Keeper Notes
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Tuesday, November 17
Meet Jasper. He’s a black vulture that’s a part of the free-flighted bird show at the Wildlife Theater. He was hatched on May 11, 1996, and was brought here as one of the original birds in the Wildlife Theater show. He is extremely social, and he often greets his keepers with a bark or sneeze in the morning. (Vultures don’t have voice boxes so this is the best noise they can make.)
Black vultures are a native species and can be found all over the southeastern United States and South America. They can be seen high in the air circling on warm currents. Black vultures are scavengers, acting as the garbage men of the environment. As such, their role in the environment is crucial. They are not just passive though. They are one of the only vulture species that have been known to actively hunt as well as scavenge for food.
Jasper is wary of new things and has been having a hard time flying in shows over the past year because of all the changes and improvements in the Wildlife Theater. Due to the dedication and consistent training of his keepers, on Sunday he made his first flight in almost a year! You can come catch him in action during the shows at the Wildlife Theater on Saturday or Sunday at 11 a.m.
Shelley Raynor
Keeper II, Program Animals
Thursday, November 12
Who is Shim? (Why do the keepers have to give the birds names? I can never remember them, sigh.) Shim is our brand new male Lady Amherst pheasant, a stunning lad, one of the true beauties of the bird kingdom.
Lady Amherst pheasants are from China, and the males are stunningly beautiful. On a Tuesday in August, we agreed that this was a species we needed to add to the collection. They are completely cold-hardy and need no extra protection in winter beyond wind and rain shelter, plus they would add bird interest at ground level in an aviary. So who should we contact about finding a pair?
The very next day, Wednesday, we got a call from a gentleman saying a strange bird was wandering around an office park in western Atlanta. It had been there for several months where it was being fed by workers on a regular basis. He was doing well but was a rather obvious victim of stray dogs, foxes, etc. So the workers managed to trap him and then called the Zoo asking for help. “We’ve got a bird, we think it’s an Amherst pheasant, can we bring it to you?”
“Are you sure it’s an Amherst?” In my brain I’m thinking, “Yeah, right, it’ll be some sort of pretty chicken.” Most of the bird calls I receive at the Zoo are misidentified and no way could this be an Amherst. So we agreed they could bring this bird to the Zoo and, stone me dead, I was wrong again! Spooky! Just 24 hours after we had decided to acquire this species, this lovely lad was here, went straight into quarantine, and now Shim is in a habitat near KIDZone across from the milky eagle owls. We haven’t got a girl yet but we’re looking, and hopefully by spring … Meanwhile, check out Shim!
James Ballance
Curator of Birds and Program Animals
Thursday, November 5
We are celebrating a gorgeous new exhibit for pancake tortoises, a project that was led by Keeper II Jason Brock. We also can announce the hatching of a whopping SEVEN Pan’s box turtles, under the diligent care of Keeper Luke Wyrwich. Keeper Ed Kabay is in the middle of a complete redesign of our exhibit for Panamanian golden frogs, in anticipation of an upcoming breeding season. Pan’s box turtles and the Panamanian golden frog are among the world’s most endangered turtles and frogs, respectively. Keeper David Brothers and Assistant Curator Dr. Brad Lock leave on Monday for field work and professional consultations with our colleagues in Guatemala. As for me, I’m holding down the fort right now and proudly watching all of the remarkable productivity in the various programs in our department. I am really proud of our staff! Please do come visit us soon, and enjoy our new exhibits— we can't wait to see you at the Zoo!
Joe Mendelson, PhD
Curator of Herpetology
Tuesday, November 3
The meat-eating carnivores in our department enjoyed a fun and festive Halloween. The animals received a variety of enrichment items for the holiday, including pumpkins and homemade scarecrows. For the lions and tigers, their scarecrows were life-sized. Keepers used old Zoo uniforms stuffed with hay for the bodies, and even painted faces on paper bags to complete the look. The meerkats, however, received more appropriately-sized scarecrows using baby clothes for the outfits! The animals displayed a wide range of reactions to the scarecrows, from knocking them over to using the body of the scarecrow for a pillow. Sometimes it’s tough to predict how each animal will react to an enrichment item, but it was nice to see the animals interact with the items in some way after all of the keepers’ efforts.
