Recent News

Turtle Hill Golf Club & BAMZ Turtle Project
Wednesday, September 04, 2013

The Fairmont Southampton’s Championship Par 3 golf course, The Turtle Hill Golf Club, is living up to its name. The golf club was rebranded to the current name in October 2012 to portray an authentically local name, and to bring awareness to the sea turtle preservation efforts in Bermuda.


Back to school strategising
Tuesday, September 03, 2013

I love the smell of newly sharpened pencils. Never mind the thrill of buying a new pencil case! I have a bit of a ‘thing’ for stationery but particularly when it’s mixed with the buzz of anticipation that comes with the start of a new year at school.


More Reef Watch teams needed
Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The Bermuda Zoological Society is looking for at least six more volunteer teams to participate in Reef Watch on August 31.


Want to help with reef research? You can still sign up
Wednesday, August 28, 2013

There is still time for volunteers to sign up to this Saturday’s Reef Watch event which will use teams of volunteer citizen scientists to monitor the health of Bermuda’s economically important reef systems.


Countdown To BZS’s “Reef Watch” Event
Monday, August 26, 2013

Excitement is mounting as teams have been registering for the upcoming Reef Watch which will be held on Saturday, August 31.



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Latest News

All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!

Teaching everyone to love toads
Royal Gazette
Monday, March 11, 2013

Published Mar 11. 2013 at 8:00 am
by Nadia Arandjelovic

RG_130311_1a.jpeg
Green giant: Bermuda Zoological Society education officer Jamie Bacon gives a lesson on
identifying beach plants to Berkeley Institute students Ashley Bento, Xhosi Bascome,
Cintronelia Williams and Lorena Rogrigues.
 (Photo by Mark Tatem)

Former biology professor Jamie Bacon quickly discovered that not everyone shared her love of toads.

On the occasion when she’d take live ones into her lectures to use as a learning tool, students responded with screeches.

Their attitudes would change as the lessons progressed. Even years later former pupils would question how ‘Freddy’ or ‘Jane’ was doing, Dr Bacon said.

Four weeks ago she took on the role of education officer at the Bermuda Zoological Society.

She’s now made it her mission to instil in young people a sense of empathy for all the Earth’s living things.

“As long as they care for these animals they will think about protecting it and see them as valuable,” she said.

Among her plans are the revision of the summer aqua camp programme so participants learn about species’ behaviours and their natural habitats in a “fun and exciting” way.

“It’s taking advantage of some of the really unique experiences we have here. Whether you are feeding in the Caribbean exhibit, doing what we call a ‘bug drop’ where the animals are all coming down to fetch the crickets, or putting the fry in the pond.

“We want to get [young people] to understand that there are things you need to do for these animals so they don’t get bored and start displaying some bad behaviours.”

BZS is also moving away from workbooks to scrapbooks and journals so that children don’t feel like they are back in school, she said.

As part of the curriculum, students will focus on a weekly theme with missions and field trips aimed at increasing observational skills.

The hope is that children will better appreciate the environment and learn about some of the challenges faced by Mother Nature, whether they are involved in camps or the programmes taught in the schools.

Dr Bacon was an animal lover from early on in life. Some of her best days as a child were spent walking around her California neighbourhood with two lizards on top of her head.

“They were my pets for the day and the lizards must have been afraid enough to go along with it,” she said.

She went on to study zoology in university, but her life really changed when she got the chance to work with harbour seals. As part of her graduate degree, she was able to study pregnant and newborn seals and look at how the diving response was developed in the foetus.

Her research eventually led her to doing a similar type of work in Bermuda.

She started a programme at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo to help control the numbers of baby seals born every year.

The team took part in a fascinating research project to find out what the mammal’s reproductive cycle was like. Their groundbreaking findings were ultimately presented at a world renowned conference in Monaco in 1998.

Dr Bacon left the Island briefly in 2000 — but returned to study harmful pollutants in local ponds and the food chain.

That research has been outlined and presented to Government.

Her role now is to get people of all ages enthused about the Island’s natural environment.

For more information call 293-2727 or e-mail info.bzs@gov.bm