Big Antler News!

Tahoma, our five-year-old moose that lives in Rocky Mountain Wild, has lost his antlers. No, he didn't misplace them!  He shed them for the winter – on Christmas Day. His new look has prompted a number of questions about moose antlers from our guests, which we will be answering today!

Tahoma shows off his 2012 antlers.

Mature male moose shed their antlers in the winter and grow a new set in the spring. The new set only takes three to five months to fully develop, with a surprising growth rate of up to one inch per day! Each set of antlers grown will be larger than the previous year, so you can pick out older moose by their larger racks. Moose shed their antlers because it makes foraging for winter food easier, and the lack of weight helps conserve needed energy.

Tahoma, just after dropping his rack.

Now that Tahoma has shed his antlers, some guests have mistaken him for a female. You can tell the difference between a cow moose and a bull moose in a number of different ways, even after males shed their antlers. The bell, or the skin that hangs down from their necks, it is significantly larger in bulls. You can also distinguish a cow from a bull by looking at the color of their noses – males have black noses, while females usually have reddish-brown noses.  And at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, we don’t have a female moose. The moose you see here will always be good ‘ol Tahoma!

Tahoma's first antlers (front) compared to this year's antlers (back).

All of Tahoma’s antlers are kept for demonstrations and education. It’s amazing to see how much bigger each set is than the last.  How much do Tahoma’s 2012 antlers weigh?  Take your best guess on our Facebook page contest, beginning 12/28, for a chance to win a moose plush animal and four admission tickets to come see Tahoma! Visit www.facebook.com/CMZoo by 01/07 to submit your entry. The winner will be announced on 01/10.

A Winter Safari too Good to Miss

Thousands have made Electric Safari a holiday tradition, but for those of you who are new to the event, we’ve created a top-five list of activities you will not want to miss. Even if you’ve attended before, you might discover something new. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo will be warming the hearts of families with the 22^nd year of Electric Safari, running nightly through January 1, 2013, from 5:30-8:30pm, with the exception of Christmas Eve. For those looking to avoid crowds, try visiting during the week.

Here comes…animal fun!

Animals are always the stars of Electric Safari, and presentations by our animal keepers will enhance your visit. If you’re here during the week, try to catch Wednesday’s 7:30pm enrichment demonstration. You’ll see our African lions rip into stockings filled with goodies from Santa – goodies lionesses love, including food and perfumed boxes. Friday through Monday at 6pm, watch the elephants at their featured demonstration. You might see them tear bark off logs using their feet (Kimba’s specialty) or watch them move barrels around with their trunks to get at hidden treats. With multiple keeper talks and demonstrations each night, your favorite animal is sure to be featured in a whole new light. Nightly schedules are available at the front gate.

Santa and Mrs. Claus are coming to town. 

St. Nick and Mrs. Claus will be spreading cheer and granting wishes in Safari Lodge every night through Sunday, December 23. After delivering millions of gifts around the world, Santa deserves a big thank you. This year, children can share their gratitude with Santa and Mrs. Claus when they return from the North Pole - only for Cheyenne Mountain Zoo guests. Don’t miss the opportunity to teach kids about the sprit of giving, receiving and saying, “Thank you, Santa” on Saturday, December 29.

It’s going to be a blue (red, yellow, white and purple) Christmas.

We have OVER ONE MILLION LIGHTS. But we didn’t stop after stringing lights around trees. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s horticulture staff designed and built more than 40 one-of-a-kind animated animal sculptures. All your favorites are back this year, and be sure to look for new ones, mainly in Encounter Africa. Our favorite is the new “elephant pushing over an apple tree” sculpture.

The fire is so delightful.

As you stroll around Electric Safari, take a moment to warm up by one of the fires. Share your favorite holiday memories with your family, or simply listen to the sound of the crackling fire. The warmth of the fire mixed with crisp mountain air will engulf you in the sprit of the season. If you still need some extra warmth, stop into the Grizzly Grill and purchase a fresh-baked holiday spice cookie and a cup of hot chocolate.   

