Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category

Meet the Staff: Erica Lemon

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Featured,Meet the Staff

Hometown: Houston, TX

Department/Title & Description: Ranger – Ranger/Guest Services – we help zoo guests and learn about animals

Quote – “It wasn’t worth it if you didn’t work hard for it.  – My mom

How long have you worked at the Houston Zoo?: I worked two months in Guest Service Relations manning the Dinosaur exhibit and have been with the Rangers six months now

Favorite animal: Jaguars are my favorite but I find all of our animals interesting!

Special interests/hobbies: I work hard and then I like to go home and relax

What made you want to work at a zoo?: I like being around people but I find office work too boring.  Everyday is different and you get to meet lots of different people. 

Education/training: I had law enforcement training in High school.  I am waiting to be certified to get more confident in helping people. 

Advice to anyone wanting to enter the your field:  Do it!  It is a lot of fun.  The heat doesn’t bother me.  So, if you don’t mind working in the rain or shine, apply online!

Something you want people to know about your job: Our team is really strong.  They are very welcoming and make you feel comfortable. 

 

 

Snow Day at the Zoo on December 17th

Posted by in Events,Featured,Holidays

When you think of winter what do you think of? Do you think of snow? Snowmen? We do too! We can’t guarantee that it’ll snow this holiday season in Houston, so we’re taking the matter into our own hands! The Houston Zoo and Sunny 99.1 are bringing you a SNOW DAY!

On Saturday, December 17 from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m., the lawn next to the okapi habitat will be covered with 15,000 lbs of snow! That’s a lot of snow! You can play, build snowmen, and win prizes.  The snow fun will begin at 9 a.m. and is FREE with your paid admission or Zoo Membership. Get here early because who knows how long the snow will last in this unpredictable Houston weather.

To add to the holiday festivities, at 10 a.m. on the 17th Leah White and the Magic Mirrors will perform holiday favorites at the Zoo’s Reflection Pool. Leah White and the Magic Mirrors are winners of the 2009 Nickelodeon Parent’s Choice Award and a Zoo-favorite!

You won’t want to miss this – join us this December 17 for music, animals, and fun in the snow!

Foto Friday Winner of the Week

Posted by in African Forest,Chimpanzees,Contest,Enrichment,Featured

The FOTO FRIDAY caption challenge results are in!

Last Friday we posted our weekly Foto Friday pic and invited you to leave your best caption in the comment section. Then readers “liked” each caption comment to vote for their favorites. Their votes, combined with those of our own panel, determined the caption to appear under the picture right here on the Official Houston Zoo Blog this week.

YOUR VOTES HELP DETERMINE THE WINNERS!

Here is the picture that was posted along with the top voted caption by Jane Judd Peikert, whose caption won by a landslide!

We're never going to finish if you keep eating all the fruit!

FIRST RUNNERS UP – a tie between:

Hillary Skeryanc-Mann: He needs an ear right here.
Charlie Paul:
We can call him Parson Brown!

SECOND RUNNER UP:

Alma Garza Mescher: By the time his cousin, Frosty, gets the ransom together, he’s gonna be slush and we’re going to have to make do with selling him to Sonic.

THIRD RUNNERS UP – a tie between:

Dana Rice: We have some ice to pick with you!
Dana Rice: Are you losing weight?
Cathy Rackley Todd: Monkey see & monkey do!
Christine Ledder: Wow the kitchen crew is really evolving…snow sculpture!
Excargo Services: How will we communicate with the primate?
Lacy Pekarik: The face of that snowman looks like a seal.
Pat Harper Patterson: Hey! This rude guy is STARING at you, but you shouldn’t poke him in the eye!!! I’ll bet his frosty attitude will melt away soon.
Elizabeth Riley Firchau: “Back off! I already called dibs on the scarf!!”
Debbie Bazan: Get Italy on the phone. I’ve created a new masterpiece.
Rebecca Dolen Bowers: Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle….. a snowman in Houston.

Thanks for joining in the fun!

And please come on back for the next FOTO Friday!

The chimpanzees can be seen daily in the new African Forest section of the Houston Zoo. The snowman however is an occasional treat, part of the many types of enrichment we offer our animals.