On October 22, before all of the Halloween festivities began, clouded leopard Moby made his journey to Little Rock Zoo, where he will stay during the tiger building renovations. Just like with Sumatran tigers Kavi and Chelsea, we allowed Moby to become acclimated to his crate prior to the trip. During his training, Moby became so comfortable in the crate that I was able to close the door behind him and he remained calm. So, it was no surprise that the day of the move he readily entered his crate for some meatballs and was quickly on his way.
I’ve been in contact with colleagues at both North Carolina Zoological Park and Little Rock Zoo, and they report that all of the cats are doing great. Everyone is eating well and adjusting to their temporary homes. It will be a while before the building will be ready for them, but rest assured that Kavi, Chelsea and Moby are being well-cared for while they are away.
Megan Wilson, Ph.D.
Assistant Curator of Carnivores
Tuesday, October 27
The roaches have landed!
OK, ours can't fly (wingless!), so they didn't technically land. But the Program Animals Department has seven new members in the collection. We have four male and three female Madagascar hissing cockroaches that will be part of the Zoo's education programs, as well as our various shows and animal encounters.
These large insects can grow up to three inches long, and have been recorded to live for as long as five years in the wild. They are primarily herbivorous, and, like most cockroaches, fill a vital role in the environment by feeding on and breaking down decaying organic matter. This is an essential facet of any ecosystem's life cycle. The hissing noise that they make is very unique for insects. Most bugs that produce sound do so by manipulating their own body parts, such as crickets that rub their hind legs together to "sing.” These giant roaches actually exhale air through their breathing holes, the same way we push air past our larynx to produce speech. This cockroach species also produces live young at birth. The females carry an egg sac within their abdomens that hatches internally into nymphs, which the female then gives "birth" to.
Out of all the amazing animals in our collection, these little creatures have ignited a great degree of passion on far ends of the spectrum. For those people that like insects and learning about them, they are excited to handle the cockroaches, and to take them on encounters and programs to teach Zoo guests about what makes them amazing. For our handlers that find insects (or cockroaches in particular) aversive, training to work with them has been a learning experience. Interestingly enough, 99 percent of the cockroach species in the world are not "pests" to humans and live out in the environment and nature, never entering a human home. But as humans have had to deal with insects and other species as pests in their domiciles, all cockroaches have acquired a rather negative public image.
Are they creepy? Well, maybe a little. But they're also very amazing, and very cool. We encourage you to come and meet these amazing insects, and see how different they are from the ones you don't want in your home. They are special creatures, with their own role to fulfill in the world. We hope you can see them in the same light we have learned to!
Jay Pratte
Lead Keeper, Program Animals
Thursday, October 22
Well, fall weather is upon us and the transition from “animals outside” to “animals inside” is complete. This is typically a rather quiet time for the animals—but certainly not for the staff. Wow, are we busy these days. Let me see if I can give a sense of what we’ve been doing.
Among the keepers, Jason Brock is busy putting the finishing touches on a masterful new exhibit for pancake tortoises; keeping a close eye on our ever-burgeoning collection of venomous snakes; and carefully taking measurements on museum specimens of what appears to be a newly discovered species of chameleon from Cameroon, Africa! David Brothers is re-doing the pine snake exhibit and practicing his Spanish for his upcoming trip with Assistant Curator Dr. Brad Lock to join our colleagues in Guatemala on a variety of lizard conservation projects, most notably the Guatemalan beaded lizard. Ed Kabay is very busy raising up hundreds of tiny evergreen toads (the first ever bred in captivity!) and looking forward to expanding his career into graduate school. Luke Weyrich really led the parade to transfer many dozens of turtles and beaded lizards from outdoor holding to their indoor winter quarters. He worked hard on this and deserves kudos for our best set-up ever for winter holding.
