Zoos provide a great opportunity for people to learn about and connect with animals they may otherwise never see. In particular, zoos may be the only chance to see some international species up close, a very different experience to watching them on TV. These ambassadors for their wild cousins provide a connection for people to learn about the challenges facing the species, and what they can do to help.

In an effort to better focus Zoos SA's international conservation efforts, five ecosystem areas, that provide protection to a range of species, have been selected for our support. These projects will allow Zoos SA to make a real difference, not only to specific species but whole ecosystems and human communities.

Recently, the world's attention has been shone on northern Sumatra where conservation organisations are currently fighting to save the last remaining Sumatran Orangutans and the forest of the Tripa peat swamps, in the Aceh Province Indonesia. The Tripa forest once held the largest orangutan population density in the world but the critically endangered species is now facing local extinction. If you aren't already aware of what is happening, the Tripa forest is being converted for large scale palm oil plantations. But the legality of this forest conversion is being contested in a high profile legal case as much of the forest clearing has been done illegally as has the burning of the land and the illegal establishment of huge drainage canals that will drain this unique and critically important wetland of its principal life force.

Please help save my wild cousins!

As a PhD research candidate I am often asked why I chose to study Painted Dogs. To answer this I must first go back to 2008 where I was involved in a collaborative project between Flinders University and Zoos SA on deploying satellite GPS collars on feral camels in the Gibson Desert. It was here listening to the howl of wild dingoes around a campfire that the plight of Africa's second most endangered carnivore was discussed. With a long-standing interest in carnivores, the seed for developing a project on this lesser known but important canid had been planted.

Pacifiers, plastic bags, dinosaurs, necklaces, pencils, maps and footballs are just a few of the items that have dropped into the Australian Sea Lion exhibit at Adelaide Zoo but none of these have proved as bad for our sea lions health as much as the simple coin. A coin is such an unassuming item but sitting at the bottom of a pool can look like a shiny little fish to an inquisitive sea lion and this is exactly what our male Australian Sea Lion "Tasko" thought.

Did you know Tasmanian Devils patrol an area in a large figure of eight pattern in the wild? And so, with a little poetic license, the legend of the Looney Tunes cartoon character, Taz, spinning around from place to place, was born.