Dr Jacob R. Owens, PhD
Los Angeles Zoo; Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
I have contributed to programs across the globe on a wide diversity of species, using behavioral ecology research to inform conservation decision-making. For my PhD I performed the first focal study on the ecology and behavior of the Bioko Island drill, a highly endangered monkey found only on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. During my Postdoctoral Fellowship I spent more than five years in China collaboratively developing a release program for giant pandas at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. In 2019, I was hired as the Director of Conservation at the Los Angeles Zoo. In 2021, we launched the first Conservation Strategic Plan (CSP) in the Zoo’s history to grow its conservation impact, including in translocations and human dimensions in conservation.