Assistant Curator of Herpetology Dr. Brad Lock is so busy he makes my head spin. Last week, he visited colleagues at the University of Georgia Veterinary School to work toward characterizing what appears to be a new type of virus found in some unfortunate tortoises that were confiscated from an illegal smuggling operation. This week, he joined colleagues and stakeholders to begin mapping out a new comprehensive plan to conserve the endangered native indigo snake; Zoo Atlanta will have a big role in that program. And then he’s off to Guatemala to work with our partners at Zootropic, a Guatemalan conservation organization, on the ongoing programs in that country. Meanwhile, I’m off to Panama to co-teach a course on amphibian biology and husbandry for the staff of a newly-launched Panamanian amphibian conservation facility established by our good colleagues at Houston Zoo and Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
So as the weather chills down, we may seem calm and quiet on the exterior – like the animals in our department – but be sure that we are as busy as ever! Come visit us soon in the World of Reptiles, as we do look forward to seeing you again.
Joe Mendelson, PhD
Curator of Herpetology
Tuesday, October 20
Have you seen the new aviaries in The Anatomy of Flight? We love them! We now have four new bird habitats across from the elephant building, and they look great. The end aviaries house the lappet-faced vultures and the southern ground hornbills, and the two central exhibits are covered aviaries.
The vulture habitat was designed for a breeding pair with an attached building where the birds can nest. Right now we have two brothers, but next spring we hope to be able to send out one male and bring in a female. The most unusual part of the habitat is the fiberglass zebra “carcass,” which is intended to represent the reality of life for an African vulture. A few guests had questions about it initially, but we now have a new sign explaining the “zebra,” and kids think it’s cool!
The ground hornbills are once again in a habitat with a glass viewing panel where they can flaunt their food to kids from just a few inches away. They love their new space and parade up and down for much of each day. Zazu and Gumby are a huge hit as always and are generally considered the most popular birds in the zoo!
The central aviaries are largely housing young birds we have bred here while we work to bring in more permanent residents. Two of these new residents are the young kori bustards that we hatched from eggs brought in from the National Zoo. By early November they will have outgrown these aviaries, so come see them soon. They are ridiculously cute and look like miniature adults already. Working in the exhibit with them is like trying to work around a couple of puppies.
Come see the aviaries and look for some new species to be living there by next spring!
James Ballance
Curator of Birds
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| Bon Voyage Tom and Lisa! |
Thursday, October 15
This year fall and winter are gearing up to be very busy times for the Large Mammal Department. First, our 2-year-old male red kangaroo Tweed will be heading west to the Birmingham Zoo to join their mob. But don’t worry – there will still be plenty going on in the kangaroo yard here, as his mom Uluru already has another joey in her pouch. There’s no way to tell at this point when he or she will start making an appearance (poking a head, leg or foot out), but the keepers assure me it will most likely be in the next couple weeks.
Across the Zoo, our young parent-reared warthogs, Lenny and Squiggy, will be heading north to Zoo Boise in Idaho. The boys will spend the next few years as a bachelor group. Training the boys to separate from mom and dad and each other and then step into a crate will be a great challenge for the keepers. This preparation is essential to making sure the animals are comfortable and able to easily cope with the transfer to their new digs. Don’t worry, though – Vern and Shirley are already doing everything possible to ensure we have piglets next year!
In the midst of all the animal transfers, I will also be leaving Zoo Atlanta to accept a position as Director of Animal Programs at the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls, S.D. I will greatly miss all of the wonderful animals and people that are here.
Lisa Smith
Curator of Large Mammals
Tuesday, October 13
Monday was a big day for the Carnivore Department, and not just because it was Columbus Day! Yesterday we sent Sumatran tigers Kavi and Chelsea to the North Carolina Zoological Park in preparation for the renovations that are planned for the tiger building. The tiger building and yards are getting a facelift, and in order to accomplish that, the animals in the building need to be temporarily relocated. Prior to their departure, the keepers worked very hard to get Kavi and Chelsea comfortable in the crates in which they would travel. The keepers made sure that they rewarded Kavi and Chelsea every time they entered their crates and made the experience very positive. So when Monday morning rolled around, both tigers calmly entered their crates for the trip. Once they were secured in their crates, the tigers were loaded onto a trailer and they were on their way. They arrived at their temporary home Monday afternoon, safe and sound. And Kavi even felt comfortable enough that afternoon to have a bite to eat! It was a great team effort that resulted in a very smooth transport for all involved.
