Inside the Niche
I grew up in the Eastern foothills of San Diego County. It was there that I first contemplated a life among fearsome creatures. It was a fantasy then, as I had no idea that a person could make a living studying wildlife. My model was the archaeologist/explorer who traveled to exotic locations to excavate the remains of dinosaurs. Like many little boys then and now, I was fascinated with dinosaurs. My neighborhood buddies used to go with me to a place called fossil canyon, several miles beyond the most recently built subdivision and into the nearby, undeveloped hills. We hiked to the site clad in army surplus gear and armed with Daisy air rifles, multi-tooled scout knives, and formidable digging implements borrowed from mom's kitchen (soup spoons, strainers, ladles, and such). The limestone canyon walls were alive with fossils, and we brought them home in buckets. Little did we know that fossil canyon was a major discovery just waiting to be acknowledged by the experts.
Long after I graduated from high school, scientists from the San Diego Museum of Natural History interrupted local homebuilders to excavate the site. One of the creatures discovered there was an oreodont, an extinct, massive pig-like beast, 13 million to 16 million years old. It was portrayed as the most significant fossil discovery in the history of San Diego County, but the adventurous children of Chula Vista received none of the credit. On that very site, the museum ought to construct a monument to the little boys who first found it.
San Diego was a wonderful place to spend a childhood. Our main family outings took place at the San Diego Zoo, where my passion for charismatic wildlife was further fueled. There, I first encountered giant snakes, giant tortoises, elephants, hippos, and gorillas. As a boy I was inspired by the Zoo, and it served me well as a working model when I was recruited to service as CEO of Atlanta's zoo in 1984. It is evident to me now that zoos are primarily teaching venues, serving that noble purpose for a lifetime of joyful learning.
When I arrived in Atlanta in 1975, my goal was to develop a research laboratory for the study of great ape behavior. My students and I quickly began to work at the zoo and at the Yerkes Primate Research Center of Emory University, which at that time managed the largest collection of great apes in the world. We now enter our twenty-ninth year of continuous research on the behavior of apes and other creatures. Atlanta is the place where my childhood dreams were realized. There is more to do, of course, but we have surely succeeded in becoming a very unique research group, one of the few units worldwide where students can carry out behavioral research on populations of captive, exotic wildlife. Over the years, we have studied antelope, baboons, bears, bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, elephants, giant pandas, gibbons, giraffes, hornbills, lemurs, lizards and dragons, lions, macaques, mandrills and drills, orangutans, tamarins, tigers, tortoises, and even visitors. Zoos and aquariums are truly goldmines of scientific opportunity.
This Web site is your opportunity to stay in touch with TECHlab (Georgia Tech Laboratory for Animal Behavior), the School of Psychology, and the Center for Conservation and Behavior in the College of Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, one of the world's great universities. We are seeking excellent students to continue the tradition of exotic animal behavior research and to take their place working in universities and in world zoos and aquariums to further the cause of wildlife and ecosystem conservation. Our graduates are already having a big effect on animal management policy, animal welfare, exhibit design, and conservation education.
Come visit us and see if our interests coincide. Thank you for visiting our Web site.
