Finding the most interesting animal in the Bronx Zoo is one tall order. Cheddar News Senior Reporter Michelle Castillo is hanging out with some of the zoo's biggest stars to find out more about their conservation efforts.

<div class="block">Finding the most interesting animal in the Bronx Zoo is one tall order. Cheddar News Senior Reporter Michelle Castillo is hanging out with some of the zoo&#39;s biggest stars to find out more about their conservation efforts.</div>
<div class="block">
</div>

On the Scene: How the Bronx Zoo Is Helping Conservation 

Welcome back to need to know. I'm Hannah Do and I'm Christian Scher. The Bronx Zoo is one of New York City's must visit locations home to over 10,000 animals from more than 700 different species. Jetter News, senior reporter Michelle Castillo is on the scene to get a first hand look. Good morning, Michelle. Good morning. Yes, we're here at the 125 year old Bronx Zoo in one of the newest exhibits. I'm here with director Jim Braham, who's going to tell me a little bit more about where we are at. So we're at Budgie Landing. Yes, Michelle, we're in Budgie Landing this morning. This is the newest exhibit that we have at the Bronx Zoo. It's an immersive exhibit where you're actually in this space with all these budgies. So we have over 1000 budgies here. Now, people are used to having or seeing budgies like in cages in their living room or in pet stores and whatever, but very few people get to see them in this kind of space in this kind of numbers and in an area that mimics the natural habitat that they would be found in, in Australia they're flying all around us. So, how many budgies are actually here in this? We have, we have over 1000. I mean, it, it's hard to count but there's over 1000 in here. And if you look into the trees, it's not hard to imagine that that number is real, I think. And now are they all the same type of budgie or are they different? They're all the same, they're all the same species. And, you know, the first import of budgies from Australia was in the 18 hundreds. And all the wild color budgies are all green. So if you look, you'll see some dark green budgies with yellow heads. The wild color. There's one right there, right? All these different colors, the white, the y the blue, the pieds, they're mutations. So, because they've been bred, you know, domestically for so many years, the breeders have selected for these colors. So that's what produces all these different colored birds, but they're all the same species. All right. So I'd love to get up close and personal with what I think we can do that. Try to find one. I think it'll probably be more than one of them, more than one. Ok. Let's try those. Take a stick. OK. And if you turn around to these guys behind you, oh, you already got 11, once one starts, it's not unusual for others to join in. Now, what exactly are we feeding? Them. This is just basically their regular diet of seed, which is kind of glued to this stick. So, you know, this is the newest exhibit here and you guys were shut down a little bit because of the wildfires. Sure. So, are you guys back up and running again? Is that still a concern about the air quality? Well, we're always concerned about the air quality, both for our animals and for our visitors, But the air quality has been much better than it was that time. You know, those bad two days, a couple, a couple of weeks ago, we did shut down for a day and a half because we brought all our animals inside and we really didn't want visitors coming to the park and themselves walking around. So we closed all the zoos on the aquarium for that day and a half to very unpopular right now. I don't know what the deal is. He take this, I'll take this guy. Here you go. Oh, now you want that one. Ok. I see how it is. You just like kids. Everybody want what the other one has. Maybe the stick is more than the other one. Now, I mentioned that it's 125 years old. What are the plans for the next 100 years here at the Bronx Zoo? You know, our plan is to keep going from the very beginning. We've worked to serve animals and the places that they live and we've become more and more determined to complete that mission, especially as more and more of the wild has disappeared. And unfortunately, a lot of species that we exhibit here in the Bronx Zoo are facing real challenges in the wild, mostly because of the negative effect of human activity. You know, population growth, farming, mining, logging, all these things affect habitat and that's what we're working to do, preserve species and the places where they live and our job is only going to be more important in the next 100 years. Well, now we're, now we're both, we're all very popular. Now, one more question about these budgies, as you mentioned, they are normally a house pet. Is that ok to have them as house pets? That's a great question. Actually, that's one of the messages that we have here. We think it's ok for people to have birds as pets as long as they make responsible choices. And budgies are, they're a species of parrot. They're a parakeet, but they're not terribly long lines. They live 8 to 10 years. So you're not making a lifelong commitment like you are with some of the larger birds and they're all domestically bred. So you're not importing animals from the wild, you're not affecting wild populations negatively and you're basically assured of getting a healthy bird because they're bred by specialized breeders. So, budgies are a responsible pet. Well, we're going