Doug’s 5/12 Volunteer Educator Update

Posted on By Sabrina Calhoun

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Volunteer Educator Update 5/12/2018

In this Weeks Update:

  • Volunteer Educator Program Update
  • Animal Updates
  • Press Releases & Marketing

Volunteer Educator Program Update

Schedule Changes:
If you have schedule changes, please notify your Day Leaders that you either won’t be coming in, if you are already scheduled, or if you want to add a date to your schedule. That way we can be organized at roll call.

Zone attendance for period 4/28-5/11

  • Gorilla 5883
  • Elephant 7793
  • Wings 3104
  • Manatee 7096
  • Reptile 4024
  • This period: 27,900

Year to Date 67,097

Sign up for June!

Day Leaders are building the June schedule so sign up on MVP now! Hope to have the schedule posted by next week on the Volunteer Educator Resource Site.

Summer Schedules
These will go into the curriculum binders on Saturday 5/26

Manatees are gaining weight

I wanted to share an update on the weights of our male Florida Manatees. As per the plan Pippen, Matthew and Miles were weighed last Thursday, approximately 7 weeks after their last weighing (March 22nd).

The results were:

Pippen has gained 18 lbs, going from 227 lbs to 245 lbs

Matthew has gained 43 lbs, going from 362 lbs to 405 lbs

Miles has gained 54 lbs, going from 355 to 409 lbs

The weight gain by Matthew and Miles is significant since the goal is for them to make weight (600 lbs or more) by next fall to facilitate their release in early 2020.

Animal Updates

ATFs:

  • 75.75.0 American Burying Beetles to Fernald Preserve 6/12/18
  • 20.20.0 American Burying Beetles from Nebraska June 2018
  • 75.75.0 American Burying Beetles to Fernald Preserve 6/19/18
  • 10.10.0 American Burying Beetles to the Wilds June 2018.
  • 0.1 Domestic Housecat to Xan Van Vactor 5/15/18
  • 1.1 Northern White Face Owl to Turtle Back Zoo Summer 2018

Minutes:

  • Strategic plan to be reviewed in the next month or two. Overnight study on elephants beginning soon.
  • Will need to move some of the birds in the birdhouse out of their enclosures to install new lights. Hopefully in next couple of weeks.
  • 2 weeks out from staying open until 6.
  • June 11 Marvin Lewis night. August 3 the park will stay open later.
  • Discussed late nights in July on Tuesdays. Working on moving it forward.
  • Congratulations to the Zoo! The Levy passed with 78% approval! Thank you everyone for all of your help!
  • Playing with situations/scenarios on how to get gorillas Mshindi and Chewie into a group setting.
  • ABC is coming to do a story on our Manatee program and hopefully a release later down the road.
  • Going to weigh the boy manatees tomorrow, and adjust diets as needed.

Africa:

  • Walter warthog dug himself a wallow close to the moat that has created a leak. A new hose spigot and additional soil will be added to a different part of the yard where a wallow would be more ideal.
  • Way to go Wendy Rice for your awesome lion training! Steve Martin was very impressed with the lion’s and Wendy’s program.

Elephant:

  • New feeders and pulleys installed. Remote controls should be here in the next couple weeks.

Rhino Reserve (Veldt):

  • All rhinos now have overnight access. We are considering starting some overnight observation utilizing the new cameras in the black rhino yard.
  • HUGE props to Randy and the Veldt team for accomplishing a ton of yard improvements in one day! Both black rhino yards and zebra yard have new grading and substrate and look awesome.

Night Hunters:

  • New female fennec fox has cleared quarantine on 5/4/18 and is now in the retreat area of the fennec fox exhibit of Nighthunters with visual access to her new intended mate. Current plan is to introduce her to the male with full access to the exhibit and retreat area this week.
  • White tiger, “Popsy” has been going into the outdoor exhibit more often now that weather conditions have been warming.
  • New ring-tailed cat is due in from North Carolina Zoo on Wednesday, 5/9/18. She will be an exhibit animal replacing our aged Margay.
  • Steel workers are currently fabricating and installing the new tiger squeeze cage in the renovated tiger runway area.
  • The wall in snow leopard holding stall that had numerous rust stains on it has been covered and we can now start using that stall again without it being a potential USDA issue.
  • The birthing box frame has been placed into one of the snow leopard holding stalls allowing the animals to get used to it prior to any potential birth.

