They aren’t active midwater swimmers; they prefer to stay motionless darting from perch to perch.  They are small; most of them will be less than three inches long.  But they are very interesting fish to watch.

    Unlike most fish they lack swim bladders.  This is useful because they have a sedentary life style and live in shallow warm marine waters. When you are looking for these fish look for quick movements, they dart from place to place.

    We hope to acquire Spotted, Banded, Red, Flame, and Horseshoe hawkfish for the renovated Tropical Reef exhibit.  Look closely for them during the restocking process.   They will be the small red, pink, white and blue colored fishes.

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Interesting fact: Burmese Pythons (along with Yellow Anaconda’s and two African Python species) were recently listed as an injurious species by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service due to the large number of pet pythons and boas that have been released into the Florida Everglades. Burmese Pythons and other non-native species now have established resident populations that are breeding and reproducing in Southern Florida causing great harm to the native Everglade species and the South Florida ecosystem. Being listed as an Injurious species means that it is illegal to house or transfer these species without a permit from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  For more information this ruling from the USFWS, visit: http://www.fws.gov/invasives/news.html

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Since these species are so conspicuous around coral reefs we want to have a large collection for the public to see. We have 35 species on the acquisition list for eventual exhibition in the Tropical Reef display.

Butterflyfishes are in their own family. The Angelfish have been categorized into two families. You have the large Angelfish and the small, also called pygmy, Angelfish. They are subdivided into additional families based on other characteristics but I think you get the idea.

Some butterflyfish feed on coral polyps. Providing this type of diet in captivity is next to impossible so they aren’t kept in captivity. The species we display here are omnivores; they eat both plant and animal food items. 

A good way to identify many butterlyfishes that will be displayed in the new Tropical Reef exhibit is to look at the marking on the fish. Threadfin have a small fin in the dorsal, topmost fin. Saddleback has a large black pattern on their back. Lined has a series of vertical lines across their body. Raccoon has a black pattern across the top of head and eyes. Lemon has a high percentage of yellow covering their body. Once you recognize these distinctive marking you are on your way to identifying many of these popular fish.

We are also including some butterflyfish that have banner in their name. They are mostly black and white vertically striped fish that can have a very long dorsal fin. They look unique among the butterflyfish and usually swim in small schools.

The pygmy angelfish are the small shy swimmers of this group of fish. They prefer to stay close to their chosen “home” territory. They don’t swim around the tank in open water, they prefer to stay hidden. When looking for these fish you need to be patient and wait for them to come out from hiding to seen the magnificent colors they have. These fish rarely get above 11 cm. That is 4 and ½ inches long.

Once you see the larger angelfish you will wonder how one animal can have so many different colors on one fish.  These fish can get large, not huge, just large. They can grow over 15 inches in length. This is large for such a colorful fish. 

We hope to have angelfish with names like Blue king, Emperor, Blue-girdled, Blue Koran, Sixbar, and Yellowface. These fish will give the Tropical Reef exhibit many good examples for people to stop, look and wonder at fish often called coralfishes. 

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The fish are put into tanks according to their needs and the aquarist work begins.  Water temperatures, quality, feeding, medical treatments and hours of watching are needed before the fish are ready for the exhibit.  It takes a minimum of 6 weeks and usually longer before the fish are out of a quarantine situation and can be placed with other fish. 

We usually receive on average 80 to 100 fish for each quarantine period.  The fish we buy are juveniles.  They ship and acclimate to captivity much better than large adults do but they need time to grow so we try to get them as early as we can before an exhibit opens so they have time to grow.

The fish you will see in the Tropical Reef exhibit will have traveled thousands of miles and endured many different environments before you get to see them swimming around in their new home at the Minnesota Zoo’s Tropical Reef.

Look for the opening in 2012.

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Piri and Fanni are three year old females born at the Budapest Zoo in Hungary.  Piri is the more outgoing and self-confident of the two sisters and has a fuller tail and darker face.  Fanni is also showing increasing trust her in her keepers. 

The Minnesota Zoo also has a pair of two year old brothers from the zoo in Kolmården, Sweden named Blyger and Prosit who will be joining the sisters as soon as they complete their initial quarantine period.  They should be meeting at the height of the dhole breeding season so if we are lucky our new pack could grow quickly!

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When asked about an exhibit theme the Aquarium staff wanted to have the Pacific basin as the zoogeographic area with which to chose fish species from.  As far as diversity goes that is the epicenter for tropical marine fish. The fish from that part of the world can give the Zoo a very colorful, active display. The only trick is getting the fish, alive, to Minnesota.

With the area of the world decided, we begin the process of species selection.  We wanted a multispecies exhibit. This means the fish and sharks need to get along. None of the species selected can be too large, have large mouths to swallow other creatures and play well with others. Sounds easy doesn’t it? 

It is estimated that 30,000 species of fish are currently identified on earth. This is a large number but you have to go back to the criteria for this exhibit. That narrows the number of species down to around 1 to 2 thousand species for this exhibit. The numbers get smaller as you realize what can be captured and transported successfully at the time you want to stock the display.

The Aquarium staff select the species we feel will fit the criteria for the Zoo and present this list to the Biological Programs management team for approval. The list for this display has 120 species from 14 families. This list was approved and money allocated to purchase fish.  The story really begins here.

When the Zoo purchases animals like fish, we want to make sure they come from sustainable, environmentally friendly sources. It would be nice if we could send Zoo staff to hand collect the specimens we would like, but that option is very expensive. Instead we rely on live fish wholesale businesses that have strict fish collection standards. They have contacts with fish collectors in many parts of the world and have a shipping network set up to get the fish the zoo wants. They have the import permits and facilities to hold fish before that arrive in Minnesota.

With the approved species list in hand, we go to the chosen vendor’s web site to look at the current available stock list and choose. Hopefully they will be available when we call to confirm the order.  Will these fish fit in the current quarantine space we have available? We can only hold so many at a time so we need to get the best selection for the space we have. 

A shipping date is set, this can be weather dependent.  Most of the wholesalers are in Los Angeles, so they must come on an air plane.  Fish can only be in a bag with water for so long or they don’t survive transport.  They are shipped in heated cargo holds but they must be moved from the cargo hold out of doors to the heated airline shipping area in all weather conditions.

We are in touch with the airline cargo facility so we know when the shipment is available for pickup. Live fish are shipped in small plastic bags with some water and oxygen. These small bags are placed in Styrofoam containers, with heat or cool packs depending on the time of year, in a cardboard box.

At the appointed time we go to the airport, pick up the shipping boxes and bring them back to the Zoo.

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The color patterns change as wrasses age. Most wrasse species are protogynous hermaphrodites. This means they are born females and change into males as they grow older. This life cycle gives rise to many color and pattern changes. When we purchase them they will be one color and or pattern and as they age the colors and patterns may change also.

All wrasses are active during the day, at night many of the smaller species bury themselves in the sand. This can create issues for aquarists if they can’t find these fish the first thing in the morning when the lights have just come on. They are usually very active swimmers and not seeing them moving in the morning can give some tense moments looking for them.

A popular wrasse is the Banded tuskfish, Cheilinus fasciatus, better known as the Harlequin tuskfish. It can be 10 inches long with protruding canine teeth and an electric orange and white striped body. A very active and eye catching fish.

The Longface or bird wrasse is popular with it’s green body and long protruding mouth. This protruding snout is distinctive and helps people to identify it. The mouth is very helpful when reaching in small places for food.

Some of my favorite wrasses are in the Thalassoma family. The Twotone wrasse has the typical torpedo shaped body, slender forked tail and beautiful blue, green and yellow colors.

The Moon wrasse and the Green moon wrasse have greens and blues in various shades that stand out in a crowd, always a crowd pleaser.

The Five striped and Christmas wrasses look very similar during some life cycles so having them together in the Topical Reef will give visitors a chance to see the slight differences.

We hope to have at least 25 species of wrasse in the Tropical Reef for the re-opening this late winter.

Stay tuned, more species insights to come.

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Each month, Save the Rhino Trust’s (SRT) four dedicated teams of skilled trackers, nearly all of which grew up in the local communities, spend 2-3 weeks patrolling the vast 5 million acre Kunene rhino range. Their mission: to find as many rhino as they can while recording their location and health, an ID photo for the database, and report any potential security risks to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. This information, tirelessly collected over the past 3 decades, is SRT’s legacy – the largest and longest running database on any free-ranging rhino population in the world. SRT have also masterfully used this knowledge base to help guide many rhino management decisions with the government and communities over the past decade such as where the best habitat exists to restore rhinos and which rhino should be moved out of the current population. Promoting and implementing this science-based approach to rhino conservation in northwest Namibia is my main task as SRT’s Science Advisor. This means that a good portion of my time is spent meeting with government, community, business and conservation leaders in the country in offices, lodges, school rooms, thatched lapas, and under trees trying my best to share and communicate our ‘rhino wisdom’.

