wild pigs in the lion grottos!

amanzi and jahari pig out! jahari and amanzi were the ones to get the pigs. the keeper set one pink pig and one brown boar out. she put a blood sickle in each as their treat! they are always a joy to watch as they are always the most excited for stuff. its almost like when they go in (when the keeper then goes out to put stuff), they expect there to be a treat waiting and they come running out! they each carried theirs off to attack it lol! then after jahari went over to see what manzi was up to and as he sometimes does, tip toed around trying not to allert her lol! he wants a piece of checking out what she had, but she gets possessive and will sometimes tell him to back off! poor jarjar ;) it funny tho she too will abandon hers and try to chk out what he's had. i guess they both either want to smell the other after or just make sure they got the same! sillies! their pix will be in a following post and the complete series will be with leannes on the photosite. ... thankx again to barb!

tiger fun in the LH!

it was a busy weekend and i'm just now getting to blogging about it. ... my friend andiecatt and i again brought enrichment crafts for the cats. both stuff for the biggin's and for the smaller ones. stuff to use whenever the keeper thinks the cats need some special enrichment, but its always fun to watch them enjoy something you've made! andie outdid herself and me but making stand up pigs and boars! they looked fantastic! we both also brought some mache balls and some other small items. ... the keeper first gave leanne a ball scented with perfume. this was the first time we'd see leanne have a mache ball and she loved it! more than loved it! she reacted to it with more zest than any of the other cats have. at first she didn't really go after it and we thought huh maybe not her thing, but then she went back for it, split it open and rubbed her face all in it! she was just like a house cat with catnip. even bunny feet butting it! it was great to watch her having so much fun! i picked the pix that seemed to show the best of what she did, although check the photosite in a few days i'll post all the pix and there are some great ones that her facial expression is really cute! ... also pic'd here is one of tony when we first showed up with his arm up and his back to the fresh air and front to the fan lol! so cute! and great to see him have access now to the revamped yard! and another of him checking out his ball, but he passed it up for food and didn't go back to it while we were there. i have no doubt he did at some point as he loves the balls (this would be his third), but i'd rather see him eat all his food than go for the ball. its enough to know he has it when he feels he wants to give it a go. ... the complete series will be with amanzi and jahari's pix on the photosite. .. thankx again to barb!

wakodaman!

my barnyard boyfriend, navajo churro male wakoda got his winter coat shaved off. he is a doll and protested a bit before but relinquished like the good boy he is! the zoo has a professional shearer come in to do all the sheep (navajo, jacob, and barbados) and the two alpacas. the wool from the navajo churro sheep is sent to a group of navajo people in new mexico who use it to teach the younger generation weaving. here are the before and after pix of wakoda. you can view a video of his whole shave down here > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZtKCPn6ZR0 ... wakoda has the most precious face and personality! love ya!

tony's girls

from time to time i'll search online for random things about the zoo residents. i searched tony the other day as most can tell i love that big cat! i came across a great site made by a gal who is a longtime friend to the zoo and the big cats are one of her favs. she was a weekly regular before i was, so she got to know the residents then, the way i have now and her page about tony and his girls is precious! here are some of my fav pix, in the order they came into his life. tony and his sister emily. this photo is so sweet of the two of them standing side by side. i don't think i've even seen a picture that depicts her so clearly. its incredible to me how much alike they look. the way they are standing especially shows how their markings are almost exact on their heads and chest. even their faces. she's like a mini me of him! the photo is beautiful and brings tears to my eyes. ... tatiana. a great snap capturing her playful side. she looks so happy with her scented hay! that smile on her face is how everyone should remember her. ... tony and padang. i have tried to get a good clear capture of their mesh interaction since the day the window between them opened. i've seen them showing affection to one another many times, but never got a good one. this truly is the best one i've seen. they are precious together! my heart broke when tony lost his companion and then to find out this was the second one is heartbreaking. tigers are usually solitary but he has lived his whole life with a companion and then to not have one, just sad. it warms my heart that they have found each other.

thank you to hazel for letting me include her special photos on my blog. please visit her site to read her words and see more of her amazing pix!

http://www.squidoo.com/tatiana-tiger

groovy!

i made 3 groovy balls (paper mache) and lucky i got to see one being used during yesterdays visit! first the keeper tried to see if sunfish the male fishing cat would be into it, but he just took a sniff and a lick and continued outside. no worries cause it was now free to go to tony! i'm good with any of the cats getting the enrichment of my crafts, but i did make at least one intended for tony, since i think he needs extra stimulation, so i was happy to get to see if tony liked it! he seems to love the paper mache balls. he's had three so far! birthday 18 ball, an easter egg and now the groovy ball! he was napping, so when the keeper put it in the neighboring room, he woke up and went right in. first passing it and going straight to her, then circling back and giving it a sniff, then picking it up with his teeth and tossing a bit a few times! it makes me smile to see him get a break from his day and have something different to play with for a few minutes. that stimulation is really important for him, especially since he's been inside while his yard is being renovated. he will rotate the new yard with padang and it will have adjustments made to reflect their needs as senior cats, one being that they won't have access to the moat. look for tony and padang to be back out in their yard hopefully this coming week! ... thankx to keeper debbie! ... pix of the groovy ball with fishing cat came out blurry, here is one of the keeper showing it to sunfish, and the others are of tony!

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!