See it from the Mountain!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo offers spectacular views of the city from all over our mountain side. The new sky bridge to the elephant barn and the path in front of the Grizzly Grill offer great views. For the more adventurous, the view from the top of the Mountaineer Sky Ride is a sight you cannot afford to miss. On your flight up, look down into animal exhibits, get a new angle on the Zoo lights and see the splendor of Colorado Springs and beyond. Pick out your favorite city landmarks – the Broadmoor, downtown and maybe even your own neighborhood. Don’t forget to bring your camera.

Lights, campfires, animals, jolly old St. Nick. A winter safari too good to miss. Come celebrate the spirit of the holidays at Electric Safari with our Cheyenne Mountain Zoo family! For more information visit: www.cmzoo.org/ElectricSafari.

Jumbe’s Journey to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

At Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, we love announcing new additions to our animal family, so we’ve had a lot of fun this week talking about Jumbe, the black rhino. But it prompted a question for some – exactly how do you transport a 2,658-pound animal nearly 900 miles?

Jumbe’s journey started at Caldwell Zoo in Texas, another Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited facility. A special crate was made just for him and placed in his enclosure. He was trained to shift into the crate and was given special treats whenever he went in. After several positive experiences, he was ready for his road trip from Texas to Colorado on the back of a flatbed truck.  

Jumbe (pronounced joom-bay) arrived at his new home in the elephant barn around midnight on October 10 to excited staff and four very curious elephants. Take a look at the photos to see Jumbe’s first steps out of his travel crate and onto Cheyenne Mountain Zoo ground.

Since his arrival, Jumbe has settled in nicely. His keepers report that he has a very calm demeanor – which is unique for a young male rhino. He often spends his days pushing around a boomer ball, tossing a tire in the air, snacking on willow branches, and napping after a eating his breakfast of alfalfa and grain.

Your first chance to catch a glimpse of Jumbe is during Electric Safari – which runs Friday, December 7 - Sunday, December 9 and Friday, December 14 - Tuesday, January 1 from 5:30 - 8:30pm nightly (except Christmas Eve). This will also be your first chance since construction began on our new $13.5 million Encounter Africa exhibit to see four lovely elephant ladies enjoying their new barn. Don’t miss out!

For more information about Electric Safari, visit: www.cmzoo.org/ElectricSafari.

For updates on the completion of Encounter Africa, visit: www.cmzoo.org/EncounterAfrica. 

What's New at Electric Safari?

Electric Safari is less than two weeks away, and the Zoo is buzzing with excitement about this year’s event. The event will boast over one million lights, Santa through December 23, keeper talks all 21 nights, select animal exhibit viewings and the big reveal of the new elephant barn! If your eyes just widened because this is the first you are hearing the BIG BARN NEWS you’d better keep reading.

For the very first time, the new elephant barn (and the four lovely elephant ladies inside) will be accessible to the public – only during the evenings of Electric Safari! This will be your only chance to see the girls and their new indoor home until later this winter.

Curious about what you’ll encounter during the Electric Safari Elephant Barn opening? Upon entering the Encounter Africa area, you will experience the sheer size of African elephants with four life-sized sculptures. Proceed to the sky bridge, which will give you stunning views of the city on your way to the viewing area of the elephant barn.

The new elephant barn is 2/3 the size of a football field, giving our four elephants lots of space for training and enrichment. During Electric Safari, you might get to see an elephant splash herself in an elephant-operated warm-water shower, play in her sand stall, or use her trunk to eat carrots, cabbage or fruit out of a life-sized enrichment tree built specifically for our barn.

We know everyone has missed seeing the elephants, and Electric Safari is your chance to visit the Zoo and once again admire the size and beauty of our four African elephants. Electric Safari runs Friday, December 7 - Sunday, December 9 and Friday, December 14 - Tuesday, January 1 (Electric Safari closed Christmas Eve) from 5:30 - 8:30pm nightly. For more information about Electric Safari visit: www.cmzoo.org/ElectricSafari.

Need a reminder of who is who? Read more about each of our four elephants here: http://cmzoo.org/exhibitsAttractions/encounterAfrica/animals.asp.

