Sorry, I didn't have my camera for this one. We got to feed the Nile Crocodiles on Friday. Not just prepare their raw chicken and fish, but actually throw it at them from a safe distance. So now I can say I actually did get to feed the animals at Disney World.
First, a little background info. There are 27 Nile Crocodiles at the Animal Kingdom. They're all males and they're all in the same exhibit on the Kilamanjaro Safari ride. The exhibit also contains some small fish that breed and that the crocs munch on every once in a while, along with the occasional vulture or local egret. There's a trick bridge that goes past the crocs' open exhibit that kinda rotates and makes you think you're going to fall into the croc pond when you're riding in the Safari truck. It's maybe six to eight feet above the surface of the water and there's a fence under the bridge so the crocs can only hang out on one side. It was from this bridge that we fed the crocs.
We started off around 7 AM with several large containers of about 320 pounds total of raw chicken halves and tilapia. When someone threw the first chicken, all the sleepy-looking crocs slinked into the water to grab what they could. I was hoping they would catch the fish in their mouths like a dog would catch a hot dog, but they usually just grabbed it after it landed. There was a lot less aggression in the exhibit than you'd expect with 27 male crocs, but the croc keeper said that's because there are no females for them to impress. You'd see two crocs going for the same chicken and whoever got there first was the winner; there just weren't any fights. (Once again, I'm sorry I don't have any pictures!)
The crocs liked the chicken better than the fish, of course. They have good taste. They even left some of the fish at the bottom of the shallow pool to look for more chicken, and you could see some of the small (living) fish feeding on it. After the feeding "frenzy" (it wasn't really a frenzy) was over, some of the more dominant crocs started looking around for the scraps that everyone left behind. The little fish swam away when the crocs came to grab the leftover tilapia from the shallows.
Crocs have great eyesight, and although they're not terribly agile, they are quite fast. Crocs have the same magnetic-sensory thing that sharks have in their heads that allows them to find their prey, but the awesome difference between crocs and sharks in this respect is that the croc has this sense all over his body--it's not restricted to his head. Crocs are also omnivores. Surprising, right? They've been known to eat fruit from low-hanging branches in the wild, and the crocs that we met love tomatoes. So this sort of made my morning. :)
I finally downloaded my pictures from the Lodge, so I'll post some of them soon, too!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
update one of two
far back row: Stephanie, me, Ben, Bethany, Annie, Dougmiddle row: Debbie, Katie, Liz, Stephanie, Nancy, Emily, Karen
front row: Shannon, Lisa, Gary
That's a picture of most of the people I work with. In guest clothing (as opposed to costumes). A few weeks ago, Gary (one of the two Nutrition Center managers) took us on a backstage tour of two scary rollercoasters at Hollywood Studios: the Hollywood Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Rollercoaster.
Our tour guide, T.J., has worked at the Tower of Terror since it opened. Apparently the ride tends to malfunction when he's not there. The Tower likes him. Anyway, he showed us the security area where they monitor the ride and make sure that no middle-aged women try to jump out of the elevator car before the scary drop part. He also explained the random drop sequence selection to us and how the Disney World Tower of Terror is different from the one at Disney Land California (the elevator car at Disney Land doesn't leave the shaft like ours does). He told us that Tower was the most expensive ride in Disney World... until Test Track's track had to be rebuilt three times. Tower also had the most computers of any ride in Disney World... until Test Track decided the solution to their problems was more computers! TJ also told us about some of the antiques in the lobby of the Tower (ToT).
The chairs set at this table date back to the 1500s(?). They're Portugese. The ToT Imagineers found them at an estate sale in California and bought them for super cheap because the descendants of the recently deceased owner didn't know what they had. Another cool thing about this photo is the attention to detail. The story behind the Hollywood Tower Hotel is that it was struck by lightning in the 1930s and was then transported into the Twilight Zone. Although the bellhops are destined to stay there forever, many of the hotel guests were able to make it out in time. You can see that a lady left her handkerchief and gloves on the table and that there's an imprint of her lipstick on the wine glass. The plates are antiques, too, but some of the smudges on them are from the pastries the couple was enjoying when the disaster occurred. The cobwebs were made from hot glue. The lampshade was made from an old 1920s flapper's dress. There's a company that specializes is making dead silk flowers.
