On the Eighth Day of Grub, your zoo gift will help to feed…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 HEREto read them all!
What is the best thing to do after your afternoon snack? Well if you are Asali, the Houston Zoo’s nine-month-old Masai giraffe, the best thing is to gallop. Nothing feels better than to stretch out those long, long legs.
While it was too hot that afternoon to get the rest of her family involved in the fun, the heat was of no concern to Asali. Even the ostriches watched in amazement as Asali worked off those calories.
Dinner Time at The Houston Zoo
What is on the menu for the Masai giraffe at Houston Zoo? Our giraffes enjoy hay, fruits and vegetables, and romaine lettuce. However, their most favorite food of all time is the vast array of different plant material provided by the horticulture staff at Houston Zoo. The horticulture staff will search the entire zoo looking for tasty treats for the animals, and since they are so tall, the giraffes are able to see them bringing the food from across the zoo. The giraffe keepers will then place the branches up really high so that the giraffes have to reach up high for them.
This behavior is exactly the same in the wild. Giraffes are able to reach very high up in the trees to get the tastiest leaves. Please come by The Houston Zoo’s African Forest exhibit and watch our herd of Masai giraffes as they explore their exhibit, look for food, lounge in the shade, and of course, stretch out those long giraffe legs.
Written by John Register, Hoofed Stock Supervisor
Help provide tasty and nutritious grub for the Zoo’s giraffes and the rest of our animal family this holiday season: Give the Gift of Grub!
Our thanks to TXU Energy for matching the first $25,000 in donations this year. That’s a LOT of lettuce!
At long last, the adventure for our zoo team concludes !
In my last blog we had just boarded our cargo plane to leave Africa. Flying cargo was certainly an interesting experience. The plane was a 747. Anyone who flew on these planes in the 70′s and 80′s might remember that there was an upstairs area. Back then, the upper flight deck was a lounge area for first class passengers. That area has long since been replaced with more seats for more revenue, but on our plane there were 6 business class seats, a small galley, the bathroom and two small closet with “beds” in them. I could barely stretch out on one and I’m only 5’1″ so I’m not sure how the Joe’s fit…they’re both over 6 ft! But the beds were a nice option when we had been crammed in a car and were still facing 48 hours of transit time.
Knowing there were three rhinos below us that had never flown before was also an adrenaline-pumping feeling. And believe me, we knew it when they got restless! Turbulance is one thing, but a rhino bouncing around in a crate is something quite different. The whole plane would shift and the thumping was a bit disconcerting at first. During the first leg from Johannesburg to Harare we checked on the rhinos often because we weren’t sure how they would react, and we needed to reassure ourselves that the crates were still safely locked down. But after a bit the rhinos settled down and so did we.
In between the two shorter legs of our trip, we were on the ground for several hours in both Harare and Nairobi abd we weren’t allowed off the plane. We used the time to feed the rhinos and watch the cargo being shifted around in the hold. That in itself was a cool operation to watch. The floor of the cargo hold was a series of tracks, wheels and mechanized plates that moved the cargo around with seeming ease. Huge pallets, including the ones the rhinos were on could be moved back & forth like a kid’s puzzle game to make sure everything fit. Check out this video, curtesy of Dr Joe Flanagan, of the rhino crates being moved into position. Eventually they had pallets of flowers packed all around them.
By the third leg of the flight, the long 10 hours from Nairobi to Amsterdam, the rhinos seemed to have gotten the hang of takeoffs and landings. They seemed less thrilled about the landing part. With ears as huge as theirs are, I imagine it might have been a bit uncomfortable, especially since we couldn’t explain to them about pressure and without thumbs they can’t hold their nose while blowing! But the flight was smooth and the Joe’s & I even managed to get some sleep. Because we were the only passengers, we could turn out the lights on the flight deck and there were no seat mates to climb over to get out of your row. Nice!
Joe K. catching some well deserved zzz's on the cargo plane.
Eventually we landed in Amsterdam where more fun awaited us. Believe it or not, we were given more conflicting information about where we were supposed to go, where the rhinos were going, where our luggage needed to be and how everyone/thing was getting where.
As I mentioned in my last blog, we originally thought we would have twelve hours in Amsterdam, but that had been whittled down to about four. 90 minutes of that were spent waiting for the person from the animal hotel to arrive at the plane to transfer the rhinos. She told us we needed to go through the regular passport control so we waited again while they called someone to come and collect us. After that we had to find our own way to the animal hotel, which was about a 20 minute brisk walk. We quickly fed the rhinos, collected our luggage from the pallets (apparently we were breaking some international regulations by leaving them on the pallets. It was OK in South Africa, but not The Netherlands…sigh!) and dashed back to the terminal to check in.