However, this September I found myself out on a different adventure. I was tasked with co-leading 2 SRT tracking teams, a wildlife photographer and a wildlife artist into one of the most remote and rugged regions of the Kunene rhino range. Barricaded in by towering mountains on all sides, this quarter million acre road-less area is home to some of the last rhinos that have had virtually no contact with humans, in fact SRT have only conducted 3 patrols in the area since their inception 30 years ago, and no one can really speak with any authority what may lie within. These are uncharted spaces, and if it wasn’t for Google Earth, literally blank places on the map. Just like any prudent traveler to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, the adventure usually begins over a map and, thanks to technology, I managed to download and print out a set of 4 large poster maps to help guide our patrol. We anxiously spent a full day discussing access routes, water points and key patrol areas especially since we would have to rely on non-motorized transport for the most of the journey. Armed with 3 Land Cruisers, 5 donkeys, 12 staff, and 20 days of field rations including containers for 50 gallons of water, we began our journey with the main goal of checking up on the handful of known rhino as well as the water availability at what we call ‘secret spring’, a large permanent spring in the middle of now-where.  We slept each night under a starry winter sky all huddled around the campfire, that was built quite large before bedtime to ward off the lions and hyenas. We were up with the sun, and began each day with a cup of coffee and a fatcake (a donut made over the fire in a cast iron pot the night before). Just before the sun catapults itself over the horizon, camp was broken and the first 6 hours of the day were spent patrolling the area while sleuthing for fresh rhino tracks around the natural springs – for which the locations are perfectly navigated to by the trackers. When the sun hits its peak, we sought out whatever shade is available (sometimes literally a couple leaf blades) and hunkered down to a lunch of more fatcakes and some canned bully-beef (Namibia’s own version of spam). Taking wisdom from the wildlife, we then slept for a couple hours until the sun begins its downward trajectory, and then off again for a last 4-5 hours before we reached camp just before sunset.  Evening was time to re-tell the days adventures around the campfire and even bring out some old stories. The Damara-speaking trackers, who speak a click language similar to the San Bushman, can be quite animated and elaborate with their stories, which sometimes linger long into the night. Normally, at least once during the mid-night, the dogs would awaken us to a nearby animal, sometimes a curious lion or hyena, which gets everyone up in a hurry shouting and waving their flashlights. Never a dull moment…And this is basically how we spent the following 14 days exploring the labyrinth of dry riverbeds that snake through the mountains, mainly by foot and donkey. Altogether, we logged over 200 miles, located 13 rhinos including 4 cows with healthy calves, and were completely amazed at the strength of the springs deep within the mountains, still pumping water in the peak of the dry season! Other than the massive puff adder that I nearly stepped on and one extra curious young male rhino that got a bit close, we escaped the secret spring area with only sore muscles and blistered feet.   

We then moved on to a place we refer to as Omutati, which was named by the local Herero people after the large mopane tree that grows at the main spring. Here, we are on a mission to find Sharon and Sota, the rhino calf named after the Minnesota Zoo. They have managed to elude us on the last couple of patrols in the area and thus a sighting was long overdue. The first couple days we found rhinos but not our target quarry. The high rainfall in the area has left water pools scattered everywhere and the rhinos apparently were not frequenting their typical dry season water holes. Finally, on our 3rd and last day at Omutati, we picked up a fresh track early in the morning. Leading our team of 4 donkeys, Mannetjie skillfully read each feint rhino footprint in the sand and after nearly two hours of tracking, we spotted three rhino peacefully feeding along a slope in the distance. When we got within range, it clearly was Sharon and Sota but with a lone bull – clearly interested in Sharon! Sota looked fat and happy and now approaching 2.5 years old, his mother is definitely due to begin her 18 month pregnancy and say her goodbye to Sota around his 4th birthday. We were all so happy to find them all together and left them feeding as they were, after we took our pictures and other information for our database. We must be careful to keep a close eye on Sota next year to see where he decides to establish his own territory. Let’s hope that he finds a nice wild corner that is safe and sound.

After returning to town to compile all our patrol data, I had a very pleasant visit to a local school (Mondesa Youth opportunity) to celebrate and raise awareness for World Rhino Day – 22nd of September. I introduced my good pal Rudi the Rhino (a fairly large rhino puppet donated by my mother – who is an elementary school teacher in Sartell, Minnesota) who proceeded to tell his story of survival against the odds. With rhino poaching back to crisis levels, one rhino is being killed every day to feed the demand for rhino horn in traditional Chinese medicine, spreading the word about the rhino’s plight, their unique value, and what we can do to help, is vital to give Namibia’s rhino a fighting chance. We themed the day ‘Rhino Friends Forever’ and after the 30 minute presentation by Rudi we had the 110 school kids design and decorate 4 poster messages to different Ministers asking for their help and support to protect Namibia’s rhinos. Some of the students also practices being Rhino Rangers by completing one of SRT’s Rhino ID Forms. You never know….one of those kids just might end up someday helping to save a rhino. It was quite an exciting month and finished off with some early, and rare, September rains around the country – quite possibly another sign of a great year!

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Damselfish can be very hardy; they can survive very poor environmental conditions.  They don’t survive indefinitely but they will tolerate “bad” environments longer than many other species. 

With a wide range of colors, along with their quick movements, people tend to stop and look when they are on display.  The drawback is that the small size means you need to have large numbers of them or they don’t get the attention we would like.  This can be challenging in a tank the size of Tropical reef.  It takes a lot of small fish in a 90,000 gallon exhibit to make an impact.

Damselfish are well known to fish keepers for being territorial.  This means they will harass any other living creature that attempts to cross their space.  This harassment can lead to the death of other creatures that can’t get far enough away from a damsel home turf. In the ocean this turf is literal.  They clear away space for algae to grow and keep everyone away so they can have it to themselves.  In fact it has been found that if damsel predators are removed or greatly reduced in their habitat this farming habit can help destroy coral reefs.  Too many damsels can be a bad thing for coral reefs.  This farmerfish behavior can lead to large environmental issues.

This habit has to be taken into consideration when housing these fish.  They need a lot of space to feel good about their territory.  The Tropical Reef has the space they need to feel comfortable.

Look for Sapphires, Peacocks, Lemons, and Domino damselfish when the renovated exhibit opens.  These names say a lot about the colors we hope you will come to see.

Learn about the clowns of this family in the next installment of Tropical Reef, the renovation.

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Water acts as a filter to sunlight.  Remember the time you saw a rainbow in the sky?  Do you remember how the colors of the rainbow are arranged?    Rainbows have seven colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. 

The ocean is blue because water filters out the red spectrum, that first part of the rainbow.  This is advantageous for a fish that wears red.  Squirrelfish spend a large part of their time foraging during the first and last hours of the day.  Low light levels and the red related body colors give the squirrelfish a camouflage advantage.

The Zoo feeds our fish during daylight hours.  The squirrelfish have adjusted to brighter light levels when they eat, but may not be visible as much other times of the day.

The squirrelfish family has two subfamilies, the squirrelfishes and the soldierfishes.  For the newly renovated Tropical Reef, formally known as Coral Reef, we are looking for a few good soldiers and squirrels.

With common names like brick, pinecone, crown, samurai, and brownspot, we want to give the exhibit some nocturnal fish with a bark, at least which is what is rumored to be.

Look for the Tropical Reef to open in early to mid 2012 with bright new colors and squirrelfish that may have a spine that contains a toxin.  But don’t expect to hear a bark.  At least not from these fish.

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Since graduating from St. John’s University, MN in 1999, Jeff, a Minnesota native, has spent nearly all of the past 10 years teaching and conducting applied ecological research out of remote field stations around the world.  The vast majority (roughly 8 years) of this time he has dedicated to help conserve one of the last true wilderness areas in Africa, the arid wildlands of Namibia and its majestic desert black rhinos.  Working closely with local partners, particularly a local conservation organization Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) where he has served as their Science Advisor since 2006, he focuses primarily on promoting approaches that integrate science-based solutions into conservation policy and practice from local community-based natural resource management to national-level conservation strategies.  He has also conducted field research in Alaska, Canada, Minnesota, Ecuador, Honduras, South Africa and China focusing mainly on large carnivore conservation and restoration.  In 2008 he was employed as a conservation biologist at the Minnesota Zoo, and through support from The Nature Conservancy’s Africa Program, continues his work in Namibia with SRT.  He currently bases out of an isolated field camp in Namibia called World’s End, or his office at the Minnesota Zoo.

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With nets, field guides, hand held micro-lenses as well as a county checklist, my small group and I set out to discover what wild dragonflies and damselflies live on zoo grounds. Since these species tend to live near water, we focused our searches around marshes and lakes. Once a week we went out with our nets and caught as many dragonflies and damselflies as we could. Patience and fast reflexes aided in netting these fast fliers that tend to intentionally stay just out of reach. As a team, we identified the species and then I recorded the species name, location, and the date it was found.

So far we have caught 16 different species of damselflies and dragonflies, including five species that we believe have yet to be recorded in Dakota county. The most common damselflies we find throughout the zoo grounds are: Hagen’s Bluets, a very vibrant blue damsel that is fun to catch, and Eastern Forktails which have a bright green face with a blue and black body. One of the most unique species we’ve found is the Ebony Jewelwing damsel, which has pitch black wings with a black and metallic green body. It was very exciting and the first one I had ever seen in Dakota County. The most common dragonflies on the zoo grounds are the Common Whitetails and Twelve Spotted Skimmers. The fun ones to catch though are the really big ones like the Canada Darner or the Common Green Darner. Recently I caught Common Green darner that was huge! Interning and being able to lead such a great group of people in this project for this summer has definitely been my highlight and a great learning experience for me.

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In the late 80’s the Zoo was still the “New” Zoo but wanted to open a new exhibit. Money was donated by the then food service company, Dairy Queen. With the formula of an empty pool and funding, a project was chosen, the pool in the middle of the Tropics building. What better way to fill a need. The Asian Tropics building was going to get an aquatic display to complement the geographic location, an Indo-Pacific coral reef fish display.

The aquarium staff at the time consisted of two people. That staffing had just grown to two because of other trail reallocations. Both of us managed the Ocean Trail and fresh water exhibits and still had days off. The newly planned exhibit was the first large major aquatic non marine mammal display at the Zoo.

The holding quarantine space and salt water mixing capability was expanded greatly to handle the needs of a major exhibit. Hundreds of fish were acquired to exhibit. The pool underwent a major transformation. The life support system was enlarged and included cutting edge technology for the time, ozone and computer controlled filtration systems.

The pool opened in May of 1990 with great reviews and attendance. It was a great time to be an aquarist. The Zoo wanted to give the public an opportunity to interact with Zoo staff. The aquarium department came up with the idea of an interactive dive show. We had the dive communication system that was retrofitted to communicate with people outside the water and the fish feeding dive show was born! We purchased Zebra/Leopard sharks from Australia. There were only a few in the country at the time so we started surface feeding them to see what and if they were eating. This evolved into the shark feedings we have today.

All things grow old and so did the exhibit. Colors fade, filtration systems that run 24/7 need to be rebuilt, and times change. New, better looking and lasting artificial corals were needed, worn out filtration parts and equipment need to be renewed. All you need is money. The Coral Reef exhibit has been on the waiting list for some time and in the spring of 2011 it got the funding and the nod for a face lift.