MahJong (I think that's how it's spelled)--the Chinese? tile game--was gaining popularity in America at this time. The two men who were playing the game ran out of the hotel without cleaning up their game.
This couch is not a genuine antique, but it has its own cool story. When the Imagineers were looking for furniture for the Tower, they happened upon a furniture advertisement from the 1920s. They called the number on the flyer, and the company was miraculously still in business. Still more surprising was that the company still had the means to make the sofa that the Imagineers saw in the ad. So they bought two identical new-antique sofas... and that's one of them!
I didn't really hear the significance of the rest of these photos, but they're still cool to look at. :)
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Easter Excitement
Today started like any other day with the morning meeting at 5 AM in the Animal Nutrition Center break room. No terribly interesting announcements were made, but at the end of the meeting, the manager/proprietor, Debbie, announced that there were Easter eggs hidden all over the building for us to find. And there were. Free Easter candy for the interns! After we emptied the eggs we found in the hay room, Doug and I put random not-candy items inside them and re-hid them. Some of the treats we put into said eggs include the following: pen caps, tacks, paperclips (all courtesy of Doug), dried currants and apricots, grapes, and cooked sweet potato (my idea). We were just going to hide them empty, but we thought this would be more fun. Debbie will be re-filling the eggs with candies and re-hiding them on Tuesday night for the folks who work on Wednesday. What surprises they will find!
Today was different from any other day yet this semester. I went on deliveries with Doug. This job involves taking large bags of feed, bales of hay, and all of the diets to the barns. Which also means we get to see the animals.
The first barn we went to was the lion barn. We totally peeked at the lions, and they stared at us like lions do. They started roaring when we left. Awesome. Then we went to the tiger barn. One tiger was chilling and wasn't really interested in us, but another looked like it was about to pounce. Fortunately there were fences and electricity between the tigers and us. Or else they totally could have killed us.
The rest of the morning went well, and at some point we went to the hippo barn. All the hippos in this barn were males, and apparently they don't always get along that great when they're all squashed into the exhibit together. So one of them stayed behind, and Moe the hippo keeper invited me to meet him! Moe grabbed a heart of celery and led me over to the hippo's face (mind you, there are 12-inch concrete poles between us and the hippo). He raised his arm (this is a hand signal they use for training) and the hippo opened his mouth. Moe rubbed the hippo's tongue and threw two long stalks of celery into his mouth. The hippo's teeth were huge. Blunt, but huge. And apparently this hippo's teeth aren't as big as some of the other hippos' teeth. The hippo spat out the celery, but Moe patted his head anyway. I scratched his forehead and he flopped down on the ground. Moe rubbed the hippo's side and this lathery, sudsy whiteness showed up, as if the hippo had just been bathed and still had soap on his skin. But they hadn't just bathed the hippo; apparently hippos make their own sunscreen. I rubbed the hippo's side, too. His skin was soft... like a cactus pad without the prickly hurts. I pet a hippo today. :D
Later that afternoon we delivered diets to the Avian Research Center (ARC). This is a behind-the-scenes bird barn whose primary purpose is to breed rare and endangered bird species. One of the keepers there gave me a quick tour when I told her I was totally into birds. I got to see Fred, the geriatric raven; some gorgeous Micronesian Kingfishers; a pretty female green junglefowl, which the keeper said is kind of like a smart chicken; the enormous Victoria crowned pigeon; a medley of wee little weavers; some carmine bee-eaters; Indian and African Pygmy geese with cute little bills; and a ton of other birds I can't even remember the names of right now. We toured the incubation facilities, too. It was neat to see that they'd had some success breeding these rare birds while other zoos have failed. Then Doug and I went over to Conservation Station and talked to the parrots, which happen to be rather personable and friendly.
