Thirteen members of Auburn University’s chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) traveled to Birmingham on a beautiful spring Saturday (March 24) to visit both the Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Arriving first at the Zoo, we had time to wander the exhibits as well as getting a tour of the Primate Exhibits from a keeper. We then saw the Sea Lion show and went behind the scenes with two of the trainers to see those marine mammals close-up and learn more about the challenges and rewards of working with them. Moving to the Gardens across the street in the afternoon, we enjoyed a 1.5-hour guided walk led by John Manion (Curator of the Kaul Wildflower Garden) and saw a great many Alabama native plants in full bloom. Emphasized on the tour were some of the rare Alabama plants grown at the garden, including the rarest fern in the state: this species (Tutwiler’s Spleenwort) is being propagated in their greenhouses for possible conservation uses in the future.