Ronald Swaisgood, Ph.D.
Associate Director of CRES/Applied
Animal Ecology
Zoological Society of San Diego
Dr. Ronald Swaisgood serves the Zoological Society of San Diego as associate director of CRES/ Applied Animal Ecology Division. In this position, he oversees recovery programs for species such as California condors, endangered Hawaiian birds, San Clemente Island loggerhead shrikes, Caribbean rock iguanas, mountain yellow-legged frogs, giant pandas, rhinoceroses, and Pacific pocket mice.
His fieldwork addresses other conservation-relevant research questions, such has habitat needs and how animals disperse and settle into new habitats. He has also worked to develop enrichment strategies in captive animals to promote psychological wellbeing and captive breeding and prepare animals for release to the wild.
Dr. Swaisgood joined the Zoological Society in 1995 as a postdoctoral research fellow in animal behavior. He held several research positions at the Zoological Society before his promotion to division head in 2006. Throughout his career, he has focused on behavioral and ecological research, theoretically driven, to tackle conservation problems, especially those related to captive breeding, reintroduction, and translocation. He has worked most intensively with mammals, such as bears, rhinoceroses, and elephants.
Dr. Swaisgood graduated with highest honors from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1985, with dual bachelor degrees in zoology and anthropology. He moved on to the University of California, Davis, where he earned a master’s degree in 1990 and his Ph.D. in 1994 in animal behavior.
He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards and has authored or co-authored more than 60 scientific articles, as well as 15 articles for popular magazines. He has given nearly 100 presentations to professional and lay audiences.
Dr. Swaisgood is actively involved in mentorship of students, locally and internationally, and he serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles and in the Department of Biology at San Diego State University. He is a member of the Animal Behavior Society, where he serves on the Ethics and Conservation committees, and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), for which he is the behavior advisor for the Rhinoceros Taxon Advisory Group. He is also an active participant in AZA’s Giant Panda Species Survival Plan.
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Read Dr. Swaisgood's most recent blog, Bearly Started: New Bear Program in Peru
