Conservation’s chocolate factory
Posted onOctober 10, 2025byMariel Terebiznik|Canada's New Noahs, News and Events
Since 1988, the Canada’s New Noah program has provided young conservation biologists in Canada the opportunity of a lifetime. Each year, WPC selects a dedicated biologist from applicants across Canada to undertake a 3-month course at the Durrell Conservation Academy in the U.K. followed by a 6-month internship on the islands of Mauritius and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. This is an opportunity unlike any other for young Canadians to learn firsthand how the world’s most successful conservation recovery programs are managed and to bring this knowledge and experience back to improve Canada’s conservation capacity. Mariel Terebiznik is WPC’s 34th Canada’s New Noah and reports on her experiences and how she will apply them on return to Canada. The Canada’s New Noah Program is generously supported by the Alan & Patricia Koval Foundation.
When I was a child, like many of my classmates I heavily indulged in Roald Dahl books. Matilda was a comfort read, Witches was for those who were not faint of heart, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was an irresistible fantasy for chocolate-obsessed children all over the world. The many books and adaptations of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory brought to life a world of pure imagination where creativity and science are combined to make delicious, miraculous chocolate inventions. Having pursued a career path in conservation, I never expected to end up with a chocolate factory of my own… until now.
Chocolate chew cube. Photo: M. Terebiznik.
So where do chocolate and conservation overlap? To answer that question, I need to back up a bit first. As Canada’s New Noah, I was sent to Mauritius to work and learn from Durrell Conservation Trust and the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation. One of their great conservation projects is Ile Aux Aigrettes (IAA). Located off the southeast coast of Mauritius, this coral island has undergone huge ecological restoration. With decades of work from hundreds of employees and volunteers, including several dozen New Noahs, IAA is a flourishing ecosystem providing a safe home for many of Mauritius’ endemic species like the Telfair’s Skink, Gunther’s Gecko, Mauritius Fody, and Olive White-eye. But there is one big thing that can bring it all crashing down: rats.
Anyone familiar with island conservation will know that rats are one of the world’s most invasive species. They are voracious eaters and breeders that will rapidly consume and spread through islands they invade to the detriment and sometimes extinctions of native species. This is especially true for small islands like IAA which means that if rats ever got reintroduced onto the island (because they have invaded before), the impact on our beloved IAA species would be quick and severe. To fight this ever-imminent threat the key is detection, which brings us back to chocolate.
Process of creating the chocolate chew cubes. Photo: M. Terebiznik.
Within the animal kingdom, humans are not the only ones with a vulnerability to chocolate. Many other species are tempted by such sweet treats, including rats. Therefore, in this particular conservation fight, chocolate becomes our secret weapon. That is how I found myself at the helm of my very own chocolate factory. Every two weeks our Island Restoration team makes a series of 19 ‘chew cubes’ to deploy throughout the island. The chew cubes are made of melted candle wax and cocoa powder poured into little muffin trays. As the cocoa-wax cools, we add a bent paperclip into each little chew cube which allows us to hang the chew cube in each spot from a small string.
For that entire week, our mornings start by checking each chew cube and seeing which little critter has nibbled on our tempting treat. Should a rat get on the island, the distinctive rat bite marks are sure to appear on our chocolatey trap allowing for a rapid response to protect the endemic endangered species on IAA. And in the meantime, the data from the chew cubes gives us information about other invasive species on the island like shrews and tenrecs letting us track their prevalence and distribution by where and how often we find their bite marks.
While it is not Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, our little chocolate factory on IAA has its own impressive operation and awesome responsibility. With a little sweetness our chocolate factory provides the first line of defense for IAA against invasive species. With such a perfect combination of science and chocolate – as a lover of both, I cannot ask for more.
Mariel Terebiznik
34th Canada’s New Noah
Mariel has always had a deep relationship with nature and conservation, having grown up spending most of her time outdoors in parks. Pursuing this passion, Mariel studied in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto, where she received both her Bachelors and Master of Science degrees. There, Mariel focused on being in the field as much as possible, travelling to Ecuador to work with lizards and spending an inordinate amount of time in Algonquin Provincial Park contributing to long-term monitoring projects. Mariel also co-founded and co-directs a grassroots organization called Field Research in Ecology and Evolution Diversified (FREED).
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