How Cold Was It?

How cold did it get at the top of Grandfather Mountain last week?

Pretty cold.

I called Crae Morton, CEO of Grandfather Mountain and an NC Zoo Society Board member, today about Zoo Society business. He told me he had photos of Ann and me at the top of the mountain taken by his grandfather, Hugh Morton, Chairman of Grandfather Mountain and a former NC Zoo Society Board Chair.

Crae had been in Wilmington last week. He thought the photos had been taken some prior January. He needed some convincing that it had, in fact, been taken on "his" mountain last week!

Baby Ibex

PICT2777
Originally uploaded by cornettino.

Nice photo of the young ibex duo, by cornettino.

mother bear & baby bear

mother bear & baby bear
Originally uploaded by cornettino.

Mother "looks as if she is smiling", cornettino feels.

poor mongu1

poor mongu1
Originally uploaded by cornettino.

Photographer/author cornettino wrote: "mongu is 2 years young. she was trying to climb over this [tree] trunk, but was too clumsy, she was stuck."

poor mongu2

poor mongu2
Originally uploaded by cornettino.

"It took mongu some time to get out of her predicament - and she was watched by many laughing visitors, how embarrassing!", cornettino continued.

poor mongu3

poor mongu3
Originally uploaded by cornettino.

"Now she's happy that she defeated the evil [tree] trunk", writes cornettino.

poor mongu4

poor mongu4
Originally uploaded by cornettino.

"Abu, her playfellow, seems to congrat her for her achievement," cornettino concludes.

New Zoo Book

Today's mail included a mailer introducing a new book, "Wildlife Contraception".

The Johns Hopkins University Press, in cooperation with the American Zoo and Aquarium Association(AZA), published the book by Cheryl S. Asa, director of research at St Louis Zoo and codirector of the AZA Wildlife Contraception Center with co-author Ingrid J. Porton, curator of primates at the St. Louis Zoo.

"Provides powerful approaches to controlling reproduction in those populations without disrupting the social structures and behavior of the animals involved. A fine work." - George Rabb, President Emeritus, Chicago Zoological Society.

"Those populations" covered by the book are carnivores, non-human primates, ungulates, pinnipeds and cetaceans, as well as "other mammals".

"The Ethics of Wildlife Contraception" is Part 1, Chapter 1. Regulatory issues, methods, and effects are dealt with, as well as "contraception agents in aggression control" and "contraception in free-ranging wildlife" according to the mailer.

Take the Green Test

Want to know how "Eco-efficient" you are?

Take the test.

You'll be rated and compared to others who took the test.

Veterinary Residency Success

NC Zoo head veterinarian Dr. Mike Loomis reports that two more past residents, in the veterinary residency that he and the NC Zoo and Society have with NC State School of Veterinary Medicine, just passed the ACZM (American College of Zoological Medicine) exam. (The ACZM is the international organization recognized for certification of practicioners of zoological medicine.) All but three former residents of the longtime residency have passed the exam.

Another former resident, Felicia Nutter, just successfully defended her PhD thesis.

Walkabout Walkaround

Again, visitors to the Progress Energy Australian Walkabout at the NC Zoo will be able to view the kangaroos on the lightly attended days of "winter", but not join them in their habitat, as is the case "in season".

This from NC Zoo Curator of Birds Ken Reininger:

"Please be advised that as of 1 November, the walk-thru portion of the Kangaroo exhibit in Australia will be closed to the public. The reason for this is the Zoo's Ranger staff has exhausted all the seasonal wages they can afford to devote to manning this exhibit for the "summer" season. This is the same general schedule we followed last year.

Please note that the Australia exhibit complex does remain open to the public. The Kangaroos can still be viewed through a wide mesh panel located off the "Meeting Area" where the shade sails were located. Visitors will just not be able to walk into the exhibit with the Kangaroos.

Signage will be placed that direct visitors to enter and exit Australia via the exit path to the complex. All Australia animal exhibits currently remain open, although one bird exhibit will close in a few weeks when it gets a little colder.

On particularly nice weekend days when we have high attendance, we will try our best to open the Kangaroo Walk-thru if enough Keeper and/or Ranger staff are available. However this likely won't be possible very often and therefore should be seen as a visitor amenity on any day this can happen. If you hear that announced by Zoo Com it is for that day only, and maybe only for part of that day."