There are over 30,000 species of fish currently identified as living on this planet. Beside the water habitat, most have one thing in common; they are very difficult to catch with a net. You may have seen a dive show and watched as the fish swim slowly around the diver. You may have thought that these fish would be easy to catch anytime we want. You would be mistaken. If you have ever tried to catch fish in any size container you will find they are very good at evasion. They don’t want to be eaten by all the predators in their habitat and can be very fast when chased.

Imagine trying to catch 150 to 200 fish in an 80,000 gallon tank. The tank was built with hundreds of places for them to hide and feel secure. The rockwork and coral all make putting large nets and seines in nearly impossible. We put food in the holding pool. We hope this will lure them into it.  Many may not realize the pool below the water fall is connected to the main pool by a tunnel under the public walkway. If we can get fish to pass through the tunnel we can gate them in the holding pool which makes capture somewhat easier. The holding pool is much shallower and smaller than the main pool.

This lure and capture process has been ongoing for several months now and we have relocated many of the residents to a large holding pool in our Shark holding facility. Most of the fish have adjusted to their new home and vacation time. Some of the older specimens have stressed out but so far we are doing well for the relocation attempts.

We have new fish in quarantine being prepared to go on display with the older residents. The quarantine period runs 6 to 8 weeks so it’s a long process to increase the fish population for any exhibit. We will continue to have fish in quarantine for the better part of a year to get the population where we would like it to be. A long time but well worth the wait because you’ll be seeing new species!

I will try to keep you updated on the construction process as I can. We want to give everyone views of the renovation as possible so don’t breeze past if there is a viewing port open, you may see some of the underwater world out of water.

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Steven, Colleen and Hannah all have very different tasks ranging from writing news releases to organizing all-zoo rentals to graphic design. Steven is involved mostly in marketing, public relations and Zoo special events. Many of his daily tasks include escorting media, logging and organizing data, writing blog posts and assisting with events, such as Brew at the Zoo. Assisting with social media and promotions are also part of his daily tasks.

Colleen spends most of her time assisting with planning and organizing many Zoo events such as all-zoo rentals, picnics, birthday parties, weddings, and more. She helps in creating fun crafts and activities for all of our themed birthday parties, including our newest theme: Penguins! She types up and sends out space requests and layouts to all other Zoo departments to keep everyone informed, organized and on the same page to make each event seamless.

Hannah assists the Zoo’s graphic designer on many projects that come up daily. The Minnesota Zoo is a really fun and educational place and all of the banners, posters, maps, etc. you see everywhere have to come from somewhere. Hannah helps in creating signage and banners for the upcoming Black Bear exhibit set to open in the Fall of 2012, as well as many designs for the Zoo’s newest black and white additions.

These interns played a huge role in marketing and promoting the opening of the 3M Penguins of the African Coast exhibit, including in the making of the commercial you may have seen on t.v. It’s time to “Do the Waddle!”

We asked, “What is your favorite part of working at the Minnesota Zoo?”
Steven - “Getting to be a part of all the cool things the Zoo does to bring in guests. I love animals and the promotion of them is very rewarding.”

Hannah - “Getting to assist in creating the banners seen as guests drive in. They stand out because the penguins are just so darn cute!”

They were also asked, “What is your least favorite part of working at the Minnesota Zoo?”
Colleen – “Constantly worrying about running into snakes and snapping turtles when I leave work.”

Interested in learning more about all of the internship possibilities at the Minnesota Zoo? Check out our website at www.mnzoo.org/global/internship.asp for more information and to download an application year-round!

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Kelly is apart of a team of interns that work and focus primarily on the Japanese Macaques, or Snow Monkeys. She spends a good portion of her day with staff and interns observing and recording the dominant and submissive behaviors the individual animals perform for a study that started in 2008. She also records and sorts their behaviors into activity budgets to help keep all of their data properly organized for accurate research and for future studies.

It is extremely important for Zoo interns and staff to develop, monitor and record behavioral enrichment for our animals to keep them all properly stimulated and healthy, just like in the wild. They are excellent tools in assisting in educating all of our guests as well by exhibiting natural behaviors that many of our guests would not get to normally see in the wild.

We asked, “What is your favorite part of working at the Minnesota Zoo?”
Maggie said, “Shadowing the animal keepers of all the different trails and learning about animals training, and how it is used for medical procedures.”

Peter said, “So far, my favorite part of working at the Minnesota Zoo has been the opportunity to see the zoo from a non-public standpoint to see all the work that goes into maintaining the animals and environment.”

They were also asked, “What is your least favorite part of working at the Minnesota Zoo?”
Kelly said, “The tan-line from my binoculars!”

Interested in learning more about all of the internship possibilities at the Minnesota Zoo? Check out our website at www.mnzoo.org/global/internship.asp for more information and to download an application year-round!

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We asked, “What is your favorite part of working at the Minnesota Zoo?”
Christine – “Working hands on with all the animals everyday.”

Zach – “Working with the animals day to day and being part of the hands on care.”

They were also asked, “What is your least favorite part of working at the Minnesota Zoo?”
Christine – “Working closely with lots of animals waste.”

Zach – “Being here at 6:00 a.m. to do farm chores and often getting manure in places that are, more often then not, less than pleasant.”

Interested in learning more about all of the internship possibilities at the Minnesota Zoo? Check out our website at www.mnzoo.org/global/internship.asp for more information and to download an application year-round!

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This year our Northern Trail interns, along with all of their other tasks, have the unique opportunity to help care for and monitor our four Pronghorn fawns. “I feed four pronghorn fawns five times each day and even spend and extra half-hour socializing them with the other interns as sort of a ‘Pronghorn Playtime’,” says Andrew.

We asked, “What is your favorite part of working at the Minnesota Zoo?”
Natalie – “Every day at the Zoo is different. This is my seventh week and not a single day has been the same.”

Erin – “My favorite part is feeding and caring for the Pronghorn fawns.”

They were also asked, “What is your least favorite part of working at the Minnesota Zoo?”
Andrew – “Cleaning the wild boar exhibit. I hold back breakfast every morning, but it does wake me up I guess.”

Interested in learning more about all of the internship possibilities at the Minnesota Zoo? Check out our website at www.mnzoo.org/global/internship.asp for more information and to download an application year-round!

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Nicole, Michelle, Jordan and Serena, along with staff, start their day off at 6:00 a.m. by preparing food for the Zoo’s Giant Sea Otters – Rocky, Capers and Jasper, who can be found along Russia’s Grizzly Coast. Our otters receive a mix of fresh clam, shrimp, pollock, capelin, squid, etc. Talk about fine dining! Once their food is all ready to go and the otters are having fun out in their exhibit, the interns spend time cleaning the holding and kitchen areas and preparing fun enrichment toys and activities for the otters to play with overnight. “We hide snacks in the toys so that they really enjoy enrichment time,” says Michelle.

Next, they head on over to Discovery Bay with our Atlantic Bottle-Nosed Dolphins – Semo, Allie and Taijah. Nicole and Michelle assist staff in completing a wide array of activities such as making jello-treats, preparing treat buckets and prepping the stage for training sessions, making sure all AV equipment is working properly, and cleaning. They also help and participate in training sessions and work with the dolphins during feeding sessions. “Fishcicles” seem to be a dolphin favorite.

We asked, “What is your favorite part of working at the Minnesota Zoo?”
Jordan - “Our animals! The hands-on experience is great, and the animals themselves are just so smart and talented.”

Serena - “The animals! The opportunity to interact with such amazing animals and the honor of working with the passionate, hard-working training staff. Everyone that I work with are all unique and I feel unique to be apart of such a team.”

They were also asked, “What is your least favorite part of working at the Minnesota Zoo?”
Michelle - “9 hours away from friends and family, so off the job is kind of boring. Missouri is far away!”

Nicole - “I would have to say fish scales! They seem to get everywhere and for every one you find and get rid of, two more seem to grow in its place. As long as I get to work with the dolphins everyday though, I don’t mind finding fish scales everywhere.”

Interested in learning more about all of the internship possibilities at the Minnesota Zoo? Check out our website at www.mnzoo.org/global/internship.asp for more information and to download an application year-round!

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The Target® Learning Center (TLC) located in what use to be an old whale tank, is becoming a must-see thanks to Odessa's Magical Menagerie, a biodiversity puppet adventure, Odessa's Magical Menagerie. The story is about a girl travelling among animals, enthralling and educating kids of all ages. The former whale tank has much more in store when the KAYTEE World of Birds Show fills the air for the winter season.

The Cargill Education Center is another highlight of  Heart of the Zoo – Phase One that recently opened. This addition houses an expansive volunteer lounge, multiple classrooms and a welcoming lobby. On top of that, one of the classrooms provides a unique glimpse into the 3M Penguins of the African Coast exhibit, making it hard for anyone to concentrate. This area will centralize the Zoo's education department and house the headquarters of 1,000+ volunteers who are critical to advancing our education mission. The education headquarters is ready for the thousands of students and teachers who visit every school year.

Finally, the main attraction that everyone's itching to see is the 3M Penguins of the African Coast Exhibit. Although we can't give everything away, we can say the exhibit is worth the hype. Guests will see penguins swimming above and below water in replicas of their natural habitat on South Africa's famed Boulders Beach. We've placed microphones inside the exhibit to capture the penguins' loud braying calls. The combination of audio and visual realism allows guests to be closer to African penguins than ever before. When the exhibit debuts this Saturday (July 9), everyone will learn the waddle from the experts.

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Here are some FUN FACTS on Snow Monkeys –
(aka Japanese Macaque)

• Average Height: 20-23 inches (a little less than 2 feet)
• Average Weight: 40-50 lbs
• Taxonomic Category: Mammal, primate
• Snow Monkeys are found mainly on several islands of the coast of Japan
• Although they are a monkey and love fruit, their main diet also includes insects, plants, farm crops, small animals, and bark (in the winter time).
• They are highly social animals and live in groups called troops. Troops can consists of up to 70 Macaques or more!

Learn more about these fascinating animals and all of our awesome animals at the Minnesota Zoo. Also stop on by and visit them in person!