to go from budgies to some of the tallest inhabitants here at the Bronx. So stay tuned because we're going to get up close and personal with a giraffe. Very cool. Michelle. We'll see you in a few moments. I kind of want a parakeet now, by the way, Kristen in a few. When we see Michelle again, she'll be in the giraffe. Um I guess enclosure. So that's very exciting as well. Look at those thing that I've ever seen on TV. I love nature, Hanna and those birds, Michelle, you, you got it made. I don't know, she can hear we are jealous of her assignment today for sure. We'll see you in a little bit. Michelle. Welcome back to need to know everyone I'm do and I'm Christine Scher. Finding the most interesting animal in the Bronx Zoo is one tall order T news, senior reporter Michelle Castillo is hanging out with some of the zoo's biggest stars to find out more about conservation efforts. Hey, Michelle, hey, I'm here in the day relay giraffe encounter. I'm here with director Jim Bray of the Bronx Zoo. So tell me more about these giraffes that we have behind us. So these are, these are herd of female. We have five of them out here and the youngest is this little one over here, Ari who is about a year and a half. I have to say we've been here for a little bit and they are definitely not full yet. They will continue to eat. Listen, giraffe are known to eat all day long. They just spend most of their waking hours browsing. So they'll eat pretty much as long as we'll stay here and feed them. So, tell me a little bit more about the draff encounter. Is this a way that people can get close to the animals? Yes, we offer a series of encounters at the Bronx Zoo and it's basically a way for people who are really interested in animals to get up close and personal with animals and these kind of intimate encounters and learn a lot more about them from the people who care for them than you would just on an or zoo visit. Now, I understand that giraffes are vulnerable. So we hear about endangered all the time. What does vulnerable mean vulnerable is just, it's a category, it's a category of classification which means they're not, they're not really threatened, they, they're not in danger, but people are watching to see how they go. And unfortunately, giraffes like so many other species are subject to habitat loss and other negative impacts on their environment mostly caused by human activity. So poaching over hunting habitat loss, all that really affects wild population. So you do a lot of conservation efforts here at the Bronx Zoo. What can people do at home or to help support animals? Yes, I mean, you know, it sounds, it sounds crazy, but the best thing people can do is support organizations like WCS who actively work to preserve animals, not only preserve animals, but save the land in which they live in the wild. So, you know, we are, we are boots on the ground efforts in over 50 countries around the world working to save animals, the species and the areas where they live. So actually a visit to the Bronx Zoo, if you come to the Bronx Zoo to the central park zoo, the aquarium, it's actually an act of conservation because you're supporting our parks, you're supporting our mission and you're supporting our work. Now, I would be remiss if I don't mention it's actually National Zookeeper Week and we actually have Leah with us who's providing the vows to keep these animals here. So if you want to be a zookeeper or learn more about this path of career, be a director, where do you start? You basically start in, in school, you have to be interested in the natural sciences, biology, ecology, things like that. And you also have to get some experience. I mean, most of our keepers come to us with some level of experience working with animals, but you really just have to have the passion and dedication to work with animals here, day in and day out year round, no matter what the weather. I mean, National Zoo Keeper Week is a time every, every year when we just take time to recognize and celebrate all the work that our keepers do I mean, we couldn't do this giraffe feed this morning without Lee's help. Right. We couldn't, we couldn't have the zoo, we couldn't open the zoo, the keepers of the front line, people who care for the animals and make sure that our animals are happy and healthy. So, everything that we do basically is built on the foundation of what the keepers. Now, if you are interested in visiting the Bronx Zoo, what are the hours this summer? Our hours are 10 to 5 Monday through Friday and then 10 to 5 30 on the weekends and holidays. So that's a wrap here from the Bronx Zoo. I'm going to hang out with these guys a little bit longer. Get some. It's about how to look so slim and model que. But back to you guys in the studio, it's that long neck Michelle I think helps with the model. I know. Did you see the tongue? The neck is really great. The tongue Michelle? Oh my gosh. She's got a great shot of that. All those take another branch because I'm, I'm gonna grab another branch because they are very hungry this morning. But as as you said, they will eat constantly and I could probably stay here all day if you guys would let me, they're so graceful. But you know, I lost, I don't know if you noticed I lost the branch at one point. I had to get it back. So we're sharing, we're sharing between these two. It looks like a tug of war almost. They've got a big grip for sure. I could watch this all day. Such a cool assignment. Michelle Casio at the Bronx Zoo. Thank you so much.