Gratitude Turkey Treat Jar

Do you need a project for your kids to do while you are cooking your Thanksgiving feast tomorrow? We’ve got the perfect project for them - a gratitude turkey treat jar! Thanks to the Toddler-Approved blog, this project will repurpose some of your recyclables, while helping your children learn about the sprit of gratitude and giving thanks this holiday.

Materials Needed: 

·         Glue

·         Candy

·         jars with lids

·         colored cardstock

·         scissors

·         markers

·         googly eyes

Directions:

1. Grab your leftover Halloween candy or any small treat that will fit inside your jar. 

2. Fill up your jar with treats. 

3. Draw some feathers.

4. Cut out the feathers. (This is a good scissor-skills activity for little ones.)

5. Make sure that your jar is FULL and the lid is on tight!

6. Brainstorm what your child is thankful for, or the people they are thankful for and what they like to do with that person. Write their answers (or have them write their answers) on the feathers. 

7. Add some double-stick tape to the back of the jar and start sticking the feathers on. Make sure to have their thankful words all facing the same direction. 

8. Use some glue and add on a beak, googly eyes and a wattle. (If you do not have googly eyes, you can cut out eyes with white paper and use a black marker to color in eyes.) Let everything dry.

9. Review all of the things that your child wrote on the feathers together. Deliver your turkey treat jar to a person they are thankful for, and have them tell them why they are the recipient of their jar.  

Have you had your flu shot yet?

It’s that time of year again, when we hear doctors and nurses urging us to get a flu shot.  Did you know that humans aren’t the only ones who can get the flu?  We share most of our DNA with great apes, and likewise, apes can get the flu too.

In Primate World, home to our Zoo’s orangutans and western lowland gorillas, Zookeepers and volunteers are the only humans our apes have contact with. That contact could potentially expose apes to germs. Keepers could potentially get a cold from an ape, but it is more likely that they could give an ape the sniffles.  A major concern for our orangutans and gorillas is that they don’t always react the same way to viruses as humans do; what may have been a mild cold for us, could make them much sicker.

Zookeepers protect our animals by wearing face masks whenever they are around primates or their food, and they wash their hands frequently. In the last few years, our Zookeepers and veterinarians have started to protect our apes even more by giving them a flu shot. 

Most of our apes have been trained by keepers to accept an injection into their arm. Just like humans, some of our apes are more reluctant than others, and some don’t seem to mind the shot at all.  After they get their flu shot, our apes get a really good treat that they would never get otherwise – usually a peanut butter sandwich.  This year, apes that were less excited about getting an injection were trained to let keepers squirt fluid up their nose - so they got the nasal vaccine.   

Keepers are very happy to give apes another protection against getting sick. The Zoo’s great apes are here to remind you, whether you get the flu shot, or the flu nasal vaccine, it’s time to protect yourself from the flu, too!  

Saving the Black-Footed Ferret from Extinction

Last Friday, five staff members from our Zoo, along with Turner Endangered Species Fund and United States Fish and Wildlife Service, released 25 captive-bred black-footed ferrets to the Vermejo Park Ranch near Raton, New Mexico. This might not seem like very exciting news if you find yourself picturing your friend’s domesticated ferret, and wondering why they are classified as endangered, but black-footed ferrets are very different from the ferret you are picturing!

Black-footed ferrets are the only ferret native to North America (the more commonly thought-of domestic ferret is actually native to Europe). Our expert opinion is that they are the cutest of the ferret species, but trust us, you wouldn’t want them living in your home. Ninety percent of their diet consists of prairie dogs, which they expertly kill!

Now that we have your attention, let’s bring you up to speed about the black-footed ferret’s struggles with extinction and how our Zoo is helping save the species…

In 1979, the black-footed ferret was thought to be extinct. In 1981, a cattle dog named Shep found one in the prairie land of Meeteetse, Wyoming and presented it to his owner – which led to the exciting discovery of a living black-footed ferret population. Over the next four years, biologists gathered new information about the life of the elusive ferret.