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If you are a member of the Zoo or receive the e-newsletter, you may have noticed that they are now (and have been since Fall 2009) distributed electronically via e-mail. This is a change that has drastically cut-down on the amount of paper used, along with getting to its readers much quicker. The Zoo has also upgraded to energy-efficient lighting Zoo-wide, as well as switch to 100 percent recycled toilet paper and printer paper throughout the Zoo. These are all things that you can all do at home as well to reduce the size of your ‘carbon footprint’.

The Minnesota Zoo has also seen quite a bit of construction over the past few months with the progression of the Heart of the Zoo project: Phase One. Many of the new features (which include a NEW South Entrance, a NEW Target® Learning Center, a NEW Cargill Environmental Education Center, and the NEW 3M Penguins of the African Coast exhibit) are constructed out of recycled materials, are energy-efficient, and are LEED Certified. A ‘Green’-roof has also been placed above the NEW Lower South Entrance, in addition to the first ‘Green’-roof on top of the Education Environmental Center located in Russia’s Grizzly Coast.

Recycling can be fun in more ways than one. If you have ever ventured out along the Northern Trail near the Land O Lakes grain elevator, you may have stumbled upon an awesome and colorful playground, perfect for any kid to enjoy. Did you know that this jungle-gym is made out of 85 percent recycled materials? It was constructed using materials from recycled plastic bags, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and even old tires! Who knew plastic bottles could be so much fun? The Zoo also has its own compost pile, and at a zoo, there is A LOT of compost! Thanks to a generous donation of compost bags from Cortec Corporation, each department has easier access to participate in the Zoo’s composting efforts.

The Minnesota Zoo has made great strides in its efforts of conservation over the years and continues to expand with new ideas to be more effective and make it more fun! There are so many ways that you can help out at home too. Switching to energy-efficient lighting and separating your trash from your recyclables are great ways to start. Every plastic bottle makes a difference. Our good friend Kermit the Frog sang a song about how ‘it’s not easy being green’, well stop by the Minnesota Zoo and we’ll show you it is!

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The monorail entrance is located on the 2nd level of Discovery Bay and can also be accessed from the Central Plaza. Once inside you will be welcomed by a friendly face and while you wait to board the 6-car tram.

Welcome to the Minnesota Zoo’s Monorail Tram Ride. My name is Jessica and I will be your guide today as we travel along the Northern Trail and learn all about the different biomes of our world’s Northern Hemisphere. Please watch your fingers and toes as I shut your car doors, I don’t want anyone to get pinched. Be sure to locate side ‘A’ and side ‘B’ in your car to follow along with your tram diver and to get the full monorail experience. Sit tight and enjoy the ride…

First on our tour is Russia’s Grizzly Coast. Built in 2008, this recently new and ground-breaking exhibit is home to the ever-popular Giant Sea Otters, our three fuzzy (but very LARGE) Grizzly Bears, the odd-looking Wild Boars, and the elusive Amur Leopard. Look closely, maybe you can get a glimpse of the leopard perched in a tree or the otters getting playful with guests up-close at their viewing window.

As you look out both sides of your car, you will be able to enjoy the above-ground views of other animals that can be found along the northern hemisphere: Takin, Pronghorn, American Bison, Gazelle, Prairie Dogs, the Bactrian Camel, and the Asian Wild Horses. Did you know that the Asian Wild Horse is considered to be the ONLY ‘wild’ horse left on the planet?

Hold on tight as we continue to travel across the globe past the Mexican Gray Wolf exhibit on Side B and the Wells Fargo Family Farm on Side A. Can you smell the pigs from here? The Minnesota Zoo is in partnership with other organizations to help breed and release these wolves back into their natural habitat in the Southwestern region of the U.S. They had a severe decline in their wild population due to human interactions, but thanks to the Minnesota Zoo and partners, their populations in the wild are on the rise again!

As we enter, what is known as, the Back Woods of the Minnesota Zoo, you get the opportunity to view the undeveloped portion of the Zoo’s 485 acre-property. Look closely and maybe you can find some wildlife such as the Red Fox, Coyotes, a Barred Owl, Wild Turkeys, and many more wild critters. Here, you also reach the highest part of the excursion at 35 feet above ground! If you are a little afraid of heights, maybe don’t look down.

Wrapping up our time together, we exit the Back Woods area and pass by the Caribou and Moose exhibit before getting a tree-top view of the Weesner Family Amphitheatre, home of the outdoor KAYTEE World of Birds free-flight show and the Music in the Zoo summer concert series. Getting one last look at the Amur Tiger Lair, the Central Plaza and recently built Woodland Adventures Playground will conclude our time together on the monorail. I hope you had a great time and learned a lot. Please watch all fingers and toes as I open your car door and enjoy the rest of your visit here at the Minnesota Zoo!

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The largest living turtle and reptile in the world is the leatherback turtle. The largest can be six and one-half feet long and weigh almost 2000 pounds. These sea turtles have never been kept in captivity successfully but we do have two species that can be kept in large aquariums. (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/)

When you are looking in Shark Reef in Discovery Bay keep your eyes peeled for a Green sea turtle and a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle. Both of these turtles are good examples of what can happen when humans and turtles try to occupy the same ocean at the same time. Both turtles are victims of boat strikes. Turtles will drift in the ocean between feeding events and are not always easy to see in the water.

A boater ran over the Green turtle and hit the rear of its shell with the propeller. This contact severely damaged this turtle. The outer shell was broken, along with the pelvic girdle. The hind flippers and tail lost the nerves that control them. The cloacae also lost its ability to control the bowels.  This damage was not repairable and this turtle was judged “non releasable”. This means it would not be able to live and find food in the ocean. This is why the Minnesota Zoo has it for display.

A similar story can be told for the Kemp’s Ridley turtle. The difference is its head was split and damaged the brain.

This story is all too common for all species of sea turtles. As more and more people take boats into the ocean, animals in the ocean get killed, maimed, and disabled for life.

I want to end with a quote from the PARC website I listed above:
“The bad news is humans cause the largest harm to turtle populations, but the good news is we have the power to make positive changes toward turtle survival.”

The largest threats to turtle populations include (with the top 3 caused primarily by humans):

•  habitat loss and degradation
•  overharvest of wild turtles for food, traditional medicines, and pets
•  mortality from roads, agricultural machinery, fishing bycatch, and predators
•  exotic invasive species and diseases
•  loss of unique genetic makeup due to hybridization
•  climate change

   
Turtles have been around longer than lizards, snakes, and crocodiles. Remember to be kind to creatures that have been around for 215 million years. We may be able to learn something from that success.

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IUCN has placed the world turtle species number at 454 (317 species with 137 subspecies). The United States have 55 species of turtle with a majority of these in Southeastern part of the country. Minnesota is home to 9 species of turtles.

The Minnesota Zoo has 14 turtle species in its collection. 5 of these species at the Zoo are Minnesota natives. They can be found at the Minnesota Trail Lodge.

Look for the following Chelonians, that's Greek for turtle/tortoise:

• Blanding's turtle, Emydoidea blandingii: A Threatened species in the state of Minnesota.
• False map turtle, Graptemys pseudogeographica
• Quachita map turtle, Graptemys ouachitensis, very similar to the False map turtle.
• Florida softshell turtle, Apalone ferox: we have a Florida turtle because the Spiny softshell Apalone spinifera, we have is very small and slow growing so we wanted a larger relative that looks similar to its Minnesota cousin.
• Painted turtle, Chrysemys picta: the most common turtle in our region.

For more information on the status of all animals native to Minnesota you can visit www.dnr.state.mn.us, and www.natureserve.org.

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With help from the Tropics Trail keepers, Bertie received enrichment twice a day in the form of fruit popsicles, fresh fruit, and browse wrapped around a log. She responded most to the wrapped log. She went into the pool immediately to play with it. Then the next morning if the log was still in the pool, she would go right back in to play with it more! She pushed the log around in the pool in order to loosen the browse, which she then ate. What I did not anticipate was that she would eat the bark off the log!

The small-clawed otters received their enrichment in the form of fish and fruit popsicles in coconut or bamboo feeders filled with hay and rocks. In order to get to the food the otters had to remove the hay and rocks and then claw at the ice to release the fish/fruit. To make fish/fruit popsicles in the coconut, I placed an empty balloon into the coconut and then placed cut up fish/fruit in the balloon to freeze. Once frozen, I removed the balloon leaving a fish/fruit popsicle inside the coconut! The otters quickly figured out the puzzle. They found that if they carried the feeders over to the pool the ice melted a lot quicker and they could take the treats.

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Using pieces of firehose, I was able to construct a five-foot long, hollow, rectangular-shaped device, much like a large beanbag, that I named the “Kirbanzo Bean Bag.” I stuffed it with wood-wool, camel hair and moose hair to give off the scents of “potential prey,” along with catnip, simply because large felines tend to have an attraction to the odor just like house cats. The deer hide mimics the look of a tail. It was important to use something durable to withstand an “attack” from a tiger. Firhose when woven together tightly is strong enough to withstand tiger play.

The initial introduction of the toy was a huge success! “Anya,” the Zoo’s six year old female tiger, played with the toy for over three hours before taking a rest! Not only did Anya love my enrichment item; but the guests were very thrilled to see a tiger behaving candidly and energetically for an extended period of time. “Nadia” and “Serge,” two of the Zoo’s older tigers both responded very well to the enrichment item as well; although their response required more “rest time” in between “tackle time” with the toy.

During Anya’s second introduction to the “Kirbanzo Bean Bag,” she immediately tackled the toy and brought her “prey” to the pool. As she was batting the beanbag around, she lost hold of it and the item sunk to the bottom of the moat. She continued to swim in search of the toy, sniff the ground where she originally found the “Kirbanzo Bean Bag,” and again returned to the water, swimming, in hopes of finding it. Anya spent a considerable amount of time and energy in search of her “prey.” It is behaviors like swimming and hunting for a familiar scent that are greatly encouraged and play a major role in enrichment at the Zoo.

Creating a novel and successful enrichment item was a very rewarding accomplishment. To see the tigers readily embrace and interact with my toy was easily the most gratifying and heart-felt moment of my time spent here at the Zoo.

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Salt, which is a combination of a sodium ion and a chlorine ion, (NaCl), is one of the most basic elements on earth. It’s is also very plentiful on our planet. It is “made” in several different ways. I didn’t realize salt was “made”, I assumed it was removed from a mine and processed for use.

