Zoo LOVE is in the Air!

 

Thank You James Bugea & Marissa Young

James Bugea
Jim is a dedicated volunteer that helps our Pony Wranglers as well as our Australian exhibit.  He is a fan of our feather friends – the budgie birds – and does a great job of helping out the keepers with their care.  Thank YOU Jim for lending a hand and helping support the Zoo!

-  Megan Hudak – Volunteer Services Manager

What’s your favorite part of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo? 

My favorite animal at the zoo are the wolves. My favorite area is Australia (matte!)

How long have you been a volunteer?

I have been volunteering at the Zoo for just over a year. 

What are some of the activities that you’ve gotten to help with? 

One of my favorite activities I was involved in was when Thea and Nichole were weighing the wallabies. That was fun and exciting to see how Thea was catching the wallabies by the tails! She was good at it. Then at the Big Backyard, it was also weigh day for the turkeys. Jeanne tried to catch a turkey and the turkey flapped her big wings and it slapped Jeanne across her face with a loud slap. Jeanne didn't think that was so funny at the time! Nichole & I took the goats out for a walk one day and that was cool. So I have enjoyed being entertained for over a year at your Zoo. Thanks for the memories!

Marissa Young

It’s great to have Marissa on the Zoo’s volunteer team!  We know we can always count on Marissa to do her best in Aquatics.  She has such a positive attitude and I enjoy seeing Marissa every week.  Thank YOU Marissa for being an awesome volunteer! 

- Megan Hudak – Volunteer Services Manager

Favorite zoo animal:

I think it's really amazing that the zoo has a snow leopard. Considering it was only within the last decade that we were able to get them on film (Planet Earth series) because they are so elusive, it is pretty cool that we can see one in person! 

How long have you been a volunteer?

I've volunteered at the zoo for about a year now.

What are some of the activities that you’ve gotten to help with? 

Feeding the hippos is always fun. It's cool to see them smash a melon in their mouth so easily. Feeding the penguins is also a lot of fun. They are all such characters and it's always fun to see what is going on in "penguin world", it's usually such a soap opera with that bunch. I mostly help with the hippos, beavers, penguins, and sometimes the cranes each week.   

 Do you have any funny/good stories about your volunteering experiences? 

One time I was cleaning out the beaver exhibit and letting Ginger and Duncan roam around in the little back area. As usual, Duncan was content to sleep the entire time, but Ginger was up and checking things out. They had a bunch of tree branches to munch on that were ready to be cleared out, so I moved them out of their exhibit to make room for the new tree branches to be put in. This was not ok with Ginger, though. Every time I moved something out, she would go and bring it back into the exhibit. She got her way and had a huge mixture of old and new branches to munch on for the day!

Just the other day, I got to watch the hippos play in the snow. I didn't think that hippos would like the snow, but they loved it! Their favorite thing was to eat the snow. They were very funny, walking around and scooping up piles of snow just like snow plows!

Meet the Snow Leopards

Have you ever wondered how snow leopards get their fur so soft and fluffy? Or how they make the most of their exhibit here at the zoo? We took your questions, posted on our Facebook page, straight to the leopards themselves (or maybe to their keepers), to get you answers.  Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is home to two snow leopards, a 3-year-old female named Kisa and a 3-year-old male named Bhutan.

Facebook Question: Wouldn't life for you be way better if your enclosure was larger ? :)

Answer: Actually, life is pretty great!  The enclosure you see me in is not the only area I live in.  All of us leopards rotate through the three leopard yards and the leopard building, so I get to be in a new area every day, which is very interesting! Sometimes the keepers give me access to multiple enclosures at the same time, which gives me a ton of space to play in!

Facebook Question: What do you want SantaCatPaws to bring you this year? I already know you been a great cat this year.

Answer: Well, you are right...I HAVE been a very good leopard this year! Santa always brings us lots of fun treats and toys for Christmas, but this year I hope he brings me some special meat treats, like deer hides or steak. Those are my favorite!