Meet the Staff: Alissa Fuhrman

Posted by in African Forest,Behind the Scenes,Chimpanzees,Featured,Meet the Staff,Wortham World of Primates

Hometown: Livermore, CA

Section: Primates-I mostly work in Chimps right now.

Quote: “If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it.” Willy Wonka

Special interests/hobbies: I’m a member of a Drum and Bugle Corps.  I play the French horn and the Mellophone.  I also have 5 fresh water fish tanks at home.

Favorite animal: Amelia, a De Brazza’s Guenon; she is really cute.  Penda, a Swamp Monkey; she has a great personality.  Kerchak, a Red-capped Mangabey; he can be aggressive and unpredictable but I’ve taught him some fun behaviors that kind of off-set his personality.

Animals you train: Mangabeys, Red-tailed guenons, Swamp Monkeys, De Brazza’s Guenon, Chimpanzees

How long have you been in the animal care field?  I was a volunteer/intern beginning in 1997 at the Charles Paddock Zoo and the Oakland Zoo.  I have been a keeper here at the Houston Zoo since 2001.

What made you want to be a zookeeper? Animals are cool and can be easier to relate to than people sometimes.  In Junior High I wanted to work at Seaworld and work with marine mammals.

What is your previous education/training? I have a Bachelors of Science in Animal Science with a concentration in Zoo and Exotics from California Polytechnic State University.

What sort of advice would you give to anyone wanting to enter the zoo field? Volunteer and be well rounded. You need to know how to work with tools and be creative.  Work on making fun toys for your dog, similar to how we enrich animals here at the zoo.  You should also read “Don’t Shoot the Dog” by Karen Pryor to learn more about animal training.

What is your favorite animal story?
Naku, our Swamp Monkey, loves his pool. He likes to take things from the yard and soak them in the pool.  We decided to put grass sod in the yard for greenery and give them something else to walk on.  The day we put the sod in, Naku decided to take each sheet and drag it to the pool.  80 squares of grass was in the water.  He had fun that day.

Meet the Staff: Carlos Contreras

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Featured,Meet the Staff

Hometown: Born in Mexico but raised in Houston

Department/Title & Description: Ranger – Provide first aid, provide information about the zoo, and help with lost children.

How long have you worked at the Houston Zoo?: Worked in concessions for the first 4 years at the Houston zoo and have been working for 3 years with the Rangers ever since

Favorite animal: Monkeys and Jonathan the Lion

Special interests/hobbies: Going to the gym and playing with kids

What made you want to work at a zoo?: I love to talk to guests and tell them about our animals

Previous related jobs: Worked in catering at hotels

Education/training: Certified Interpretive Guide and First Aid/CPR trained

Advice to anyone wanting to enter the your field:  Houston Zoo, Inc. is a great company to work for and they are great to their employees.  Get your High school diploma and practice great guest service! 

Something you want people to know about yourself: I’m a really nice guy.  I’ll be here to help you with anything. 

Favorite Story about work or home: I was working in Macaw café and was wearing a decorated hat with animals on it.  A child came by and started banging on the glass and waving at me.  I thought is strange because he kept pointing at his own head.  His teacher explained that he wanted my hat.  I handed over my hat to the kid and it made him so happy that he was running and jumping all around.  It was nice because that made his whole day!

Houston Zoo Says Bon Voyage to the World’s Cutest Animal

Posted by in Events,Featured,Mammals,Media,Memories,Zoo News

Join Toby and his keepers at the Houston Zoo on Sunday, November 6 when we bid a fond farewell to The World’s Cutest Animal with not one but two bon voyage parties at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

On March 28, 2009 the Houston Zoo introduced our members and guests to The World’s Cutest Animal – Toby, the red panda. For more than two years, Toby has lived up to his World’s Cutest Animal title and endeared himself to Zoo guests and staff alike. But the time has come for Toby to bid farewell to his adoring fans and return the place of his birth, the Cincinnati Zoo.

Join Toby and his keepers at the Houston Zoo on Sunday, November 6 when we bid a fond farewell to The World’s Cutest Animal with not one but two bon voyage parties at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Toby’s keepers will be on hand for informative and entertaining Meet the Keeper Talks and Toby will celebrate the day with some of his favorite treats. Toby’s bon voyage parties are included in your Zoo admission.