The Zoo uses a lot of salt for its operation. We use salt from a local company called Cargill, who have supplied us with sodium chloride since the Zoo opened so I asked them for some information on where the salt we use comes from. They have a very informative web site with more information than I will write about here. If you go to http://www.cargill.com/salt/ you can find all kinds of good information on this very important life ingredient.

Salt is made by Cargill in all of the four following ways:
Vacuum evaporation - when you pump fresh water down a shaft, pump the brine back to the surface and evaporate the water off to leave the salt.
Alberger Brand salt - produced by using an open pan for evaporation. This process gives the salt a unique pyramid shape.
Solar evaporation - uses sea water or naturally occurring brine solutions. The salt bed that forms in shallow ponds can take one to five years to produce the salt.
Mining - salt from the earth with large equipment and explosives. More than seven million tons of salt are brought up to the surface by miners each year.

The dolphin exhibit holds approximately 150 tons of salt. The Sea Otter exhibit uses about 5 tons. This salt is called Hi-grade granular salt. It comes from Hutchinson, Kansas where salt deposits were first discovered in 1887. Cargill makes this salt using the vacuum evaporation method. It arrives at the Zoo in a semi-tractor trailer truck that pneumatically, using air pressure, blows salt into a large vertical tank.

The dry salt that is blown into the fiberglass tank still has the natural cubic shape. This 10 ft. X 15 ft. tall tank holds approximately 25 tons of salt. To make the salt transfer easier we add water to the dry salt in this tank. As the salt dissolves in the bottom of this tank the slurry of salt and water can then be pumped for use in the dolphins and sea otter exhibits.

Dolphins need salt water to keep their skin in good condition. The ocean has 8 major elements dissolved in it with 85% of the dissolved elements being sodium and chloride, salt. If we keep the dolphins in water that is 35%, this means there are 35 pounds of dissolved solids, mostly salt, per 1000 lbs of water.

If you buy salt for home use from the grocery store in the cylindrical cardboard tubes you are getting 26 ounces (1 lb. 10 oz.) of salt. If we used those grocery store salt containers to “salt” the 1,000,000 gallon dolphin pools we would need 184,615 containers of salt to give us the 35% salt we want.

As it is, we use 6 truckloads of salt from Cargill to do the job. Then we need to have salt for the sea otters as well. We haven’t drained the Dolphin pools completely since the building opened but we do partial water changes and replacement for splashing year round. This amounts to us using approximately 200 tons of salt per year. We budget $40,000 per year to purchase salt for the marine mammal systems and usually use most of that amount.

The sharks and fish need salt to survive also but that is a story for another day.

If you would like more information on salt, try http://www.saltinstitute.org/ or for a fun look at salt try http://www.salt101.com/#/intro.

Salt, can’t live without it. All the marine fish at the Zoo know it. And now you know more about it too.

Allan Maguire
Aquarist

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Wouldn’t it be nice if every day was 80 degrees? Well in the Tropics Trail it is! I like how at anytime of the year, (even if it is 30 degrees below zero in Apple Valley) you can escape to the Tropics. Another thing I love about the Tropics is the new Faces of the African Forest exhibit. It is home to crocs, monkeys and more. I like this exhibit because you can see more than one type of monkey in a single exhibit. In the middle of the Tropics there is an amazing aquarium called the “Coral Reef.” I like it because even being a member who comes to the Zoo a lot I always notice a new fish. So whether you got frozen or fried at Grizzly Coast, head to the Tropics for another must-see attraction.

Another wonderful place at the Zoo is Discovery Bay. Discovery Bay is home to a variety of sea life. A relaxing place to visit in Discovery Bay is the Dolphin Lagoon. I love watching the dolphins swim and having a window into their world. Some other cool features in Discovery Bay are the touch pools. You can actually touch sharks and stingrays in one pool and in the tide pool you can touch sea stars and anemones with tides coming in periodically. It’s a fascinating place!

So, if you’re visiting the Minnesota Zoo, I hope my favorite places can help you. Like I have mentioned, the entire Zoo is amazing so don’t limit your visit to just these areas. I hope you can visit the Zoo yourself and develop your own favorites.

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I chose to look at an ape species (white-cheeked gibbons), a monkey species (Japanese macaques), and a prosimian species (the red-ruffed and ring-tailed lemurs). With a lot of help from my supervisor and the Zoo’s carpentry shop, I made a feeder out of bamboo. The simple concept behind it is that you fill the inside of the bamboo tube with fruit. There’s a hole in the bamboo, covered by another piece of bamboo on the outside, called the “slider.” The primate has to lift up the slider and find the hole underneath to get to the fruit. I observed the behavior of the primates when the feeder was introduced to their exhibit and compared how they reacted to it as well as how long it took them to solve the puzzle and get the food.

The Tropics Trail keepers were extremely helpful throughout all of it. I was very nervous that the animals wouldn’t be interested or that they would be unable to solve the puzzle. The first day with the macaques did not put me at ease. They barely looked at it, never touched it, and generally stayed away from the area. However, the next day the larger macaque group seemed more interested. They grabbed it and swung it and bit it and finally one of them solved it! Over the next two days both groups were successful again and I was extremely happy. They also found a new use for the feeder - as a swing. It just goes to show that you never know what an animal will do with enrichment, which is half the fun!

When it was given to the lemurs, they sniffed and grabbed at it, but they never did figure out how to solve the puzzle. When it was the gibbons’ turn and they were much more successful than the other two groups. They solved the feeder less than three minutes from being let into the exhibit. A new record!

It was an extremely fun and rewarding experience. I hope that the keepers will find a use for the feeders in the future, for the same species or for others. Thanks to everyone who helped me make this idea into a reality, and to the Minnesota Zoo for my amazing experience this summer!

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Since its inception in the early 1980s, SRT have pioneered what has become one of Africa’s most successful black rhino monitoring programs, also forming the heart of its mission and effort. SRT’s four rhino monitoring teams, consisting of 4-5 expert local trackers per team, cover a vast 6.2 million acre rhino wilderness range (roughly 5 times the size of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area) across the remote, rugged mountains of northwest Namibia. SRT have always prided themselves on their traditional methods of monitoring; using only local scouts to track the rhinos on foot in their natural habitat while recording the vital sighting information (time/date, rhino’s name, location, body condition, etc.) by hand accompanied by a photo. In the past, heavy, single-lens reflect (SLR) film cameras were carried into the field to capture images. This posed two challenges to both SRT’s field logistics and data management. First, the size and weight of the cameras was an inconvenience during two-week foot patrols and long day hikes over the steep, rocky terrain. Second, the time between the actual rhino sighting, photo confirmation and filing can be extremely long and tedious. For example, when a photo is captured in the field, it must be brought to the SRT’s field base camp. The film is delivered to a photo shop (the nearest being 5 hours away) by senior staff. Once developed, the photos are returned to the field camps for tracking team captains to wade through and match each with a Rhino ID form. Once this is accomplished, the photos and Rhino ID forms are returned once again to town to be scanned and entered in to SRT’s Rhino Database. The entire process can take up to a month to complete with vital information passing through multiple hands.

Going Digital, will not only dramatically reduce the pack size and weight, but also the critical lag time between the actual rhino sightings and confirmed/documented sighting for the database. Now, SRT senior staff will be able to finalize all patrol outputs in a single day around the computer with each tracking team, using the digital photos’ date/time imprint to quickly match the photos with the Rhino IDs. Tracking teams can even evaluate their photo quality ‘on-sight’ providing instant feedback on whether or not more photos are necessary. The streamlined system promotes more efficient and effective data management, resulting in quicker data analysis and report turnover for timely decision-support.

Improvements like these are indeed timely as Africa’s rhinos are once again faced with an upsurge in poaching (already claiming hundreds of wild rhinos in the last couple years), 95% of which has been restricted to nearby South Africa and Zimbabwe. The importance of knowing where the rhinos are as often as possible was highlighted at a recent National Rhino Security Workshop in Namibia. The Minnesota Zoo is proud to be actively supporting SRT’s evolving rhino monitoring strategy that conserves its unique traditional methods while embracing useful technologies for our rhino conservation arsenal.

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Male American Creams can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds, standing 5 ft. 6 inches, or up to 17 hands at the withers. Females are smaller, weighing about 1,600 pounds and standing 5 ft., or 16 hands, tall.

Nearly all American Cream horses are thought to be descended from one mare. This horse, named Old Granny, was bred in the early 1900s in Story County, Iowa.

Did you know? The American Cream is the only breed of draft horse developed in the United States.

Strong and powerfully built, American Creams were ideal for pulling plows and harvesting machines. They fit in well to traditional farming before the advent of large, motorized equipment.

American Creams today live mainly in the farm belt states of the American Midwest. While some are working farm horses, like the Zoo’s American Creams, others are used in law enforcement for mounted police patrols. You might see some officers riding horses similar to Prince and Duke through the streets of the fair!

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On a typical morning Heather spends a couple hours prepping food for the sea otters and dolphins and feeding them. The animals eat 5-6 times a day. She says that 80% of the job is cleaning. “We smell really bad and we clean a lot,” she says. As a keeper for the marine mammals she is always on the move. She says that being a keeper is a team job! It is all about communication and being able to get along with everyone.

Since the new calf was born Heather loves to watch “Allie” teaching the calf how to nurse and swim. She says that Allie is such an impressive mom and after months of keeping a close watch on Allie, it is very rewarding to watch the calf grow up.

Heather’s advice to those who want to pursue a career like hers is to go for a degree like Biology or Psychology. Try to get as much experience as you can, an internship is key, and the earlier you start the better. It takes a while but if it’s something you want, be persistent!

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Not only are the plants there for exhibits and decoration but they also feed our animals at the Zoo! Keepers cut off branches from the plants and trees to feed to the leaf eaters such as the moose, caribou, longhorn, animals on the Northern Trail and the famous colobus monkeys. “If I’m going to feed them to the animals, they have to look delicious to me,” Kim says. Her favorite part of her job is the browse collection for the animals. “I feel like I’m the grocery man for the animals,” she said. The grape vine is a favorite among the colobus monkeys and the radiated tortoises. Kim says if you can make a tortoise happy, it’s a pretty great but simple thing.

