Volunteer Updates & Opportunities
Zoo Updates
Festival of Lights Overview:
The 42nd annual Festival of Lights starts next week! Below is a quick overview about what you can expect this year:
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2024 Plant Trials in the News:
Greenhouse GROWER recently ran a story about what stood out in our 2024 Plant Trials…
Climate in our area was variable throughout the summer. July was for the most part normal for temperatures and precipitation; however, August and September were very irregular. In August, the climate was very dry and hot, with high temperatures consistently above average (87.2°F) and 14 total days with temps above 90. At the end of the month, we experienced a seven consecutive day prolonged stretch of 90+ degrees, the longest streak since 2012. It was abnormally dry, with only 1 inch of rain in August (Cincinnati normally see’s 3+ inches of rain). Read the rest of the article and view the slideshow here: See What Stood Out at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden 2024 Plant Trials
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Zoo Key Decommission:
After careful consideration and numerous attempts at repair, we have come to the hard choice of removing Zoo Keys from the Cincinnati Zoo. Over the winter the Boxes will come down as time allows. Signage will be going up to mark the remaining boxes as “Out of Order” until they can be removed.
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Zoo Academy News:
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Do you know any High School Students interested in Zoo Careers:
Learn about Zoo Careers! The session will be led by an education staff member & will discuss the career journeys of 4 different Zoo professionals. Open to High School students. November 18 10am-11am, via Google Meet. Sign up: https://ow.ly/PpcR50U5tSr
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ZooTales:
Explore how the Cincinnati Zoo is leading the charge in conservation and sustainability! In this podcast, we dive into the zoo’s groundbreaking projects that aim to protect wildlife, reduce waste, and create a greener future. https://ow.ly/A1xi50U6bAQ
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Travel with the Zoo:
TRIP HIGHLIGHTS:
- Ireland and Northern Ireland – September 11th – 20th, 2025
- Pre-tour Dublin includes Excursion: Wicklow – The Garden of Ireland & Powerscourt Estate Gardens
- 9/13 – Cobh to visit Blarney Castle & Gardens
- Excursion option to Ballymaloe Cookery School for guided tour of Herb Garden
- 9/14 – Garnish Island – a tranquil island garden located in the sheltered harbour of Glengarriff in Bantry Bay – tour of Bantry House & Gardens
- 9/16 – Galway Ireland – visit Kylemore Abbey & Victorian Walled Garden
- 9/19 Belfast – Queens Victoria University Botanic Gardens and the Ulster museum
Click Here to Learn More
The Zoo Gift Shop has new Holiday Items:
The 2024 Fiona ornament is here! Check it out as well as all our new holiday items – https://ow.ly/emyi50U4vC9
Plant & Animal Updates
Check Out the Animal Flexibility Zone:
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Zuko
Zuko looking picture perfect! Made for a life in the trees, the red panda travels through the canopy with ease. Not only is the panda a great climber, it is also an amazing jumper, clearing distances up to five feet.
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Maple’s Milestone
Maple meets big sister Maizy! Everything went really well! Maple is very interested in Maizy but Maizy didn’t pay much attention to her little sister! She will be introduced to dad Hobbes in the near future!
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Goat Knowledge
Goats have horizontal rectangular pupils, which gives them a field of vision from 320-340 degrees. This enables them to spot predators while they are foraging. Slit pupils also give them an advantage in low-light situations
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Cheetah Spots
A cheetah’s spots cover nearly its entire body and may serve as camouflage by offsetting shadows in the gray-hued grasses they inhabit. Camouflage is not only essential for stalking prey but also for protecting cheetah cubs from predators.
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November 12th Birthday
Happy 3rd Birthday to Frunobulax the Komodo dragon.
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She’s a Hunter
Lying in wait. Female lions are the pride’s primary hunters. They work together to prey upon large animals of the open grasslands. Teamwork is important because many animals they prey upon are faster than lions.
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Can You Find them all:
There are more birds in this photo than you might think. Can you count all 6? You have to look closely.