Little Trip into Town

The bronze sculpture of a full-sized rhino by John Paul Harris has been removed from the rhino overlook and has been installed at the old Asheboro Courthouse, as part of a one-year sculpture showing in the Randolph County seat.

The rhino sculpture was removed for the work that will be ongoing on Watani Grasslands, the effort to expand the NC Zoo elephant and rhino exhibits and holding facilities. The sculpture will be placed differently when those exhibits, funded by the Project: Pachyderms capital campaign, reopen.

The old rhino overlook, where the rhino sculpture had been found, will be another African elephant overlook; the sculpture will move uphill, toward the rhino/antelope/African Plains area.

Hot House Bound

The Progress Energy Australian Walkabout plants are being brought indoors to protect them from the coming frosts and make them available for another season, in 2006.

Hurricane Wilma & Zoos

Following Hurricane Wilma, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) summarizes:

. Palm Beach Zoo at Dreher Park reports significant damage to the veterinary hospital, keeper building and holding areas (eight were destroyed). Twenty-five exhibits were damaged to the degree that animals must be held off-exhibit. Three exhibits are reported "demolished".

. Caribbean Gardens, the Zoo in Naples, reports "being ravaged by Wilma". The zoo hopes to reopen by Christmas.

. Lion Country Safari, Loxahatchee, reports many trees down, 30 shelters damaged, one animal lost - a male kudu. Hope to reopen very soon.

. Miami Metrozoo reports more downed trees than with Katrina.

. Mote Marine Aquarium, Sarasota, is open. Summerfield Field Station was flooded by storm surge. The Conch Baby Farm was not flooded, but is closed for clean-up, along with the Field Station.

. Sixteen other AZA members, all in Florida, report being affected by Wilma but without significant damage.

Danger Call

Elephants may "hear" distant signals of danger through their feet!

The foot stomping of an African elephant mother protecting her young from a threat may send a "seismic" message 20 miles away.

Studies indicate African elephants communicate in part through low rumblings we humans are more likely to feel than actually hear. These too can travel great distances and could be adding to the seismic "calls".

Python Composition

python
Originally uploaded by belgianchocolate.

By belgianchocolate.

bosjes

bosjes
Originally uploaded by belgianchocolate.

Nice.

toekan

toekan
Originally uploaded by belgianchocolate.

Nicely framed, bc!

at the zoo

at the zoo
Originally uploaded by belgianchocolate.

The Barcelona Zoo in this case, bc points out.

Jaguar , up close and personal

Jaguar , up close and personal
Originally uploaded by belgianchocolate.

Belgianchocolate, all the way (photo and title).

leeuw

leeuw
Originally uploaded by belgianchocolate.

Sepia leeuw, that is.

Hand van een chimp

Hand van een chimp
Originally uploaded by belgianchocolate.

Belgianchocolate captures a chimpanzee hand in b & w.

samen

samen
Originally uploaded by belgianchocolate.

Belgianchocolate, September 19.

Holding Hands

Holding Hands
Originally uploaded by True_Bavarian.

This title's True Bavarian's too.

King Vulture

King Vulture
Originally uploaded by True_Bavarian.

Zoo Frankfort, Germany.

Mamba

Mamba
Originally uploaded by True_Bavarian.

True Bavarian reports this to be a western green mamba.

Maki Frog

Maki Frog
Originally uploaded by True_Bavarian.

Thank you, True, for what you have to share.

Details, Details

Bald Eagle
Originally uploaded by True_Bavarian.

More fine detail by True Bavarian.

Slimy

Slimy
Originally uploaded by True_Bavarian.

True Bavarian adds to his title ("Slimy"): "not really, even though it looks like it".

These frogs can "disappear" on a leaf, but not in True's great photo.

Not One Other Person (Of Course)

Not only saw no one in an hour of running on the upper Lake Townsend Trail (see post below), but Ann and I also saw no one on the Boone Fork Trail in over three hours of hiking Tuesday and on the Osprey Trail in over two hours Thursday (or was it Friday?).

Only the very popular trails to the various good looks at Linville Falls were found this past week to be well used.