If you visit Russia’s Grizzly Coast all of the plants on the trail were actually planted from the greenhouse because it can be a difficult process to get plants from other countries. The Zoo is required to complete documentation for non-native plants to come in to the U.S.

Did you know that the greenhouse is actually a plant rescue station? Many times people try to bring plants to the U.S. internationally and they are not able to do so because they do not have proper documentation. Our greenhouse is able to take these often sick and dying plants and care for them.

According to Kim, working at the greenhouse and getting plants is all about connections and the horticulture community is very sharing. The greenhouse received plants this year from Bachman’s that were used at the opening of the Twins Target Field. We also received plants from the annual Macy’s Flower Show. One year the flower show had an “Africa” theme and the Zoo was able to take a majority of the plants from the event and use them throughout the Zoo.

The internet has also made it easier for the greenhouse to research, locate and get plants. If you have a passion for horticulture don’t let the thought of being an expert intimidate you. Kim says that as a horticulture specialist you are always learning something new about plants everyday.

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Male dolphins play no role in the rearing of their calves, and because the father could become aggressive toward the mother and/or calf or possibly interfere with the mother/calf bonding process, Semo will be introduced to the calf once the calf is strong and well-bonded with Allie. Semo, 45, is believed to be one of the oldest reproducing male dolphins in human care.

Marine mammal staff noticed that Allie was close to delivering the afternoon of Friday, July 16 after she refused food. When the calf was born the following evening, it immediately swam to the surface of the pool to take her first breath. “The birth was normal, and Allie and the calf appear healthy at this time,” said Minnesota Zoo Senior Veterinarian Jim Rasmussen. “We are encouraged by the calf’s appearance and we are cautiously optimistic about its progress as these first few weeks are precarious for the calf.”

The calf is darker in color than Allie and has small whiskers on its rostrum (nose) that will soon disappear.

Trainers suspected Allie was pregnant last year when they observed breeding behaviors and noticed her elevated progesterone levels during a series of routine medical examinations. An ultrasound confirmed the pregnancy. To prepare for a healthy calf, marine mammal staff continually monitored Allie’s health by collecting blood and conducting ultrasound examinations. They monitored her appetite and behavior, while conditioning her to spend time in the maternity pool which was used for the birth.

In addition to Semo and Allie, the Minnesota Zoo houses Allie’s mom “April,” 42. If all goes well, the calf is expected to go on exhibit in the fall.

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In their natural habitat they have room to stay away from each other, in an aquarium that option is limited. This is a problem because adult males don’t like each other, so the larger males will usually kill smaller males. You need to have two adults who get along and are willing to take a chance in the mating game. Ideally you start with a large group of juveniles of the same size. Feed well, they tend to eat each other if hungry, and hope you can tell which pairs are opposite sex.

Most cephalopods like to be left alone. Feeding on a regular schedule, good water quality, correct lighting, and correct water temperature may lead to an exchange of genetic material. Cuttlefish mate head to head, connecting their twenty arms (ten each). The male uses its special arm, called a hectocotylus, to transfer a sperm packet to the female’s pallial cavity. The female uses the sperm in the packet to fertilize the eggs. The eggs have squid ink incorporated into the shell case. These black eggs are laid one at a time. This dark shell case makes it very difficult to candle.

Unlike octopus the cuttlefish female doesn’t guard the eggs and stop eating. She can continue to eat for several months before she dies. After approximately 50 days, depending on water temperature, the eggs hopefully will hatch.

If you are lucky enough to have cuttlefish eggs hatch you must have appropriate live food for them to eat. Cuttlefish babies are miniature adults and are very hungry. They need to have food in front of them almost all day or they will cannibalize their tank mates. They may eat each other even with adequate food available so it usually works the best to have them separated from birth. They are on their own from day one so this is nature’s way of raising cuttlefish.

Live fast and die young, the motto of many species of cephalopods. Life is tough especially for cephalopods.

The Minnesota Zoo hopes to hatch cuttlefish eggs to keep our exhibit stocked. Hopefully we can obtain, hatch and raise some in the future to keep this very interesting invertebrate at the Zoo.

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Ben holds his finger up to the opening and waits for “Kenai,” one of the male bears, to lick his finger. Ben blows his whistle to signal that Kenai has demonstrated the correct behavior. Training is an important part of the bears’ day because it allows for keepers to make sure they are healthy. When Kenai licks Ben’s finger they are able to see that his mouth is healthy. Ben then gives a signal for Kenai to stand on two legs. This allows Ben to check for matted fur.

Ben’s favorite part of being a keeper is working with animals that most people don’t normally get to see like tigers and leopards. Ben says you learn something new everyday about how the animals think and act, which is really rewarding!

There is an opportunity to bond with the animals as a keeper. Ben says they have to be careful so that the bears don’t associate a certain behavior with only one trainer. He isn’t sure what but there is definitely “something” there between the keepers and the animals.

For those who have a dream to be a keeper like Ben someday, he suggests to get all the experience you can! Volunteer at zoos or wildlife rehabilitation centers. It is all about being persistent. You also need to be flexible because everything has to be done in a certain way to make sure the keepers, as well as the animals, are safe!

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In fact, I loved my volunteer work at the Zoo so much, that I decided to take it to the next step. I found out through fellow Zoo volunteers and staff, that the MNZoo takes field studies all over the world. And so, my avid passion for traveling began. That summer I took a marine biology field study to the Florida Keys along with 11 other teens and a MNZoo naturalist. We visited a turtle hospital, kayaked through mangroves, swam with dolphins, and learned about everything marine. I was hooked. Since then, I've taken 2 more MNZoo field studies; a biodiversity field study to the cloud forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica and a conservation field study to Akumal, Mexico to tag and monitor endangered sea turtles. I learned so much about the environment from the naturalists who led these studies and continue to learn.

I had gone from seeing a volunteer in the Zoo one day and wanting to become like them, to being an actual ZooTeen. I went from never having traveled out of the United States, to traveling to multiple countries.

It is all due to the inspiration the educational staff and the Zoo incite. I have learned more about the environment these past few years from the staff, Zoo, and campers, than I have in all my life. They have given me the strength to continue to strive to be the best volunteer I can be. They have inspired me to want to work in conservation, to continue volunteering, to travel, and to hopefully one day have a job at the Zoo! I could not continue to work towards my life goal of having a career in the natural sciences if the MNZoo had not provided me with these opportunities.

Continue all your wonderful work, Minnesota Zoo, staff, and animals!

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Fortunately for the world’s ocean going vessels, they don’t attack ships. People have been looking for them for many years, in very deep water, and have not had much success.

You may not be able to see the ocean’s giant cephalopod but you can see a close relative at the Minnesota Zoo in Discovery Bay. We are trying to keep a representative of this impressive sea creature here but there’s one slight problem. They don’t live very long. The average species of cephalopod in captivity lives for 12 months or less. This is the normal life span of many of the species in this class. There has been some success with captive reproduction with a very few species but we have a lot to learn about these fascinating creatures. So if you don’t see any in the Discovery Bay exhibit on one visit, please be patient, we are in-between cephalopod live and death, literally.

Cephalopods are the class of invertebrates that include octopuses, squid, cuttlefish, and nautiluses. It means “head foot” which is related to mollusks such a clams. Mollusks are not a very mobile group of animals unlike the cephalopods. They are found in all the worlds’ oceans and are all salt water animals. They were once the dominate species in the oceans but today there are only about 800 living species. Compare this to approximately 30,000 species of bony fishes.

Cephalopods can be taught to do some behaviors and some have very impressive abilities to change body colors and camouflage with many types of environments.

Exhibiting cephalopods successfully has only been possible for about the last 20 to 25 years. Species availability, life history, diet, and reproduction are just a few of the details that have been learned to keep these fascinating species alive. We as aquarists have a lot more to learn about these aquatic invertebrates that have among their numbers one of the largest and most mysterious creatures in the world.

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The Zoo’s education programs have given me a glimpse into the possibilities for my future. This motivates me to do my best so that when I grow up I can succeed at whatever I do, whether it is at the Minnesota Zoo or wherever. The Zoo reminds me to shoot for the stars and never give up.

When you are in educational programs at the Minnesota Zoo you feel like you are truly making an impact. Last Fall I was in the Wild Life Conservation Club at the Zoo and visited the Wild River State Park. We collected native prairie seeds for a prairie restoration project. Just a few weeks ago, we went back and planted those seeds at the same park. If it weren’t for my visits to the Zoo and past education programs that connect me to nature, I would not have been interested in doing this project to restore the prairie.

It is truly an amazing experience to visit the Zoo and be a part of the education programs. I hope that you can experience the things that I have at the Minnesota Zoo that will motivate you to do something to help our environment. The Minnesota Zoo really does change the way you see the world.

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The money raised by the Minnesota Zoo funds a partial salary to increase the number of rangers during the parrots breeding season. The funds also cover the printing cost of educational posters handed out to surrounding communities.

This trip was a reminder to me of how important it is to support the conservation efforts in these countries that are home to so many amazing species of animals.

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When the pups were 11 days old, Nena allowed the keepers to take another look at her pups. They had almost doubled in size! No wonder Nena has been eating so much!

Nena ventured out of the nestbox a little more on March 14. She was looking for a little companionship from Jaws, her mate, but she needed to stay with her pups. River otters usually mate again soon after they give birth.

On March 19th, Nena wanted to participate in training. When it was over she headed for the nestbox and reappeared with a pup! She proceeded to move to of her pups to another nestbox. What a great feeling for a keeper to know that she trusts us that much.

At about one month, the pups opened their eyes were about 1/3 the size of an adult. They look just like a miniature adult otter including teeth which they aren’t afraid to show. They have great natural instincts to tell them to be cautious of new things when mom is away.

On May 21st Nena gave the pups their first big open water swimming lessons in the exhibit pool. The pups played follow-the-leader swimming, chasing, and wrestling on the surface of the pool as well as diving way down to check out the rocks on the bottom. One of them even swam with a leaf on its nose for a while. Nena took turns swimming with her pups and laying on the pool’s edge observing their antics.