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November 4th Birthday
Happy sweet 16th Birthday to okapi supermom, Kuvua!
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Zoey
A giraffe’s heart weighs around 25 pounds. Their heart has a thicker muscle on the left side than other mammals so it can generate enough force to fight gravity.
Conservation Corner
BTEH Milestone:
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Great Lakes Piping Plover:
More than 40 different organizations, including the Cincinnati Zoo, joined in the effort to save the endangered Great Lakes Piping Plover. This summer had 81 unique pairs, 86 nests in the wild & a record 122 fledged wild chicks! https://cincinnatizoo.org/great-lakes-piping-plover-recovery-project/
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Beware:
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T’Noya – Conservation Fellow
Through the Coexistence Impact Fellowship Program, the Zoo provides opportunities that empower conservationists! Meet T’Noya T, a conservationist from The Bahamas. Her connection to the ocean inspired her lifelong commitment to protecting the environment https://ow.ly/qyY450TH8Bj
Animal Excellence
Quarterly, each of the 14 animal care teams identifies 2-3 welfare priorities that they plan to work on over the 3-month period. These can be big or small, but they must be measurable, and they must be reasonably achievable without significant help from outside department. At the end of the 3 months, we review this list of priorities, celebrate the ones we achieved and discuss those that weren’t achieved yet.
Below are some of our teams’ successes in Animal Excellence from July-September 2024.
Jungle Trails
… And they were roommates! Dash, a howler monkey, and Desmond, a tamarin monkey, now cohabitate in the Jungle Trails East building. The team is supporting this pairs’ social confidence with each other, which helps prepare them for future mixed-species habitat goals with saki monkeys. This effort also reduces the number of solo-housed primates in the area!
Primate Center
The Bachelor Boys gorilla troop continues to adjust well to Cincinnati life! Now that they are more settled, the team has prioritized increasing their shifting flexibility for more varied and engaging days. After pivoting some shifting plans and practicing frequently, the boys reliably participate in midday habitat rotations. This offers a more dynamic experience for them, as well as supports increased keeper time for behind-the-scenes training goals.
Africa
Our intern Sydney made a mobile elevated platform for the meerkats. Now they have a new vantage point, and it can be moved regularly. We see them using it daily!
Bird House
Our goal this quarter was to safely remove and return all birds to Australasia, Montane, Grasslands, and Hornbill for a big skylight installation.
Catching birds out of big aviaries is a huge feat. It takes time, patience, and a lot of skill to get it done safely. Birds are all back home and loving their new sunlight!
Reptile
This project would essentially double the size of the Musk Turtle display by annexing space occupied by an adjacent, small aquatic tank. We expect the bulk of this work to be completed by Reptile staff. This larger display will allow for us to create a more optimal space for the Musk Turtle.
The Bird Show rats bring a lot of joy to visitors during the show and on programs and lived together as one big social group. As the rats age they quickly noticed that they were showing some interesting social dynamic changes. They worked to identify individuals who were showing aggression and also some challenges using the same space. The team set up two homes and worked to get them set into two social groups while allowing them to still exercise and do shows together as a group.
Animal Ambassador Team
Keepers have been rotating box turtles in a new habitat in our Discovery Forest. There have been numerous improvements to the box turtles in their primary enclosures but this space allows for more space to explore, some natural lighting and a great opportunity for our visitors to see them on habitat. This new space is a great way to rotate different turtles each day and provide novel opportunities.
North America
Caring for our animals sometimes takes a village, and in this case, it took the cooperation and support of the North American team, maintenance team, horticulture team, Swing keeper team, and our wonderful browse coordinator, Patrick, to identify, harvest, and haul 5 large new logs from Bowyer Farm, to the zoo, and into the North American river otter habitat. The addition of this new perching increased habitat complexity for the otters and provided more naturalistic anchor points for keepers to attach enrichment items. Since being installed, the otters have excavated a new hollow underneath one of the logs and regularly climb the others for a higher vantage point.