Frist Friday Update – August Edition 8/5/2022

Posted on By Amber Suttmiller

First Friday Update – August Edition

Zoo Updates:

Hippo News

Our Baby Hippo has Arrived!  We were over the moon to welcome the newest member of our Bloat around 10:00pm on Wednesday August 3rd!  A Huge shout out to the AMAZING ZVO team for all their logged hours on Birth Watch and to the WONDERFUL Africa Team for all their hard work and dedication to our famous hippos!
Click Here for the Zoo’s Press Release

Click Here for a Fun Article from our Keeper Mom’s Perspective

Check out these precious little ear wiggles!

The Zoo is taking Baby Hippo Name suggestions!  Do you have an idea for the perfect Hippo name??  

Click Here to Submit your Ideas

*****

Morticia the Corpse Flower

4522 Visitors came to see the Corpse Flower that bloomed on July 23rd.  The Zoo received rave reviews from visitors who waited up to 3 hours and 45 minutes for a glimpse of this rare bloom paired with a stinky sniff!  A HUGE Shoutout to the Volunteers who helped to make the visitor experience memorable – You were the Heroes of the Weekend!
Click Here for a Timelapse Video of the 2.5 Hour line on Saturday!
Check out just a hand full of reviews that came in after the event from visitors:
  • “I Love our Zoo and everyone who works/volunteers to make it a special place”
  • “The staff and volunteers were awesome yesterday!  They were cheerful all the way to the end and all the people in line were great!”
  • “We had fun in line the staff and volunteers were great!”
  • “The Volunteers and staff were so sweet to me during my visit”

If you just can’t get enough of the Corpse Flower, check out the article below:
Click Here to Learn More

*****

Learning is Cool

On July 26th FC Cincinnati Foundation honored kids who made “A” Honor Roll at the Cincinnati Zoo with the help of some FCCincinnati players.  A Big Congratulations to all of the students!
Click Here to Read More

*****

Zoo-opoly

Have you seen the new gift available in the Zoo Shop!  It looks like the Perfect Christmas Gift to me!

*****

National Zookeeper Week

To show our appreciation for the work these dedicated animal care professionals do every day to keep the animals at the Cincinnati Zoo happy and healthy, employees from other departments participated in a “Take My Task” during Zookeeper Week! The keepers were able to point and supervise while team members from finance, education, HR, and PR sweep, mop, and chop!  Even your favorite Volunteer Coordinator got in on the fun and cleaned out the Flamingo Pool…my boots may never smell the same but my heart was full!  A special thanks to the team for letting me step in and do some dirty work…I hope they didn’t have to clean up after me too much!

We all know that the Zookeeper’s here at the Zoo are Heroes!  The article below shows what it is like to care for cheetahs at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.
Click Here for the Article

*****

National Chili Day

July 28th was National Chili Day and CZBG had a really special celebration in honor of the Cincinnati Holiday.  Thanks to your support, funds raised through the Zoo helped cheetah protection dog Chili arrive in his new home to protect his herd! We’re honored to name him & know he’ll do a great job protecting his herd & saving endangered cheetahs by preventing conflict!  Chili is one of the many Anatolian shepherd dogs placed with farmers in cheetah range in South Africa by our long-term partners at Cheetah Outreach!

*****

Community Makeover

The Cincinnati Zoo was proud to partner with the Red’s Community Fund for the 13th year of the Community Makeover on August 4th.  SIX different locations in Lincoln Heights were completely Transformed!
Click Here to Read More

*****

ZooTales

The Zoo’s Instagram followers submitted questions and Jenna answers them in this new episode of Cincinnati Zoo Tales with her friend and coworker, Angela!
Click Here to Listen

 Just For Fun:

August is Asian Elephant Awareness Month

Happy Asian Elephant Awareness Month!! Asian elephants are larger than life with a personality to match! As land animals go, they are 2nd only to African elephants in size.

*****

Arctic Sea Ice Day

July 15th is Arctic Sea Ice Day!  When Arctic waters are cold enough, the top layer freezes into a special type of ice called “sea ice.” Sea ice is to the ocean as soil is to a forest: it supports the entire Arctic food chain.  CZBG is proud to partner with Polar Bears International as an Arctic Ambassador Center to help save the Arctic ecosystem by reducing carbon emissions.. Click Here to learn More

*****

CZBG Mornings

*****

World Snake Day

July 16th was World Snake Day!  There are more than 3000 snake species! Most lay eggs but some like red tailed & emerald tree boas have live births. Snakes are one of the most misunderstood animals, but they play an important role in the wild including keeping rodent populations in check.

*****

Black Footed Cat

The black-footed cat is Africa’s smallest cat species & most deadly! They capture more prey in a single night than a leopard does in 6 months!  They have an impressive predation success rate of 60% (lions are only 20%-25%)

*****

Tawny Frogmouth

*****

Zoo Tattoos

You may or may not know that there are works of art monitoring some of our favorite Zoo animals under the polos of Zoo Staff all around the zoo.  Check out this fun article to take a peek and learn more.

http://blog.cincinnatizoo.org/2022/07/27/tattoos-of-the-zoo/

*****

Frankie

*****

World Tiger Day

July 29th we celebrated World Tiger Day!  We have two new tigers at the Cincinnati Zoo. A female, Jin and a male, Zero. They are easy to tell apart because Zero has a lot more fur around his face.

