World Giraffe Day - June 21

By: Andrea Bryant, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo  Giraffes/Lions Animal Keeper

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is home to one of the largest and most prolific giraffe herds in the country.  Our herd is currently comprised of 18 individuals with 198 giraffe calves born at the Zoo since the 1954.  With giraffes being such a common and successful zoo animal, wild giraffes must be doing well too, right?  Unfortunately the answer is no.  

Wild giraffe populations are declining due largely to human activities such as agricultural expansion, habitat loss, and poaching.  In 1999, there were an estimated 140,000 giraffes in Africa.  Today, fewer than 80,000 giraffes remain in the wild, a decline of more than 40% in just over a decade. 

Luckily, there is hope.  Field conservation organizations like the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) are working to protect these amazing animals.  By collecting data on giraffe populations, locations, and behaviors, conservation initiatives can be enacted to help save giraffes. 

To help raise public awareness of the “silent crisis” wild giraffe populations are currently undergoing, GCF and zoos around the world are gearing up for the first ever World Giraffe Day on Saturday, June 21 – our zoo will celebrate the event from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. in African Rift Valley.

Please join Cheyenne Mountain Zoo as we celebrate the longest-necked animal on the longest day of the year. At the event we will celebrate the gentle giants while learning what can be done to help save wild giraffes.  Activities for World Giraffe Day include: learning how reducing your carbon footprint, taking a pledge to save giraffes, testing your skills in identifying individual Cheyenne Mountain Zoo giraffes based on their spot patterns and participating in a giraffe parade. 

For more information, please visit:  http://www.cmzoo.org/docs/WorldGiraffeDay2014.pdf.

Strawberry Avocado Salsa

This week, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's chefs mixed up a recipe for strawberry-avocado salsa. This versatile salsa is a great topping for pork, burgers, sandwiches, pitas, crackers, bread and more!

Strawberry Avocado Salsa

Ingredients

• 1 cup finely chopped strawberries
• 1/4 cup finely chopped peeled avocado
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lime rind
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped seeded jalapeño pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar

Preparation

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl; toss gently. Serve immediately.

Flight for the plight of vultures

When Jenyva Turner, Lead Animal Keeper in African Rift Valley, heard that there was an opportunity for her to travel to Africa to talk to the people of Botswana about vulture conservation, she knew she needed to go. Vultures have been her focus and a passion for several years. She was the champion of the Zoo’s Cape vulture Quarters for Conservation (Q4C) project from 2009-2013 and, with your quarter votes, raised $30,000 for vulture conservation!

Q4C funds were used to support VulPro, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that has identified an urgent need to protect threatened vulture species and create a partnership between the southern African countries of Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.  Vultures do not acknowledge international borders, flying between countries in search of food and roosting and nesting areas. Therefore, these countries need to work together to address several issues, especially poisonings, that are affecting their decline – this is how the “Flight for the Plight of Vultures” campaign was born.

With generous help from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s docents and support from the Zoo, Turner joined Kerri Wolter of VulPro in a week-long awareness campaign that traveled around Botswana, visiting the key communities of Kasane, Maun, Ghanzi, Gaborone, and spreading the word about the plight of vultures today.

“There are not many things that I prefer doing more than talking to people about vultures!” Turner said. “However, the audience that I faced in Botswana was vastly different from the guests I speak to in the U.S.”

Turner and Wolter spoke to members of the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Department of Tourism, local police, local safari guides, farmers, members of various NGO conservation organizations and her favorite group to speak with - school children.

“In all, we spoke with 400 people,” Turner said. “Our focus was to help people understand how important vultures are in our ecosystems and how they personally are benefited by the presence of vultures. We also talked a great deal about how we all need to help protect vultures, no matter where we live – Colorado or Africa.”

She reported that the feedback they received was mostly positive.

“There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to educate people all over the world,” Turner said. “We need to work together to find solutions for helping not just vultures, but all wildlife.” 

As Turner was leaving Africa, several people expressed a desire to serve on a task force to address issues that wildlife face, which made her hopeful about the future of African vultures. “I have been asked to return to Botswana by Birdlife Botswana to continue visiting schools and talking with children and educating the next generation of responsible stewards of our earth,” Turner said. “I would also like to continue developing the Zoo’s partnership with VulPro to expand our educational reach in South Africa. After all - together we can make a difference!” 

Recipe for Kuchen, a German Dessert Cake

If you are in need of a dessert recipe for tomorrow’s Easter dinner, look no further! Our chefs at Grizzly Grill assure us their recipe for Kuchen, a German cake, is a crowd pleaser. Check out the Zoo’s blog for all the details.

Kuchen

Topping Ingredients:
1 pt. half and half
3 T flour or cornstarch 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup cultured sour cream

Topping Directions:

Mix together half and half, flour, sugar and cook until thick
Remove from heat and fold in 1 cup sour cream
Let stand [about 2 hours] until Kuchen comes out of oven

Dough Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups milk 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening 2 T dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water 2 eggs
7 to 7-1/2 cups flour
2 cups fruit* [apples, prunes, cherries] or use 1 can pie filling 

Dough Directions:
Heat milk, sugar, salt, and shortening until milk is lukewarm
Dissolve yeast in warm water
In separate bowl, beat eggs with fork
Add the yeast mixture to the eggs. Then add milk mixture
Add 1/2 flour and mix with spoon
Gradually add remaining flour mixing and then kneading in flour
Let rise until double about 1 to 1-1/2 hours
Pat dough in bottom of 9” x 13” x 2” cake pan

After Topping and Dough is Made:
Place cooked fruit on top of raw dough
Let rise until double in size
Bake in 350 oven for 20 to 30 minutes – Will be lightly browned and inserted knife comes out clean
Spread the prepared topping on Kuchen as soon as it is removed from oven
Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon

Keep leftovers refrigerated!

Giraffe Head Band

We all know that a giraffe’s neck is super long, but did you know they have the same number of neck bones as we do? Your child’s neck may be short, but it’s still fun to pretend it’s a bit longer with our giraffe head band and activity! 

Materials

• Ear and Ossicone (horn) template
• Yellow construction paper for head band
• Glue and stapler
• Crayons

Procedure

1. Cut and color ear and ossicones from the template.
2. Cut two stripes of yellow construction paper (long ways) and staple together to fit around head.
3. Glue ears and ossicones to the headband.
4. Add spots as a final touch