ZIMS at Work: Netflix host Latif Nasser visits The Living Desert Zoo to ask, “What is a studbook?”

September 1, 2020
Mary Ellen Amodeo
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Latif Nasser: “Captive breeding programs have successfully brought many species back from the brink, including the Mexican gray wolf, the Arabian oryx, and the California condor.” (Photo: Netflix, “Connected,” Episode One)

Now streaming on Netflix, “Connected” host Latif Nasser visits Species360 member The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens to find out what studbook keepers do, and why it matters for species survival.

This is the first episode of "Connected: The Hidden Science of Everything," in which Nasser travels the world to discover how everyone is connected through science and nature. Watch the full Episode One titled “Surveillance” – or skip to minute 35:00 for the final segment featuring Living Desert Zoo and ZIMS for Studbooks!

Sarah Greeley, Field Conservation Coordinator, and Brigid Randle, Animal Registrar, Living Desert Zoo, talk with “Connected” host Latif Nasser about the role of population management programs in saving species. (Photo: Netflix, “Connected”)

Studbook keepers use ZIMS, he explains, to keep track of over 10 million animals, at over a thousand zoos and aquariums around the world.

“ZIMS is the highest stakes dating app of all, because some of these are endangered species, on the brink of oblivion. But captive breeding programs have successfully brought many species back from the brink, including the Mexican gray wolf, the Arabian oryx, and the California condor. And that’s why Brigid is using ZIMS to match a pair of slender horn gazelles,” he says.