celebrate world GOOBER day!

happy world tapir day to sweet GOOBER! the happiest tapir in the world! love to you from your adoptive parent! i love my goob! he should be celebrated!

peek-a-boo orkney!

orkney has been increasingly out and about and this was the first time ever i got great snaps of his cute face! i actually think it may be the only time i've seen his face full on like this at all or at least for any extended amount of time! thankx for the peek at you cute orkney! ... see his bio on last years entry for updated information.

prairie pups!

the first prairie dog pup emerged from a burrow on march 31st! since then babies have been bouncing out to the to date total of 13 or 14! they emerge at about six weeks, so the smallest ones are about that. we saw a couple that only came to the rim of the burrow hole, never leaving it, so they must be just at the six weeks! sooooooooo cute! the one in the close-ups is one of those tiny babies. i love the capture of the pup kissing its papa! ... more pix on the photosite soon.

happy birthday chimp girls!

today marked the birthdays of two of the female chimps, tallulah and minnie. maggie's birthday was on april 14th and we missed it :( yesterday my friend andiecatt and i brought the three girls a birthday card and andie made all four chimps (including their man cobby!) some presents,. we didn't see anything out today, so hopefully they got them. miss tallulah turned a milestone 55! which i believe is one of the oldest living chimps in captivity, if not the second oldest, which i think i remember reading at one time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLS!!! we love you and appreciate the joy you bring to us and others! here's some pix of the gang today taken while they were waiting to be let into the grotto where their treats are usually put out in the morning. ... cobby, maggie, minnie, tallulah and cobby, maggie

globe-trottin' otters!

harlem globetrotter moo moo evans came to the zoo today and tossed the balls with river otter couple trent and pescita! i was there today but it wasn't advertised that the otters were going to be part of the fun and so i just missed it ;(

chk out the video at this link

http://cbs5.com/video/?id=64413@kpix.dayport.com

evita checks out the puente!

the new female giant anteater is out of quarantine and can be seen strutting her stuff in her new home in the puente! evita is her name and she came here to be our male angelo's mrs.! she is still young, so hopefully when she reaches maturity in the next year, they will produce babies! would be the cutest to see mini me anteater babies in person!

beach balls in the grotto!

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i brought some paper mache beach balls i made for the lions and was again lucky that the keeper was able to give them to the cats while i was there! thank you again! ... amanzi and jahari got theirs first. amanzi ran out sooo fast! amazing she passed jahari in the race, he usually pushes ahead of her. she ran to the one on my side and jahari ran to the opposite side. she broke hers open right away and stuck her head in! that is my fav capture :) a few minutes later she bopped it with her paw to break it down more. i could hear it crack! after that i ran over to the other side and got a few good snaps of jahari with his head in it as well! sooo cute! the action was pretty fast and then it looked like it was over, til they switched places. amanzi first went over to check out what jahari had and then he went over to check hers out. they are sooo cute how they always go and see what the other one had. she finally came over to where jahari was and they sat down together and started giving each other kisses! they are sweet when they are affectionate. ... the keeper tossed tunya and sukari's from above and tunya made a run for one and sukari was no where to be seen. she's still playing hard to get! tunya gave it his attention for a minute, long enough to break it open and give it a sniff. then he walked over to check out the other ball, which he gave a sniff too, and then gave it the butt! we thought he was done and unimpressed, but when we went back around the grottos about 20 min later, the second ball was crushed too! he faked us out! and so we missed the complete tunyaman action ;( ... fyi, all the balls were scented with frozen rhino urine. ... as with all the big cat fun, its only made possible because keeper barb rocks! thank you!... chk the photosite tomorrow for more pix from this series plus some of leanne getting her treat boxes!

cats weigh in!

happened upon the big cats getting weighed today! first time i'd seen this. saw padang first, and she was not really wanting to cooperate. she quickly got on to fetch the lure snacks, but didn't fall for that trick twice. she walked around the scale trying to figure out how to get the snacks without getting on the scale! ... when amanzi and jahari came in, amanzi went straight for the scale room and was more than cooperative, even looking down at keeper barb as if to offer some help! ... while waiting keeper deb gave jahari a back scratchin'! he is seriously silly AND i would LOVE to scratch his back! when it was his turn, he had no problem getting right up there on the scale either. just like his lady love, if there's a snack involved, its all good!

big cat fun!

the lion house was jumpin' today! as soon as we walked up to the cats, amanzi and jahari were doing some major playing and then she entertained herself with the big red ball! i snapped a quick not so great one as she threw it to the pond and made a cute playful kitty face! ... while waiting for the LH to open we spied sunfish out front and center stalking fish in his pond! ... after the LH opened, keeper barb gave all the big cats some prizes! big thankx to her for all the big cat fun!... even though he had prizes out, tony was taking it easy and mostly lounging in the sun! ... as was padang who could only be seen at the opening of the cave, by the tip of her tail and her purple bunny! ... leanne got one box of food inside and five outside scattered in different locations, so she could look for them! ... training with amanzi and jahari wasn't going to be for an hour, so barb packed some bags of rhino scented hay and threw them down to tunya and sukari! suki made a mad dash into the cave, i think she was a bit startled, but not tunyaman! he went right for his fav catnip! eventually sukari peeked out and spied on tunya in ecstacy! ... amanzi and jahari did some training in the lion house. they got snacks, kabobs (food on a training stick) and some goats milk! then they went outside and got rhino scented hay in boxes decorated by my friend lee! ... will try to upload some more pix here later, but there were soooo many great snaps, please visit the photo site to see all the big cat fun! > http://gooberssfzoofriends.shutterfly.com/

easter in the LH, lions!

jahari and amanzi got their treats first! these two are so silly when they know there's a treat and are waiting for the keeper to open the door to their night quarters in the lion house. usually jahari is waiting to push in first, but today amanzi was right there to rival him for first place and she almost made it but his head and shoulders pushed her aside and he ran in first, again! these two are so crazed when they get in that its really hard to get pix of them. i tried for amanzi first since she gets hers in a snap, but missed a good pic (again), s o this one is of her after finishing, just watching the people. the one of jahari is a tough call as to what is captured, but its him and the popper so i'm posting it! they both had their sickles tucked inside. the sickle is made from the blood drained from their meat and frozen! ... tunya came in and sniffed one set of goods before going to the next cage and deciding that one was better! he had his sickle in his metal bowl and his popper was scented! ... sukari had the same treats as tunya. it was just luck that she actually came in for her treats. she is still pretty leary about being too close to where people are, ie in the LH during open hours and in the middle to front portions of the yard, but yay! she came in and stayed for a bit! she gave tunya a greeting at the mesh, then went for her treats, sniffing the popper, but settling on the blood sickle first! i like the snap of her looking up with the red from the blood on her lower lip! after finishing, she went for the popper, then carried it to the doorway to play with!

easter in the LH, leanne!