Good Lord it was hot today.

Here are the animal updates, unfortunately I didn't bring my camera.

Red Ruffed Lemurs:
We fed their a.m. diet early - around 6:30am, before it got too hot. They enjoyed this and Comet ate his biscuits and banannas like a champ. He's back up to his target weight now.

Mandrils:
I hand fed Wucaria this morning and she ate all her greens and most of a bananna. Spock was pleasant enough over in the next stall, he refrained from beating his fist on the metal door while I fed Wucaria which was nice. We threw ice pops out for them at the 12:00 encounter - the guests always love that. Makes for some great photo opps.

Baboons:
We have two new Hamadryas girls in quaranteen that came from the St. Louis Zoo - they are mother and daughter, Bernice and Claribell. There is going to be a lot of preparation that goes into introducing the new girls to our Baboon family. We have to move Bandit the ringtail cat from the Baboon night house area over to the Mandril area to make room for the new girls. A whole lot of coordination and effort goes into such a move and introduction, much more than one might expect.

Otters:
Biko shifted into the night house perfectly today. We had to rake up all the dead leaves on the platform over the pond on exhibit, that area doesn't get maintained very often so it was a pretty big job. We filled 2 large trash bags with leaves and otter poop.

Other events and happenings:

After a long hard day of working in 114 heat, I get in to my 135 degree car, ready to go chill out and have an Alaskan Summer Ale with Mike - the damn car wouldn't start. Luckily there is an aawesome guy who works on all the carts at the zoo and has a shop about 20 yards from where I'm parked. I told him my situation and he was a complete life saver today. He pointed out the fact that my battery was totally corroded and dead and that all I needed to do was find a way to get to Napa and buy a new one. I brought the new battery back to the Zoo and he installed it for me - I am SO bringing him a six pack of coors light next weekend. So all in all it was an insanely exhausting day. I came home, took a three hour nap and I think I'm better now.

I don't suppose they have these types of days in San Diego.

What's the big deal with lemurs?

Those of you who read my blog every so often (all three of you) might wonder, "why is she so into those lemur animals? What's the big deal about lemurs?" Well, I thought I might take a little time here to explain why they are such amazing and important animals (besides the fact that they are adorable and sweet).

• Lemurs in the wild are found nowhere else on the planet except in Madagascar, one of the
most important conservation hotspots on Earth.

• Lemurs are the last living link to ancient primates that have a common link to the primate
lineage that evolved into humans.

• Lemurs are the most endagered of all the living primates, due entirely to human development
and deforestation (habitat loss) of Madagascar.

• Lemurs are closely related to bushbabies, lorises, and pottos and look something like a cat,
being nocturnal, insectivorous and characterized by a small body, long nose and large eyes.

• Lemurs have an interesting evolutionary history and the only reason they still exist today is
because of Madagascar's isolation from the African continent (which took place around 160
million years ago).