Hi, my name is Markala Washington Murray and I love animals. I’ve always had a passion for working with and helping animals whenever I could. That’s why going to school at the Zoo is the life I have always dreamed of and I love it. I grew up in a single mother home; I am the second oldest of five girls. None of my mom’s other girls like animals so she was scared when I said I wanted to go to school at the Zoo. After high school, I want to study animal behavior and conservation.

Here I am socializing Presley, our Apalachicola King Snake

Going to school at the Cincinnati Zoo has been the best experience of my life. I have met some wonderful people who work here from the head honcho, Thane Maynard, to the groundskeepers. Every one of the Zoo staff family plays a big role in keeping the park up and running. The Zoo program is a part of the public school system. It is connected to Hughes STEM High school. It is a 11th and 12th grade program. You can only be in this program if you attend Hughes your 10th grade year first. The Zoo Academy has been at the Cincinnati Zoo since 1975. Being at the Zoo Academy opens so many doors for the students here. We have the chance to help the keepers take care of the animals. We get to know the animals as well as the keepers do. Sometimes if we show the keepers that we are willing to work just as hard as they do to care for the animals they offer us jobs over the summer and after we graduate. Being in this program also opens up opportunities with all kinds of colleges. Not many people know about this program and the things we do in it so when we write and tell them about it, then they become very interested in wanting to know more. The class sizes in this program are very small so you can get that one-on-one time from your teachers you wouldn’t normally get in a large classroom. So if you are an animal lover and want to come to this program then CHOOSE HUGHES!

And here’s Marvin, the blue-tongued skink

Guest blogger: Sophie Williams, Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) student and consultant on the Passenger Pigeon Memorial renovation

Did you know that the male passenger pigeon could fly up to 60 miles per hour? Find out what nickname this earned the pigeon from our Director of Education, Dan Marsh, as he is interviewed for Kentucky Afield. He discusses how the loss of the passenger pigeon was one of the key motivators for today’s conservation movement. Learn more about the passenger pigeon, what the skies were like when filled with these birds, and the important lessons they left in their wake.

Passenger Pigeon (Photo: J.G. Hubbard)

Don’t forget, you can get involved by holding a Project Passenger Pigeon event in your community! You could download a variety of educational materials for use in your class or organization, put on an origami pigeon parade, or host a speaker in your school or community. Visit Project Passenger Pigeon’s website for more information. How will you get involved?

To read the other posts in this series, click here. Join us next month as we take a look at species conservation at the Cincinnati Zoo. 

Post co-authored by Aimee Owen

The offspring of many finch species, like these Gouldian finch (Chloebia gouldiae) chicks, have luminous nodules, called papillae, on the sides of their beaks and markings on the inside of their mouths. Together, these act as sort of a “beacon” to direct the parents to the hungry mouths of their chicks in dark nest cavities.  Each species of finch has a different arrangement of papillae and mouth markings.  As each chick develops into an adult and begins to eat without parental assistance the papillae and markings gradually disappear.

Gouldian finches are a species of grass finch that inhabit the savannah regions of northern Australia.  Australian seasonal changes range from a dry season lasting about six months to a wet season, which lasts about three months.  These finches feed primarily on grass seeds throughout the year.  However, in the beginning of the dry season when the grasses turn brown and go dormant, an abundance of fallen seeds previously hidden become more available to the birds.  This period of plentiful food directly coincides with and activates the Gouldian finch breeding season. [Read more →]