Page 48 - LIN JAN 2022 WEB FILES

by Lee Ann Rottman, Naples Zoo’s Director of Animal Programs

The Giant Armadillo

Conservation

Program Receives

Top Honor

from AZA

he Giant Armadillo Conservation Program
(GACP), a collaboration between Naples
TZoo, Houston Zoo, and SeaWorld Parks
and Entertainment, recently received the William
G. Conway International Conservation Award from the
Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). The award
recognizes exceptional efforts by AZA Institutions, Related
Facilities or Conservation Partner members toward habitat
preservation, species restoration, and support of biodiversity
in the wild. The AZA is the accrediting body for the top
zoos and aquariums in the United States and 12 other
countries.
"There has never been a time when conservation matters
more, as many species are disappearing at an alarming rate.
The commitment and collaboration of these well-respected
zoological organizations - Houston and Naples Zoos and
SeaWorld -- to understand and protect the giant armadillo,
a species so little is known about, is extraordinary. If not for
their work, sadly the giant armadillo would be lost forever,”
AZA President and CEO, Dan Ashe, said.
The giant armadillo is the largest armadillo species in the
world, with a wide distribution throughout South American
habitats. They are rare throughout their range, experiencing
local extinctions in Uruguay and elsewhere. While habitat
destruction, poisoning, and hunting pose major threats to

48 Life in Naples | January 2022