Other than females with their young, tigers are solitary and come together only to mate. Territories must be large to provide enough prey for a tiger to eat. A tiger may travel up to 20 miles a night in search of prey. As more and more forests disappear, tigers struggle to maintain a territory with sufficient prey. The Cincinnati Zoo partners with other zoos on a Tiger Species Survival Plan (SSP). In addition to maintaining a healthy tiger population in zoos, the Tiger SSP has launched a Tiger Conservation Campaign to raise awareness and funds for wild tiger conservation. Given enough space, prey, and protection, tigers can survive.

 *****

Eye Exam Month

August is Eye Exam Month so Pam is here to remind you to regularly get your vision checked. The ostrich has the largest eyes of any land animal. Their eye is 2 inches in diameter and is five times bigger than the human eye. The award for the largest eye in the animal kingdom goes to the colossal squid whose eye is about the size of a soccer ball!

 

Plant & Animal Updates:

 Skunk Ambassadors

Our Baby Skunks, called kits, have been behind the scenes learning how to be the best ambassadors they can be!  I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see them!

*****

Rozi & Daisy Update

Daisy just did a DNA test and it turns out she’s 100% a mutt!

Rozi & Daisy are exploring outside! This is important to the training for Rozi to become an ambassador cheetah. There is not a schedule for them to be out in the yard regularly since we’re giving them all the time they need to decide how long & when they want to be out there.  Check out this photo after they both accidentally jumped into the pond.

*****

Secrets in Rhino DNA

https://cincinnatizoo.org/news-releases/zoo-and-museum-center-unlocking-secrets-found-in-rhino-dna/

Birthdays

Moe

July 15th was Moe’s 23rd Birthday!  We are patiently waiting for him to get back to the Discovery Forest so we can wish him a Happy Belated birthday!  Until then, enjoy this wonderful video of Moe and Lightning hanging together behind the scenes!

*****

Imani

July 17th was Imani’s 11th Birthday!

*****

Amali

July 23rd was Amali’s 2nd Birthday! Bonobos, as primates, have a longer adolescent period than other mammals. This helps individuals learn how to be a successful adult. DYK: they eat over 100 species of plants? It takes a lot of time to learn to tell plants apart & what’s safe to consume

*****

New Flamingo Chick

The first flamingo chick of the year has hatched! This little one hatched on July 25. Flamingo chicks are white and grey when they hatch. They turn pink when they are about 2 years old.

*****

Edie

July 27th was  Edie’s 2nd Birthday!  I hope the reptile keepers had a big SSSSSurpriSSSe for her!

Conservation News:

Monarch Butterflies

Our very own Dr. Lily Maynard took to the radio to talk about Monarch Butterflies and their recent addition to the endangered species list.
Click Here to Listen
Lily also wrote a wonderful article so we can all find ways to do our part for Monarch Butterflies!

http://blog.cincinnatizoo.org/2022/07/29/monarch-monitoring-blitz/

Opportunities:

Volunteer at Zoofari

Zoofari is back in SEVEN WEEKS on Friday, September 23rd, 2022 – Did you SAVE THE DATE?  Now is the time to sign up to Volunteer and attend the WILDEST event in Town!
The theme for Zoofari this year is Evening in the Everglades, and we are celebrating Thane’s 45th Anniversary at the Zoo!  We’re so excited about Zoofari Through the Zoo (again) and deeply appreciate the CZBG Volunteer Team stepping up to make this the best Zoofari yet! This annual fundraiser would not be possible without the support of volunteers, and WE NEED YOU to help make it a huge success!  There is also an option to bring a spouse/partner/friend to join in on the fun and Volunteer with you side by side.  We hope to see you there! 
If you are interested in Volunteering at Zoofari, make sure to click on the link below: 

  Click Here to Sign Up

******

Dublin

Have you heard about the latest travel opportunity with the Zoo?  Click the Link below to learn more.
2023 CZBG Gardens of Dublin with Steve Foltz

*****

Aviculture Volunteers – Free Flight Aviary and WOW Bird Experience

    We still are accepting Volunteers for the Free Flight Aviary and the WOW Bird Experience.  If you have any interest in Volunteering in either area, please contact me for additional information.

*****

Native Plant Sale

 

The 2022 Native Plant Sale dates are here! Located at the Zoo’s Bowyer Farm (2210 Mason Montgomery Road, Lebanon, OH), these sales offer a wide selection of reasonably priced, well-grown, hard to find, and ecologically important native plants.
Native plants, including ones found throughout the Bowyer Farm ecosystem, will be for sale. The preferred payment for all sales is credit card.
Dates:  August 13, September 10, September 24, October 8

Contact Information:

Brittany Garera-Stapleton
Volunteer Relations Coordinator
(513)559-7768
[email protected]