It has been such a great experience to watch Nena and Jaws be successful parents and to watch their pups -grow up strong and healthy. Nena is clearly a very proud mom.

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West African Dwarf Crocodile
Tiny and tough, dwarf crocodiles live in shallow streams that flow through tropical forests in western Africa. They crawl onto land to sun themselves and build streamside burrows and nests from rotting plants. Thick, dark scales cover their necks, backs, and tails. Young crocodiles are about 11 inches long at hatching and have a brown-banded tail; mature ones are about as long as an adult human is tall.

Did you know a special valve in a crocodile’s throat keeps it from swallowing water when it swims with its mouth open.

De Brazza’s Monkeys
De Brazza’s monkeys spend their days foraging for fruit and socializing with others in their family group. Their digestive tracts, which are a lot like humans, make it hard for them to find nourishment in tough forest materials such as leaves and bark. Wary of other primates but sociable among their own kind, De Brazza’s monkeys forage in the forest using long limbs and tail to move from tree to tree. When threatened, they camouflage themselves by curling into a ball with their white parts hidden.

Did you know De Brazza’s monkeys weigh 9-17 pounds and are 16-25 inches in length – with a 3.5 - 5 foot tail!

Hyrax
Hyraxes look like large guinea pigs, with gray, brown, or brownish-yellow fur. They have dark noses; tiny, mouselike ears; a stumpy tail and a light-colored spot on their backs. Their incisor teeth grow constantly, and are worn down by biting and chewing.

Did you know their feet have moist, sticky surfaces that work like a suction cup, helping the animals cling to surfaces as they climb.

Fruit Bats
Soft and furry, the Rousette fruit bat is about the size of a robin without its tail. It has a long snout that makes it look similar to a dog. The bat is brownish-gray with darker wings. Rousette fruit bats at the Minnesota Zoo form a breeding colony, just like a giant family.

Did you know fruit bats are sometimes called “flying foxes” because of their long snouts.

Red River Hog
Red river hogs look like familiar domestic pigs, except with bulkier bodies, longer snouts and tails, and costume-like coloration. As members of the swine family, red river hogs are social animals, living in family groups consisting of 12 to 20 (and sometimes up to 100) individuals. These groups, called “sounders,” are usually led by a single male.

Did you know they have exceptional hearing and eyesight help red river hogs locate worms and other meals.

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She is developing very well and the zookeeper staff have done an excellent job with her care. As attempts to introduce her back to her mother were not successful, we are in the early stages of getting her ready to transfer to another zoo where she can be raised with a female surrogate white-cheeked gibbon and learn the behaviors critical for her to be able to interact and live with other gibbons.

To help keep her mentally stimulated and to help her be able to adjust for her future move, she has been getting short field trips around the tropics building and other areas around the zoo. On nice days, she has also been able to go outside and play in the grass under the close supervision of the keepers. Some pictures of her most recent field trip are included.

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Maybe someone in your family or someone close to you also has that same passion to work with people and animals. If you need more guidance on how to make it happen come to our “Career Day” event on Saturday May 1st or November 13th to meet with other Zoo professionals and find out their career paths. Maybe you want to inspire that passion by bringing a child to the Zoo. Come take an interactive class for adults and children like “Toddler Time” or “Family Zoo Adventures.” We look forward to meeting you and sharing how COOL our jobs really are!

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Zoomobile is a little known area of the Zoo because we do not have a trail named after us like “The Tropics Trail” or a highly visible presence on Zoo grounds such as the “The KAYTEE World of Birds Show.” We travel from Warroad in the north to Austin in the south, Stillwater on the east to Marshall on the west educating people on different animals, habitats, and ecosystems. We visit schools, libraries, senior homes, festivals and even television stations spreading the message of the Minnesota Zoo.

The Zoomobile collection is very diverse and includes but is not limited to:

• Birds: hawks, owls, and parrots
• Mammals: opossums, skunks and slow lorises (very cute)
• Reptiles: snakes (my favorite is the large boa constrictor mentioned earlier), lizards, turtles and tortoises
• Invertebrates: (bugs as the kids call them) foot long millipedes, cockroaches, tarantulas and scorpions

We are able to provide a valuable service by bringing the Minnesota Zoo to the people of metro and outstate Minnesota, and the surrounding states that may not be able to come to our facility due to age (both the young and young at heart), distance or other circumstances.

Some of greatest joys I get from working as a naturalist, or teacher, with the Minnesota Zoo’s Zoomobile program are the statements mentioned at the beginning and I will leave you with one more.

Here is an explanation from a kindergartner on the naming of certain animals: (On the Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches) “I know why they are called “Kissing Cockroaches. Because the boy cockroaches like to kiss the girl cockroaches. But I don’t want to.”

Learn more about the Minnesota Zoo’s Zoomobile program.

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Several birds recently became available and the Minnesota Zoo was able to get two pairs of birds in early 2009. One of the pairs is in the Main Aviary and the second pair is in our Bird Breeding facility. Both pairs have successfully reproduced and we presently have five offspring that will be sent to other zoos. The population is being carefully monitored so we will not lose this species in captivity again.

This video is from the pair nesting along our visitor walkway in the Main Aviary.

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Two female dolphins, “April” and “Allie,” were brought to the Minnesota Zoo in 2008 for many reasons – the main goal was for them to take Spree “under their wing” (or in this case, pectoral fin) and become female role models to her. Although dolphins are very social animals, relationships between individual animals may not always be friendly. This can lead to varying degrees of aggression, and unfortunately, this became the case between the dolphins.

The Minnesota Zoo is committed to providing the very best care for each of our animals, meeting both their biological and social needs. We knew we had to provide Spree with a better social setting, and knowing the Brookfield animals would be spending time in Minnesota, we discussed the feasibility of introducing Spree to their group. This was an opportunity to integrate Spree into a new, solid group where she could experience positive interactions with different animals and learn from them.

Working cooperatively with the Brookfield Zoo staff, we designed a multi-step plan that would progress Spree, Tapeko, Noelani and Allison toward one main goal: living together. The cornerstone of the plan was to treat all four dolphins as a group, whether it was for feeding, training, or play sessions. It was also important that trainers from each zoo learn about and interact with each other’s animals, as this would help us determine which dolphin may be more apt to associate with Spree.

Our plan began when Spree was moved to a pool adjacent to the Brookfield animals. A gate separated the two pools, with each dolphin being able to see and hear one another. We asked the dolphins to eat by the gate and do behaviors they all shared in common, like tail waves and vocalizations. Once everyone felt comfortable, we opened the gate between the two pools: although there was some mild chasing and tail slapping, most of the time the dolphins simply observed each other.

Since that day, much progress has been made. The dolphins are participating together in training sessions and working as a team. We have observed Tapeko, the matriarch, positively associating with Spree as she does with the other dolphins. Noelani, Allison, and Spree – who are all younger dolphins – are enjoying a typical juvenile relationship with each other. Although the dolphins have access to two pools, they stay together in one pool most of the time. We view this as a big step: Spree is choosing to remain with the other three dolphins on her own accord, which is great news for her social well being.

Staff from both zoos is thrilled to see that Spree is successfully socializing with the Brookfield Zoo’s dolphins, and because of that, Spree will return to Brookfield when the dolphins “move home” this spring. It will be difficult to see Spree go, but it is the right thing to do for her. She’ll be a wonderful addition to Brookfield, and their guests will be able to see some of her favorite behaviors as we have for the past several years. We will miss her deeply, but look forward to hearing about her new adventures in the coming years.

-Diane Fusco, marine mammal supervisor

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All of the Naturalists in the education department have been busy making these connections happen throughout the month of March. Our “Zoo Crew Junior” participants experienced a behind-the-scene tours of the marine mammal kitchen during our Dolphin Day, “Career Day” participants met with zoo keepers, veterinarians, and aquarists to learn about what it takes to work at a zoo, and “Dolphin Encounter” participants fed fish to our female dolphin April and experienced how our male dolphin Semo’s skin feels.

Kids love reptiles! If you like reptiles you may enjoy our “Reptile Care 101” class. Let us share with you the best practices for care and handling of a reptile in your home or classroom. “Bear Encounters” are starting up again this spring too! Come out to meet Haines, Kenai and Sadie in this unique behind-the-scenes experience.

We are looking forward to the month of April with the warmer weather and a chance to meet some of you

Enjoy the photos of some of our amazing reptiles and the kids that are experiencing their scaly skin and warm bodies. Click on an image to enlarge

 

 

 

 

 

 

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We have monitored and controlled the unwanted pest population in the Tropics building since the Zoo opened in 1978. What pests, you may wonder? Cockroaches and mice. They were never on the planned exhibit list for the Tropics, but they can manage their way into any building. In large numbers, these creatures can create health and other issues for the animals.

I remember my early days as a zoo keeper, some exhibits seemed to be moving when you were cleaning! The roaches were in such large numbers that you had to be careful not to take any home with you because they would run up your pants leg looking for a place to hide. If you had a problem with bugs back then you either got over it quickly or left the Zoo. Fortunately those days are long gone!

If pests are problems, how do you know if a problem exists? You have to look for “pests” when they are visible…night patrols are ideal for “pest” viewing.

The Zoo’s Biological Programs department takes turns every month to host “Bug Patrols” with a pest control company after the Zoo closes and the lights go out. At 9:10 p.m. on a February night, it was my turn to walk the darkness of the Tropics building, searching for unwanted pests (not the sort of thing a person unfamiliar with the building would want to do). On this particular night we had an unplanned advantage, the Zoo was switching out some of the electrical supply to the Tropics building so it was darker than usual.

Taking care not to disturb the resident bird population and any other animals still on exhibit, we entered the building. Three professional pest controllers and I, armed with flashlights, patrolled looking for any unwanted visitors.

The Zoo’s Tropics building is ideal for supporting all kinds of life forms that weren’t planned for in the original design concepts. We are constantly bringing in large numbers of plants that have been living outdoors. Those plants can carry a variety of unwanted passengers looking for shelter.

After about an hour the patrol was over and a tally was taken. Did we find pests? Yes, we did. High numbers of pests? Not really. The large numbers of yesteryear are gone (good thing)! The pest management staff is very good at what they do and have been keeping numbers in check for many years.

