Archive for the ‘Natural Encounters’ Category

May
18

Monkeys Go Wild (Haired) for Conservation!

Posted by in Conservation,Natural Encounters

By Natural Encounters keepers Corri Osborne and Rachel Godambe

 

For guests visiting the Indoor Rainforest exhibit in the Carruth Natural Encounters building, a little monkey awaits with a big surprise!

Normally, visitors are quick to comment on the flashy appearance of the bright orange Golden Lion Tamarins seen in the Indoor and Outdoor Rainforest exhibits. Right now, however, all eyes are on the Cotton Top Tamarins.  These monkeys are known for their shock of white head hair and their brown and white coloring.  That all changed for our two monkeys in preparation for our celebration of Proyecto Titi, one of the conservation organizations that is featured in the recently released book Wildlife Heroes.

 

Natural Encounters zookeeper Rachel Godambe worked with the pair to dye their hair bright blue in support of the wild Cotton Top Tamarins of Colombia, who are studied by Proyecto Titi scientists and are fitted with radio trackers and dyed in color patterns to make identifying individual monkeys at great distances a slightly easier process.  This weekend, keeper chats at the Indoor Rainforest will highlight the conservation work done by Proyecto Titi to save these tiny endangered monkeys.  Guests will be able to spot our brightly colored monkeys and learn more about what native Colombians are doing to celebrate Cotton Tops and protect them and their rainforest habitat.

 

 

On Sunday, author Jeff Flocken will be at the Houston Zoo to sign copies of his book Wildlife Heroes, available for purchase at the zoo, and to share his wonderful stories about Cotton Top Tamarins and Proyecto Titi.  Please stop by on either Saturday or Sunday to see our information display and learn more!

 

Check out Rachel’s answers to some monkey related questions below:

 

Fun Facts about our Cotton Top Tamarins:

 

  • Cotton Top Tamarins vocalize to each other with a variety of high pitched squeaks that sound a lot like bird calls.
  • Cotton Top Tamarins tails are long but they are not prehensile. They use their tails for balance as they run and leap through branches.
  • Cotton Top Tamarins are social animals and live in groups of 2 to 12 individuals in the wild.

 

How long have you been a CTT trainer?

I have been training Mikey and Minnie the Cotton Top Tamarins at Natural Encounters for 8 months now.

 

Is this the strangest behavior you’ve trained the monkeys?

If you told me I will end up dying monkeys’ hair I wouldn’t believe it in a million years!

 

What makes working with Cotton Top Tamarins so rewarding?

These guys have interesting personalities which makes training them so fun and rewarding.

 

You had great success in dying the CTT hair bright blue.  What was the process?  What was your biggest challenge?  How long from start to finish did this take? 

It took a month to accomplish this goal of dying their hair blue for the conservation event. I had in mind applying the dye with a syringe. They are used to the presence of the syringe for oral medication and associate it with treats, so they were quite comfortable with this process. I used the syringe with water and had them touch a target, which is one of their long established training behaviors. The syringe was presented above their heads and a reward was given. I did this for a few days and once they were accustomed to it I dripped some water on them from the syringe and rewarded them with a big jackpot (lots of verbal goods, wax worms, currents, and yogurt tossed at them) and they did not mind at all. We did these sessions a couple of times a week up to a few days before the event. It was now time to introduce the dye (nontoxic food coloring) and this is where I was faced with a challenge, the dye would not apply properly to the hair. It was suggested that we use a small paint brush. These guys have never seen a paintbrush in their lives and to have it rubbed on their heads could be very scary for them. After practice sessions of presenting the paintbrush with the dye on it and moving it around them with lots of treats it became a positive item to them. Eventually, they let me apply the dye with a paintbrush on their crazy white hair. Now you can see them rock their blue hair in the Natural Encounters Rainforest for conservation!

 

The biggest challenge was Mikey would only let me do a few strands at a time because he would run to the window and stare at his reflection. We had to wait for him to stop looking at himself, then he would come back and let us do some more. It was a time consuming process, but I think he just wanted to make sure it looked good. = )

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Apr
12

Six Bat Species all in one day!