Facebook Question: Are you as soft as you look?
Answer: Thank you for noticing!  Yes, my fur is very soft on top and feels similar to rabbit fur.  My fur underneath, which is the fur that keeps me warm when it's cold outside, is thicker and more coarse, like sheep wool.


Facebook Question: Can you change your spots?
Answer: I can’t change my spots.  A leopards spots are very much like a human’s fingerprints - they are unique to each individual and never change.  Many people don't know this, but our skin is spotted just like our fur coats!

Facebook Question: Do you know that white is out of season after Labor Day?

Answer: Yes, we know snow leopards are very fashion forward!  But when you're this pretty, you can totally pull off white after Labor Day!

Here are a few more snow leopard facts. A snow leopard’s average height is two feet, average length is six to seven-and-a-half feet, and they weigh from 77 to 121 pounds. Female snow leopards weigh approximately 30% less than males. Snow leopards live for as long as 21 years in captivity. Their reclusive nature makes it hard to determine snow leopard lifespan in the wild. Eating wild sheep and goats, and smaller animals like rodents, hares, and game birds, is what makes up their daily menu. These cats can be found in the rugged mountains of central Asia. Their range spans from Afghanistan to Kazakhstan and Russia in the north, to India and China in the east. China is home to about 60% of snow leopard habitat. Snow leopards have already disappeared from certain areas of Mongolia, which is part of their historic range.  Due to the high demand for their coats, snow leopards are illegally hunted for the fur trade. Very rare in most of their range, an estimated 3,500 to 7,000 snow leopards are left in the wild, with 600 to 700 in zoos around the world.

Mongolia Snow Leopard Update

Since Megan Sanders, our Animal Behavior Programs Manager at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, returned from Mongolia last year she has continued working with the Snow Leopard Trust in an effort to save some of the last remaining wild snow leopards in the world. Here is the latest update from Megan:

I have attached the latest GPS map of the snow leopard locations in Mongolia!



The most exciting set of locations have come understandably from Zara, the lone female we have managed to follow so far. She is already covering an area larger than 200 sq. km.

Another amazing dynamic we are following is the overlap between Aztai and Khavar. There is greater than 90% overlap of home range sites between these two males, which is exciting and informative.

For more than two decades we have known that snow leopards use home ranges that overlapped extensively. Unlike many other solitary felids, this even holds true for males. We long suspected that their elaborate scent and sign marking system evolved, at least in part, to allow males avoid one another while using almost identical spaces. As we continue to follow these intricate movements and interactions of our collared cats, and ultimately their offspring, we will hopefully better understand this unique social system that seems to allow cats to live in close quarters yet avert aggressive interactions. That alone is something we could have never done even 5 years ago before the advent of GPS-satellite phone collar technology.

Right now there is a big push to protect important snow leopard habitat from mining permits. The Tost Mountains is where I traveled while I was in Mongolia and where the research camp and the collared cats reside. Below is a little update on some of the actions that are being taken by SLT staff to try and save this important habitat.
Mining currently threatens landscapes used by herders and wildlife in Mongolia. Because the majority of the Tost Mountain range was designated for mining, Bayara, our Mongolia Country Program Director, led community meetings in the Tost Township that resulted in a unified effort by the community to exclude the region from mining and declare it a People's Protected Area.

Of course I always love to plug my Q4C project (Quarters for Conservation)! :) The exciting thing about this year is that funds will be directly supporting Mongolian communities in developing and implementing their own conservation action plans. This will create a broader on the ground conservation force who is actively invested in, looking out for and spreading awareness about snow leopards and the threats that face them.

YAY SNOW LEOPARDS!! Man I wish I was out there collaring some cats! :)

ENDANGERED SPECIES DAY at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo will be observing Endangered Species Day on Friday, May 21, 2010 with some special presentations at select animal exhibits and habitats. They will lead up to the observance by highlighting different animal conservation programs each day of the week. These conservation programs are all included in the Zoo’s “Quarters for Conservation” initiative that Zoo guests support with 25 cent votes each time they visit. Most presentations run from 11 am to 2 pm, but it is suggested that guests get schedules at the Zoo front gate when they arrive.

