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stephbgWith coffee assist I managed a four hour work session this morning. With the cooler weather and the need for exercise I also went to the zoo for about an hour and a half. I think I earned my emergency face-down starfish nap this afternoon. Life is looking up :-)
Zoo staff
The zoo was positively crawling with zoo staff, trainees, guides, and docents. Looks like the breeding program is going well.
Bamboo forrest
I found myself in a forrest of giant grass, cut off from the rest of the world. The only sounds were those of the wood: the groan and squeal and clatter of tree-like stems; the swish of new growth in the heights above. The aching bones of giants; the tortured soul of a grand old sailing vessel.
Otters
The new otter habitat is huge, and provides more opportunities for otters to hide than for humans to watch them. This is no doubt the plan since the zoo has recently acquired a couple of new boys to help make new otters. The enclosure is packed to the brim with interesting twisty bits of wood and tumbled boulders, and a much larger pool and waterfall.
Oh yes, I saw an otter.
Monkeys and rats
I managed to be in the vicinity of the tiny monkeys during an open enclosure session, so I got to go through the airlock and and study some tamarind monkeys (?) from as little as 18 inches away. We whistled at each other. Possibly. We took turns where I whistled, and he/she squealed at the same pitch. I hope I wasn't saying "Stop repeating everything I say! It's really annoying!" in monkey.
I was the last in my group to leave (now there's a surprise) and I had the zoo docent to myself for a bit. When it emerged that I was not only a local but a Friend, she promptly dropped her tour guide face and propped herself on a rail to take a break.
The other guide must have observed this, because when I wandered to the unpopulated-by-monkeys bit of the enclosure, he suggested that I was likely to see rats back there. We chatted about the zoo's rat problem for a while, and I mentioned the research from Sydney where they're trying to displace feral rats with bush rats. I was told that the zoo tried to keep the rats out of the monkey cages by putting in guinea pigs, but it "didn't work out". Did the guinea pigs attack the monkeys? Did the monkeys prefer goldfish? I've got to find out the rest of that story!
I'm pretty sure I didn't get the usual tourist spiel :-)
Palm squirrels
It was a good day for extended palm squirrel viewing. Cute littlesnacks suckers.
Nocturnal house
A good day for spotting native mouse- and rat-like things in the dark. No toddlers, hoons, or noisy teens.
Rainforest aviary
Every time I'm at the zoo I find something new: today I found the well-disguised entrance to the walk-in Australian rainforest aviary. It was a lovely (and thus by definition deserted) little patch of tropical heaven, with a clean bench on which to veg. It smelled very interesting. Being a bit out of the way and not visually spectactular on the giant-mammals-that-go-rowr scale I look forward to future moments of peace in there.
There was other stuff, but you don't need to know that I failed to catch sight of the numbat, right? That Simmo was just sitting in the water? No. Good.
Zoo staff
The zoo was positively crawling with zoo staff, trainees, guides, and docents. Looks like the breeding program is going well.
Bamboo forrest
I found myself in a forrest of giant grass, cut off from the rest of the world. The only sounds were those of the wood: the groan and squeal and clatter of tree-like stems; the swish of new growth in the heights above. The aching bones of giants; the tortured soul of a grand old sailing vessel.
Otters
The new otter habitat is huge, and provides more opportunities for otters to hide than for humans to watch them. This is no doubt the plan since the zoo has recently acquired a couple of new boys to help make new otters. The enclosure is packed to the brim with interesting twisty bits of wood and tumbled boulders, and a much larger pool and waterfall.
Oh yes, I saw an otter.
Monkeys and rats
I managed to be in the vicinity of the tiny monkeys during an open enclosure session, so I got to go through the airlock and and study some tamarind monkeys (?) from as little as 18 inches away. We whistled at each other. Possibly. We took turns where I whistled, and he/she squealed at the same pitch. I hope I wasn't saying "Stop repeating everything I say! It's really annoying!" in monkey.
I was the last in my group to leave (now there's a surprise) and I had the zoo docent to myself for a bit. When it emerged that I was not only a local but a Friend, she promptly dropped her tour guide face and propped herself on a rail to take a break.
The other guide must have observed this, because when I wandered to the unpopulated-by-monkeys bit of the enclosure, he suggested that I was likely to see rats back there. We chatted about the zoo's rat problem for a while, and I mentioned the research from Sydney where they're trying to displace feral rats with bush rats. I was told that the zoo tried to keep the rats out of the monkey cages by putting in guinea pigs, but it "didn't work out". Did the guinea pigs attack the monkeys? Did the monkeys prefer goldfish? I've got to find out the rest of that story!
I'm pretty sure I didn't get the usual tourist spiel :-)
Palm squirrels
It was a good day for extended palm squirrel viewing. Cute little
Nocturnal house
A good day for spotting native mouse- and rat-like things in the dark. No toddlers, hoons, or noisy teens.
Rainforest aviary
Every time I'm at the zoo I find something new: today I found the well-disguised entrance to the walk-in Australian rainforest aviary. It was a lovely (and thus by definition deserted) little patch of tropical heaven, with a clean bench on which to veg. It smelled very interesting. Being a bit out of the way and not visually spectactular on the giant-mammals-that-go-rowr scale I look forward to future moments of peace in there.
There was other stuff, but you don't need to know that I failed to catch sight of the numbat, right? That Simmo was just sitting in the water? No. Good.
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no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 12:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 12:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 01:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-26 01:54 am (UTC)Mmm, palm sqwirls, such an unintended feature of Perth Zoo. =)
I really need to get better use of my Zoo Friend status, too.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-26 11:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-26 11:11 am (UTC)Guinea pigs - we were advised that they would oust the rats, so we bought a same sex pair. Didn't work. So we thought a breeding pair would be more territorial and kick the rats out. The inevitable happened. And happened. And happened. In the end we gave them all away to a good home.
When I was at Adelaide Zoo last year, the serval caught a poor blue-tongue lizard that made the mistake of taking a shortcut through the exhibit. The keepers were so proud.
Our keepers often find the remains of possums in the morning. Often in unexpected places, such as the Red Panda exhibit.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-26 12:35 pm (UTC)