Many people have job tasks that are out of the ordinary. Even though it requires late hours, that may have planned for leisure activities, it’s a task that needs to be done. It helps keep the animal collection and environment in good condition.

Besides, how many people do you know that can say they go on Bug patrols in the Tropics building?

Helping to keep the “pests” in low numbers,
Allan Maguire

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We think it’s important to make our Minnesota Zoo a great Zoo, ensuring that it continues to be one of the state’s best gathering places, most important educational institutions and a global leader in conservation efforts. But, we can’t do it alone. We need your help.

By joining Minnesotans for a Great Zoo, you’ll be a part of something great! You’ll receive periodic updates along with easy tools to show your support to the state.

With the support from Minnesotans for a Great Zoo, the Zoo will be able to move forward with its Heart of the Zoo project, which includes adding an African Penguins exhibit and much more! For more information or to show your support of the Zoo’s efforts, please visit www.ourmnzoo.org and sign up.

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Dolphins typically eat about 4 to 6% of their body weight daily. Allie's appetite has been good during her pregnancy. She eats about 26 pounds of fish right now! We of course anticipate increasing her amounts in the next month, as the fetus continues to grow.

If you look at her closely, you’ll notice that she is becoming larger as her girth continues to expand. To keep Allie and her calf safe, we have retired some of her more energetic behaviors, such as spins and tail walks. It is becoming obvious that these activities are a little more difficult for her to display while carrying her calf.

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The Bird Show staff always does an amazing job, and it’s obvious that they had a great time. One at a time, they brought Alex the African Grey Parrot, Gandalf the hyacinth macaw, and Elvis the blue-throated macaw on stage. Instead of their regular routine, they gave us “the inside scoop” on the cues used for both birds and people; that Alex doesn’t like working with men; and that Dave has traveled to Bolivia to work on a blue-throated macaw conservation project.

They answered questions from the crowd, realized we could have filled the entire two hours with just a question and answer session! Our adult Friends asked about things like breeding programs and conservation projects, while the kids asked things like how old are the birds. One serious boy asked, “If the bird’s feathers all fall out, do they get cold?” A girl takes the opportunity to share, “I really like birds!”

After a short break to stretch our legs and grab another snack, the Bird Show folks bring out the “big guns” – birds that aren’t ready for the regular Bird Show yet.

The snowy owl, Oz (as in “The Blizzard of Oz!” Dave enthusiastically explained), has been with the Zoo for about a year and a half, but every bird goes at his own pace and he’s not yet ready for the Show. But Oz performed beautifully, flying between the two perches several times. High-fives were exchanged – it may not seem like much, but this was a huge step in Oz’s training.

Lastly, Tempest the bald eagle was brought out and everyone had the chance to take their picture with her. Tempest occasionally told everyone that it is HER theater with her scream, but she’s posed nicely for pictures. For more information on becoming a Friend of the Zoo, go to http://www.mnzoo.org/donate/donorCircle_friends.asp.

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If you watch them closely, you may see them start changing colors! Cuttlefish can adjust their color and texture to mimic their surroundings and act as camouflage, attract a mate or send messages to others.

The Minnesota Zoo has exhibited Cephalopods (meaning octopus, squid, cuttlefish, and nautiluses) for several years. Octopus and cuttlefish are the easiest to acquire and maintain in captivity. Europeans even keep cuttlefish as personal pets!

The cuttlefish are enjoying their new home and can be seen towards the bottom of the tank near Shark Reef in Discovery Bay (they spend a lot of time on the floor, swimming mostly when they are hungry or meet another cuttlefish).

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We don't want any of the bears to feel slighted by sharing their birthday with the others, so we will celebrate one bear's birthday on each day of this holiday weekend. Haines' is on Saturday, Kenai on Sunday and Sadie on Monday. The party will start each morning at the bear exhibit of Russia's Grizzly Coast at 9:45 a.m. You will want to make sure you get there on time! What 4 year old wants to wait for their party to start? The cakes wont last long.

What's in a Bear's Birthday Cake?
The bear birthday cakes will be made of dog food soaked in apple juice, with tasty tidbits of apples and carrots in it with some shredded wheat frosting. While "baking" the cakes like any good bakers, the keepers will make sure they oil the pan with salmon oil to have those cakes slide right out.

Yum Yum....bet you wish you could have a piece!

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The baby's mother, Tia, continues to show little interest in her. Animal care staff is putting Tia and the baby together twice a day for 30 minutes in hopes that the mother will start to show some interest. They cannot be left together during the day because the baby needs an external heat source to maintain her body temperature (which mom would usually provide through body warmth), however, the baby is housed directly next to her parents so they can see each other all day long.

Zoo staff hopes that as the infant becomes more mobile, her and Tia will begin to interact.

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Unfortunately the Zoo cannot accept used trees (due to ornament hooks and tinsel concerns). But you can enrich the birds and squirrels in your own backyard by redecorating your tree with strings of popcorn or pine cones rolled in peanut butter and seeds. The animals will appreciate the sanctuary from the cold winter weather and enjoy the treats!

What requests do tigers, monkeys and bears put in their letters to Santa? The animals, of course, have been good all year! Their gifts come from helpers like you, staff, and volunteers.

Their list is a tongue-twister but the shopping is easy on Amazon.com. You'll find things like silicone baking molds to make frozen fish and fruitcicles for the bears. There are also balls with fun names like "Run-About Balls" for chinchillas and "Safari Balls" for tigers. The KAYTEE Bird Show stars asked for new "Comfy Perches" and toys. The primates hope to find "Kongs," "Nobbly Wobblys" and "Tornadoes" in their stockings. And on almost every list are essential oils and extracts like banana (a favorite of the tapir).

The animals usually play with their "toys" in their off-exhibit spaces. But as a thank you to our members and all of those who purchased gifts for the animals, the keepers will be putting some of the toys on exhibit Monday, February 1, 2010.

It’s not too late to grant a wish. Use this link to see what's on the animals’ enrichment wish list and who knows you just might see it in action in February.

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They have adjusted to the new holding area and are doing well. It took them about three days before they started singing, which signifies they are feeling comfortable in their new home (or to them - territory). This is good news for the gibbons, but not such good news for the keeper staff trying to work right next door! In the wild a gibbon's call can be heard over two miles away, so imagine being in a small office trying to talk on the phone with a gibbon singing 15 feet away!

The keeper staff is continuing to work on preparations for the birth both in helping them be successful parents and in the event the offspring has to be hand-raised.

The Tropics staff hopes you have a wonderful holiday and please stay tuned for updates as we get closer to the due date.

Please stay tuned for further updates as we get closer to the due date!

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Some of you may remember our male gibbon, “Henry,” born in 2004. Henry was the first offspring of our adult pair, but unfortunately they did not provide adequate care for him. We made several attempts to reintroduce him back to the adult pair, but were unsuccessful. The keepers and veterinary staff hand-raised him until he was able to be sent to another zoo to be paired up with a surrogate mother, “Muffy,” who could teach him how to behave and interact as a gibbon.

We were able to confirm the current pregnancy through hormone analysis in September. Since that time, the animal care staff has been working very hard preparing for the birth. Our gibbon keepers have been doing maternal training with both Tia and Bailey to help prepare them for the offspring. They have also been getting materials and supplies ready in the event that they need to assist with the rearing of this offspring as well.

We are very hopeful that Tia and Bailey will be successful raising the offspring on their own this time, but the animal care staff is preparing for all scenarios. It is our hope that the gibbons will be back on exhibit with their offspring by late January or early February, but it is possible they will be off exhibit for much longer.

Please stay tuned for further updates as we get closer to the due date!

Fun fact: Gibbons are not monkeys, they’re actually small apes.

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Our youngest adult female is 18 years old, so it was decided to import some additional females as well as males. We worked with the Japan Zoo Association (JAZA) to acquire zoo (captive) raised macaques, that would be new genetic founders (new lineage) to the AZA population.

So why did it take over two years? The main answer is permits and government processes. As Japanese Macaques are a U.S. listed Threatened Species and a CITES appendix II species, permits were needed by both Japan and the U.S. for approval of the permit. And, as they are primates, they are also required to go through a CDC quarantine upon their arrival in the states.

After two very long years of effort, on November 4, 2009, a Minnesota Zoo staff person flew to Japan to assist with the transport and they were put on a plane to Chicago. The monkeys had a very long day of being on a 16 hour plane ride from Tokyo to Chicago and then a 5 hour drive to CDC quarantine.

The macaques will be in CDC quarantine for 30 days and then will be transferred to the Minnesota Zoo for an additional quarantine period before being introduced to our troop of 16 animals. The zoo quarantines all animals entering our collection to screen for diseases such as Tuberculosis and other potentially harmful diseases.

The macaques are doing well in CDC quarantine with just a few minor issues and they will be transferred to the Minnesota Zoo in early December.

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Allie, 22, arrived at the Minnesota Zoo in January 2008 and is on loan from the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. Father-to-be “Semo” has been at the Zoo since 1991, and at age 45, is thought to be one of the oldest male dolphins in human care. “We just completed the ultrasound and are excited that the calf is growing and has a strong heartbeat,” said Marine Mammal Supervisor
Diane Fusco. “We are cautiously optimistic that everything will go smoothly.”

Allie’s last calf was born deceased in March 2009 from complications during labor. Dolphin calves face a perilous first year: only 70% survive their first 30 days. As they do with all pregnancies, the Zoo’s marine mammal staff and veterinarians will carefully monitor the health of Allie and her unborn calf during the pregnancy. Besides Allie & Semo, the Minnesota Zoo is home to dolphins “April,” 42 and “Spree,” 7. The Zoo is also temporarily housing three dolphins from the Brookfield Zoo while their oceanarium is being renovated.

The most familiar of the 37 species of dolphins, adult Atlantic bottlenose dolphins range in length from 8 to 12 feet and weigh between 400 and 600 pounds. Their prominent rostrums or beaks account for the name “bottlenose.” They inhabit warm and temperate seas worldwide and may also enter harbor bays, lagoons, estuaries and river mouths.

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