The last cool animal interaction of the day was at Conservation Station. There are a bunch of random mammals housed here, including a tamandua (a rather small version of an anteater) with diabetes, two agouti (think of a guinea pig about the size of a normal house cat), some bunnies, hedgehogs, a possum, and more random animals. I didn't get to pet any of these creatures, but they were cool to look at! Especially the tamandua, who had just awoken from her nap.
I know, what an amazing day! But it doesn't end there. At some point during our casual conversation in the truck, I mentioned to Doug that I need to get rabies shots for vet school. He said that I could get them for free here. "Free?" I replied, skeptical. "I think so. Ask Debbie. Or Nancy," was his cryptic response. I didn't get my hopes up, but I talked to Nancy at the end of the day. She confirmed that I could get free rabeis shots simply because I work in Animal Programs. Wow. Free. That's a $516 value. Absolutely free. So I went straight to the first aid trailer (i.e., the work-related medical services facility) after work and got the first of my three-shot series of pre-exposure rabies vaccinations. For free. I have to go back next week and two weeks after that. But it's free. I'm not complaining. I can't get over this. It should have cost me at least $172 today and it didn't cost me one cent. That's my kind of Disney Magic.
I really need to take a shower because the hay made me itchy, so I'm going to go do that now. Goodnight, my loyal fans! <3
Today was different from any other day yet this semester. I went on deliveries with Doug. This job involves taking large bags of feed, bales of hay, and all of the diets to the barns. Which also means we get to see the animals.
The first barn we went to was the lion barn. We totally peeked at the lions, and they stared at us like lions do. They started roaring when we left. Awesome. Then we went to the tiger barn. One tiger was chilling and wasn't really interested in us, but another looked like it was about to pounce. Fortunately there were fences and electricity between the tigers and us. Or else they totally could have killed us.
The rest of the morning went well, and at some point we went to the hippo barn. All the hippos in this barn were males, and apparently they don't always get along that great when they're all squashed into the exhibit together. So one of them stayed behind, and Moe the hippo keeper invited me to meet him! Moe grabbed a heart of celery and led me over to the hippo's face (mind you, there are 12-inch concrete poles between us and the hippo). He raised his arm (this is a hand signal they use for training) and the hippo opened his mouth. Moe rubbed the hippo's tongue and threw two long stalks of celery into his mouth. The hippo's teeth were huge. Blunt, but huge. And apparently this hippo's teeth aren't as big as some of the other hippos' teeth. The hippo spat out the celery, but Moe patted his head anyway. I scratched his forehead and he flopped down on the ground. Moe rubbed the hippo's side and this lathery, sudsy whiteness showed up, as if the hippo had just been bathed and still had soap on his skin. But they hadn't just bathed the hippo; apparently hippos make their own sunscreen. I rubbed the hippo's side, too. His skin was soft... like a cactus pad without the prickly hurts. I pet a hippo today. :D
Later that afternoon we delivered diets to the Avian Research Center (ARC). This is a behind-the-scenes bird barn whose primary purpose is to breed rare and endangered bird species. One of the keepers there gave me a quick tour when I told her I was totally into birds. I got to see Fred, the geriatric raven; some gorgeous Micronesian Kingfishers; a pretty female green junglefowl, which the keeper said is kind of like a smart chicken; the enormous Victoria crowned pigeon; a medley of wee little weavers; some carmine bee-eaters; Indian and African Pygmy geese with cute little bills; and a ton of other birds I can't even remember the names of right now. We toured the incubation facilities, too. It was neat to see that they'd had some success breeding these rare birds while other zoos have failed. Then Doug and I went over to Conservation Station and talked to the parrots, which happen to be rather personable and friendly.
The last cool animal interaction of the day was at Conservation Station. There are a bunch of random mammals housed here, including a tamandua (a rather small version of an anteater) with diabetes, two agouti (think of a guinea pig about the size of a normal house cat), some bunnies, hedgehogs, a possum, and more random animals. I didn't get to pet any of these creatures, but they were cool to look at! Especially the tamandua, who had just awoken from her nap.