Seen on the Trail

An hour run on the upper stretches of the Lake Townsend (Greensboro, NC) Trail - part of the Mountains to Sea Trail system:

. a white tail bounding away (of course); had just heard a deer in a thicket next to a clearing, then saw a deer (same one?) thirty seconds later bound away (after that distinctive, startled nasal snort/cough) in a wooded section, then saw a (probably the same) deer bound off after another few seconds of running along the trail;

. the spot where an old brick dwelling's foundation remains, crossing the pathway (makes one wonder whether the old home functioned in a more or less "natural" setting than its foundation now finds itself; was there a large ploughed field where the Lake now comes up near it? and were the woods that now surround its foundation all cut back from lumbering operations of the time or the farm's own needs?);

. a broken railing as the trail climbs very steeply away from the Lake at one point and rock stairs aid the hiker/runner;

. great blue heron (of course);

. a wood bridge (over one short watery spot) that twists/lists first to one side and then to the other) in a unique way that reminded me last year that I had been at that point in the trail before, coming at it from the other end (my first time on the Lake Townsend Trail, beginning at Yanceyville Street's trail head);

. squirrels, making more noise on the dry leaves, than the deer do (of course);

. not one other person (of course).

Deer Deaths

Today's News & Record (Greensboro) had a story about automobile/deer accidents by North Carolina county. (Believe Wake County had the most; some rural counties had percentages of deer accidents - relative to total accidents - over 25 percent.)

Ann and I drove to the Museum of Art in Raleigh tonight for the new, "Potter's Eye" show and saw a deer grazing right next to I-40 in Orange County and several deer road kills in Wake and Durham Counties, and on back toward Guilford County.

Take care!

八重歯

八重歯
Originally uploaded by mattyooo.

Mattyooo's title may say it all. I just don't know.

Perhaps it says : "Mmmmmmmm."

Jumpin' Jack

Jumpin' Jack
Originally uploaded by True_Bavarian.

Pelicano

Pelicano
Originally uploaded by Rashuli.

Rashuli photo of Febrero 2005.

Get a Grip

Prairie Dog-1220
Originally uploaded by Edgar Thissen.

Prarie dog at Blijdorp Zoo, Rotterdam, Holland, has carrot well in hand.

Resting & Digesting

Jardim Zoológico de Lisboa
Originally uploaded by NunoCardoso.

African lions doing what they do best.

Providence Ranges

This map shows where the African elephant Providence has ranged in Cameroon between April 2004 and September 2005.

Note that Providence mainly remained within a 10 square mile area from April 2004 through July 2005, and has recently moved into another 10 square mile area below that,

Field Trip Earth, the website, provides the info and more. (Author Mark MacAllister is on the NC Zoo Society staff; NC Zoo head veterinarian Dr. Mike Loomis is part of the team following Providence and other Cameroonian elephants.)

Unusual Nest

Jackie Orsulak, Network for Endangered Sea Turtles (NEST) volunteer, has written (and posted photos for) another great Field Trip Earth story from the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

The last sea turtle nest of the NEST season needed much human help...and got it. Many turtles made it to the sea, as a result. Photos of the "little migration".

Anemone Composition

strawberry anemone
Originally uploaded by alumroot.

Strawberry anemone, Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, Oregon.

Whatta Pose

CD2-020502 Tigers at the Oregon Zoo
Originally uploaded by Pixel Packing Mama.

Pixel Packing Mama apologizes for the clarity of the shot, but not the pose! Nicole (left) and Mikhail are Amur (Siberian) tigers, "Mama" reports, at the (Portland) Oregon Zoo.

Rockstar

Rockstar
Originally uploaded by JANO..

JANO's title.

The Rapture Frog

The Rapture Frog
Originally uploaded by Giant Ginkgo.

Giant Ginkgo's comments are interesting.

Tag

Swat
Originally uploaded by mkl.

You're "it".

Open Every Day...

Yawn.
Originally uploaded by mkl.

...except Christmas.

Jelly

jellyfish
Originally uploaded by sofubared.

What's Goin' On?

Giraffe1
Originally uploaded by khayes.

One head is better than two?

Intent

Ring-tailedLemur
Originally uploaded by BrittanyS.

Ring-tailed lemur.

Rajang

Rajang
Originally uploaded by shama rama.

35 year old male Orangutan at Colchester Zoo.

Peacock Composition

Male Beauty
Originally uploaded by oc girl.

Grandfather Mt. Reserve

Hugh Morton was proud to remind me Wednesday that Grandfather Mountain is designated an International Biosphere Reserve.