Posted by in Bats,Children's Zoo,Conservation,Education,Events,Just for Kids,Keepers,Mammals,Natural Encounters,Pollinators,Swap Shop

How can you see six different species of bats all in one day?  Bat Fest Houston at the Houston Zoo and the Waugh Bridge!  The United Nations has declared 2012 The Year of The Bat – come see  the celebration we have in store!

Straw Colored Fruit Bats

 Saturday, April 14 and Sunday, April 15 are the dates for Bat Fest Houston.   On both days there will be children’s activities, keeper chats and bat related information booths at the zoo from 10:00am – 3:00 pm.   If you come on Saturday you will also have the opportunity to attend a bat seminar in the zoo’s Brown Education Center  from 10:00-12:15 that will include some great speakers.  The talks will include information  about bats from around the world and the bats in our own back yard as well as a new threat to bats, White Nose Syndrome.   You will also be able to visit the zoo’s bat exhibits where you can see Jamaican Fruit Bats, Seba’s Short-tailed Fruit Bats, Pallas Long-tongued Nectar Bats, Straw Colored Fruit Bats and an Indian Flying Fox Bat! 

If visitors 18 and under bring a nature journal or report to the Naturally Wild Swap Shop on the topic of bats they will receive DOUBLE points on these two days!  Don’t know about the Swap Shop?  Click here to learn more.

The best part – all of this is included in your regular zoo admission. 

Bat emergence at Waugh Ave. Bridge

And the fun doesn’t stop there!  From 6:00pm to 9:00pm join us at the Waugh Avenue Bridge (Waugh Avenue at Allen Parkway) for more children’s activities, bat chats and an amazing emergence of 250,000 Mexican Free-tailed Bats from under the bridge.  The Waugh Bridge activities are completely free.  Click here for information on parking at the bridge.

 

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Mar
30

Bat Fest is Coming!

Posted by in Animal Info,Bats,Children's Zoo,Conservation,Education,Events,Just for Kids,Mammals,Natural Encounters,Pollinators,Swap Shop,Uncategorized

Get ready for a batty fun time at the Houston Zoo and the Waugh Bridge!  2012 has been named Year of the Bat by the United Nations Environment Program.  In celebration, the Houston Zoo, in association with Texas Parks & Wildlife and several other organizations will be hosting Bat Fest April 14-15, 2012. 

The fun will start at the Zoo at 10:00AM.  On both Saturday and Sunday there will be booths, children’s activities and zookeeper chats about bats.  On Saturday only there will be a bat seminar with some awesome speakers from 10:00-12:15 in the Brown Education Center.   

In addition, to help celebrate, The Naturally Wild Swap Shop will be giving double points for any Nature Journal on bats.  Dont know about the Swap Shop?  Click here for more information. 

The best part – all this is included in your paid zoo admission.

The festivities won’t stop there.  Be sure to join the Houston Bat Team at the Waugh Drive bat colony (corner of Waugh Drive & Allen Parkway) from 6:00-9:00PM.  The Waugh Drive bridge is home to a colony of 250,000 Mexican Free-tailed Bats.  There will be bat chat presentations from members of the Bat Team along with children’s activities and an amazing emergence from the bats at dusk. Click here to check Facebook for parking info.

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Dec
23

12 Days of Grub: Day 11 – Eleven Meerkats Mobbing

Posted by in Gift of Grub,Holidays,Meerkats,Natural Encounters

On the Eleventh Day of Grub, your zoo gift will help to feed…Eleven Meerkats Mobbing, Ten Chimps a Chasing, Nine Fruit Bats Flying, Eight Giraffes a Galloping, Seven Snakes a Slithering, Six Mole-rats Mining, Five Golden Frogs, Four Calling Birds, Three Wild Dogs, Two Grizzly Bears, and Darwin the Cassowary! CLICK HERE to read them all!

One of the most popular exhibits at the Houston Zoo is our meerkat yard. Located just outside the entrance to the Carruth Natural Encounters building, the meerkats are fun to watch as they go about their lives. And if you need a break from walking, the benches are a great place to sit and watch them.

