new blog information

I have created a new blog that contains the information below, which is a one stop synop to all my zoo related sites. the direct url is http://mysanfranciscozooexperience.blogspot.com/ ... see link to the left.

Posting to this blog ended on December 16, 2010.   Please visit my new blog which is continually updated  iamnotananteater.blogspot.com

Note that on the site called san francisco zoo FAILS, I have detailed information regarding the recent tragedy in the Park at the Bison Paddock.  Though not a complete FAIL on the Zoo, it is related as a Park and Recreation issue.

Thank you!

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!

t

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!

the streets of san francisco on location at the sfzoo

during the second season of the tv series, the streets of san francisco, the episode "the victims" (original air date 11.29.73) was shot partially on location at the sfzoo. streets is my absolute favorite tv show for alot of reasons, you could say i'm slightly obsessed! i love my city, sf history and the zoo, could this be anymore perfect? streets has preserved a time that i think showcases what san francisco is all about. unfortunately a time that's very much in the past now. ... when i found there was an episode filmed at the zoo i dug into my archives and watched it. either i had never seen it or hadn't in a very long time. here's a clip (i shot off tv using a flip video camera) see if you can recognize any of the zoo locations of the past.

skylar (aka leanne)

leanne, aka skylar (given name). she's been mentioned a couple times now, so you know she's a female sumatran. she's six years old and the cublets were her first litter. she was born at the toronto zoo 7.10.03. she and her littermates (sister chelsea, who is in atlanta now and brother kougra, who is in dallas) were the first captive born tigers in canada. her parents brytne and rengat are still in toronto and have since had another litter.

bali (aka george)

george, george, george of the jungle! georgie aka bali. i would actually like to call him bali more as that's his given name, but i was first told his name was george (sfzoo given) and that's what i'm used to, so habit. i like bali as is represents his tiger heritage, in that he was named along with his brother java after two now extinct tiger species, the bali around 1935 and the javan around 1960. i think the names are a beautiful tribute. i read that java is now at a zoo in washington and their sister (and litter mate) delta is at the san deigo zoo. they were born on 5.22.98 at the henry doorly zoo in omaha. george came to the sfzoo after a stopover in denver. george is an eleven year old male sumatran, mated with leanne and father of the cublets. while separated from mama and cubs, he was sometimes housed next to padang and they became friendly as well. they can sometimes be seen looking for each other at the window, when he is rotating the enclosure with tony.

tony

tony, tone, tone! come on, we all have nicknames for our companion animals, why not our zoo friends? tony is a big ( take a look at the size of his head and legs!) gorgeous siberian boy tiger. he was born on 3.21.92 at the reid park zoo in tucson along with his sister, emily. they came to the sfzoo together in 6.93. sadly he has lost both his companions, his sister (2004) passed and tatiana (2007) when she tried to defend herself, him, and their home. thankfully he has found some affection in padang. when i saw that window between them open for the first time i almost cried. i just wish they connected more, as often you see them teasing each other with vocals or missing one another. expand the last photo for a rare moment! most often i see padang who is more consistent, passing by the window, while tony or george is sleeping below the it, out of sight.

padang

i ended on a feline note, so i'll continue with big cats. mentioning the cublets, i mentioned padang, who lived in the enclosure the cubs grew up in, prior to their birth. when they outgrew that area she reclaimed her home. padang is a nineteen year old female sumatran. she lives in this enclosure solo as she had an early (before she came to sfzoo) injury to her front paw, which may prevent her from properly defending herself in an aggressive situation. i mention this and her age (as aging cats do thin out), as even though her story is posted outside her enclosure, every time i visit her, i hear people say with negativity "why is she alone?" and/or "why is she so skinny, don't they feed her?" the latter a clear ignorant comment propelled by the tatiana event. padang seems to be a sweet and happy girl. since she has been back home, an old fenced window to the neighboring enclosure has been opened and a special podium made for her to have viewing access to her neighbors. while in lock down (during the grotto construction) in the lion house after the tatiana event, padang and tony, tatiana's companion became sweet on each other and can be seen greeting each other at the window and giving an affectionate head butt! i've had the joy of being a recipient of such as well. one day i was bent down to her level when she saw me, came over and stopped. as she came closer to the glass, i met her with the same. she tilted her head down and rubbed the glass against where i had met hers with a head tilt as well. i got a head butt from padang! make that a head butt from a tiger! incredible! she then continued on her perimeter rounds, checking the window for her boyfriend, but the next two times she rounded and stopped. my head butt talley for the visit was three! ... photo of padang celebrating her birthday last november.

babies,babies, babies!

