Reflections Magazine Issue #78 - Spring 2013 | Page 9

Campus Feature

Called the Saipan bridled white-eye, the
native of the Mariana Islands in the northern
Pacific Ocean is an endangered species thanks
to the brown tree snake, introduced to Guam
shortly after World War II. The bird no longer
exists on Guam and is found only on three other
Mariana islands.
Smith, a biology major at SHU, has been
studying the bridled white-eye at the Toledo
Zoo, where nine of the 24 members of the species in captivity live. The goal is to help the birds
successfully reproduce and raise offspring in
captivity, a safeguard in case the species goes
extinct in the wild.
“What I’m focusing on is the captive (bird)
conservation effort,” Smith said.
Smith was invited by Toledo Zoo curator of
birds Robert Webster to present her findings at
an Association of Zoos and Aquariums Avian
Scientific Advisory Group passerine (song bird)
workshop Oct. 12-14, 2012, in Denver, an experience Smith called “really great.”
Smith was an intern at the Toledo Zoo in
summer 2011, stayed on as a volunteer, then
asked if she could do research there. She is focused on what conditions the bridled white-eye
needs to successfully produce offspring that
make it to adulthood. So far, that has not happened with the birds in captivity.
Smith’s main technique has been observation, plus she visited zoos in Louisville, Ky., and
Memphis, Tenn., two of the three other zoos that
have the bridled white-eye. She also conducted
a survey on how the birds are fed, housed and
taken care of at other zoos that either have or
had the birds.
So far, steps taken to help the birds successfully reproduce include providing the right nesting material, simulating the Mariana rainy season
through misting, and now, embarking on a program of breeding crickets, fruitflies, mealworms
and bean beetles to feed the birds.
“If they don’t have the right diet, they’re not
healthy and they can’t reproduce,” Smith said.
Other strategies have been keeping the birds
off exhibit and separating breeding pairs from
the other birds to relieve stress.

Recently, a bird at the Toledo Zoo was discovered sitting on two eggs, Smith said.
Webster said Smith’s contributions have
been important to the zoo, especially providing
the observation that other zoo staff may not have
time to do.
“Olivia has observed things that I never
thought of,” Webster said.
For instance, he said, she observed two hens
with the same male companion sitting on one
nest. That kind of information could be important in the effort to help the birds in the wild.
“Cracking this particular code will take all
the brains we can get, and Olivia has a wonderful
brain,” Webster said.
Smith also is in Siena’s McNair Scholars Program, which helps low-income-first-generation
and minority college students, and which paid
for Smith’s trip to Denver. She was a 4-H member and her family had rabbits, ducks, chickens,
dogs, a parakeet, hamsters and, for a while, a
horse as she grew up, she said.

“I really loved animals,” she said of her decision to study biology.
Patricia Wallace, director of SHU’s McNair
Scholars program, said she sometimes finds
conferences at which McNair students present
research, but Smith’s case was different.
“She was invited by the Toledo Zoo to do
this,” Wallace said. “That’s a whole different level.”
Smith, who will graduate in May 2013, is
applying to medical schools, but she also is considering a career in bird research.
“I think I might be better off going that route
because I’m more passionate about it,” she said.
Smith thinks it’s important that the white-eye
be saved from extinction, particularly since it was
humans who introduced the snake that almost
wiped it out in its natural environment.
“I think it’s important we take responsibility
for it,” she said. u

Reflections Spring ’13

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