UPCOMING EVENTS 2019
A free space for the wonders of light and lens, that we leave up to the visitors’ and webpage surfers’ creativity. Share your picture with us, and let it speak for you. Please send the photographs to zoolife@alainzoo.ae
Abu Dhabi 8 NOVEMBER Open Water Swim Abu Dhabi Sailing & Yacht Club
7 - 9 NOVEMBER Taste of Abu Dhabi 2019 DU Arena, Yas Island
21 - 23 NOVEMBER Abu Dhabi Art 2019 Manarat Al Saadiyat Island
27 NOVEMBER - 25 DECEMBER Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019 Yas Marina Circuit
OUR TEAM
Information Security Team Information security is the protection of electronic and non-electronic information from tampering, vandalism or alteration, and any threat such as being accessed by unauthorized persons, by providing the necessary means to protect them from internal and external risks. The information security team works to improve the level of data and system protection in the organization. The team's work is based on confidentiality of information, maintaining its integrity and validation, and promoting the availability of information only to authorized persons. The team also analyzes potential security risks to the organization's systems and information, and finds the best solutions to address or avoid these risks before they occur.
The team seeks to implement global and local information security best practices through the implementation of comprehensive governance programmes. They constantly carry out comprehensive assessments of the security situation comparable to the requirements of the E-Security Authority for the development of plans and objectives for the application of requirements to ensure information security. The team's tasks include raising staff awareness of information security issues so that they can protect critical enterprise information as well as their personal information.
Al Ain 17 - 24 NOVEMBER My Old House: A Cultural Tour Jumaa Bin Rahma Al Darmaki House Hili Oasis
VALID UNTIL 27 DECEMBER Our beautiful Mongoose pokes his head out to explore the source of the sound. It does not intend to be the target of our visitor, but its natural sense of curiosity always wins.
Al Qattara Arts Centre Events Al Qattara Arts
By: Carlo Damalerio
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My Story The silhouette of the hills at a distance caught the early morning sunlight and glistened emerald green. The air was crisp and cool. When the boy took a deep breath, he could almost smell the fresh grass. From where he stood, the view was astounding. His heart filled with happiness. “What a beauty!”, the words came from his mouth without his knowledge. “Not for long, my boy, not for long.”
The Message of Centuries Written by: Jayanth Ramganesh Second winner of story for 11-14 years old category
Startled, he looked around, but could see no one. Fear crawled up his legs like an invisible snake. Suddenly, the pile of leaves near his foot rustled. Out hopped a little bird. Quaint. Like no other bird he had seen in his life earlier. It had wings of the colour of gold dust and a pale blue. Its thin legs resembled twigs from an oak tree. It looked up and bobbed its head, as if beckoning him to sit down. He sat down. The mystical bird hopped on his extended palm without hesitation. The boy winced when it spoke again. “Enjoy the beauty around you now, because it wouldn’t last forever”. The sadness in the bird’s voice squeezed his heart. He felt suffocated. “I’ve never seen a talking bird in my life. Who are you?”, he asked gingerly. “Does it matter? Consider me a messenger. My message is so fragile it could shatter when dropped in an unsteady mind. It is only meant for those who can keep their heart still and listen considerately. I would have to go away if you are not calm”, the little bird warned. The boy took a deep breath. Once again, he could feel his lungs fill up with the sweet smell of the fresh wet air around him. He felt calm. The bird seemed to be satisfied, for it pulled at the boy’s hands with its tiny legs. He was astonished by the power in that pull.
