Archive for the ‘Construction’ Category

Jeffery the Traveling Puppet: Week 4 Standings!

Posted by in Birds,Construction,Contest,Spotlight on Species

"Tropical climate, lots of trees, lots of food, no hunters, maybe THIS sanctuary is the place for us!"

It seems that our tireless puppet has been exploring his home state of Texas, making it all the way to the border to visit the Sabal Palm Sanctuary in Brownsville! 

Thank you to everyone who played!  The competition is still very close:

Tess gained 5 points for her answer, with an added 8 points for her caption, giving her a grand total of 40 points.  That allowed her to JUST squeak by Melissa who came in first last week, and has a total of 35 points.  We didn’t hear from Paul last week, but we did hear from Carmen, who is now tied with Paul for third place, both with 17 points.  Linda is catching up!  She earned 7 points this week, and has a total of 11 points! 

Tess’ caption was chosen, because it highlights one of the biggest problems facing the Philippine Eagle–negative interactions with humans.  Many Philippine Eagles are shot in the wild. Check out this video, provided by our friends at Jeepney Projects Worldwide, of an eagle brought into the Foundation with a gunshot wound.  The Philippine Eagle Foundation not only rescues these injured eagles, but they travel into the habitat of the remaining eagles and teach the surrounding communites about this magnificent animal. The money raised by the Houston Zoo during our Birds of Prey Days event will go to support this community outreach and education program.   

We’ll see you with another photo challenge on Monday morning at 10 AM. 

Get more Jeffery updates on Facebook and follow him on Twitter!

 

Houston Zoo opens redesigned and improved cougar exhibit.

Posted by in Animal Info,Carnivores,Construction,Featured,Mammals

Agile and graceful, cougars once roamed throughout most of the lower 48 United States.  Today, cougars are found in Florida and 14 western states including Texas – and at the Houston Zoo in a brand new exhibit that offers a unique perspective on an elusive species that few have had the opportunity to closely observe.

Designed entirely “in-house” by the Houston Zoo facilities personnel in concert with the carnivore care staff, the newly redesigned exhibit offers a unique viewing experience for Zoo guests.

About the Cougar Exhibit

Designed entirely “in-house” by the Houston Zoo facilities personnel in concert with the carnivore care staff, the newly redesigned exhibit offers a unique viewing experience for Zoo guests. Inside a viewing area designed to replicate an old abandoned mine shaft entrance, a section of ceiling has been replaced with laminated safety glass, allowing a cougar to peer down on Zoo guests from above.

At ground level, the original Lexan viewing panels that previously surrounded the habitat have been replaced with laminated safety glass inside the abandoned mine shaft viewing area and by stainless steel woven mesh outside, providing guests with a much clearer view of the animals in the exhibit.  The mesh allows Zoo Keepers to safely interact with the cats and conduct training demonstrations and Meet the Keeper Talks for Zoo guests.

Inside, the exhibit offers our cougars numerous climbing opportunities, a resting area that can be cooled in the summer and heated in the winter, and an environment that the Zoo horticulture team has planted with cactus representing species commonly found in the Big Bend region of West Texas.  The guest viewing experience has also been improved with the removal of low metal screening that previously covered the guest viewing area.  The redesign provides more viewing space and a better view of the upper elevations of the exhibit.

Haley exploring her new exhibit

About Cougars

The Houston Zoo is home to two cougars, Rocky (age 15) and Haley (age 2 and a half).  Cougars, also known as pumas and mountain lions have the greatest natural distribution of any terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, other than humans – from southern Canada and the Western United States throughout Mexico and Central and South America, although the status of their range is not entirely known.

Powerfully built and extremely agile, cougars are characterized by a long body with unusually long hind feet, thought to be an adaptation for chasing and ambushing prey.  Opportunistic and adaptable, cougar prey ranges from mice to elk.  As a group, cougars are not an endangered species but in some parts of their range their populations are declining.  Habitat loss and hunting are the primary threats to the survival of cougar populations. As human populations expand, the amount of habitat available for cougars and other wildlife is shrinking and increasingly fragmented.

What’s that Sound? The Barn is Coming Down!

Posted by in Construction,Giraffes,Historical

The opening of The African Forest on December 10 included new homes for our family of seven giraffes and our two cheetah brothers and their Anatolian Shepard companion… It also paved the way for construction of Phase Two of our elephant expansion.  

Bright and early on Wednesday January 5, Zoo guests may have heard the rattle and hum of heavy equipment coming from behind the construction fence surrounding an area that formerly housed the Zoo’s Masai giraffe herd and cheetahs Kito and Kiburi. 

The sound of breaking wood was an unmistakable signal that the Zoo’s 60-year-old giraffe barn was coming down!  

The giraffe barn was built in 1950, a year the marked the beginning of a decade of new construction here during the tenure of Zoo Director Tom Baylor.

The giraffe barn, once upon a time

During the 50s’ building boom, a number of projects were completed, including the Sea Lion Pool, Duck Lake, and Cypress Circle.

The period closed in 1960 with the construction of the Reptile House. All have seen substantial updates and improvements over the past 8 years. 

The 1990s was another period of growth as retiring Zoo Director John Werler handed the leadership role to Don Olson. The cheetah exhibit made its debut and the giraffe exhibit was improved with large viewing windows added to the east side of their barn and a covered, outside viewing area built adjacent to it. 

Do you remember it when it looked like this?

 

The Zoo’s original time tested giraffe barn provided 6 decades of faithful service. Do you remember it being built? 

Please let us know any memories you have of the old giraffe barn in the comment section below.

December Dreaming

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Chimpanzees,Construction

I’m spending a lot of my time thinking about December, and its not just because the temperatures are climbing or that the mosquitoes are swarming, although those things do make me wish summer was over some days. I’m thinking about African Forest, and specifically about the 10 chimpanzees that will be making their Houston debut at the end of 2010.

African Forest started on paper more than 5 years ago

A lot of work goes into opening a new exhibit and adding a new species to the zoo’s collection, so over the next few months be sure to come out to the zoo to enjoy Dinosaurs, baby Baylor, and all the other cool stuff that happens at the zoo every day. When you can’t be at the zoo in person, check back here for some behind the scenes stories of how we’re getting ready for the for the biggest thing  to hit Houston since the World’s Cutest Animal came to town.

A year ago, the future site of the chimpanzee exhibit was just an open field

Jaguar Construction Update

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Construction

I posted some initial photos a few weeks ago about our renovation of the jaguar exhibit. This is one of the biggest projects going on in the zoo right now. Check out the progress so far:

jaguar exhibit demo

out with the old

the old rock wall gets pressured washed and primed for paint

the old rock wall gets pressured washed and primed for paint

forms for the new pool

forms for the new pool