Thank you to all those who participated
in our 2023 Evening Lectures Series.
Stay tuned for our 2024 Lineup next year! 

All Evening Lectures will take place in Person on grounds at Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo Hanson Building and Virtually over Zoom unless otherwise noted. 

Registration is $10/lecture.
Stay tuned for the 2024 Lineup! 

RIZE: Animal Observation

Fairfield University’s U RIZE program students in conjunction with Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo are studying zoo animal behavior. Students studied leopard calls, behavior in red wolves, breeding behavior in white-naped cranes, and aggression in trout, among other topics. 

watch the lecture here

The Bear Reality
​Felicia Ortner, CT Master Wildlife Conservationist

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Bears have become victims of misunderstandings, fueled by media, literature, and word of mouth. The population of black bears has increased in Connecticut over the last four decades and will continue to grow. This program will share information on the American black bear, the state’s only resident species in the wild, to improve our understanding and tolerance and reduce conflicts with our wild bear neighbors. 

Watch the lecture here

Horseshoe Crab Monitoring,
Jo-Marie Kasinak, M.S.

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Sacred Heart University Biology Professor Jo-Marie Kasinak will present Project Limulus: a community-based research study examining the ecology of the Long Island Sound horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) population. “Horseshoe crabs are a foundational species for their ecosystem. They are invaluable to human health, because their blood is used to make Limulus amebocyte lysate, which tests vaccines and other medical devices to ensure they are not contaminated with bacteria. Anyone who has received a flu shot or a COVID-19 vaccine can thank horseshoe crabs,” says Kasinak. 

watch the lecture here

Hooked on Killifish!​
Andre Carletto, Marine Biologist

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Killifish are a group of small, colorful freshwater fish that are native to various regions around the world. These fish have several interesting characteristics that make them unique in the animal world, but also very vulnerable to changes to their habitat, with several species being critically endangered or already extinct in the wild. Join us in learning more about this amazing fish group.

Olympic Cougar Project 
Kurt Zias, Panthera Field Technician

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Cougars on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State may be threatened by genetic isolation as highways and housing development rapidly expands in the region. Panthera, a non-profit research organization, is collaborating with several tribal partners across the peninsula to help better understand the risk of population fragmentation to cougars, also widely known as mountain lions or pumas. Since 2018, this group has led a large-scale effort to track cougar dispersal, identify potential blockages in wildlife corridors and recommend future policy changes to make highways more friendly to wildlife. Join Kurt Zias, a field technician with Panthera, as he shares his experiences working with the Olympic Cougar Project, including close-up encounters with the cats themselves.

Watch the lecture here

 Vampire Bats
Miranda Dunbar SCSU Biology Professor 

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Southern Connecticut State University Biology Professor Miranda Dunbar will present a lecture on vampire bats. According to Professor Dunbar, bat saliva has medicinal properties, specifically, those of the vampire bats (not found in Connecticut). As blood suckers, they require an anticoagulant in their saliva. It’s a glycoprotein known (funnily enough) as draculin, which prevents clotting in the blood of their prey. And it’s something that could have applications for medications. “What we can’t see scares us, and bats, being nocturnal animals, aren’t often seen,” Dunbar says. “There are so many wives’ tales, and so few of us who study bats to correct these myths.”

watch the lecture here

"The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans."
-Jim Fowler