who doesn't love a baby animal? if you don't there's something seriously wrong with you and leave my blog immediately! will do babies next in honor of meeting those beautiful ocelot cubs yesterday. the zoo highlighted all the babies through the month of may as a mom's day spotlight. i noticed the printed list left off a couple, so if you haven't seen all the babies, you will want to check them out soon! in no particular order ... newest is the francois langur, born less than two weeks ago, you can see him clinging to his mama, who surprising to me is usually at the front of the enclosure (make sure to go upstairs). you can spot baby easy as unlike the adults who are primarily black in color, the baby's are bright orange! ... in the neighboring enclosure is baya, the female howler monkey born on thanksgiving day last year. i had been stopping by doing a birth check for what seemed like a couple months, as sometimes due dates with animals just can't be predicted that closely. thanksgiving morning i wondered by, corn dog in hand and saw keeper corrine behind the fencing. i said "baby yet?" and go the good news of the am birth! and was lucky to catch a glimpse of the little thing! i was surprised to see how big in size relative to the adult the baby was compared to the baby panda i had been viewing daily via the atlanta zoo's panda cam. baya brings the family total to four, mama diamond, papa bosko and sister lupe. ... speaking of the amazing difference in not only size, but the get up and go factor right after birth, are baby giraffes! the zoo currently has two! i don't remember there ever being two babies at the same time. papa to both, sam has been a busy boy! mama bititi gave birth to female camilla in january and mama kristin gave birth to male niklas in april. ... neighbor to camilla and niklas is probably the most media attentioned baby of all, hasani, the baby gorilla born in december. the story of his birth, his mama's (monifa) disinterest, and his eventual partnering with a surrogate mom (bawang) has continually made the news. his thriving and the progress made involving a surrogate, is a testament to the care the residents get. ... sticking with primates, both tamarin species have recently expanded their families! the pied tamarin had two births in recent months, one in march and the other in may. so you will see two sized babies riding on the backs of their mama's. next to them, the most recent birth is of the emperor tamarin, maybe just about under three weeks old. i saw them a couple days after they were born and their heads looked the size of a quarter and unlike the adults they have no beards. pix are near impossible becuz of the glare on the enclosure glass. i will work on adding a link to zoo friends with high powered cameras. ... keeping with the tiniest babies, in late april/early may there was a prairie dog litter of five born. this was the first time i'd seen prairie dog babies. so small and cute zooming around. my quick fav became the apparent runt who i nicknamed small fry! ... december of last year also brought java the baby dukier. this little guy was quite elusive to me and it was prob a couple months before i caught a glimpse of him! .... last fall the most recent baby kangaroo was born. i realize now i don't know its name, but will try to add that soon. i hadn't even heard about it til keeper allison told me (thankx!). evidently it had just started to peek out of the pouch, so i went over to hopefully get a peek myself and luckily allison wandered by on break and pointed it out or i'd have never seen it! note to self, bring binoculars to the zoo! a babie who i have yet to see is the aye-aye, who is just coming into his first birthday. this birth is significant as it is (i read) the first one born in a north american zoo. ... all the babies are sooooooo cute and must see's on your zoo to do list! but i do have a special affection for two, unfortunately both have been recently transferred to other places. ... first is bulldozer, giraffe son of (you guessed it) sam the big man on the savannah! and bititi. he will be two next month and shares my birthday of august 11th. i watched him grow up and will miss my dozer do, but he has gone to safari west in santa rosa, near enough to visit. he has been paired to breed with a young female there who coincidentally i have a video of from animals planet's series "growing up". so its like i've seen both grow up and i can't wait to see their offspring! ... second is the sumatran tiger triplets, born in march. i was anxiously awaiting the chance to see the cubs, when i wandered by the big cat area one tues in mid april. i turned the corner to visit padang who resides in the corner enclosure, and there was a gathering at the glass. i thought it was unusual as there aren't that many visitors there, especially gawking so intently and oohing and awwing (not that padang isn't fantastic enough to warrant that!). corn dog in hand (do you see a pattern to my route?) i squeezed my way to the glass and saw a beautiful thing, a tiny tiger cub! i was told mama skylar had starting bringing the cubs outside one at a time the day before. i had missed the first cub in the rotation, but after about 20 minutes mama picked the second one up in her mouth and carried it inside, returning with the third one! from this day on i upped my zoo visits to 2-3 times a week. for the next 8 months, i was lucky to watch the cublets (what i call them) grow. it was an amazing experience. you just never know when, if ever you will get a chance like that. often while watching them play as babies i would think what a godsend they were on the heels of our tiger loss and wonder if tatiana's soul was now in one of those babies. unfortunately the cublets were moved to the akron zoo in may. will miss seeing them, although they had gotten so big, it was sometimes hard to tell them from their mama! word is skylar and papa george may get the go ahead to breed again soon! ... he isn't a zoo baby, but the most important baby to me, my little lion cub (who's been trying his hand at blogging!), 11 week old miracle, baby meep! ... zoo babies photo note, giraffes are baby niklas at 3 days old and dozer giving sister camilla a kiss!