I know, what an amazing day! But it doesn't end there. At some point during our casual conversation in the truck, I mentioned to Doug that I need to get rabies shots for vet school. He said that I could get them for free here. "Free?" I replied, skeptical. "I think so. Ask Debbie. Or Nancy," was his cryptic response. I didn't get my hopes up, but I talked to Nancy at the end of the day. She confirmed that I could get free rabeis shots simply because I work in Animal Programs. Wow. Free. That's a $516 value. Absolutely free. So I went straight to the first aid trailer (i.e., the work-related medical services facility) after work and got the first of my three-shot series of pre-exposure rabies vaccinations. For free. I have to go back next week and two weeks after that. But it's free. I'm not complaining. I can't get over this. It should have cost me at least $172 today and it didn't cost me one cent. That's my kind of Disney Magic.
I really need to take a shower because the hay made me itchy, so I'm going to go do that now. Goodnight, my loyal fans! <3
Monday, March 23, 2009
Zootrition!
On Saturday, the nutritionist, Eduardo Valdes, gave us a lecture on zoo nutrition. He used to work as nutritionist at the Toronto zoo, and was formerly a zoo keeper and has a background in horse nutrition research. In his lecture, he emphasized that what we don't know about zoo animals is so much greater than what we do know, and that what we don't know can sometimes end up being fatal for the animal. There's so much variation among zoo animals, and they're so different from well-studied animals like horses, pigs, chickens, and cattle that it's difficult to use a domesticated animal like that as a model.
Another challenge of zoo nutrition is replicating a diet in the wild; for example, it's difficult to create the African savannah in Florida. The grasses here are green and highly digestible; the grasses in Africa are brown and very difficult to digest. That sounds like a good thing, right? Florida grass is more nutritious than African savannah, so it would be better for the elephant and the giraffe and the impala and the gazelle to eat. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Each of these animals has developed a very specialized digestive system that gives them a specific niche in the African plains. The giraffe prefers to pick leaves from trees rather than eat the brown grass that the elephant can't get enough of. So instead of feeding the elephant lush green Florida grass, we feed him straw. The elephant needs that mass of mostly indigestible material in his gut to make sure it functions properly--that's how he's designed to eat.
The way the animals eat is also important. The giraffe needs to stretch out its neck while he is eating. If you offer the giraffe the best leaves you can find and put them on the ground, he's not going to eat them. We have to hang his leaves up high so that he has to stretch to reach them. This, too, ensures proper functioning of his digestive system.
Eduardo is a clinical nutritionist, so he also showed us pictures of nutrient deficiencies and toxicities. You can find vitamin A supplements in the reptile section of Petsmart, but too much vitamin A will make your turtle lose its scales. Too little vitamin A, on the other hand, will make your frog's tongue lose its stickiness. Too much phosphorus and not enough calcium in the diet will force your iguana to absorb its own bones. This is an irreversible problem.
We didn't get to see a great number of clinical photographs because Eduardo had already been lecturing for two and a half hours at this point, but I think he may kidnap us interns again sometime in the future to finish his presentation. I miss learning things... so I'm that much more excited about going to vet school in August. :D
Another challenge of zoo nutrition is replicating a diet in the wild; for example, it's difficult to create the African savannah in Florida. The grasses here are green and highly digestible; the grasses in Africa are brown and very difficult to digest. That sounds like a good thing, right? Florida grass is more nutritious than African savannah, so it would be better for the elephant and the giraffe and the impala and the gazelle to eat. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Each of these animals has developed a very specialized digestive system that gives them a specific niche in the African plains. The giraffe prefers to pick leaves from trees rather than eat the brown grass that the elephant can't get enough of. So instead of feeding the elephant lush green Florida grass, we feed him straw. The elephant needs that mass of mostly indigestible material in his gut to make sure it functions properly--that's how he's designed to eat.
The way the animals eat is also important. The giraffe needs to stretch out its neck while he is eating. If you offer the giraffe the best leaves you can find and put them on the ground, he's not going to eat them. We have to hang his leaves up high so that he has to stretch to reach them. This, too, ensures proper functioning of his digestive system.