Of over 450 reserves in almost 100 countries, his is the only privately-controlled one.

Hugh reported more rare and endangered species identified on Grandfather than in the wider National Parks surrounding it.

On "just" 5000 acres, there are over two dozen critically, globally endangered species in residence.

And there are some nice trails throughout. (Just pick a better day than the last two times I tried; it gets very cold and windy near the top of Grandfather Mountain and the roadway to some handy trail heads might be closed any given day in October into April.)

In the Air Again

The famous Operation Migration ultralight airplane and whooping cranes are back in the air.

Read daily logs of the 2005 migration.

Zebra Composition

Zebra de ponta a ponta
Originally uploaded by willkit.

Give me light please

Give me light please
Originally uploaded by JANO..

JANO titled this orang photo uploaded today.

Why Not Start Clean-Up?

As we met with past NC Zoo Society Board Chair Hugh Morton, of Grandfather Mountain, yesterday, he told Ann and me that a section of the Blue Ridge Parkway, near Linville Falls (where we also went yesterday) had been closed for over a year without one spade of dirt yet turned to fix the damage of last year's storms.

Tourism is a huge business worldwide. In the USA, the National Parks get the majority of that "business".

And the Blue Ridge Parkway is the most visited of all the "Parks".

Many animals, plants and habitats are protected and survive for our enjoyment (and to help assure our future as fellow travelers on Earth) because the tourism economy gives us one more good reason to protect wildlife and wild places.

So, one has to wonder why our national and state appointed and elected officials have not done more to keep our wonderful Parkway whole and continuous. Its length and continuity are chief among its many attributes. (And, then, it pays for itself in tourism dollars and as an investment in the future of many species, including, perhaps, our own.)

Turtles Get a Little Help

You have probably seen the nature channel videos. The Olive Ridley sea turtles desperate efforts to become the one in one thousand to reach adulthood and breed.

With apocalyptic music playing you see the recently hatched sea turtles plucked from the sand by predatory birds as they race for the water. In the water, swimming predators continue the carnage. Some young turtles even head the wrong way, dry up and perish in the sand. Others are taken in their eggs by predators that do not wait for them to hatch out before making a meal.

That is natural. Nature allows for millions of Olive Ridley turtle hatchings so thousands survive.

But then there are other problems: bad weather (perhaps brought on by global warming and man), polluted waters in some places and getting caught in fishing nets.

Add to all that one more problems. Poachers have been killing the turtles and stealing their eggs to sell to "gentlemen" who eat them with lime juice and salt as an aphrodisiac.

No wonder the Olive Ridley sea turtles are considered endangered.

The good news is that armed guards have been keeping the poachers away on some of Mexico's top breeding beaches on the Pacific Ocean.

Wild Bird Imports Banned

An imported parrot was very recently tested positive for avian flu in the United Kingdom.

The European Commission responded yesterday with a temporary ban on all live, wild bird imports.

Animal welfare and conservation groups applaud the move.

The European Union imports close to 2 million birds a year. That is about 90 percent of the world wide market!

Boone Fork Trail

Just back from two nights at the Mast Farm Inn, Valle Crucis, near Boone and Linville, NC.

Weather turned cold and blustery as soon as we arrived. We knew the Grandfather Mountain trails we wanted to try would not be accessible Tuesday morning (it was snowing up there, we knew, as a very cold rain fell where we were), so I had my "Hiking - North Carolina" (Randy Johnson) book with me, looking for a lower elevation hike, as Ann and I went to the original Mast General Store for gloves and hats we had not thought we would need.

Two older fellows sat near the very hot pot-bellied stove in the General Store as I tried to find a good trailhead nearby. Turns out they were both Boy Scout leaders and gave us good directions to the trail head for the Boone Fork Loop Trial (mile 296.4 on the Blue Ridge Parkway).

The weather, as we stopped at the Moses Cone summer home (now a Parkway Craft Center), still threatened to make for a miserable hike.

We hiked the 4.9 mile, Boone Fork Trail from 11 a.m. to a little past 2 p.m. The weather behaved reasonably well.

The trail is special.

As one of the two fellows at the General Store advised, we started to the left, through camp grounds. At one early point, a white tail deer ran off to our right. A bit farther, her two friends were in the trail ahead of us. One, especially, froze in our path just a little ahead of us. Nice promise of the great hike to come.