Meerkats are small, African mammals related to the mongoose. They live in groups called “mobs,” which can have up to 40 meerkats, but it is more common for a mob to have 10 to 15 individuals. There is an alpha pair which includes the dominate members of the mob responsible for reproduction. When there is a new litter, each meerkat contributes to caring for the young by helping to find food, digging new burrows, and even babysitting the new litter. Acting as a lookout, called sentry, is another important job for meerkats. A sentry helps to protect the colony by looking out for predators and will sound the alarm if any threat is present.

In the wild, a meerkat will eat mostly insects, but it will also catch and eat reptiles, birds and other small mammals. A mob will even work together to catch venomous snakes and other larger prey.  The meerkats at the Houston Zoo love spending their days digging new burrows, exploring their enrichment, play wrestling with each other and sunbathing on exhibit. The next time you’re at the Houston Zoo, take a few minutes to enjoy the antics of the meerkats. Our meerkat yard is definitely an exhibit that is fun to see again and again!

Written By Kamryn Suttinger

Help provide tasty and nutritious grub for the Zoo’s meerkat mob and the rest of our animal family this holiday season: Give the Gift of Grub!

Thank you to TXU Energy for generously matching the first $25,000 in donations this year.  Our mob says that’s an offer you can’t refuse!

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Dec
15

12 Days of Grub: Day 6 – Six Mole-rats Mining

Posted by in Gift of Grub,Holidays,Natural Encounters

On the Sixth Day of Grub, your zoo gift will help to feed…Six Mole-rats Mining, Five Golden Frogs, Four Calling Birds, Three Wild Dogs, Two Grizzly Bears, and Darwin the Cassowary! CLICK HERE to read them all!

Here at The Houston Zoo we know Mole Rats are clearly the original miners. They dig tunnels, they dig out feeding chambers, they dig out a chamber for their queen, and also one for a latrine. And they do it all in a termite-like social setting known as eusociality (meaning truly social). There are only two known eusocial mammals in the world and we have them both in Natural Encounters: The Naked Mole Rat and the Damaraland Mole Rat, both from Africa.

The Naked Mole Rat is the better known of the two but it is neither truly naked, truly a mole nor truly a rat, which just adds to the mystique of this animal. Naked Mole Rats spend nearly their entire life in darkness of underground burrows. Our pink, buck-toothed ( their incisors are on the outside of their mouth which help them dig) friends tunnel beneath the arid African soils constantly looking for food such as roots and tubers and evading predators such as snakes.

Their colonies are structured with a Queen running the show who only reproduces with a select few males. Below them are the soldier mole rats that defend the colony. Due to extremely poor eyesight, they use odors to distinguish friend from foe and since a colony all uses the same latrine chamber, they typically all smell the same and that is all I will say about that but since I used latrine and smell in the same sentence, you get the idea. At the bottom of the colony are the smaller workers who dig the tunnels, maintain the burrows, find the food and are for the Queen and her pups, lots of pups – like up to 25 in a litter every 90 days.

This species has evolved over time to live in colonies of up to 200 animals, all nearly genetically identical, in an environment devoid of normal levels of oxygen, complete darkness. Oh, and they do not drink water – ever.

There are 37 species of Mole-rats, all equally amazing, so come by and learn more of what lies, crawls, eats and sleeps beneath the ground.

Give the Gift of Grub for the holidays to help feed our mole-rats and the rest of the Zoo’s 6,000 animal residents!  From now until December 31, your gift could go twice as far thanks to a generous matching gift challenge by TXU Energy.  All gifts, up to $25,000 total, will be matched dollar for dollar in an effort to help the Zoo provide for its growing animal family.  Our mole-rats really dig that.

Written By Peter Riger

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Sep
12

Animal Enrichment: Fruit Bats at Natural Encounters

Posted by in Enrichment,Events,Natural Encounters

The Houston Zoo keepers enrich all the animals, including bats!  Enrichment allows our animals to practice their natural, “wild” behaviors, such as foraging, exploring and even trying a new food.  This provides animals with the exciting and varied lives they would have  in the wild, but in a safe environment.  Keepers at the Zoo provide enrichment every day, but on September 24th we are bringing enrichment into the spotlight!

One of those spotlights will be the Straw-colored Fruit Bat colony located in the Carruth Natural Encounters Building.

