Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and 21 other aquariums from across the country, which form the Aquarium Conservation Partnership (ACP), have already eliminated five million straws (and counting) in a coordinated campaign to reduce sources of plastic pollution. Together, they are encouraging individuals, businesses and cities worldwide to cut back on single-use plastics, starting with plastic straws, by Earth Day 2019 in their latest movement, the #FirstStep campaign.

The public can their first step by texting "TURTLE" to 49767 and dive into the seven-day plastic-free challenge, as well as visit pledge.ourhands.org to discover their impact.

Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and Zipline Brewing Company have partnered to bring you the Zoo Brew Series, four limited-edition beers with a focus on the conservation efforts of four different animal species: the red panda, African elephant, rockhopper penguin and snow leopard. Proceeds from the Zoo Brew Series will directly support conservation efforts around the globe.

Red Panda Wheat, brewed with red wheat and bamboo shoots (a favorite food of red pandas) launched in July 2018. African Elephant XPA, an extra pale ale, is brewed and dry-hopped exclusively with Southern Star hops from South Africa. African Elephant XPA became available in September of 2018. The two remaining brews will arrive in 2019.

Dr. Jason Herrick, our director of reproductive sciences, spent time in South Africa with the Black-Footed Cat Working Group, a small international team of scientists dedicated to studying and conserving the black-footed cat, a little-known and feisty cat species. Herrick serves as the reproduction advisor for the Felid Taxon Advisory Group and the black-footed cat, sand cat, snow leopard and tiger Species Survival Plans.

He and other biologists have been working together in the field through radio-collar studies and collecting sperm samples in the hopes of increasing the population of this vulnerable species.

The Zoo's Salt Creek Tiger Beetle conservation program started off producing around 30 beetles per year. Today, that number has increased to more than 700. Since its inception, about 5,000 beetle larvae have been produced from the Berniece Grewcock Butterfly and Insect Pavilion, which has helped the adult population more than double since 2014 and remain stable at 370 individuals in the last two years. 2018 was another successful year for the program with 750 larvae produced from beetles that eclosed (emerged as an adult from a pupa) in the Zoo’s lab. These beetles will play a vital part in future releases and pairings. About 100 adult beetles were released into the saline wetlands with their wild counterparts in summer 2018.

Wild tiger populations have been declining to dangerously low numbers due to extinction threats like human conflict and poaching for the illegal wildlife trade. To save this cherished animal, numerous efforts approach the problem from every angle, from protecting tigers in their natural habitat, to ensuring there is enough stored genetic material to protect the species. Contributing to the second part of the equation, the Zoo, in partnership with the Association of Zoo and Aquariums’ Tiger Species Survival Plan (SSP), has created a new Tiger Breeding Center in Omaha and has been selected to participate in the Tiger Genome Project.