The trail offers a little bit of everything. Lots of rocky, rooted rises and falls. Many tricky little water crossings. A stroll through a high pasture complete with the cows and their cow patties.

A beaver dam and pond, an old lake bed from the days of "archaic" native Americans , one sign said.

The mountain laurel for some long stretches created a tunnel that protected us nicely from the cold and wind (which the pasture did not!).

The Mountains to Sea Trail is a part of a good part of the loop. The Tanawha Trail (between Beacon Heights, near Linville, and Blowing Rock) offers a part to the loop as well.

This morning the weather was nicer. So we set off for Grandfather Mountain. But there had been enough snow that they did not even open the lower part of the mountain until 11:30 a.m.

We waited and then went up to the animal exhibits and museum. It was bitter, and only the deer were to be seen outside.

Inside we found my old friend Hugh Morton, who developed the Mountain. He gave us soup and then drove us to the top of the Mountain. (I took down the "Road Closed" chain and replaced it, as we were the only visitors above that point this early afternoon.)

Hugh's running commentary about the movies (like "Forrest Gump") and car commercials (like Cadillac) filmed on his Mountain were a treat to us both.

It was really bitter at the top! The snow had "piled up" sideways (!!) on the metal railings and posts at the gift shop near the "Mile High Swinging Bridge". (Wind speeds occasionally top 100 mph at the top of Grandfather.)

After some quick photos, Hugh returned us to our car to find another, lower-elevation hike.

We "settled" for the very popular, highly traveled (even on this, now-improving Wednesday in late October) Linville Falls trails to the three easiest to reach views of those big falls.

Dr. Tchamba Recognized

This was just sent to NC Zoo veterinarian Dr. Mike Lommis by Dr. Martin Tchamba, recovering from serious injuries received from an African elephant when he and Mike were working to help her and her herd in Cameroon, in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the government of Cameroon:

"This is to inform you that I have been awarded the WWF Africa & Madagascar
> 2004 Conservation Award, a recognition for my contribution to WWF and
> conservation achievements in Africa over the past 3 years. I would like to
> seize this opportunity to thank you for the team spirit and the good work
> carried out together."

Blue Neck

Ostrich
Originally uploaded by ginjer.

The ostrich in the prior post is a red-necked ostrich. This one is a blue-necked ostrich.

No special skills required for determining which is which.

Objects May Be Closer Than They Appear

When Ostriches Attack Part 3
Originally uploaded by sh_yotam.

This "flickr" photo by "sh yotam" is also titled "When Ostriches Attack - Part 3" and "Scary ostrich fly-by".

Taken at a drive-through "safari" facility.

Friend of the Zoo

I was one of very many at Voit Gilmore's 87th birthday celebration at the Country Club of North Carolina, Southern Pines, October 13. Voit died of complications of Parkinson's disease October 15.

I was one of very many at his funeral yesterday.

The two-term Director of the NC Zoo Society and long-time member, much concurrently with the Society role, of the NC Zoo Park Council, is a past mayor of Southern Pines and two-term State senator.

As mayor, he is credited, along with Southern Pines resident Felton Capel, with easing his town into integration. The two and their wives began by sitting down front together at the Sunrise Theater.

"We also played golf at Mid Pines and went bowling...on Broad Street," according to Mr. Capel, another past NC Zoo Society Board Director, as quoted in "The Pilot" newspaper. They also dined together on various occasions.

The first director of the U.S. Travel Service (later U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration) under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, Voit Gilmore long promoted ecotourism, the concept of responsible travel to natural areas to give economic incentive to keeping wild places for their wildlife and for humanity, and to build cultural and environmental awareness and respect.

His 87th birthday cake was "built" to look just like a well-used suit case!

His travel took him to the tops of mountains in the Himalayas, Andes and Rockies and both poles of the Earth. He earned a master's degree and doctorate in geography.

He donated more than 500 acres and buildings at Purchase Knob to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The gift became the Appalachian Highland Science Learning Center.

The first speakers at his funeral were granddaughter Francisca Gilmore and grandson David Gilmore. It was not surprising to understand that they live in Costa Rica, I believe, and to see that these handsome and articulate young people are the "products" of a multicultural marriage.

I understand that after he learned that he had Parkinson's disease he advised his children saying, "I have Parkinson's disease...and he has mine!"