Red pandas are an endangered species and Toby is going to the Cincinnati Zoo after being recommended for breeding by the Red Panda Species Survival Plan of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Houston Zoo’s two remaining red pandas, Take and Keti have also been recommended by the Species Survival Plan for breeding.

 

Rocky the Cougar, 1995-2011

Posted by in Carnivores,Featured,Mammals,Memories

On a cool rainy day in early December 2001 a young male cougar named Rocky arrived at the Houston Zoo.

Rocky the Cougar, 1995 – 2011

The carnivore keepers and the Zoo veterinarians who would care for Rocky the rest of his life knew little if anything about him. They didn’t know when or where he was born or much of anything about his life at his previous home, a suburban back yard in North Harris County. Rocky had been surrendered by his owner along with another young cougar named Martha.

But Rocky’s care team knew one thing – Rocky had attitude. If he didn’t like something or someone he would walk away and sit and glare, slowly twitching the end of his tail back and forth.

But over time, Rocky began to slowly mellow.

 

A handsome portrait of Rocky will be included in a photo essay in an upcoming issue of National Geographic magazine highlighting the National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative.

His keepers learned that he liked perfume. Houston Zoo keepers utilize scents as enrichment for all the carnivores in their care but Rocky was especially taken with bold scents. If it was stinky, Rocky loved it.

And Rocky liked to play with paper. Well, maybe play isn’t the right word – more like shred it into a storm of tiny bits and scatter it about his bedroom.

But what Rocky really enjoyed was painting. In the holding area behind his exhibit, keepers would put paint on a canvas and slide a portion of it toward him, the keepers safely on the other side of the containment screen. Then Rocky would rub the paint on the canvas with his paws. When he let his keepers know he was finished, the task then was to get the canvas back so another part of it could be painted. A few of Rocky’s masterpieces were returned with a bite out of one corner.

Not long after Rocky’s exhibit mate Martha passed away, he was introduced to a young cougar named Haley. Keepers were reticent to introduce one so young to a male of advanced age. But the introduction went well and the new arrival put the spring back in Rocky’s step.

The keepers and his veterinarians who lovingly cared for Rocky and the thousands of Zoo guests and staff who were awed by his presence during his time with us will never forget him.

But over the past year Rocky’s veterinarians determined that his kidneys were not functioning efficiently. He was losing weight and losing interest in food. On Monday, October 31 his care team, his keepers and his veterinarians made the difficult decision to euthanize Rocky.

The keepers and his veterinarians who lovingly cared for Rocky and the thousands of Zoo guests and staff who were awed by his presence during his time with us will never forget him.

A handsome portrait of Rocky will be included in a photo essay in an upcoming issue of National Geographic magazine highlighting the National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative.

Meet the Staff: Mollie Coym

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Birds,Featured,Meet the Staff

Hometown: Houston, TX

Department/Title: Senior Bird Keeper

How long have you worked at the Houston Zoo? About 5 years.

How long have you worked in your field? Over 8 years

Favorite Animals: Blue and Gold Macaw; Attwater’s Prairie Chickens

Do you have any animals at home?: I have a Blue and Gold Macaw named Trinity.

Quote:

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Special Interests: I like to travel and I’m a 4th degree black belt in martial arts.

What made you want to be a zookeeper?

I had many pets as a kid and always loved animals…basically, it just seemed like a fun job!

Education/Training: I earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Houston in 2002. I’m working on a Master’s from George Mason University in Zoo and Aquarium Leadership.

Previous Jobs: I worked at the Downtown Aquarium for two years and Moody Gardens for one year. I also volunteered at the Houston Zoo for a while.  I came to the Houston Zoo because I really enjoyed working with the great people and animals.

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to be a zookeeper?

Volunteer or intern in a department with animals you think you’d like to work with.  This will give you hands on experience and lets you see if it is really something you want to pursue as a career.

What’s your favorite animal story?

One of the bird species I work with is the endangered Attwater’s Prairie Chicken.  This year we received the exciting news that several birds successfully raised and fledged chicks in the wild.  Since the captive breeding program started in the early 1990′s, many of the captive raised birds have been released to the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Texas City Prairie Preserve, and private land in Goliad, Texas. While many of these birds have made nests, laid eggs, and hatched chicks, this is the first time released birds in the wild have raised and fledged their own young.  This is great news for the captive breeding and release program because it proves that captive raised Attwater’s Prairie Chickens have the ability to be productive in the wild.

