship opportunities at NC Zoo! Email corinne.kendall@nczoo.org for more information.