Kavi and Chelsea will stay at NCZP during construction, which will last approximately six months. Jalal, our older male Sumatran tiger, will remain at the Zoo during this time, but in an off-exhibit area. Moby the clouded leopard, who also lives in the tiger building, will be on his way to the Little Rock Zoo in about a week. But don't worry, they'll all be back soon, and ready for you to visit them in their new digs this spring!
Megan Wilson, Ph.D.
Assistant Curator of Carnivores
Tuesday, October 6
We have a new addition to our team of animal ambassadors! By a fortuitous series of events, the Program Animals Department received a Woma python for use in our animal encounters and education programs. Woma pythons are from Australia, found mostly in the central region but have been recorded over most of the main continent. They average four and a half feet in length, but can grow to eight feet. Our Woma, named Ramsay, measures in at 6 feet 4 inches long! These pythons are one of two species that do not possess the normal heat-sensing pits of other pythons, and are known to actually go into burrows after prey, as opposed to mainly remaining hidden in ambush.
Tuesday, September 29
If you hadn’t noticed (??) we’ve had some serious storms recently. The Zoo held up very well except for one area in the Kid Zone across from the wetlands with the alligator. The floods rushed into the cassowary habitat and an adjacent temporary vulture habitat and flooded about 80 percent of each. We had a pond! Now, this was just fine for the cassowary, because he doesn’t mind water at all, although there was only a strip of land at the back, plus his night quarters, which were dry. The vultures were less happy about the situation. The Bird Department staff was nervous that something might freak them out overnight and they would end up in the flooded area. Vultures are not ducks and we didn’t want them going swimming in the dark! We decided to walk them into the building for the night to keep them safe and dry. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Well, not to the vultures. As we went into the exhibit, they launched themselves straight at the flood and “swam” with flapping wings as far into the water as possible. The Lead Keeper took one look at the situation and, bless her, went wading into the storm water up to her waist. She grabbed a great soggy vulture and steered him back across the pond to the shed and dry land, and fortunately, the second vulture followed. They were closed into the building, turned on the heat and by morning it was as if nothing had happened. Nice dry vultures. Were they grateful? Probably not. If you are wondering about the rest of the animals in the Zoo, they were nice and dry. It was the staff who really got soaked! No more storms like that for a while, please!
James Ballance
Curator of Birds
Thursday, September 24
Wow! OK, I think we’ve had enough rain to last for a while, eh? But at least we can find our silver lining this week in that a good deep soak is just what is needed for our tortoises that spent the summer in our off-exhibit outdoor breeding enclosures. Such a period of hydration is perfect for them, as they prepare physiologically for their natural annual dry/winter season. At the same time, our staff will be occupied logistically getting them all set up in their winter indoor holding pens. This is a busy time of year for everybody! Meanwhile, we are always open, rain or shine, in the World of Reptiles; we hope to see you soon.
Joe Mendelson, PhD
Curator of Herpetology
Tuesday, September 22
With all the rain we’ve gotten recently, we’ve been spending a lot of time tidying up the exhibits and pools, and doing our best to keep the carnivores fairly dry. Although the weather has been a little difficult to deal with lately, that hasn’t stopped the carnivore keepers from making some excellent progress on training the cats. For example, Kavi and Chelsea, our young pair of Sumatran tigers, are set to receive physicals late next week. In preparation for the physicals, the keepers have been working very hard on their training, so that we can easily hand-inject the cats to sedate them for their exams. The same thing is true of Moby the clouded leopard, who will also receive his physical next week, a couple of days before the tigers. He, too, has been doing a lot of training for the big day. One thing that has recently changed for Moby is the time of day that he’s trained. Moby is typically trained in the afternoon; this works out best for his primary trainer (me!), and it also provides him with some nice enrichment in the middle of the day. Recently I’ve switched to training Moby in the mornings, though, because that’s when his physical will occur. Because clouded leopards are generally very sensitive to change, it’s important to get Moby used to training in the morning, so he is comfortable the morning of the physical. He actually made the switch very readily and eagerly trained this morning. From what I can tell, he’s ready! Based on how Kavi, Chelsea and Moby are doing during their training sessions, the physicals should go very smoothly next week.