 

Full Circle: Pongos Helping Pongos Helping Tapirs Supporting Tapirs

Posted by in Conservation,Endangered,Events,Featured,Mammals

 

Tapirs Helping Tapirs

 

Aurora

Aurora won’t sleep in her bed tonight and I can’t sleep at all so here we are in the Wortham World of Primates, the baby orangutan dozing under a blanket on my chest.  My mind is south of here at an event called “Tapirs Supporting Tapirs” that should just be wrapping up in São Paulo, Brazil.  It’s fitting.  Tapirs Supporting Tapirs wouldn’t exist if it hadn’t been for “Pongos Helping Pongos”. This project was born eight years ago when primate keepers dreamed up the idea of putting paintings created by the orangutans in our care into a gallery and selling them to raise funds to help orangutans who live on the other side of the globe in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. We probably would never have thought to do it if not for the big sister of the orangutan currently nestled right here, her little hands moving as if she’s dreaming, Luna bela. Aurora isn’t old enough yet to paint or to draw chalk murals on the walls of her room, or to entertain guests by wrapping herself in a sheet and then opening her arms, whipping the sheet away to reveal herself dramatically again and again (I’m a butterfly! I’m a chrysalis! I’m a butterfly! I’m a chrysalis!) as her sister Luna did. But Aurora reminds me very much of her, good natured yet spunky, ticklish on her ridiculous pink and mauve cow-print belly, and lady-like enough to burp like a sailor and look cute doing it.

 

Luna

But I digress. Over the years, the Primate staff held four gallery events, as well as numerous smaller endeavors that involved hundreds if not thousands of participants and supporters. Art created by Luna and her fellow Houston Zoo orangutans was displayed and sold, raising awareness and a considerable amount of money, primarily for the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project based in a village called Sukau in Malaysia. Thinking someone else might be able to use our simple idea, I presented “Pongos Helping Pongos” at the Zoos and Aquariums Committing to Conservation conference, offering from the podium help to anyone who wanted to use art created by zoo animals to support conservation.

And Patrícia Medici took me up on it! Pati, a charismatic Brazilian conservationist, had the idea to organize an event where paintings created by tapirs living in zoos in the U.S. would be displayed and sold in São Paulo to benefit the Lowland Tapir Initiative. The event, later christened “Tapirs Supporting Tapirs” would increase appreciation of the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris), an IUCN Red List Vulnerable species, which many Brazilians regard as common, unintelligent, and uninteresting animals.  The event would also raise awareness of the human activities, such as hunting for meat and habitat encroachment for farming and grazing that negatively affect wild lowland tapir populations.

Tapir painting by Brookfield Zoo tapirs

So we contacted the Large Mammal staff at the Houston Zoo as well as our colleagues at several other institutions that provide support for Pati’s research.  So many were willing to help out that we actually had to narrow it down so that Pati wouldn’t be overwhelmed trying to get all the paintings back to Brazil.  We sent art supplies all over the country to Brevard Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, John Ball Zoo, San Diego Zoo, and Woodland Park Zoo and walked them over to our own Houston Zoo tapir keepers.  Some of these zoos had previously painted with their tapirs but some might never have done so if not for this project; that would have been a shame because, from what I can see, they get a kick out of it.   And look what we got back: Pictures of paintings here. Twenty-nine beautiful paintings for the event!

When Pati started planning and set a date, it was amazing to watch it all happen! She picked the São Paulo Zoo as a venue. She got great artists like Ronald Rosa Obra and Desenho Luccas Longo involved.

She got a lot of attention from the media. You can friend it, follow it, and otherwise check it out. It’s all in Portuguese but still fun to watch:

I can’t wait to hear how it turned out! I’d go to the computer right now but, though my mind is in São Paulo, my lap is here at Wortham World Of Primates and, at the moment, it’s occupied by a baby orangutan who’s just trying to get some shut-eye.

Written by Amanda Daly, Houston Zoo Natural Encounters Supervisor

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.

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