Wildlife Canyon:

  • Male panda cub, “Micu” had his pre-shipment physical completed as he will be sent to Fargo, ND. In the next week or two (weather permitting).
  • Both emus are currently exhibited together in what was most recently the warthog exhibit in Wildlife Canyon.

World of the Insect:

  • Open Attendant Position – Working to fill the open position (Monday/Tuesday), hoping to interview leading candidate this week. Also working to mitigate the impact this opening has on access to the Butterfly Aviary.

Manatee Springs:

  • White Ibis – Ibis were introduced to the former alien species display area Friday morning but are still very shy and have not eaten very much. Will continue to assess the situation and manage accordingly.

Wings of the World:

  • Greater Flamingo – First egg of the season discovered yesterday. Area still needs some work to be prepped for nesting season.
  • Free-flight Aviary – Kea no longer accessing this space so that it can be prepped for other birds. Staff to hang vines next Monday (May 14). Multiple maintenance issues being addressed.
  • Violet-backed Starling – 0.1 added to the Grasslands display.

Bird Encounter:

  • Dan Blair from Natural Encounters is helping with training and getting things going.
  • Rats out of quarantine and are adjusting to their new home.
  • 4 rats got spayed Monday 5/7. 4 more to be spayed soon. This is to prevent tumors later in life.
  • Bird physicals went well.

Cat Ambassador Program:

  • Encounters have been going well now that the weather is more consistent.
  • Trainer Colleen made a program for the Zoo Inside Scoop Series for Education Department.
  • Working on script writing and training for the summer Cheetah Encounter.

Interpretive:

  • Children’s Zoo/GB/AAC/Africa Interp:
    • 2 chickens from the group housed in the Children’s Zoo will be going to the bird show for the season.
    • CZ has committed to 2 evening barnyard shows for members night on 5/19.
    • CZ animals will be in attendance at the opera on the 16th.
    • Melanie Evans is very excited about helping the Turtle Survival Alliance in Madagascar. She will be gone for at least 2 weeks mid-May.
    • The runner ducks on exhibit at AAC have been moved to Africa Interp outdoor enclosure for the season.
    • “Salvador” tamandua is out of quarantine and housed at AAC. He is very active and will be a wonderful ambassador animal!
    • Interpretive team did interactive demonstrations on the barnyard stage on Sunday with wallabies and “Watson” the coati. These demos were crowded and guests LOVED the opportunity to meet these little-seen animals up close!

Primate:

  • Introductions between orangutans Henry and Alex going better than the previous attempt last year. The new overhead transfer chute is working great to give them maneuvering space and eliminating dead ends. Still tenuous at this time. Henry is a tricky guy. Team is workshopping options each day as we see behaviors. There is an opportunity for a successful intro at this time but certainly not a given.
  • Several dangling maintenance items are done in several areas and we will now be able to get seasonal species into their habitats very soon. Including ring-tailed lemurs and sakis. Waiting for a little more work on Mueller gibbon island.

Reptile:

  • Jenna Lamping started 5/7 as a new full-time reptile keeper.
  • New dart frog exhibit is a big hit with the guests!
  • Spitting cobra eggs seem to be very popular, even though they don’t do anything…

CREW:

  • IACUC protocol #18-146, Effects of Laser and Swimming Treatments on Bumblefoot (Pododermatitis) of Varying Severity in Little Blue Penguins (Eudyptula minor), has been approved.

Press Releases & Marketing – 5/9/18 

Social Highlights:

Top Tweet: Reuters (Fiona & Bibi) (20 million)

Top Facebook: NTD (Fiona & Bibi) (28 million)

Important Links to MVP and Zoo Educator Resource Site

MyVolunteerPage.com

Zoo Educator Resources – The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

http://cincinnatizoo.org/zoo-educator-resources/volunteer-educators/

Doug Feist
Volunteer Education Program Manager
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
513.559.7750
[email protected]