Finally, after a short hiatus of weighing the African lion cubs due to scale issues, we recently got weights on them. The cubs range in weight from 270 to 310 pounds! To put that in perspective, their mom, Kiki, currently weighs about 275 pounds.
Megan Wilson, Ph.D.
Assistant Curator of Carnivores
Tuesday, September 15
It was another early morning, arriving at the television studio around five-ish. Our friend Colonel was scheduled to make an appearance on one of the morning shows, along with myself and Zhu Zhu, the Zoo's giant panda mascot. We took our little black-and-white rabbit friend to help promote this Saturday’s fun and exciting Pandamonium Birthday Celebration, where we'll celebrate all four panda birthdays with a huge party! Since the pandas obviously don't take trips to TV studios, our lop-eared friend, with his black-and-white colouring and huge eye spots, looks the closest to our big furry Chinese bears.
Colonel does such a great job with things like studio lighting, robotic TV cameras, and busy sets as a result of his handling and training in our Program Animals Department. Colonel was much smaller and younger when he came to us, and for the past year has grown both in size and responsibility. He is an important part of many of our education programs, where he (and his other bunny friend Harrison) spends time with young children, helping make a friendly transition from rabbits ('cause everyone loves a bunny!) to other animals that are less “warm and fuzzy,” like some of the snakes and lizards in our collection. Colonel helps teach kids that all animals are important and have a role in the world, and he does this a LOT. He is one of our busiest animal ambassadors. He also goes on TV, participates in animal encounters around the Zoo on busy days, appears at evening Zoo events, and spends time on stage at our Amy's Tree shows (now on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.).
Being so busy means Colonel is exposed to a lot of sights and sounds that normal rabbits would not normally encounter. He is handled professionally by many trained Volunteers and staff members, and is not anyone's "pet." As a result of all of his awareness of the big, noisy world and his calm behaviour with handlers while on program, he is a favourite of staff, Volunteers, and Zoo guests alike. Colonel does have his crazy moments, where he likes to run and play, and can be a handful on those days where he doesn't seem quite as keen on going out to "work." But he runs over to greet his keepers in the morning, preferring good-morning scratches over breakfast. He's an amazing little guy, and we hope you get the chance to meet him.
Hope to see everyone at Pandamonium this weekend! Remember, you can also get info on our many exciting education programs, as well as our Program Animals show schedule, here on zooatlanta.org.
Jay Pratte
Lead Keeper, Program Animals
Thursday, September 10
Last week, Zoo Atlanta played host to over 100 orangutan enthusiasts who took part in the Orangutan SSP Husbandry Workshop. This workshop began a few years ago as a time that orangutan keepers, field researchers, veterinarians and general orangutan fans could come together at different host zoos to learn and share ideas on everything associated with orangutans! During the three days of the workshop, participants listened to talks ranging from selling palm oil- free lotion to raising orangutan babies. While at the workshop, delegates were able to take behind- the-scenes tours of many animal areas, as well as observe the orangutans using the computer learning tree.
One of the highlights of the workshop was the visit from Dr. Willie Smits, a tropical forest ecologist who has been an orangutan and rainforest advocate for many years. Dr. Smits was able to spend some quality time with Zoo Atlanta’s orangutan residents—he had such wonderful things to say about the animals, as well as Zoo Atlanta’s outdoor habitats.
The workshop was a great success – a huge thank you must go out to all Zoo Atlanta Volunteers who gave up their time to keep the workshop participants eating and happy! Zoo Atlanta’s primate staff had such an incredible time meeting orangutan fans from all over – it is great to be able to spend three or four days with a group of people who are so dedicated to orangutans both in zoos and in the wild!