Many people take one look at the bats and are frightened.  On Enrichment Day guests will be able to see these amazing and intelligent animals interacting with a variety of new enrichment in their habitat.  Be sure to stop by the Natural Encounters building at 10:40 am to see the bats explore their enrichment!  A bat keeper will be there to answer questions and help everyone understand why bats are so important.

Written by Kamryn Suttinger

Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo is Saturday, September 24th.  This is a great opportunity to come and join in the fun.  Come out and see all of the animals enjoying special enrichment, hear keeper chats and loads of  fun games for kids of all ages!  Enrichment Day celebrates the meaning and joy of enriching our animals and visitors!

Find your favorite animals and see what they’re wishing for at Amazon.com. Then just sit back, shop, click and send your animal of choice a wonderful gift to enrich their life!  They really do appreciate it and so does the Houston Zoo!

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Dec
03

Meet the Staff: PJ Jones

Posted by in Featured,Meet the Staff,Natural Encounters

PJ with just one of the many animals she gets to work with

Name: PJ Jones

Section: Natural Encounters Supervisor

Hometown: Granby, CT – I’ve lived for 4 years in Houston.

Total years of animal care experience: I’ve been working at the Houston Zoo for 4 years and have been in the animal care field for 11 years total.

Quotes: I love deadlines. I love the wooshing sound they make as they go flying by. –Douglas Adams

Favorite Animals: Although I’ve never been a bird person, I love the personalities of our Aracaris, Olivia and Pico.

Special Interests: I like the outdoors, especially kayaking and mountain biking.

Do you train any animals at the Houston Zoo?
I train our Acari and Binturong. Mostly I oversee the training of other animals.

Education/Training: I graduated from the University of Connecticut with an animal science major. I also worked at Disney in merchandizing to get a foot in the door so I could work at Animal Kingdom.

Jobs: I worked as a primate keeper for the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island and in education and commissary at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. 

What made you want to be a zookeeper?
When I was in college, I was going to pursue pre-vet for the money. I realized through my studies that I wanted to work in the husbandry field rather than medical, and that’s when I pursued animal science so I could be a zookeeper.

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to be a zookeeper?
Volunteer and get experience in any way you can. Keep trying and don’t take no for an answer!

Interesting Facts: I love to participate in practical jokes! We once stole Brett’s (Sea Lion Supervisor) keys from his keyboard and distributed them throughout the zoo. He had to answer questions correctly to earn his letters back!

What’s your favorite animal story?
When I left the first zoo I worked at, I found it very difficult to say goodbye to the animals I had spent the past 5 years with. I was very sad and went to the siamang building to sit with our ornery old-man siamang and his very young son. As I sat by the mesh, they both came over and very gently placed their hands over mine and sat with me for 10 minutes. This wasn’t typical behavior for either of these apes and it was one of the most touching moments of my career. I’m so blessed to be able to work with these animals every day.

Written by Andrea Pohlman

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Sep
04

Meerkat Mob’s Keepers

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Keepers,Mammals,Meerkats,Natural Encounters,Zoo Births

The meerkats kits are continuing to display exceptional cuteness and are ranging farther and farther around their exhibit.  The whole group is together now which has all of the staff breathing a huge sigh of relief.  Alpha female, Chafu, was introduced to them early this morning and she accepted them without any apparent hesitation. 

That moment at first light when we opened the door and let the entire mob onto the exhibit was both nerve racking and exhilirating.  Fortunately, it went exactly as we had hoped it would!  All of the work leading up to that moment, however, took place behind the scenes from a dedicated group of keepers.  They kept pages of notes, took many pictures and rotated individuals in with mom and kits multiple times each day.  The following video lets Paul, Priscilla and Jose  tell you the story of all the work in their own words.  And it delivers plenty of the cuteness you expect from our meerkat kits!

If you stop by the meerkat yard in the next few weeks you are likely to see Paul, Priscilla and Jose keeping a watch on the social structure of the group just to make sure things proceed as we expect.  They love showing off the kits and talking with guests about the animals in their care.  Say hi and let them know what a great job they’re doing!

And thanks to Jeremy Stewart, our videographer extrodinaire, for putting together this video for us to share with you.

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Sep
02

The Meerkat Mob’s Cute Kits!