Eduardo is a clinical nutritionist, so he also showed us pictures of nutrient deficiencies and toxicities. You can find vitamin A supplements in the reptile section of Petsmart, but too much vitamin A will make your turtle lose its scales. Too little vitamin A, on the other hand, will make your frog's tongue lose its stickiness. Too much phosphorus and not enough calcium in the diet will force your iguana to absorb its own bones. This is an irreversible problem.
We didn't get to see a great number of clinical photographs because Eduardo had already been lecturing for two and a half hours at this point, but I think he may kidnap us interns again sometime in the future to finish his presentation. I miss learning things... so I'm that much more excited about going to vet school in August. :D
Bat Tour
malayan tapir hiding in the bushes :)
I believe I'm approximately at the half-way point of my internship, and I feel like there's still so much we haven't done yet. Two weeks ago we were going to see a crocodile feeding (i.e., we were going to throw raw chicken at the crocs from a reasonably safe distance and watch them devour it), but that was canceled for some reason I can't recall. We did, however, get to see the bats.
Rodriguez Flying Fox
We have two species of bats at Disney's Animal Kingdom: the vampire bat and the Rodriguez fruit bat, also known as the flying fox. One of the bat keepers gave us a short lesson on bats and showed us their enclosure (the part that's behind-the-scenes) and their exhibit (the part that you see as a park guest). I wasn't allowed to take pictures behind-the-scenes; sorry! If you notice in the picture above, there are all sorts of random ropes and whatnot hanging all over the exhibit. There's also a long rope path leading from the indoor enclosure into the exhibit. The bats don't fly in at night or fly out in the morning--they climb and crawl along the ropes to get where they want to go. There are ropes that touch the ground both in the exhibit and in the indoor enclosures that allow the bats to climb back up high if they fall for whatever reason.
All of the bats here are males. As with any animal, too much testosterone in one place will inevitably lead to an occasional brawl. The bats have their own hierarchy that changes every day. Each bat has two specific places that it likes to hang out; one spot in the exhibit and one spot in the indoor enclosure. The higher the bat's hangout, the higher his status. The location of that hangout doesn't really change unless one of the lower bats decides to challenge a higher bat.
When a bat feels intimidated, he spreads his wings so that he looks bigger. He'll also curl his lip and snap like an angry dog would. (side note: a bat's face looks a lot like a dog's face, but bats are most closely related to primates. wow!) The bats' wings are highly vascular, so they will spread and flap their wings to cool off in the Florida heat. This isn't a threatening move, but it's pretty cool to see them when they're not folded up.
Rodriguez Flying FoxWe have two species of bats at Disney's Animal Kingdom: the vampire bat and the Rodriguez fruit bat, also known as the flying fox. One of the bat keepers gave us a short lesson on bats and showed us their enclosure (the part that's behind-the-scenes) and their exhibit (the part that you see as a park guest). I wasn't allowed to take pictures behind-the-scenes; sorry! If you notice in the picture above, there are all sorts of random ropes and whatnot hanging all over the exhibit. There's also a long rope path leading from the indoor enclosure into the exhibit. The bats don't fly in at night or fly out in the morning--they climb and crawl along the ropes to get where they want to go. There are ropes that touch the ground both in the exhibit and in the indoor enclosures that allow the bats to climb back up high if they fall for whatever reason.
All of the bats here are males. As with any animal, too much testosterone in one place will inevitably lead to an occasional brawl. The bats have their own hierarchy that changes every day. Each bat has two specific places that it likes to hang out; one spot in the exhibit and one spot in the indoor enclosure. The higher the bat's hangout, the higher his status. The location of that hangout doesn't really change unless one of the lower bats decides to challenge a higher bat.
When a bat feels intimidated, he spreads his wings so that he looks bigger. He'll also curl his lip and snap like an angry dog would. (side note: a bat's face looks a lot like a dog's face, but bats are most closely related to primates. wow!) The bats' wings are highly vascular, so they will spread and flap their wings to cool off in the Florida heat. This isn't a threatening move, but it's pretty cool to see them when they're not folded up.