Laura Mayo
Assistant Curator of Primates
Tuesday, September 8
Not to be outdone by all of the other magnificent hatchings the Bird Department has experienced this summer, our colorful friends of Boundless Budgies: A Parakeet Adventure have had quite a few hatchlings of their own. If you look at the yellow building at the back of the parakeet habitat, you may notice that to the right there are two sets of windows that have been closed off for several months now. In the two stalls behind these windows are nine wooden nest boxes where 15 males and 15 females, pulled from our large flock, were given the chance to pair up and lay eggs inside the boxes. After a little bit of a slow start, and the switching out of a few of the males and females, the first egg was laid. Shortly after, many more eggs followed. It wasn’t long before each box had eggs in it, with some boxes having eight eggs. About two weeks later, we found our first chick. We don’t want to disturb the nests too often so we only do nest checks once a week, but one week after the first chick had hatched we had 12 new chicks, and we’ve found more chicks each week since.
In an effort to be able to tell this year’s offspring apart from the adults, we have started to band each of the chicks in the box. Every chick hatched this year will have a blue band on its right leg. Stop by Boundless Budgies: A Parakeet Adventure later this fall, and see if you can entice one of the new chicks with the blue band to eat off of your seed stick!
Chris Watkinson
Keeper I, Birds
Thursday, September 3
We provide enrichment to the animals in the Carnivore Department daily, typically out in their habitats and also in their indoor holding areas. The enrichment varies and is divided into several different types or categories, including environmental, manipulative and sensory enrichment. Tuesday morning I was charged with preparing the habitat for the otter family (Moe, Nava, Harry, Merrill, Tinsley, Bugsy, Brownie, Modine and Lil’ T), which included providing enrichment for them in their yard. Although the otters do spend some time resting when they are outside, they are often very busy, looking for things to explore. The otters love to manipulate items, and they also love to eat, so I decided to combine those two things for their enrichment. I placed a large, shallow tub in the exhibit and filled it with some hay and wood shavings. Then I mixed in what we call “crunchies,” which is kibble and crickets. I hoped that the otters would spend time digging through the hay and shavings to find their treats. I was pleased to see that the item was a hit, and many of the otters immediately ran to the tub. Once they were satisfied that they had gotten all of the goodies, they took a little dip in the pool.
Megan Wilson, Ph.D.
Assistant Curator of Carnivores
Tuesday, September 1
We are so excited this week, because we just welcomed our fabulous new stinkpot turtles into their new habitats! These little guys are endlessly entertaining as they skulk around underwater, climbing up logs and rocks to the surface for air. There are three of these now in with our greater siren (salamander), and two will soon be on display in a tank on the wall with all of our other turtles. Come visit us in the World of Reptiles and get a close look at these cute little ones!
Joe Mendelson, PhD
Curator of Herpetology
Tuesday, August 18
The Bird Department is currently rearing two kori bustard chicks. They are not the offspring of Snake and Tuza, our current pair, who are still too immature to breed. The eggs were laid at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Bird Keeper Chris Watkinson flew to Washington to pick up the well-developed eggs on July 29. The eggs were packed into a cooler with lots of padding and insulation. Chemical hand-warmers were used to maintain the incubation temperature at about 99 degrees during their trip back. We had previously arranged with the Department of Homeland Security and TSA (very nice people to work with!) so that the eggs would not have to be X-rayed at the airport. As Chris approached security, he was met and whisked to the head of the line, top priority over everyone, and then they all got to see the very cool-looking eggs – apparently the highlight of their day!
On arrival in Atlanta, we moved the precious cargo into the proper incubator at the Zoo. Would the eggs survive the flight? Sure enough, they did, because six days later, the first chick hatched, followed by the second the following day. The chicks were adorable, and they are growing very fast. Their beaks have begun to lengthen, and their expressions are somewhat grumpy – they can’t help it, it’s just how they look! They are being raised by hand in our new bird propagation center off-exhibit, but we hope that at some point we can get them to a place where they can be seen by guests – they are so bizarre-looking! We think we have a male and a female. Meanwhile, they have a LOT of growing to do; in fact, the male will probably someday weigh 100 times what he weighs now!
Curator of Birds
Thursday, August 13