The black-footed ferret is nocturnal and fossorial, meaning they live underground. As we mentioned before they rely on prairie dogs as primary prey, and use prairie dog burrows for shelter and nesting. As prairie dog populations were diminishing due to a non-native plague and land development for farming and ranching, as well as an outbreak of canine distemper, the black-footed ferret became critically endangered.

To safeguard the species, the 18 last-known black-footed ferrets were trapped between 1985 and 1987. Our Zoo made the decision to join the Black-Footed Ferret’s Species Survival Plan effort in 1990. A breeding facility was built on Zoo grounds, and although it is not visible to the public, this breeding facility had 30 ferret kits born this year - an astonishing number when you consider it is nearly double the number originally trapped in the 80s. A total of 413 kits have been born at the Zoo’s facility since 1991.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s Director of Conservation and Species Survival Plan Chair for the international black-footed ferret breeding team, Dr. Della Garelle, is excited about the future of the species. “Black-footed ferrets are nocturnal, so it is difficult to gauge their exact population,” Garelle said. “However, thanks to captive-breeding efforts by Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and only five other institutions, their population has gone from nearly extinct to at least 1,000 in the wild.”

Dr. Garelle led our Zoo’s team in the release efforts last Friday at the Vermejo Park Ranch in New Mexico. She was excited to report back after the release that each member of the Zoo’s staff was able to place a black-footed ferret into a prairie dog hole on the property. Once all 25 ferrets were placed, they were given time to settle into their new home. Staff returned to the release site after dark to check on them. Using spotlights, they noticed some native swift foxes checking out their new neighbors, and overall, the release was viewed as a huge success. To date, 200 black-footed ferrets have been released to the Vermejo Park Ranch, which is private land owned by Ted Turner.

To learn more about the black-footed ferret species survival plan, visit: www.blackfootedferret.org, or stop into The Loft, and meet our educational black-footed ferret named Spring. 

Meet Mhali!

Meet Mawimbi

Meet Mashama!

Meet Madora!

How to Make a Can o' Lantern

Materials needed:

• Clean and empty cans of all sizes (try to use a can opener that cuts both the lid and can without sharp edges)
• Gesso (recommended but not necessary)
• Acrylic paints in the colors of orange, black, green and white
• A wine bottle cork
• Orange mesh ribbon
• Green natural raffia
• Hot glue gun or thick designer craft glue
• A pencil

Instructions: 

1. Paint a coat of gesso on the can if desired and let it dry.
2. Paint the can with 2 coats of orange acrylic paint and let it thoroughly dry.
3. Paint the can lid and the cork with green acrylic paint.
4. Use the pencil and draw the eyes, nose and mouth on the can. Paint then the facial features with black paint.
5. Once dry, add 2 white dots on the eyes.
6. Use the hot glue gun or the craft glue and glue the cork onto the center of the can lid.
7. Cut 2 or 3 pieces of green raffia about 12 cm long and lay aside.
8. Cut a piece of mesh ribbon about 10 cm long. Gather the piece in the middle and tie it off with the raffia to look like a bow. Split the raffia if possible to make the strands thinner.
9. Glue the raffia and ribbon now in front of the cork. Place the lid on the can with the bow in the front.

Find more BOOriffic green Halloween craft ideas at www.craftideas.info.

Teens Making a Difference

Our teen volunteers went the extra mile this past weekend to help out Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's local conservation partner, Pinello Ranch. Pinello Ranch, located just north of Venetucci Farm, "serves as an oasis for wildlife along Fountain Creek." The property is surrounded by an urban landscape but is made up of pristine wetland environment making it a valuable habitat for birds, deer, and aquatic life.

Our teen volunteers signed up to spend their Saturday helping install trail markers for future birding tours and clean up over 150 gallons of trash along the Fountain Creek Watershed. In return they were able to explore the wonders of this magical environment.

Interested in helping this local champion? Look for the little yellow bird and vote for Pinello Ranch at the Quarters for Conservation Booth at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

What's New with Sustainable Palm Oil?

Do you have the newest version of the Orangutan Friendly Shopping Guide?  One of the most recent changes is that General Mills has joined the RSPO (Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil), which means brands like General Mills, Cascadian Farm, Progresso, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Green Giant, Hamburger Helper, and Nature Valley are orangutan friendly choices!  The most up to date version of the shopping guide can be found at http://www.cmzoo.org/conservation/palmOilCrisis/. 

