A native of Trinidad, John Seyjagat’s love of wildlife was sparked when he was just a little ankle-biter.
He recalls his youth, “Everyone else had a dog, but I had an armadillo and a baby otter. By the time I was a teen, I had already kept at least half of the animals native to my country.”
As the Aquarium’s first curator of Australian exhibits, Seyjagat is responsible for procuring, acclimating, and caring for hundreds of animals, as well as hiring and managing staff to care for them.
Making a Quid with Wildlife
John’s career began as a keeper’s aide at the Emperor Valley Zoo in Port-of-Spain. Eventually heading the institution, he built exhibits and doubled its collections.
He brings almost 25 years of experience in exotic animal management, previously as director of the Lubee Foundation in Gainesville, FL, an internationally recognized private foundation dedicated to the conservation of Old World fruit bats.
“John has practically written the book on caring for flying foxes,” notes Jack Cover, general curator at the Aquarium. “While at Lubee, he successfully exported grey-headed flying foxes from Australia to establish a breeding colony in the United States—no small feat.”
The gray-headed flying fox is one of the premier animals in the Australian exhibit, and it is a keystone species in Australia's ecosystem where, unfortunately, the little-understood species is endangered.
Seyjagat explains, "Bats account for 25 percent of all mammalian species, yet we know very little about their biology. They are important to the environment as seed dispersers, helping promote forest diversity, erosion control, oxygen production, and flower pollination."
“The Australian exhibit tells a story, using animals as a medium to inspire people to respect and protect wildlife," says Seyjagat.
