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Spotlight: Jill Brown

I have been slack on my Spotlight postings, but I will recommit to telling you all about the special people who work in, with, or help the animal department. I’ve  written spotlights on the rest of the keepers, so here’s the last one, or as Jill would say, I saved the best for last. This is Jill.  She’s been a Keeper here for almost five years ( you can wish her a happy anniversary on September 12). Jill loves birds and Boba Fett. She’sRead more
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QuikPost: Enrichment serving its purpose!

I just wanted to share some photos of our opossums making good use of their enrichment. This is Sonny and Cher, our Carolina Wildlife opossums that live together on exhibit. As you can see, they like to sleep together, whether it be in an old tree trunk, a hammock, or a shoe box. You may only be able to see one face peaking out of the shoe box, but both of them were in there. It was kind of funnyRead more
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QuikPost: Neighborhood Red Shouldered Hawks

I walked out of my house late this morning and saw mating between two red shouldered hawks that were about 20 feet away from me. It was pretty cool (and loud) and even though I felt badly about interrupting, it reminded me that Spring is in the air and there’s a lot going on with the nature around us at this time of year. Bill Majoros took some AMAZING PHOTOS of red shouldered hawks in Northgate Park. Click here toRead more
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Junior keepers

I had a good time showing a group of six youth around the animal department last Sunday during our Junior Keeper program. This program is a chance for kids to come learn what it’s like to be a keeper. We had one junior keeper who returned after participating last year, and one who drove 4 hours all the way from the NC coast! They showed up at 9:00am, and we started off by raking the goat yard and brushing RockyRead more

EnrichBits: A game!

EnrichBits: A monthly (ahem)- ok, quarterly, look at animal enrichment. Sherry found this a long time ago, and it’s a really interesting way to think about enrichment. This is a game to help experiment with what goes into creating an enrichment program. Below is the scenario; what kind of enrichment plan would you come up with? Leave your suggestions in the comments section and try to remember all your categories of enrichment! The zoo recently acquired 1.0 Humans (Homo sapiens)Read more