We had been promised that we would get right through the ticketing and security lines. By now we should have known not to take anything at face value. Joe Kalla and I could not print our boarding passes at the numerous ticket kiosks they have in Amsterdam. Dr Joe managed to get some assistance and was successful in printing a boarding pass, but Joe K. and I were directed to a line of other passengers with problems. We decided that Dr Joe should head to the gate because someone needed to be with the rhinos. We also needed to figure out where Dan was. The plan had been to meet him at the hotel the night before and we had no way of letting him know we weren’t going to make it to Amsterdam until morning.
Joe K. discovered that his name was misspelled on his ticket and the people at the “problem line” could not help him. He was sent away to yet another desk with another line.
I was told there was a security hold on my passport for some reason. In our post 9/11 world, this was somewhat disturbing to hear. At this point I was getting a bit impatient and after insisting that I HAD to be on the plane leaving in 20 minutes with the rhinos they printed me a boarding pass but warned me that I would be detained at security. I saw Joe K. still waiting in a line, wished him luck and headed off to try my own luck with security. I caught up with Dr Joe and apparently security didn’t care that I was some sort of risk because no one asked me anything and I went right through. Presently we saw Dan in line behind us. He had spent a not very comfortable night wandering the airport because the hotel room wasn’t in his name and they wouldn’t let him check in. The three of us collectively wondered if Joe K. would make it before boarding. Fortunately (?!?) the flight was packed and getting all the passengers screened took a while. When everyone seemed to have gotten through to the waiting area I asked a staff member if she could check on Joe K’s status. The computer showed that he was checked in with a boarding pass so we crossed our fingers and hoped he would make it. Finally we saw him coming down the hall and at last we were all set for our final leg of the journey!
This plane was again a 747 but it’s what is referred to as a “combi”. It holds both passengers and cargo. The front 2/3 of the plane is passengers, and the back section is cargo. The two sections are separated by a wall with a door through to cargo. To the average passenger this would look like the back of the plane. Little did they know that there were three large and unusual passengers traveling with them! We had our own KLM staff member that flew with us whose sole job it was to let us through the door to the cargo area to check on the rhinos.
Towards the end of the flight, the male rhino began bouncing in his crate. By this point we were used to this, but to the stewardess, who’s job it is to know what sounds are normal on the plane and what aren’t, it was quite a surprise. I saw her eyes get really big and realized that she didn’t know it was the rhinos and not the plane! She breathed a huge sigh of relief when I explained it was just the rhinos moving around a bit. I thought it was amusing that we were reassuring the flight crew instead of the other way around.
We were pretty excited, very tired and also extremely relieved when the captain announced that we must all fasten our seat belts, ensure that our seat backs and tray tables were in the proper upright and locked positions and prepare for landing in Houston. What a welcome sight to see some familiar terrain out the plane window!
It was a beautiful landing. Jeremy Stewart, our resident videographer got a nice shot of our plane landing at IAH. We were very happy to see Hannah Bailey, Curator of Birds, waiting to shuttle us to the cargo area after we cleared customs. When we arrived at cargo, a whole team of zoo staff was already busy getting our three rhinos loaded onto flatbed trucks for the drive to the zoo. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see it yet, here’s the video showing the final leg of the rhino’s journey to the Houston Zoo.
With the rhinos safely unloaded in their brand new barn, our adventure had at long last come to an end. For all of our guests, though, the adventure is just begining! We hope you’ll join us on December 10th for the official opening of The African Forest and you’re own adventures with giraffes, chimpanzees, and of course our three new rhinos, Sibindi, Lynne and Annie Kamariah!
The tale of The Houston Zoo’s crew who were sent to Africa to bring home our trio of white rhinos continues…
Our drive to Johannesburg stretched out until about 3:30 in the morning. We stopped every 30 – 60 minutes to check on the rhinos, and sometime for coffee for our brave volunteer, Joe Kalla, who drove the entire route. We went through one mountain pass that was so foggy we couldn’t see the truck with the rhinos right in front of us.
Fortunately though there were no hold ups on the road and we pulled into the cargo area at Johnannesburg Airport in the wee early hours Monday morning. Normally the gate at the KLM area doesn’t open until 7 AM so we had made arrangements for the guards to let us in when we arrived. When we pulled up to the gate, though, there was no one to be found. We saw someone peering at us from the shadows of the building across the lot and tried to attract their attention to no avail.
Not quite sure what was going on, we went to the next compound down the road and spoke with the guard there. He said he would go and check with the KLM guard staff and let us know. When he returned, we were very surprised to hear that the KLM guard was afraid we were there to rob him and had run away and would not come back to his post! So much for making arrangements to be let in early.
Fortunately the guard that was helping us felt sorry for us and let us into his compound to wait until 7 AM. We spent a very chilly and cramped few hours sleeping (or attempting to sleep) in our car, smushed in among all our luggage and gear. We were pretty happy when first light dawned and we could finally convince the KLM guard that we were not there to rob him!
Once the cargo staff arrived in the morning it was time to move the containers from Louis’ truck onto the pallets that they would be shipped on. The rhino containers were secured to the pallets and then the pallets would be locked down to the floor of the cargo hold in the plane. Here’s Joe Kalla helping to line up one of the containers on a pallet.
