Posts Tagged ‘video’

Jan
27

Big Cats Don’t Make Good Pets, Part 3

Posted by in Carnivores,Keepers,Mammals,Zoo News

A student at Texas A & M University at Galveston where she studies marine biology, Kaitlin McGraw interned at the Houston Zoo last summer.

“When I came to the Zoo, I heard stories about the animals, and where they came from,” said Kaitlin. “I was surprised to learn how many of the animals in the Zoo’s Carnivore Department came from private owners who had kept them as pets,” Kaitlin added.

“I wanted to do something to help people understand that keeping big cats as pets is not a good idea,” Kaitlin added. The result was a series of video presentations profiling the ‘rescued cats’ at the Houston Zoo and recounting their individual stories. The videos were produced using a Canon PowerShot camera and edited on the iMovie platform.

“In the future, I hope to work with an organization like the Houston Zoo, promoting conservation education or traveling to new locales, working with marine and wildlife sanctuaries,” said Kaitlin.

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Jan
05

Big Cats Don’t Make Good Pets

Posted by in Carnivores,Keepers,Mammals,Zoo News

Houston Zoo Intern’s Videos Tell the Real Stories

A student at Texas A & M University at Galveston where she studies marine biology, Kaitlin McGraw interned at the Houston Zoo last summer.

Through the ExxonMobil Community Summer Jobs Program, Kaitlin spent 8 weeks working with the Zoo’s carnivore staff.

Kaitlin has a special appreciation for predator species. “Ever since I was little I’ve loved animals and a special place in my heart has always been reserved for predators,” she said.

“When I came to the Zoo, I heard stories about the animals, and where they came from,” said Kaitlin. “I was surprised to learn how many of the animals in the Zoo’s Carnivore Department came from private owners who had kept them as pets,” Kaitlin added.

“I wanted to do something to help people understand that keeping big cats as pets is not a good idea,” Kaitlin added. The result was a series of video presentations profiling the ‘rescued cats’ at the Houston Zoo and recounting their individual stories. The videos were produced using a Canon PowerShot camera and edited on the iMovie platform.

“In the future, I hope to work with an organization like the Houston Zoo, promoting conservation education or traveling to new locales, working with marine and wildlife sanctuaries,” said Kaitlin.

Below is the first installment of Kaitlin’s videos featuring Houston Zoo big cats.  Stay tuned each week as we post a new video.

 

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Feb
11

Maned Wolf Pups: Upgrading Accommodations

Posted by in Babies,Behind the Scenes,Carnivores,Endangered,Zoo Births

Over the course of weeks 2 and 3, the puppies start to get more active, they are spending more time awake and moving around. This meant we had to update their accommodations. They were old enough to maintain their body temperature so we made a puppy play pen for them.

We started out with a small wading pool but within days they were crawling over the sides so we expanded into a larger pen. This space is a little bigger and we added toys and some “furniture” for them. At this age, its important for them to start learning to navigate around and over obstacles and get used to walking on different types of surfaces.

napping in the pool

They still spend a lot of time napping at this stage but the extra space sure comes in handy when the urge to play strikes: 

Maned wolf puppies Dora and Diego are not on exhibit it the zoo yet so this is the only place to get the latest updates – stay tuned for more stories, photos and video!

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Feb
08

Maned Wolf Pups: Eat, Sleep and Grow

Posted by in Babies,Behind the Scenes,Carnivores,Endangered,Zoo Births

The first couple weeks of a puppy’s life consist of eating, sleeping and growing (and a few other messy things that you can imagine). They need to eat every 3-4 hours at this point, so that means someone has to be at the zoo to care for them round the clock. For the next several weeks, the Carnivore and Clinic staff will be taking turns “camping out” at the zoo.

They can’t maintain their body temperature at this age so they spent most of their time in a small container that we could keep warm. They aren’t very mobile at this point but from the time they are born they can crawl towards warmer or cooler areas and towards food. So I was surprised to find them playing at just 10 days old:

If you’d like to read the first post about these adorable pups, CLICK HERE!

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Oct
27

Chimp Update: The Great Outdoors

Posted by in African Forest,Behind the Scenes,Chimpanzees

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.

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Jul
22

Chimp Update: Making New Friends

Posted by in African Forest,Behind the Scenes,Chimpanzees

The chimps are settling in great to their new home. A few days after they arrived we started introducing them to each other. With many animals, including chimps, this can be a long process but so far its been going pretty quick. This is largely due to the fact that they all knew each other before they got here. We’re not done yet but we do have some nice video of the progress so far.

Below is a video of 32 year old Lulu and her 6 year old son Willie, playing with 38 year old Charlie on their first day together.

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Oct
01

Behind the Scenes: Enrichment

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Enrichment

Now for the fun part – every day the cheetahs get some sort of enrichment and today its bones! Bones are not only entertaining for the cheetahs but are also good for their teeth since their regular diet is ground meat.

The bones are kept in a freezer at the lion building so Kevin and I have to head across the zoo to get them. 

 
Since the cheetahs are already outside, we just toss the bones over the fence to them. This will keep them busy for a while.

cheetahs with their bones

yummy!

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Sep
28

Behind the Scenes: The Fun Part

Posted by in Behind the Scenes

Breakfast is done, the yard is clean, now what? Well, it almost 9:00 so its time for the cheetahs to head back outside.

 

Before we leave the building, we update the dry erase board so that anyone who comes in the barn knows where all the animals are.

dry erase board

translation: dogs are in the back and side yards, cheetahs have access to the exhibit and barn

Next time: What will the cheetahs get for enrichment today?

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Sep
17

Behind the Scenes: Cleanup Crew

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Featured

So all that food is great, but what goes in must come out.  The next part of the morning routine is cleaning the yard. Kevin heads out into the yard in search of poop…

Next we’re off in search of the prize. Overnight rain means everything is a little bit mushy.

And here are our spoils for the whole day – if only I could have gotten t the Smell-o-Vision working…

its a dirty job

its a dirty job

Oh wait, I think I found one more pile

and that's why they pay me the big bucks

and that's why they pay me the big bucks

*This is part 4/4 in our CheetahDog Blog Giveaway. Post a comment and you’ll be entered to win two free tickets to the Zoo! If you answer all 4 in this series, your chances of winning increase.

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Sep
16

Behind the Scenes: Breakfast Part 2

Posted by in Behind the Scenes,Training

In the last post we told you all about what the cheetahs get for breakfast, so now its time to deliver.

You’ll see that the cheetahs are excited to get their breakfast each morning and we use this as part of their training to get them to come inside. The great outdoors is way more interesting but sometimes we need to lock them in the barn to get work done or if there is bad weather. If they always get a big bowl of food inside, then INSIDE=GOOD TIMES and they are eager to come for us each day.

And now its Kiburi’s turn

Next time: Cleaning the yard. Hopefully the Smell-O-Vision will be up and running by then.

*This is part 3/4 in our CheetahDog Blog Giveaway. Post a comment and you’ll be entered to win two free tickets to the Zoo! If you answer all 4 in this series, your chances of winning increase.

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