Category — General Zoo

Sifaka

Wilhelmina, Rinaldo, and their baby Bobbie continue to impress people with their movement and jumps.  This trio is by far the leader of cuteness in our zoo!  Their keepers, Matt and Stephanie and myself continue to work with them Fri, Sat and Sun at 2:30, allowing our guests an up close and personal look at this incredible species.  The trio will go outside when it gets a little warmer!

Training sifaka in Jungle Trails

Polar Bear

Berit, the female polar bear that we trained to accept injections, is now learning to present other areas of her body and to lay down.  She has been such a wonderful animal to work with.  She is so responsive and it’s really neat to watch her thought process as she works out each problem and tries so hard to please. Watching her keepers work with her so closely and seeing their relationship with her grow in such a positive direction has been especially fulfilling.

We are still waiting (and waiting and waiting) to find out if she is pregnant or not.  We should know in the next week or two.  Lets all keep our fingers crossed!!! [Read more →]

Guest blogger: Zoo Academy student, Tyler Allgeyer

Hi! My name is Tyler Allgeyer. I’m a senior attending the Zoo Academy. This is a special two-year career tech program that runs through Hughes STEM High School. Here we take all of our normal classes such as math and English, but we also take special classes related to a zoological and a botanical field of study in the form of Zoo and Aquarium Management and Environmental Science.

Besides our tech courses, we go to what are known as labs. They are two-hour intervals at the beginning of the day for juniors and at the end of the day for seniors. Here we work as zookeepers in a six-week rotation at various departments in the Zoo.

Some of my favorite labs so far have been the Cheetah Show, Reptile House, and Manatee Springs.

Some of my favorite experiences happened while I was working at the Cheetah Show. Going into enclosures in direct contact with cheetahs is a once in a lifetime experience. This is a special opportunity the keepers let us have provided that we did a good job and worked well with them.

Meeting a cheetah

Manatee Springs is probably one of the best departments to work in. The keepers there are very relaxed and fun to be around. Lots of positive energy flows through there, especially when Chris is around. He’s always keeping the humor level high. The best part for me while working there was when Lindsey and I would go do the animal encounter with Hermit, a three-foot American alligator. It was the first time I had held an alligator that size. He can be a bit squirmy, but we always had a great time!

My absolute favorite department here at the Zoo is the Reptile House. Reptiles are where my heart truly lies so it makes sense. Lots of jokes and funny stories were told during my time there. I even spent some time over the summer on weekends volunteering for the whole day. I got to do some fun things like taking out snakes for animal encounters and hand feeding the Komodo dragon.

Working in the Reptile House

Many of the departments have some awesome people that are very easy to work with. You really get to enjoy doing your work in a fun adventurous environment. My time here at the Zoo Academy may be short, but the experiences I’ve had will last a lifetime.

During the course of my day, I have the privilege of being around Binturongs. As a former University of Cincinnati student, and a lifelong resident of Cincinnati, I am also very familiar with the Bearcat mascot. Furthermore, being a snack food fan, I am also well aware of the satisfaction of a good bag of popcorn. So, you probably understand some of this, my experience with animals and mascots, but are a bit confused about what the topic of snack foods has to do with me working at a Zoo.

Lucy the bearcat (with trainer Eddie Annal peaking around)

First, a bit of information on Binturongs for you; Binturongs (Arctictis binturong), are also known as Bearcats. They are found in the forests of Southeast Asia where they easily climb trees, using their prehensile tails for balance and to hold onto branches, as they search for the small animals and fruit they eat. When they are not moving around, which is about half of the day, these viverrids prefer to curl up over a branch or fork in a tree to rest and relax. While active at night, they don’t have a set pattern of activity and can be found foraging for food during the day too. Binturongs communicate with each other by leaving scent markings. These olfactory signals (scents/smells) are great, since these “messages” last for days and even weeks. The messages can say that this is their territory, a good keep out sign, or be similar to a posting on one of the dating services we see on the web; SBw/WFB seeking SBw/WMB (Single black and white haired female Binturong seeking Single black and white haired male Binturong!)

Mike Dulaney and Alice in the 1980s

A quick note about the mascot, before we talk snacks. The University of Cincinnati, “Bearcat” originated in 1914 while folks were cheering during a football game. UC was playing the Kentucky “Wildcats” and we had a fullback named Leonard Baehr. The cheerleaders encouraged the crowd to repeat, “They may be Wildcats, but we have a ‘Baehr-cat’ on our side.” So after many years the Bearcat became the official mascot of the school. In 1985, Mike Dulaney, Curator of Mammals for the Cincinnati Zoo (CZBG) began taking “Alice” our Bearcat to UC games, for the fans to enjoy. Today, Alice’s successor “Lucy” can be seen walking along the sidelines at football and basketball games. [Read more →]