Greetings from the west...: March 2007

Wayne and I went to New York City for a conference at the Bronx Zoo. The conference was about a new program called Teens for Planet Earth, which is a teen service learning project started by the Wildlife Conservation Society. Teens do a project concerning a local environmental issue and help educate the community about the issue. The conference was free and we got a BLM grant to pay for our hotel and flight. The Bronx Zoo was awesome. It was great and upsetting to see what can be done if your institution has funding…

There were around 40 environmental educators from all across the US and two gents from Scotland. The conference was held in the classroom at the Congo Gorilla Forest, a new multimillion dollar exhibit. "This 6.5-acre African rain forest habitat is home to 400 animals of 55 species, including the largest breeding population of western lowland gorillas in North America."

This was one of the team building exercises we covered where four people sitting in chairs leaned back on each others laps. Then the chairs were removed and they didn't fall down. Bill, one of the Scots, kept complaining that Wayne was crushing his knees.

On the right side of the room we were in, there were two glass windows looking down into two of the Congo exhibits. One held the Wolf's Monkeys. It was very hard to concentrate when you saw these cuties flyin around.

The second exhibit held a variety of African birds.

In the other Congo classroom, two sliding doors opened up to reveal a troop of gorillas! This was only a small part of their 2 story exhibit, which also included an outdoor section in the summer. The second day of the conference, we got to eat our breakfast with these remarkable animals.

They seemed to enjoy watches us as much as we did them.

One of the three babies in this troop. They were so goofy and playful. There was something so human in their eyes, I don’t know how anyone can say we aren't related to apes.

The public part of the Congo included outdoor and indoor exhibits. A lot of it was interactive. This photo shows my thermal image, how an African Python would see his prey. After watching a touching film called "Saving Africa's Forests", the screen rose up and the curtains parted, revealing the lush outdoor exhibit containing the second troop of gorillas, bringing to mind something from Jurassic Park. As you leave the Congo, you get to choose what Wildlife Conservation Society project dedicated to a wildlife species and wild habitat in the Congo basin region receives a portion of your entry fee.

We also go to tour the rest of the Zoo. A good portion of the outdoor exhibits were closed for the winter. Leo, the Snow Leopard, didn't seem to mind being out in the Himalayan Highlands.

At Tiger Mountain, we got to see an enrichment and training exercise with the Siberian Tigers. One of the panels drops down to reveal a fenced portion of wall through which keepers work with the cats.

Upon entering the House of Darkness, you remained in a dark room for a minute or two to let your eyes adjust. The building included a wide variety of nocturnal animals. These two photos are of bat exhibits (the copious amount of guano in the red one is a dead giveaway).

Jungle World is a 37,000 square foot re-creation of an Asian rain forest, full of lush exhibits separated by plexi or thin netting. It features 780 animals representing 99 species.

Troop of Silvered Leaf Langurs.

Sleepin Black Leopard.

Huntsman Spider. We have one of these in our Education Department at the Safari. We got ours from a produce guy at a local grocery store. As he was putting out bananas, he felt something on his elbow and looked down to find a Huntsman! Practicing extensive restraint, he managed to transfer the spider to a tupperware and call us. He had traveled in the box of bananas all the way from Brazil! Don't worry, they don't really hunt humans as the name suggests. While the Huntsman does pack quite a bite, it'll just make you sick.