You can make orangutan friendly choices every time you shop at the grocery store by buying only products listed on the shopping guide.  The list of RSPO-member companies continues to grow, which is great news for orangutans and other animals that live in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.  The RSPO is a multi-stakeholder group that is moving the palm oil industry toward sustainability.  To learn more about the RSPO, visit their website: www.rspo.org  

Around the country, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s Palm Oil Awareness Team continues to spread the message about how to make a difference for wild orangutans.  In the past, the Team has focused primarily on speaking at orangutan-related conferences.  This year, our Team has also been invited to speak at professional conferences for other species affected by the palm oil crisis.  In June, Mandy, one of our orangutan keepers, traveled to North Carolina to speak at the first Gibbon Husbandry conference.  Gibbons inhabit some of the same rainforests in which orangutans live, so the deforestation caused by unsustainable production of palm oil affects gibbons as well.  Coming up this month, our Animal Care Manager, Dina, will be traveling to Oregon to speak for the third year in a row at the annual Orangutan Husbandry Conference.  In September Dina and Tracey, our Vice President, will be hosting a booth at the American Zoological Association (AZA) National Conference in Arizona, where they will be sharing with zoo professionals from all over the United States ways to help guests at their zoos make informed shopping choices and make a difference for wild orangutans and other wildlife. Lastly for this year, in November, Dina will be traveling to California, where she has been invited to speak at the annual Elephant Managers Association conference.  Elephants are another of the many species affected by unsustainable palm oil. 

The Team will continue to work hard to make a difference for wild orangutans by raising awareness about the palm oil crisis and encouraging people to take action by providing tools and information that will allow them to make globally responsible consumer choices.  Join us in making a difference!

Meet Jukuu!

Antler Velvet + Stomachs = A Rocky Mtn. Wild Update

Tahoma has officially finished growing his 5th set of antlers and is now shedding the velvet off of them! Moose bulls grow new antlers every year and the velvet helps them grow. Once they are done moose will rub their antlers on branches to help shed the velvet and reveal their new antlers underneath. Keepers will use Tahoma's velvet for enrichment. Especially for carnivores like, wolves, bears and cats!

Our two grizzly bear boys Emmett and Digger are feeling the season change! Especially their stomachs! Both bears are super hungry and have been observed squabbling over even the smallest morsel like a raspberry or peanut. Bears start to bulk-up this time of year in preperation for denning up over the winter. Keepers have increased E & D's diets and they are eating it all, even their veggies!

Meet Betty!

Kenyan Sand Boa

We are continuing our blog series “The Hidden World of African Rift Valley,” where we introduce you to special animals who take the “hidden world” part quite literally.

This time, we’ll focus on Kenyan sand boas.  These beautiful snakes live in east Africa and are fossorial, which means they like to burrow underground. They do this to hide from predators (large birds, monitor lizards and jackals), to thermoregulate (cool off or stay warm), and to ambush their rodent prey.

Kenyan sand boas are a small boa species.  In this species, females are larger than their male counterparts, generally reaching about two feet long.  As is true with all boa species, Kenyan sand boas are not venomous. Instead, they are constrictors and kill their prey by suffocating it.

Guests can see our Kenyan sand boas bury themselves into the sand during our keeper talks held daily at 11:30 & 2:30 throughout the summer months in African Rift Valley.

Next time, we will meet another reptile from east Africa that is especially good at hiding.

Quarters for Conservation- Cape Vulture Conservation in South Africa

Post by: Jenyva Turner

Often, when people think of vultures, unpleasant images come to mind. However, when you learn more about them, we think you’ll agree that vultures are amazing!  Not only do they have many interesting adaptations that make them unique, they are, more importantly, vital to the health of ecosystems around the world. No other scavenger is better equipped to deal with death and disease than the vulture. From strong stomach acids to featherless heads, vultures use their unique assets to prevent disease from spreading, while keeping themselves clean and healthy in the process.

This is the fourth year vulture conservation has been featured as one of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s (CMZ) Quarters for Conservation (Q4C) programs. To date, over $25,000 has been raised through Q4C and sent to VulPro, a non-profit conservation organization in South Africa that focuses on vulture conservation. Organizations like VulPro are critical to the  health and welfare of vultures, as vulture populations around the world are declining due to poisoning, power line electrocutions and poaching. VulPro is involved in many aspects of conservation from population monitoring, captive breeding, reintroduction, rehabilitation, research and education.

A chick hatched at VulPro . 

CMZ has been a significant contributor towards VulPro’s programs. The first year, the Zoo supported VulPro’s rehabilitation work and purchased chest freezers to store food and medicine. Two years ago, CMZ purchased GPS tracking devices to monitor the migration of adult Cape vultures. Last year’s funds paid for the expansion of the Cape vulture artificial breeding cliffs at VulPro so more vulture chicks can be raised and released into the wild. And this year, CMZ is helping develop and fund VulPro’s educational program for schools across South Africa, enabling the next generation to learn about the value of vultures.

CMZ is also involved in educational work right here at home, teaching Zoo guests about the importance of vultures during the Wings of Africa bird show held daily in African Rift Valley. Additionally, CMZ participates annually in International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD), which was created by staff from VulPro and CMZ and is now celebrated all over the world on the first Saturday of September. Many kids and adults alike have grown in their appreciation for these misunderstood birds. This year’s IVAD event will be held on Saturday, September 1, 2012 from 10am-2pm in CMZ’s African Rift Valley. Come join us and see for yourself how cool vultures are and learn more about what you can do to help them!

Meet Azmera!

UCCS Volunteers at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Then Interacts with Mountain Lions

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After three hours of volunteering, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs men’s soccer team worked with Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to take part in a unique educational opportunity with the zoo’s four Mountain Lions.

UCCS started at 9 a.m., with volunteers in three different areas of the Zoo. One group started in the Asian Highlands area, and worked near Helga’s exhibit on the walk bridge and exhibit sign. Helga, an Amur tiger, frequently visited the student-athletes working on the sign.

Another group worked on the main road through the Zoo between the main administrative building and the developing Encounter Africa exhibit. The group dug holes and planted trees along the roadside with the Zoo’s staff.

The third group started in the Zoo’s Safari Lodge assembling seed sticks for the Budgie Buddies exhibit. The other groups rotated in, and during the three hours, the team put together approximately 5,000 seed sticks for the visitors to feed the more than 100 free-flight Australian birds. The Safari Lodge area also allowed the team to repaint a cart for the Zoo.

Some student-athletes took advantage of the nearby “All About Giraffes” exhibit, where the largest giraffe herd at any zoo walked up to the walkway to meet the athletes. The team ate lunch at the Zoo and took part in an aerial tour with the Sky Ride before meeting the Mountain Lions.

Staff members at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo arranged for an educational opportunity, which allowed the UCCS men’s soccer team to prepare food boxes to hold chicken breast for the four Mountain Lions at the Zoo. The team prepared the eight boxes with logos of the other eight RMACmen’s soccer teams, and the four Mountain Lions in the exhibit proceeded to destroy and tear the boxes apart to close out the day.

Best, Meg

From July 20 through July 29, I had an amazing opportunity to spend time in Belize, Central America, through my master’s program, the Global Field Program.  This program, through Miami University in Ohio, includes three Earth Expedition trips such as this, each focused on specific ecology and conservation issues.

Manatee Photo from Sea to Shore Alliance.

The trip to Belize was focused on four main topics: Inquiry, Community-Based Conservation, Ecology of Manatees, and Ecology of Coral Reefs.  My 22 classmates and I travelled all around Belize, immersing ourselves in the rain forest and ocean, meeting the people of Belize (such rich cultures!), and getting to know the country’s conservation efforts.  I experienced so much on this trip, but what I would really like to share is my experience with manatees.  Before we left, I wrote a paper about zoos and manatees, and during the trip, I constantly turned my thoughts back to the question carried posed in that paper: “How can Cheyenne Mountain Zoo get involved with manatee conservation?”

Looking out for the manatees

On July 24^th, we travelled to Belize City to meet Nicole Auil Gomez and Jamal Galves, experts working with the Coastal Zone Management Authority and Institute (http://www.coastalzonebelize.org/), and the Sea to Shore Alliance (http://public.sea2shore.org/home).  Nicole briefed us in the classroom on manatee taxonomy as well as management and conservation, and the research projects she and Jamal are involved in.  Jamal has just received some grant funding to help further his research in tracking manatees and working with local people to manage no wake zones and strandings (manatees that are found near the shore, usually injured or dead).

Meg with Jamal Galves

 After the classroom session, Jamal took us out on the boat to help him with his research!  We started at the mouth of the Belize River, where the water flows into the Caribbean Sea, counting the number of noses that came up as manatees rose to the surface for air.  We also took measurements of temperature (air and water), salinity, and particulates, as well as collected sea grass and even manatee poop!

Telemetry belt around the peduncle of a manatee
Photo from Sea to Shore Alliance

Tuning into the frequency.

For me, the best part of this experience by far was using telemetry to track the manatees. Manatees captured by Jamal and Nicole’s team each receive an individual health assessment and a skin sample from the tail is taken for genetic research.  Then, a radio tracking device is belted on the manatee at the narrowest part of the body, near the tail.  The tracker is buoyed on a line about six feet long and it only sends a signal when it comes up above the water.  It also has a quick release so the manatee can get free if it gets caught on something.  Each radio tracker sends out a different signal so Jamal can keep track of each individual animal.  This process allowed us to track and spot manatees, as well as conduct behavioral research.

Manatee mom and baby, photo courtesy
of Sea to Shore Alliance board member,
Jimmy White.

As I mentioned, I kept thinking “How can Cheyenne Mountain Zoo get involved with manatee conservation?”  We do not have manatees at CMZ; in fact there are only five zoos in the country that do have them.  But does that mean we can’t help make a difference?  I will be pondering this more and you will hear from me again as I start to formulate some ideas.  If you have one, I would love to hear it!  Just send me an email at mmcdaniel@cmzoo.org.

Best,

Meg

Meg McDaniel is the Academic Programs Manager her at CMZ.

Meet Ajali

Meet The Herd

Our Head Giraffe Keeper, Allison Kao, introduces you to the members of our giraffe herd and teaches you how to distinguish them based on their markings.

Baka-keri: The Eternal Ape

Many of our frequent guests are probably already familiar with Baka-keri, our adult male Sumatran orangutan.  No, he’s not the orangutan who gives “kisses”; that’s Tujoh.  Baka is the handsome, dreadlocked guy who was a great dad to Makan and now Godek. 

We frequently get questions about Baka’s name because the word “baka” means stupid in Japanese.  Baka is one of our smartest orangutans and anything but stupid.  He was named at his birth zoo, the Calgary Zoo, which follows similar naming rules as Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  We try to give animals names from languages native to their country of origin.  Orangutans are native to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia and Malaysia.  Baka’s full name is Baka-keri - Baka in Indonesian means “eternal”, and the Indonesian word for “ape” is keras.

  

Orangutans are highly endangered in their native rainforests due palm oil production, so right now they are far from eternal.  Click here to see how you can help them when you visit the grocery store.

Creatively Cool Great Apes

It has been a hot summer, and just like humans, the apes love a cool treat on a warm day. We have various ways of presenting a frozen treat and some of the ones we use frequently are: juice frozen in applesauce jars and placed on top of their skylight mesh, frozen whole fruit, and ice or juice cubes spread in their exhibit. 

When we have time, though, we like to get more creative and make treats novel and fun for the animals. We can make “ape-size popsicles” with a five-gallon bucket and some chain. By freezing the chain in the middle of the juice and fruit, we can hang it in their exhibit and give them hours of enjoyment. Recently, we made some “ice rings” by freezing juice and fruit in a tub with an empty round container taking up the middle. These rings were then hung in the orangutan exhibits and they spent a long time cooling off with them.

Some of our apes take cool fun into their own hands, by making their water run into the exhibit to play in. Stay cool out there!