With beautiful weather like today, the construction crew down at Cat Canyon is busy. The snow leopard and tiger enclosures are really starting to take shape and the tiger viewing shelter is going up. Most of the public paths have been paved and the footers are in for the tiger sculpture and an artificial tree sporting claw marks. Horticulture has started bringing in plants and getting ready to landscape. Next week the sound system and speakers will go in and we’ll start planning where to pipe in the tiger roars and such. Our signs are still in production, which is fine because they are usually the last elements to be installed. See how the exhibit construction is coming along for yourself in Thane’s latest video.

If it were all about us, then spring flowers, despite the fact that they are often weak in color, low to the ground, spidery in appearance, or even just oddly formed catkins, would simply represent the coming of a new season. That, indeed, the planet had finally righted its wobble, temporarily at least, and tilted us toward the sun a little more so that our backs hunch a bit less, our muscles relax some, and smiles come a little easier to our faces. [Read more →]

Thanks to all who voted in the first annual Zoocademy awards.  Slip the manatee won by a narrow margin, just ahead of Kwashi the gorilla.

Since Slip is now swimming freely in the warm waters of Blue Spring State Park in Florida (follow Slip in the wild,) there will be no award ceremony.

If you missed it the first time, here’s Slip’s winning performance: