The Santa Barbara Zoo has reopened the Richard Block Conservation Hub with a new focus on two endangered Californian species: the western snowy plover and southern sea otters.
The Conservation Hub opened in 2024 as an evolving exhibit meant to refresh itself every two years to highlight the zoo’s conservation efforts. Previously focusing on the California condor and the island fox, the Hub now revolves around the western snowy plover, a tiny shorebird similar to a sandpiper, that the U.S. Endangered Species Act Listing has labeled as endangered. The hub also focuses on southern sea otters, which are considered threatened.
“This really is the realization of being able to translate the work that the zoo has been doing for 25, 26 years into something to be able to share meaningfully with the guests,” said Richard Block, former Santa Barbara Zoo president and Conservation Hub namesake.
The zoo currently has a number of plovers under its care, including 18 hatched chicks, which are kept in a private space on the grounds. The Conservation Hub has partnered with 15 academic and conservation organizations to support the recovery and protection of southern sea otters and western snowy plovers, including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Aquarium of the Pacific, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Hub is decorated to look like a laboratory, displaying an array of interactive stations that simulate plover egg incubation, maps that track otter and plover locations along the coast and information about how locals can contribute to nearby conservation efforts.
Around the Hub, you can also find a touch tank with projections of fish that swim away when you reach for them, a bead-bracelet making station as well as a laptop with a live feed of the otter exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
“Anybody and everybody can help make the planet better,” said JJ McLeod, Santa Barbara Zoo Director of Education. “Whether or not you’re behind a computer analyzing data or re-releasing an incubated animal, or even on a boat counting otters or from the land, it’s all contributing.”