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He stood up and started walking in the direction pointed by the bird. They reached an old tree. A family of squirrels seemed to be playing a little game of hide and seek by jumping in and out of little hollows created by the intertwined gnarled roots of the old tree. Looking at the boy, a big squirrel scurried away with a nut of some kind. “They love their peekaboo game. Sometimes when they hide and return, they don’t see their tree. Innocently, they believe that the tree, their home for years, is also playing peekaboo with them. They do not understand the meaning of deforestation”, the bird said in an accusing voice. “But, sweet little bird, Mankind is also part of nature. He too depends on nature for his survival. Trees have to be cut down if there’s a need, right?”, the boy suggested and immediately regretted it, for the little bird pecked him once on his head angrily. Its angry beady eye glinted silver in the sunlight. “You’re only partly right, but mostly wrong. The birds and animals, the trees and oceans, the sky and air, they are all part of nature, just like you are. But they are different from you as they understand and acknowledge that what nature gives them is a gift. You, on the other hand, only think it is all rightfully yours, and it is nature’s duty to give you what you want.” The bird was squawking angrily now. “Look there” the boy followed the bird, as it took off and flew slowly towards a clump of bushes with pretty yellow flowers. A honeybee flew up from a flower and buzzed away hurriedly. “This honeybee, it took honey from the flower, and is now doing its return favour - of spreading pollen from the flower for the flower’s benefit. And the flower itself, is dependent on the bee. It gives what it has before taking something in return. Even predators like lions and tigers do not kill when they are not hungry. The vulture eats too but it finishes off what the lion leaves behind. No fresh hunting.
Every other life form on this Earth know their place, and work to fit themselves in perfectly. They work hard to keep the cycle of life going. But are you humans like that? You want, and you take. Worse, you take more than you need. You never give back. You are destroying everything around you and you are getting yourself destroyed. Aren’t you?” glared the bird. The boy was speechless. He nodded silently. “But you were not always like this. There was a time when trees, animals and birds outnumbered Man. Man was sent to this world with the message that he was to subordinate nature. He understood. He treated the Earth with respect, and thanked nature every time he satisfied one of his needs with the gifts that it gave him. Everything was perfect, you know, the way things should be. Slowly, at some point of time, he lost that message - that clarity that nature is the supreme power. He wanted to be supreme. That’s when he started wreaking havoc. Like the naughtiest child in the family who no one can control. He has never stopped his tantrums since then”, the bird’s voice brimmed with sadness. “I picked up the message that he dropped. I’ve been chasing him for hundreds of years, trying to pick an ear into which to drop it. Such a long time. I’ve almost lost hope”, the bird looked at him with imploring eyes and without waiting for an answer, hopped behind a pile of windswept leaves. The boy bent down hurriedly to touch the little bird reassuringly. “You have opened my eyes, little bird. I have picked up the message, and I promise you that I will spread it. I promise that it won’t get lost again” But the bird was gone. A dry leaf crackled at his touch. When he lifted his hand, all he could see was a shimmer of golden dust on his fingertips. He saw in it, a promising future.
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the observer
experiences
Zoo Run
The Hippo & Crocodile Underwater Exhibit This is the first water exhibit hosted at Al Ain Zoo, featuring our hippo family of four: Jana, Bruno, Bijie and Johnny. Visitors can head to the enclosure in the African World Desert to enjoy watching them dive into the depths of the warm water pool, estimated at 740 cubic meters, equivalent to 195,000 gallons of water.
Cultural Hub at Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre - Al Ain Zoo
This family is an endangered animal found in many African countries such as Angola, Uganda, Zambia, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the Central African Republic, Gabon, and Zambia.
and the right habitat, as well as comprehensive health care provided by veterinarians and specialists in the field of animal welfare. Visitors can become acquainted with this family of four and absorb valuable information about them through the stories told by their caregivers every Friday and Saturday. Visits can be booked by contacting the Zoo call centre.
The Zoo provides a five-star environment for the hippos to ensure the highest standards of care for these amazing animals by providing diverse food 6 | ZooLife, Al Ain Zoo | November 2019
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At Our Zoo
The Steppe Eagle The Steppe Eagle is a bird of prey from the Accipitridae family. It had formerly been classified as a Tawny Eagle, but the species was split into two different types because of anatomical differences between them. Some molecular studies on the genes of these eagles have found them to be two distinct and separate species.