Ducks, Not Geese

The "News & Record" (Greensboro) also reports today that the NC Zoo hatched five African pygmy geese July 31, "the first of their kind born at the NC Zoo".

The paper repeatedly refers to the African Pymgy geese as "the geese". Most correctly, they are "the ducks".

African pygmy geese are ducks, one of the perching ducks, along with white-winged wood ducks, Mandarin ducks, Indian pygmy geese and green pygmy geese. And white-faced whistling ducks, I understand, just might be geese.

Understand?

Copperheads Too

This web log has touched on the box turtle study ongoing at the NC Zoo. Some turtles have even been fitted with monitoring devices to follow their movements around the Zoo. These are free ranging, wild animals, making their ways around the larger (1450-acre) Zoo property. (The developed NC Zoo is found within fences that encircle about 500 of those acres.)

John Groves, NC Zoo curator of amphibians and reptiles, is conducting the same kind of studies with the reclusive copperhead snakes which also range freely within the North Carolina Zoological Park. Some snakes too have been fitted with "devices", according to an article in today's "News & Record" (Greensboro).

John and the Zoo want to help conserve box turtles and copperheads. So they want to know more about how they behave in their natural settings.

Already they have learned "that the snake travels farther than they had thought and always returns within 100 feet of its hibernating spot," the "N & R" reports.

Scoop?

Did the "News & Record" (Greensboro) have a scoop in today's paper when it reported NC Zoo mammal curator Guy Lichty saying, of the Asheboro facility's African lions, "Breeding efforts...could have a cub on display by Memorial Day"?

The short answer, it appears, is "No".

Since African lions have a rather short gestation period (between conception and birth) of 100 to 120 days, Guy, it would seem, is talking about what could come to pass soon, not about something he knows is "in the works".

Time will tell.

There are about 85 African lions in the United States, the "News & Record" reports. About 150 are needed to maintain genetic diversity at a level set as the goal of the Species Survival Plan for this species.

The two cubs born at the NC Zoo last July, therefore, were a big contribution to the effort to reach that goal. They made the NC Zoo "one of the few facilities in the United States with a successful African lion birth", the "N & R" added.

"We're not breeding babies to have babies, it's because the population needs them," Lichty tells the paper.

The NC Zoo has already transferred last year's cubs to other zoos and their Species Survival Plan breeding sub-groups.

Best Multimale Group

With 21 of the 65 Hamadryas baboons known to exist in North America, the NC Zoo offers the best opportunity to see how this species is meant to exist and interact with its own.

The North American population was in decline when the NC Zoo found five infants in a Florida lab. These were genetically unrelated to the struggling North American zoo population and have breathed life back into the breeding group.

The "News & Record" (Greensboro) today quotes NC Zoo keeper Jennifer Ireland: "We are at the forefront in housing a multimale group. In the wild they live in multimale groupings so that's really helped the breeding situation. The relationship between males and females, and males and males, is right on the ball. It's like reading their natural history by watching them interact."

You will find newborns, infants, toddlers, adolescents, young adults and silverback males interacting within today's NC Zoo Hamadryas baboon troop.

Chimpzee

Chimpzee
Originally uploaded by lluusz.

Nice. Detroit Zoo chimpanzee photo by lluusz.

Flying to Wasilla? Fear No Moose

The airport at Wasilla, above Anchorage, used to have problems with an occasional moose on the runway. That has all been fixed.

Good thing, because a small airplane can disintegrate in a collison with a moose.

A little shock and a loud noise have the runway cleared.

One Cute Panda

The picture is not big, but that looks like one cute, 100-day-old panda getting a shot from his vet at the National Zoo.

Reports are he does not like shots.

Vampire Bats

Spiders, snakes and bats are among the creatures who get bad "raps", made worse at Halloween time.

Of the bats, vampire bats get the worst of the worst.

The little, flying, mammals are actually very social creatures. At the NC Zoo a dozen females and a single male cluster in their darkened exhibit, while four "bachelors" hang separately from the cave-like ceiling.

The social females visit the other males, but return to the "harem".

All the bats groom each other and care for each other in sickness.

The vampire bat, which cautiously pierces an animal's skin and then laps up blood which tends not to clot because of a chemical in the bat's saliva, offers scientists hopes for the key to preventing strokes and heart attacks.

