Volunteer Keeper Week 16

Awesome day. The weather is finally cooling down so Zoo attendance is picking up. Animals are much happier, the Red Ruffed lemurs were enjoying time up in the trees (which is much more natrual for them), instead of desperately seeking shade under their nighthouse stalls. I'm so glad fall is FINALLY here and there are so many exciting things coming up. Stingrays will be back at the Zoo on Oct. 20th, and Wyland will be here the 22nd! The longer I work here, the more I feel like this is exactly where I am supposed to be :-)


Heh, Ryker pushing herself in the kiddy swing. So cute - what a little show off!


Just a few shots I managed to snag with my cell phone.


This little owl will be featured in a
ZooLights exhibition on zookeeping.
We took a bunch of pictures today
for it. This one's for Foley ;)


Above: this is Sam - HI SAM!!!



Squeaks and LeiLani enjoying each other's company.

Volunteer Keeper 15

Worked with Denise on the Orangutan String. Learned a lot more about primates, (Great Apes specifically), and had an awesome day.

Got to hand feed and medicate my second favorite of the prosimians... theRingtail Lemurs:

Liz (dominant)
Julie (least dominant)
Sherry
Mara


This is Liz...chubby little thing actually has boobs! (Not a bad shot for a crappy cell phone...)
The Ringtails were a little more skittish when taking food from my hand than the red ruffs, but still adorable nonetheless.

Volunteer Keeper 14

Morning 6-6:45a.m.: Otters. The first thing I noticed was that Kima's stall was boarded up and made into a den since she is expected to give birth in the next two to three weeks. She will need to be separated from Biko and her son if/when this happens. First thing is to clean the exhibit while LeLani feeds a.m. diet. We do a quick cleaning of the nighthouse stalls then let them back out on exhibit with access to the first stall when we leave.

Morning 6:45-7:30a.m.: Cleaned Mandrill Exhibit, then Baboon. Hamadryas exhibit was a pain to clean today because their was a bunch of old browse in there that got everywhere. I had to spend a lot of extra time breaking down the branches so they would fit in the trash can. The added bonus? Many scorpions have been found scurrying about this area, I worked diligently to get out as soon as possible. While I do this, LeLani prepares diet for Mandrill and Baboon. Before we let them out of the night house and on to exhibit, we take the prepared food, which today consisted of grapes, lettuce, raisins and biscuits, spread that around the exhibit, then lock everything up and let them out. (While I was cleaning the exhibits, LeLani also medicated Spock and Wucaria).

Morning 7:30-9a.m.: We headed out to the islands to feed lemurs and spider monkeys their a.m. diets and clean. Actually, the new game plan which works out much better and "follows all the rules" is for both of us to go out and do lemur, have LeLani drop me back off at the dock while she goes to Spider, and I head back in the cart to pick up dirty dishes and wash them at commecary. By the time I'm done with that, I just go back to the dock and pick her up.

Quite possibly the absolute worst
photo ever captured of me, this was
taken back in July headed out to the
islands to feed the lemurs.

some work stuff

Well, here's what I actually do for a living. It'd be nice if I could make zookeeping (or better yet, marine mammal training) a full time, paying gig, but unfortunately life doesn't always work out quite the way we might have hoped. Graphic Design has proven to be at best, a suitable alternative career choice. Here's some samples of my work.


banner for BMW repair shop's website (I did not do the logo)



local real estate broker - website still in progress

Obviously...

No one actually reads this effing thing so I'm not entirely certain why I bother. If nothing more, at least it serves as a personal reference. I haven't been able to blog here for quite some time because we were behind on the cox bill and thus had no internet. Things are looking up now financially, internet's back on and here I go again. Not like it really matters, but I'll try to catch up on the 3 weeks that have gone undocumented from my Phoenix Zoo Volunteer experience. Hooray. I can just feel everyone on the edge of their seats with anticipation.

AUGUST 12, 2007 - Keeper Assistant Week 10
Didn't go this day, was exhausted from the week.

AUGUST 19, 2007 - Keeper Assistant Week 11
Awesome, will write more later.

AUGUST 26, 2007 - Keeper Assistant Week 12
Awesome, will write more later.

September 2, 2007 - Keeper Assistant Week 13
Awesome, worked with Debbie instead of LeLani, different experience, good in many ways, will explain later.