There is plenty of room in the exhibit for each bat to spread out and not hang near the bats he doesn't particularly care for, but the indoor enclosure isn't quite as spacious. Instead, one of the bat keepers designed a system of "curtains" that blocks the bats' view of each other so that more bats can be kept in one small area. Essentially, no one bat has any idea that three or more of his enemies are hiding just behind the curtains. Not that he would be bothered by such matters anyway, as there are all kinds of parrot toys and cloths and random ropes to distract him from such a disturbing thought.
Another neat thing that the bat keeper showed us was training. Each bat is trained to touch his nose to a stick with a big red ball on the end of it, and they get to lick some tasty jelly from a bowl as a reward. I think the two main reasons they do this is a) to familiarize the bats with humans, and b) to distract them so they can be examined physically without putting the vet's appendages in danger. They're working on training the bats to crawl to and hang on a scale (think a grocery store scale with a hanging hook instead of the hanging basket) so that they can get a voluntary weight from them at any time. So to anyone who thinks I can't train my cats, I say, it is possible to train any animal!
Another neat thing that the bat keeper showed us was training. Each bat is trained to touch his nose to a stick with a big red ball on the end of it, and they get to lick some tasty jelly from a bowl as a reward. I think the two main reasons they do this is a) to familiarize the bats with humans, and b) to distract them so they can be examined physically without putting the vet's appendages in danger. They're working on training the bats to crawl to and hang on a scale (think a grocery store scale with a hanging hook instead of the hanging basket) so that they can get a voluntary weight from them at any time. So to anyone who thinks I can't train my cats, I say, it is possible to train any animal!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Animal Interactions!
One of the downsides to my job is that I'm not really supposed to have any animal interaction. I prepare the diets; I don't feed them. But one of the upsides to my job is the research component. Usually this involves running samples of different types of feed (e.g., hay, squid, grass, etc.) through some sort of analysis or entering said analyses into a database. Last week on research day, we visited the Animal Kingdom Lodge (which shall henceforth be referred to as "the Lodge") to take paddock grass samples. We couldn't exactly shoo the animals off of the "savannah" while we were obtaining these samples, so we mostly just worked around them.
Keep in mind, these are wild animals, and although most of them have never known anything but a zoo habitat, they're still potentially dangerous. The Lodge animal manager, Leisl, was with us to make sure no one got hurt (animals and humans alike). Most of the animals shied away when we ran the gas-powered grass cutter, but the ostriches were a little more curious and a little less afraid.
There are several ostriches at the Lodge and all of them are female. Like many animals, birds tend to start their breeding season when food and daylight are plentiful. In a zoo, that means year-round. Leisl said the ostriches lay fewer eggs in the winter, but they never stop laying eggs. (I imagine the outdoor lights at the Lodge probably play a role in increasing the amount of daylight the ostriches perceive, but that's just speculation.) Anyway, that's just a roundabout way of explaining why the ostriches were less afraid of us: they wanted to flirt. With no boys around, these girls will try to impress anyone! They strutted up to us one or two at a time, bowed, and sort of flapped their wings. It was really cute. After a few minutes of showing off ("presenting," as our research specialist called it), the ostrich would sit on the ground and munch on the grass.
I've heard that one kick from an ostrich can kill you, but Leisl told us that they've never been aggressive without proper provocation (like restraint for blood sampling). The biggest problem they've had is their curiosity--they'll peek inside the truck windows and swallow whatever they can find. So every once in a while, an ostrich has to go to the hospital to have a pen or some other foreign body removed from her esophagus.
The ostriches were peaceful when we met them, but the zebras were another story. The young male has been picking fights with the rest of his herd lately, so we got to see some of the action. This was actually kind of bad because the zebras weren't really paying attention to where they were going when the girl was trying to kick the boy in his face. They could have easily stampeded us had we not jumped in the van. Leisl drove the van and one of the keepers in a golf cart helped her herd the male away from the rest of the zebras so that they would stop fighting, but we left that area and went to sample the grass elsewhere. The blesbok that was chilling near our "elsewhere" didn't seem to mind, but every animal is potentially dangerous, so it's always a good idea to be cautious and watchful.
