Mike Jordan, Chester Zoo’s animal and plant director, trained as a zoologist at the University of London. He completed his postgraduate studies working for the UK Forestry Commission doing research on woodland rodent ecology and conservation.
Through work with the IUCN, BIAZA and EAZA, Jordan became involved in zoos. He was later a senior lecturer in zoo and wildlife management at Sparsholt College in Hampshire. Jordan has worked extensively in reintroduction and conservation management/planning, specialising in small mammals and invertebrates.
He first joined Chester Zoo as curator of mammals, birds and conservation training in the early 2000s, before working as senior conservation advisor to the South African government in zoos and game reserves from 2009. He returned to Chester Zoo in 2015 as its director of collections. Now, Jordan guides the development of all the animal and plant work at Chester Zoo, the UK’s largest and most visited zoo.
In summer 2024, Chester Zoo celebrated the birth of one of the rarest animals on the planet, a male onager foal named Jasper. The zoo is leading part of a European-wide conservation breeding programme to safeguard the onager, an equid species of which there are just 600 remaining in the wild. Chester Zoo is the only zoo in the UK, and one of very few in the world, to work with the onager due to the challenges of breeding and caring for them.
Mike Jordan said: “Onagers are the most threatened equid species in the world and one of the rarest animals that we care for here at the zoo, so we’re absolutely delighted a new foal has been born – he’ll help to boost global numbers of this little-known species.
“With numbers having declined so rapidly in the wild, and the species now teetering on the edge of existence in Iran, it’s sadly very possible that onagers could become extinct in the wild within our lifetime.
He added: “That’s why we’re part of an international conservation breeding programme, to ensure there’s a viable safety-net population of onager in zoos. In time, Jasper will go on to contribute to these efforts, helping to safeguard this charismatic species and preserve options for their conservation into the future.”