Joe Kalla helps position a rhino-filled container while Niccor nonchalantly rides on top as it swings from the truck to the transport pallet.
Once we got the containers fastened securely to the pallets there were towed into the warehouse to wait to be loaded onto the plane.
Rhino containers being towed into the cargo area at Johannesburg Airport.
Now we had time to label the containers, attach the zoo’s and sponsor’s logos and finally grab a welcome cup of hot coffee. Our flight didn’t leave until almost two, so we had plenty of time…or so we thought. Our adventure wasn’t quite over yet!
Because we were flying cargo, we didn’t have regular tickets. We needed something called a “General Direction” sheet, (or a “Gendex” for short) to get through security. We were assured this was on the way and so we had some more “tortoise time” before we would finally leave Africa. As I said, we thought we had plenty of time, so while we were anxious to get going, we weren’t worried yet. We kept an eye on the rhinos and passed the time talking with the wonderful staff that were assisting us with the arrangements. After a couple of hours, though, we started to get a bit antsy about the paperwork. Time was ticking. Our videographer, Dan, couldn’t fly cargo for the first leg of our journey because only the staff directly responsible for animal care could go on the cargo plane. We needed to get Dan to his flight, return our rental car, get ourselves checked in and meet our flight crew at the gate to transport out to the plane.
With time getting tighter, our GenDex finally arrived and we dashed off to the terminal. Turning in our car we all hurried into the terminal, said so long to Dan until we met up in Amsterdam and headed to security. Then things got a bit dodgy once again. The security officers did not recognize our GenDex as a Gendex. They repeated to us several times that we needed a Gendex. We were a bit tired at this point and mostly stared blankly and pointed at our magical piece of paper that was supposed to sail us right through security.
Finally, when the passengers behind us started grumbling, one agent said we must come with him. After trailing all over the airport to several offices he said he must go upstairs to check on our Gendex. Fortunately it was Joe Kalla to the rescue again. He refused to be separated from the piece of paper that was our only link to the rhinos at that point, and went with the airport employee while Dr Joe and I waited anxiously. Eventually they returned, really none the wiser as to what the gentleman was “checking on”, but at least he seemed to finally have picked up on our sense of urgency. He rushed us through security and we headed to our gate.
It was different being the only passengers waiting and shortly our pilot and co-pilot arrived. We all transported out to the plane in a van. As we were boarding, they told us we pretty much had free run of the plane and even that we could stay with the rhinos in the cargo area during take off and landing. Dr Joe took them up on this offer and stayed in the hold for take off, which he reports was quite a strange thing when we are so used to being told to absolutely not move from our seats during take off and landing.
Here is what the hold of the plane looked like. The rhinos were packed in with lots and lots of flowers heading to Europe from Africa.
Dr Joe watches as cargo is moved into place around the rhino containers.
Now we were on the plane at last. But there was one more piece of information that we didn’t have until we talked with the captain. Our schedule said we would arrive in Amsterdam around midnight. Once again we thought we had plenty of time. Our flight from Amsterdam to Houston wasn’t scheduled until 10:40 the next morning. We planned to get the rhinos unloaded and fed at the “pet hotel” that KLM has in Amsterdam and then grab showers and maybe even a little sleep at the airport hotel. Yet another plan evaporated, along with our visions of hot showers when the captain told us we would fly to Harare in Zimbabwe, lay over for a few hours while more cargo was loaded, then fly to Nairobi, Kenya for another few hours of cargo loading, and then finally on to Amsterdam, arriving early morning. That wasn’t going to give us much time to unload the rhinos and get them to the next flight, let alone have a nap. At that point all we could do was shrug and settle in for a long trip to Amsterdam!
Finally, after years of planning and months of construction, the time has come to open the door. This would be the chimps’ first glimpse at their 18,000 square foot outdoor exhibit. We spent several weeks discussing what the plan would be for letting them out, as this is a bit more complicated than people might think.
As many of you know, we have 10 chimpanzees and while it would fun to just open the door and let them go outside, there are a few concerns we have to consider. First, if all 10 go out at once, they might be a little tough to keep track of and we want to watch closely these first few days. Its possible that one of the animals might get scared or they might break something we thought was chimp-proof so we need might need to get them back in quickly. Its also possible they might refuse to come inside. By leaving part of the group inside, there is more motivation for them to come back in when we ask.
So in the end, we decided that Lucy, Lulu and Willie were the right candidates for the inaugural events. What did they think? Just watch.
This was just day one – more updates on the chimps and how we get them to come back inside are coming soon.
Its amazing what can happen in a few weeks. While we were busy with our 10 new residents, something amazing happened outside. Those triple digit temperatures haven’t been much fun but the dry weather did mean that major progress could be made in the exhibit.
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
Help provide tasty and nutritious grub for the Zoo’s giraffes and the rest of our animal family this holiday season: Give the Gift of Grub!
