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
Posts tagged: #science
Big Word of the Month: El Niño , Southern Oscillation
A question to ponder: Why would the temperature of the ocean water off the coast of South America cause a woman in Chicago to re-consider her purchase of soybeans? For this month’s episode of Big Word of the Month, I want to discuss my favorite oceanic/atmoshpheric phenomenon (you have one too, right!) . Climate scientists use the term El Niño , Southern Oscillation to describe the complex relationship between the patterns of atmospheric pressure over the Pacific Ocean and theRead 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
Big Word of the Month: Evaporative Cooling
The big talk around the museum lately has been the weather for obvious reasons! Being cold got me thinking about the physics of heat loss, so for this month’s BWOM post I thought I would talk about evaporative cooling. When water changes from one state to another energy is either released or absorbed; as water moves from solid -> liquid ->gas energy input is required at each transition.You might think of evaporative cooling as an issue for the summer time.Read more
Yona Update: Day 1
Sorry, no photos, just a few words. A difficult first day for sure. Yona had dumped all her water and ripped apart the automatic waterer (a favorite activity of all the bears) and the water bucket. She was hesitant to go into the holding yard. Once there, she paced a bunch. She seemed uninterested in food. After about 30 minutes of the same, I left her, recalling Virginia Bear’s first difficult days of pacing and apparent dissatisfaction. It made meRead more