Category — Saving Species

Each summer camp season we challenge our campers to collect and recycle more cell phones than any other Zoo camper to get kids active in our Eco-cell program and build awareness about how our efforts can really make a difference in global conservation.  This year we had three young ladies–Cece, Lucy, and Avery– collect over 100 phones for our program.  Their efforts were rewarded a couple of weeks ago when they came to the Zoo for a special treat. They met Zoo Director Thane Maynard and interacted with Primate Team Leader Ron Evans and one of the gorilla groups. They took home a super-sized plush gorilla as a reminder of their contribution to gorilla conservation.

The girls meet Thane and their new plush friend.

How does recycling cell phones help save gorillas? Cell phones contain an ore called Coltan, which is mined in endangered gorilla habitat in Africa. Reducing the demand for Coltan lessens the negative impact the mining industry has on gorillas and their habitat. The Zoo’s Saving Species program recycled more than 19,000 cell phones through Eco-cell thanks to efforts of people like Cece, Lucy, and Avery. Got an old cell phone sitting in a drawer at your home? We’ll take it!

Night Hunters has been open for a few weeks now and we’re getting a lot of positive feedback, especially about how much better it smells The Eurasian eagle owl that greets visitors as they enter the building is a big hit, too.

The Saving Species interactive kiosks where visitors can create their own digital ID signs for some of the small cats have been pretty popular. In just the first five days, about 780 signs were created!

Visitor-created ocelot ID sign

People are scanning the Quick Response (QR) codes to download videos about the animals, too. In just the first two weeks, the QR codes in Night Hunters have been scanned more than 850 times. The ocelot video has been viewed the most so far.

There have been some questions about where all the animals that were on display in the old Nocturnal House and Cat House have gone. Some of them have been moved to other exhibit areas in the Zoo while others have been transferred to other zoos.

The armadillos, for example, rotate on exhibit in the Children’s Zoo and our roving interpreters often bring them out for live encounters, too.

Three-banded Armadillo

Other previous residents that make live encounter appearances include the barn owl and coatimundi.

Barn owl

A two-toed sloth hangs out in a tree in the Discovery Forest (attached to the Education Center).

Two-toed Sloth

We have a serval  in our Cheetah Encounter program.

Serval (Photo: Connie Lemperle)

Some other exciting news since the Night Hunters opening – we’ve had a baby bearcat and a baby tayra born! Hopefully, we can get some pictures up soon.

The Night Hunters exhibit opening was a success! We had great weather last Friday night for Members Night. The Zoo was packed and, judging from the line to get into the new exhibit, everyone was eager to walk through it. I even waited in line with my family so they could see it, even though I had just been in the building working on some last minute preparations just a couple of hours before. My kids loved it (they are 2 and 4 years old).

Night Hunters entrance sign

Shhh! sign leading to the entry door

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