Habitat
Food
The Steppe Eagle breeds from Romania to Mongolia via the south Russian and Central Asian steppes. It has two migratory patterns, with the European and Central Asian birds wintering in Africa and the eastern birds in India. The female will lay 1–3 eggs in a stick nest in a tree and they prefer open dry habitats such as desert, sub-desert, plains or savannah.
The basic food for the Steppe Eagle is carrion, but it may also catch rodents and small mammals up to the size of a wild rabbit, as well as other birds. They have been known to catch birds as large as a partridge and will also steal food from other predatory birds.
Characteristics The Steppe Eagle is a huge bird, larger than the Tawny Eagle, with brown upper parts, feathers, a pale throat and a black tail. It also has a ‘crop’ adjacent to the giblets in the throat, which enables it to store food for several hours before digestion. It has a cry that resembles a crow, but is generally a silent predator. Immature birds are less contrasting in feather colour than adults are, but both have a variety of hues and shades. The Steppe Eagles of the Eastern Plains are larger and darker than the European and Central Asian varieties.
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Conservation Steppe Eagles are Endangered and declining in the wild due to habitat loss, persecution and collision with power lines.
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ANTI-DISCRIMINATION/ANTIHATRED LAW In July 2015, The UAE issued a law on combating discrimination and hatred, which aims to protect everyone in the UAE and thus raise the concept of social security to a new level. The law is intended to provide a solid legislative basis to create an environment of tolerance and acceptance. It aims to fight discrimination against individuals or groups based on religion, caste, doctrine, race, colour or ethnic origin. The law criminalizes any acts that trigger religious hatred
The law prohibits any entity or group established specifically to provoke religious hatred and recommends stringent punishments for groups or supporters of any organizations or individuals that are associated with hate crimes. The law encourages anyone involved in any activity that violates the law to submit themselves voluntarily before the authorities and has provisions allowing the courts to waive penalties in such cases.
and/or insults religion through any form of expression, which covers speech and the written word, books, pamphlets or online media. The law prohibits any act that would be considered as insulting God, his prophets or apostles, or holy books, houses of worship or graveyards.
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Instagraming
Conservation
DNA Research
Ensuring genetic purity and health quality of animal groups In 2010, Al Ain Zoo launched an important and ambitious project to research the genetics of its animal populations in collaboration with its partners in wildlife genomics laboratories. The DNA research has 2 goals: First: to measure the genetic diversity of breeding groups of conservation priority species. Inbreeding, when animals in a breeding group are closely related to each other,, can cause health challenges such as increased neonatal mortality, lack of fertility, anatomical defects or lack of tolerance for environmental changes. Animals that are unrelated or genetically different therefore have greater value in efforts to conserve endangered species. Population management and selective exchanges with other zoos and breeding centres is required to keep inbreeding to a minimum. To achieve this, the Zoo has analyzed the DNA of conservation priority species in order to obtain preliminary information on the level of interbreeding and genetic diversity, leading to the best breeding and exchange plans of animals.
investigated to see if they are different genetically. If not, there is no need to continue managing the subspecies separately. This can be important to endangered species with already very small populations. Animals that have had DNA research carried out Al Ain Zoo used DNA analysis to investigate cases of species in different groups of animals in their populations, including giraffes, wolves, jackals, and leopards. As an example of the success of the programme, research showed that the giraffes in Al Ain Zoo are theRothschild type and not, as previously thought, Nubian giraffe. The Zoo was thus able to make sure that its animals were categorised as the right species in order to help preserve their genetic purity. The proposed subspecies of both the dama gazelle and the sand cat have been investigated for genetic differences. The sand cat research was published in 2019.
Second: Identification, taxonomy and genetic purity of some species.
alainzoouae
Never mind, our Meerkat is sitting here just being the perfect cutie he is!
