Tag: wildlife
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A Cheetah’s Favorite Spots
Yesterday I participated in an animal behavioral study. Specifically, we were keeping track of how often during the day the zoo’s two cheetahs were visible to the public. Have you ever had to study animal behavior? It makes for a long day. A long day during which my view was mostly this: Nice, empty exhibit,…
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Learn a new animal day! Siamang edition.
I’m going to give you a leg up on the average zoo visitor today and teach you about this animal: Thoughts? Well, on a typical day while cleaning/feeding around this animal, I hear the following on a regular basis: “Look at the monkey!” “I love it when that howler monkey yells!” “(Name of small child),…
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Praying Mantis with a Death Wish
Today I had one of those moments where I am sure (and I mean, really REALLY sure) that I looked like an idiot. How do I know this? Because there were lots of witnesses and the thing I was giving my full attention was very small. Let me explain: Walking into the store tonight to…
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Why I love manatees
Who has noticed my little button over on the right that says “I love manatees” yet? Anyone? I do love manatees. I saw my first manatees (that I remember) when I was nine and we moved to Florida. They look like big gray pillows with tails just floating beneath the surface of the green water,…
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The Wildlife is Winning!
But not for long… I made a nasty discovery today. Well, two of them. The first was that I went to check my plants, as I do every morning, and one of my container gardens now contains a large number of round, bright yellow mushrooms. They’re the kind that seem to grow from a sort…
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The Tail-end of Whale Season
While my company was here visiting, we were out at the beach whale watching and noticed a whale breaching repeatedly. This happens sometimes, and if you sit there long enough there’s a decent chance you’ll see a breach. What we didn’t expect was this: The colloquial name for this is a “heat run,” though it…
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Whale Census
This weekend was the February Whale Count. Since we had a tsunami the weekend before, it was postponed. My day consisted of getting up around 5am, getting ready (including packing a bag with snacks, water, sun screen, sunglasses, a hat, etc) and heading out before sunrise to the Lanai Lookout, which is a spot on…
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Thoughts on Captive Carnivores
I want to start by saying I have been to SeaWorld twice in my life, once as a child and once as an adult (last spring). I have seen the show and the environment but am by no means an expert on whale behavior so please keep that in mind. That being said, for years…
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Maui Whale Tails
On Saturday, J and I flew to Maui to go whale watching. This sounds like a little bit crazy, especially since we didn’t spend the night, but Hawaiian Air offers reasonable prices for island hopping and it would’ve been expensive to stay somewhere on Maui, as it’s got a lot of resorts and things. Anyway,…
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Rainy Zoosday
Today it is raining. Not the usual light drizzle for thirty minutes and then gone sort of rain, but the it’s going to pour all day long whether you like it or not sort of rain. This kind of rain is the kind that’s usually associated with a certain Irishman, whom I have yet to…
Joanna Volavka 