He’s almost 1,700 pounds and stands about 5 feet tall at the shoulder (the height is a guess, he tried to eat my tape measure). Max weighs more than all 4 of our bears put together and can poop the combined weight of our baby alpacas every day! He has a well documented adoration of shoes and Kent. You’ll just have to trust me on the Kent part, or come visit some day and listen to Max bellow when Kent drives by and doesn’t stop to scratch him.

Max, besides being one of the more affectionate animals in the farmyard, is arguably one of the most playful. Keeper Jill and I decided to give an old piece of enrichment (a garden hose with plastic chains attached to it) a farewell send off by letting Max have it. He didn’t destroy it like we expected he would, but it was fun to watch him knock his big head into it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTZ8tHfxN5s[/youtube]

And if you want to check my math:

Max weighs about 1,700 pounds

Max can poop between 150 and 200 pounds a day (10% of his body weight)

The bears weigh, at most 350 pounds (x 4 = max of 1,400 pounds)

The baby alpacas weigh 100 pounds (Emily) and 77 pounds (Ray) combined = 177 pounds

The take home message of all this: Max poops a lot.