Some species are divided into different types, or subspecies, based on their their form or geographical origins. In breeding programmes for endangered species, it is important to ensure that animals added to the breeding programme are genetically pure and not hybrids. Also, the proposed subspecies can be
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Our Experts Reading about philosophy and religion is my enduring pleasure - sewing and drawing help me relieve stress
Fatima Al Kaabi: “Al Ain Zoo was the first place to welcome veterinary graduates where I worked with a wonderful and helpful team” “Things happened by chance when my family were not keen to let me attend the Faculty of Medicine. Instead, I joined the Faculty of Food and Agriculture where there was no veterinary medicine department. A year and a half after my enrollment in the college, the veterinary medicine department was opened in 2013, and after some deep thinking, I decided to study veterinary medicine.”
This was the beginning of the story of the first challenge faced by Fatima Obaid Al Kaabi, Veterinarian
Assistant
at
the
Life
Sciences
Department, who joined the Al Ain Zoo family recently with a strong ambition to excel. Fatima graduated from the UAE University as part of the first class of Veterinary Medicine at the College of Food and Agriculture, which was made up of only 16 students. "I thought I was destined for human medicine, but social norms prevented this because medicine is an arduous profession that requires extra
time, shifts and emergencies," she says. But you are still in the same career framework, regardless of whether it is human or veterinary! A beautiful thing happened that made me confident of my decision. When I went on an internship trip to Hungary, I took many pictures and videos to send to my family and they were following what I was doing. This way their attitude changed and they became supporters of me. What is the story of traveling to Hungary? It was a training course within graduation requirements, and was organised outside the country due to a lack of local institutions that included this sector. We joined the University of Budapest for 6 months, during which 14 | ZooLife, Al Ain Zoo | November 2019
we learned to deal with domesticated and dangerous animals. Just a month after graduation, Al Ain Zoo was one of the first institutions to welcome and encourage us. We applied for employment and joined Al Ain Zoo where we found a wonderful and extremely helpful team.
Are you an animal lover?
Isn't it a hard profession?
I was afraid of animals and my maximum dealings
When the work is fun, we humans forget the hardship, but I learn something new every day and do not feel the time pass or become fatigued, perhaps because I do not like routine and administrative work, but I find my pleasure in all of my work.
had been with small birds and cats, but the divine will wanted to prepare me to join this field and I found myself dealing with the fiercest wild animals comfortably and confidently.
What about your special interests and hobbies? Are there words that describe animals after this shift in your life? Animals have diverse worlds and kingdoms, but despite this diversity, they are gentle and peaceful beings. All we have to do is master them according to their nature. They send us signals that some do not understand, and speak to us in their own way. I have learned much from them, including patience, courage and the ability to overcome the fears that are often generated within us but have no basis in reality.
After this profound description of the nature of animals, what do you remember most from their situations with you? One of the most memorable situations is the moment I attended the difficult birth of a giraffe. I put her head in my lap to relieve her, and in one second, she almost hit me with her head, so I learned to always pay attention and be cautious. I also remember the first time a snake jumped at me when I was treating it, and then I knew when and how the animals reacted to us. It is a world that requires caution and love at the same time.
I love to read a lot and I select what I read, especially in the field of philosophy, religion and self-development. I also get stress relief and calmness from sewing and painting. Did you know that you are the second national veterinarian to join the zoo after the employee who joined in 1994? It's a big responsibility, are you ready to carry it? I am honoured to be so. I would not have joined this field without my abilities and desire to practice this rare and highly regarded profession. I am fully prepared to provide a model for the determined Emirati women who can make Al Ain Zoo proud. I like to tell all the women that nothing is impossible as long as you trust God, then everything becomes facilitated and the difficulties fade away on their own.
What is the nature of your work? I examine the animals clinically and conduct postmortems if necessary to find the causes of their deaths and to understand the types of diseases transmitted between animals, which can be shared with humans to avoid and prevent them in the future. I also have to help maintain the safety of the veterinary team and animals alike, in addition to being a pharmacist, performing surgical operations, and doing my daily rounds to inspect the animals.
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MEDIA
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!استمتع بالتلوين
Colour me!
الغذاء األساسي لعقاب السهوب هو اجليف )(احليوانات امليتة
أوريجامي
Origami
The basic food for the Steppe Eagle is carrion.
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