BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – January 27, 2022 – Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo invites residents to become Citizen-Scientist volunteers and participate in a “FrogWatch” census in area wetlands. In a collaboration between the Zoo, The Maritime Aquarium, and Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History, volunteers will make regular visits to wetlands in their neighborhoods and keep a frog log to record the frog and toad calls they hear. Working with experts, volunteers will learn about local frog species, then visit wetlands once or twice a week for about 15 minutes each night this spring and summer. 

​BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – January 21, 2022 – Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo is pleased to announce the results of its “Name the Baby Giant Anteater” contest, giving voters a choice of three names: Chili, Andarilho, and Corajosa. Animal care staff chose the prospective names, all South American names or terms to honor and describe the new female giant anteater. Female giant anteater Pana and male E.O. are the proud parents of their third offspring, born June 15, 2021. 

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – January 13, 2022 – Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo announced today an opportunity for the public to choose a name for the female baby Giant anteater born on June 15, 2021. In December, the Zoo received verification from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Anteater Advisory Group that the Giant anteater pup is a girl. Voters can go to the Zoo’s website at www.beardsleyzoo.org and choose from three names selected by the anteaters’ animal care staff. Voting begins on Thursday, January 13 and ends at noon on Friday, January 21.
 
The proposed names are: 

• Andarilho: Portuguese for “wanderer”
• Corajosa: Portuguese for brave, bold, valiant
• Chili: A small hot-tasting pod of a variety of capsicum, used in sauces and relishes.

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – December 22, 2021 – Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo received a $8,000 grant from United Illuminating under Connecticut’s Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credit program.

​The funding will help the Zoo’s Greenhouse Energy Conservation Project.
 
In 1969, an Ickes-Braun greenhouse was erected on the north side of the potting shed at the Zoo.  Since that time, vast improvements have been made in the way of greenhouse construction materials that reduce energy consumption and optimize the efficiency of a greenhouse. A new thermally enhanced greenhouse will allow for efficiency in environmental controls including heating, cooling, and water irrigation.  This upgrade will reduce temperature variations, will cause less stress on rare plant species, and will enable the Zoo to diversify its collection.

​BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – December 16, 2021 –Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo has received verification from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Anteater Advisory Group that the Giant anteater pup born on June 15 is a girl. Giant anteaters, unlike most mammalian species, are not easy to sex from their body size, color, and external genitalia. That the baby’s gender is female is welcome news for the species, as the population in Giant anteaters is skewed more heavily toward males than females.