Sweeping in Jungle Trails

On Saturday mornings I try to get it on my schedule to come in and work with the keepers in different areas of the zoo.  Of course it’s good for me to get a sense of what’s really going on out in the zoo; it’s fun to hang with the keepers and hear their concerns and aspirations; and the coolest part, naturally, is being with the animals. [Read more →]

With the holidays and all, the past month has been a blur and I didn’t have a chance to post many updates to the blog. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and that you had a chance to come to the Festival of Lights. I brought my kids during a snow storm and we had a great time. The kids went straight to the front of the line to see Santa since so few people braved the weather that night. We were pretty happy not to have to wait in line very long.

Rest assured, progress continues on Night Hunters design and development. I haven’t been down to the site recently, but I hear that the concrete foundation for the rotunda has been poured and the rest of the floors are scheduled to be poured next week. We’ve prepared several track casts–clouded leopard, ocelot, and puma–that our exhibits artist, Jessica, will use to make impressions in the concrete in certain areas.

I’ve been generating content for a computer interactive whereby visitors will be able to choose from a selection of text and images to create their own digital version of an ID sign for one of the small cats on exhibit. Their creations will actually be displayed in rotation at that cat’s exhibit. I think people will get a kick out of seeing the sign they created on display. What do you think?

I hope to visit the site to snap some more Under Construction photos to share soon. Until then, here are a few photos of some of the critters you’re likely to see when Night Hunters opens in May.

Fishing cat

Burmese python

Bat-eared fox