The schedule for presentations during the week is:

Tues., May 18
Wild African Vultures
Wild Orangutans and Their Forest
Habitat / Palm Oil Education


Wed., May 19
Snow Leopards
Panama Amphibian Rescue Project


Thurs., May 20
Wild Amur Leopards
Wyoming Toads
Bat Conservation
Asiatic Bears
Mexican Grey Wolves


Fri., May 21
South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds
Black-footed Ferrets


Endangered Species Day is an opportunity for people young and old to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species and everyday actions that people can take to help protect our nation’s disappearing wildlife and last remaining open space.

Protecting America’s wildlife and plants today is a legacy we leave to our children and grandchildren, so that all Americans can experience the rich variety of native species that help to define our nation.

Started by the United States Senate, Endangered Species Day is the third Friday in May. Every year, thousands of people throughout the country celebrate Endangered Species Day at parks, wildlife refuges, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, libraries, schools and community centers. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is proud to be a part of this important observation.

Snow Leopard Update

On March 3, 2010 our own Megan Sanders received an update from the Snow Leopard Trust letting us know that they just collared a brand new male Snow Leopard near the research camp! They are hoping to collar a female this year but this male looks like he may be young and in great shape. This is VERY EXCITING!!! He is known as M7 on the GPS maps.



The latest update from Jennifer Snell Rullman, Conservation Program Director at the Snow Leopard Trust (SLT) is as follows:

Update for March 15–19, 2010:
After several weeks of only hearing from one or two cats, we have recent location uplinks from four of the five collared snow leopards. Perhaps one of the most remarkable journeys depicted by this data is that of our newest cat we call M7. He is a real mover! He was fitted with his collar on February 16th and almost immediately took off on a NE path covering over 30 km in less than a week across extremely rugged terrain (meaning he may have had to walk up to 60 km from point to point when considering the actual terrain). This week was no different. After apparently hunting on the April 7th he stayed there until the 10th before moving further north. Once he hit the edge of the mountain range he was faced with a vast expanse of steppe/desert in front of him. He opted to turn back to the SW, nearly following in his own footsteps, until he reached and area we call “the badlands.” At this point it is very possible that he skirted this area, as the badlands is an area of low-lying sandstone-like formations we consider to be unsuitable snow leopard habitat (both Itgel and Saikhan have come close to, but seemingly avoided, the badlands as well). He finally turned again, walking back to the SE, covering more than 30 km in just two days. This lengthy and rapid movement pattern is similar to what Aztai exhibited in his initial days after collaring.

Three locations were received from Shonkhor, who appears to have set off on yet another one of his trademark expeditions. He has crossed the wide valley separating Toson Bumba and Tost mountains, and based on the uplink from him on the 12th of March, was near the south-western edge of Aztai's home range.

In contrast to M7 and Shonkhor’s long treks, Aztai continued patrolling the core of his home range.

Orjan also managed to replace Tsagaan's collar, which was running low on batteries, on the 12th of March when he was caught less than 200 m from the camp. Tsagaan seems to have grown in size since he was last caught. He now weighs 44.5 kg and his body length has increased by 4 cm, making him 124 cm long. Unfortunately, since his successful release we have not heard from the collar and so we are waiting to see if there is a malfunction with the collar or if he is holed up in an area where the signal can not reach the satellite. But as each day goes by we are more concerned that the collar has failed to turn on. Hopefully we will hear from his collar soon and then Orjan will head towards the Toson Bumba range where he will focus on replacing Shonkhor's collar and hopefully catching a female leopard. Given our capture history (5 males have collars on today); it is no exaggeration to say that catching a female will be more than welcome!

Below is the latest GPS map uplink from SLT. “The new collared cat (in blue) is truckin!!” said Megan Sanders when she saw the map.



We are hoping to get updates from Jennifer bi-monthly after April and we will keep you updated as we hear news from SLT. Stay tuned!