Anyway, it was really cool to actually see some of the animals that we make diets for. In addition to the aforementioned animals, we saw little Thompson's gazelle (which look like dogs when they run around and play!), the big male Kudu (his horns make a sort of corkscrew shape and he walks in a proud, stately manner), the giraffe, impalas, West African crowned cranes, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill (a type of bird), and so many more. Research day is a nice break from making diets, and it makes it more interesting when you can actually picture the animal eating what you're preparing for it.
I'll try to get some of the pictures that we took that day off of Katie's computer and I'll post them here when/if I do! I got some good shots of the ostriches presenting and the zebras fighting, so hopefully I will succeed!
Keep in mind, these are wild animals, and although most of them have never known anything but a zoo habitat, they're still potentially dangerous. The Lodge animal manager, Leisl, was with us to make sure no one got hurt (animals and humans alike). Most of the animals shied away when we ran the gas-powered grass cutter, but the ostriches were a little more curious and a little less afraid.
There are several ostriches at the Lodge and all of them are female. Like many animals, birds tend to start their breeding season when food and daylight are plentiful. In a zoo, that means year-round. Leisl said the ostriches lay fewer eggs in the winter, but they never stop laying eggs. (I imagine the outdoor lights at the Lodge probably play a role in increasing the amount of daylight the ostriches perceive, but that's just speculation.) Anyway, that's just a roundabout way of explaining why the ostriches were less afraid of us: they wanted to flirt. With no boys around, these girls will try to impress anyone! They strutted up to us one or two at a time, bowed, and sort of flapped their wings. It was really cute. After a few minutes of showing off ("presenting," as our research specialist called it), the ostrich would sit on the ground and munch on the grass.
I've heard that one kick from an ostrich can kill you, but Leisl told us that they've never been aggressive without proper provocation (like restraint for blood sampling). The biggest problem they've had is their curiosity--they'll peek inside the truck windows and swallow whatever they can find. So every once in a while, an ostrich has to go to the hospital to have a pen or some other foreign body removed from her esophagus.
The ostriches were peaceful when we met them, but the zebras were another story. The young male has been picking fights with the rest of his herd lately, so we got to see some of the action. This was actually kind of bad because the zebras weren't really paying attention to where they were going when the girl was trying to kick the boy in his face. They could have easily stampeded us had we not jumped in the van. Leisl drove the van and one of the keepers in a golf cart helped her herd the male away from the rest of the zebras so that they would stop fighting, but we left that area and went to sample the grass elsewhere. The blesbok that was chilling near our "elsewhere" didn't seem to mind, but every animal is potentially dangerous, so it's always a good idea to be cautious and watchful.
Anyway, it was really cool to actually see some of the animals that we make diets for. In addition to the aforementioned animals, we saw little Thompson's gazelle (which look like dogs when they run around and play!), the big male Kudu (his horns make a sort of corkscrew shape and he walks in a proud, stately manner), the giraffe, impalas, West African crowned cranes, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill (a type of bird), and so many more. Research day is a nice break from making diets, and it makes it more interesting when you can actually picture the animal eating what you're preparing for it.
I'll try to get some of the pictures that we took that day off of Katie's computer and I'll post them here when/if I do! I got some good shots of the ostriches presenting and the zebras fighting, so hopefully I will succeed!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Reptiles and Birds
Scratch what I said before about dragons; there's a Komodo Dragon, too.
Golden Pheasants (in the back) and Blue Crested Pigeon--the largest pigeon species.
Yellow-faced... bird...? Sorry, I don't remember this one's name.
Mandarin Duck couple. The female is on the left and the male is on the right. They were protecting their nest from the yellow-faced thing (above) when I first saw them.
more animalz.
Dino Sue and the Asian primates
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