Posted by in Animal Info,Mammals,Meerkats,Natural Encounters

If you were lucky enough to be at the zoo on this blissfully uncrowded morning, you may have seen one of the very cutest sights in the animal kingdom.  Our new baby meerkats made their debut on exhibit this morning!

People immediately began asking questions; “How old are they?”  ”Which one is the Mom?” “Is that one OK that just rolled down the hill??”  These were the easy questions to answer; four weeks old, Mom is the lightest colored one, and yes, they roll around a lot and the adults keep a close eye that they make it back to the nest.

One of the trickier questions to answer was “How come we didn’t know you had babies until now?”  The answer to that essentially lies in the complicated social structure of meerkats,  how we have to try to decipher their behavior and how we use that knowledge when making management decisions in captivity.

In the wild, only the alpha pair is allowed to breed.  Unfortunately our alpha male died about three years ago, and since then, alpha female, Chafu, has not had any babies. We recently noticed that one of our other females, Kala, was pregnant.  Because Kala is a subordinate animal, we were worried that Chafu’s natural instinct would kick in and she might try to harm the babies.  We decided to try to help Kala protect her kits.

The keepers weigh all of the meerkats regularly and keep meticulous records.  Because of this we were able to determine when Kala’s weight was at a point at which meerkats generally give birth. We kept Kala inside to give birth instead of allowing her access to the outside tunnels where we would not be able to help her if anything went wrong. We also rotated three or four mob members in with her each day, all except Chafu. We timed it perfectly and the second night that Kala was inside she gave birth.  She had a cozy den that she kept the kits in and we continued to rotate other individuals in with her.  They were all very protective of the kits and helped Kala by “babysitting” when she would leave the den to eat.  It took a few days but eventually the adults were comfortable enough to let the keepers get a peek and count six babies!
Check out this picture. Cute!

Four day old meerkat kits snoozing in their nest.

The babies are now four weeks old, very mobile and beginning to eat solid food.  It was time for their first foray into the yard.  In preparation, we brought Chafu and three buddies inside and let the rest of the mob out.  Within moments the babies were peeking out and beginning to explore.  Here they are during their first minutes in the big wide world.  Could you wish for anything cuter?

The playful kits are always under the watchful eye of their babysitters.

After the kits have a few days to explore, we will start to introduce Chafu back into the group.  She has seen, smelled and touched the babies through a mesh barrier, and has exhibited no aggression towards them.  This is very encouraging. We will have plenty of staff on hand ready to assist in case things don’t go according to plan, but we have high hopes that because the rest of the mob has accepted the babies, Chafu will too.

Stop by the Natural Encounters building when you visit the zoo and watch the kits as they explore and tumble in their yard.  Of course we’ll be blogging as they grow so check back often and let us know in the comments what you think of our super cute kits!

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Sep
02

Raven’s name!

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Birds,Natural Encounters

At long last we have bestowed upon our Lady Raven a name.  There was much debate and deliberation over what would fit this bird.  Several people suggested Lenore and it was definitely hard to resist this one, but since Poe’s Lenore came to a mysterious and untimely end, we thought perhaps we wouldn’t invite fate along on this quest for a name.  If you are following along with the comments, you might have seen Kara suggest the name ”Quoth” so when we introduced her during a presentation we could say “This is Quoth…the raven”.  Zoo Keeper’s tend to have a quirky sense of humor so this was a  front runner for a long time, but when we call her to us from a distance, it’s difficult to say “Here Quoth”.  So back to the drawing board.

We are enjoying working with her immensely, but she definitely keeps us on our toes!  She can be soliciting a scratch or a play session one second and then clacking her beak at you and attempting to abscond with your treat container the next.  She definitely has her own ideas about what she wants to do and how a training session should progress, and although we shied away from Lenore, we thought an obscure Poe reference could be in order.

So all the factors; her flight was delayed because of a storm, she changes moods on a dime, Poe reference….hmmmm…

Finally we hit on the perfect name!

We’d like to introduce Tempest the Raven!

 

 

Natural Encounters Keeper Amelia plays a game of tug-of-war with Tempest as Supervisor Amanda watches the fun.

We hope you like our choice and we are looking forward to blogging about all our adventures training with and being educated by Tempest.  She is learning so fast we can hardly keep up and we hope to have her public debut in the next few months.

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