They require just two tablespoons of fresh blood a day, which they take from "hummingbird feeders" at the NC Zoo.

Full grown, the vampire bat body is three inches long. Wing-span is twice that length.

Each and Every Swan

The North Carolina Zoo Society announces that a pair of young Bewick Swans, a species native to Siberia, arrived this week from a breeder in Billings, Montana at Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Center in Scotland Neck, N.C. The introduction of the pair means that Sylvan Heights is now home to every known species of swan. Other species include the Black Swan, Mute Swan, Whooper, Whistling or Tundra Swan, Trumpeter Swan, Coscoroboa Swan, and Black Neck Swan.

The swans are just a few months old. It will take until they are three years of age to reach maturity. At that time they will look most like the North American Trumpeter Swan, with white plumage and yellow bill.

The NC Zoo Society supports the educational and conservation efforts of Sylvan Heights Waterfowl.

That's Better

NC Zoo 072
Originally uploaded by nemahziz.

This recent nemahzis photo of the same NC Zoo Polar bear shown below catches a better moment.

Slightly "webbed" front paws help make the Polar bear a strong swimmer. So much so that some "scientists" consider them to be marine mammals.

Bleaaaggghhh!

NC Zoo 079
Originally uploaded by nemahziz.

This very recent photo of an NC Zoo Polar bear catches an interesting reaction.

They have a remarkable sense of smell. Can smell a seal a mile away. (Could it be a visitor's after shave?)

Canadian Zoos Rated

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has rated Calgary Zoo highly while thinking much less of some other zoos.

Calgary and NC Zoos are accredited by the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The NC Zoo partnered with WSPA in bringing aid and comfort to the animals at Kabul Zoo shortly after the Taliban fled.

Colorful Mooseherder

NC Zoo
Originally uploaded by mooseherder.

"A cloudy day in the [NC Zoo] aviary made for some difficult shooting conditions...", mooseherder writes of this shot.

Looks like he responds well to a challenge!

Scarlet ibis at its best!

mooseherder can use color film too. (See B&W profiles by mooseherder below.)

NC Zoo Profiles (cont.)

NC Zoo
Originally uploaded by mooseherder.

Hamadryas baboon profile by mooseherder.

Another Mooseherder Profile

NC Zoo
Originally uploaded by mooseherder.

Mooseherder has taken a series of wonderful profiles in B&W of NC Zoo animals.

Invasive Rodent

Population: one.

Another reason not to introduce invasive species.

It took scientists over four months to recapture one rat...radio-collared much of the time.

Colorful Grizzly

Grizzly Bear
Originally uploaded by pisco.

Pisco appears to have taken the photo of this nice grizzly at the Denver Zoo, this August.

Mooseherder Strikes Again

NC Zoo
Originally uploaded by mooseherder.

Strong B&W photo of an NC Zoo grizzly by Mooseherder.

Another Benefit of Viagra

A study concludes that the success of Viagra and similar drugs is reducing the worldwide demand for exotic animal parts long thought to have similar beneficial results for the humans who used them as "prescribed".

Threat to Polar Bears

Oregon Zoo, Portland, held a recent news conference to make the case that global warming was threatening the lives and habitats of Polar bears, like that zoo's own favorite animals.

The Arctic ice sheet is shrinking and melting earlier each year. Polar bears only hunt for seals on ice. They are not effective predators on land.

Asking for Trouble?

The Philadelphia Zoo is considering moving its Asian elephant somewhere else after it lost a scuffle with a smaller, younger African elephant in the same exhibit.

Some critics suggest putting to the two species together was "asking for trouble".

New House in Home

NC Zoo African Pavilion keepers report the Serval cats have a new enrichment house in their exhibit.

(The Colubus and DeBrazza's monkeys have switched homes in the Pavilion.)

Aviary Updates

The NC Zoo keepers reported in September that at the Forest Aviary:

. Ringed Teal is back on exhibit.

. Two new Roul Roul chicks and a Turquoise Tanager Chick have hatched out.

. The Hooded Pitta is incubating eggs.

Full Rut

The male elk at the NC Zoo is in full rut. Listen for his distinctive bugle. "These are my females. Stay away!" That is the message he is conveying.

Ladies!

The NC Zoo female alligators had been fighting. The September report of the North Carolina Chapter of AAZK (American Association of Zoo Keepers) says they "are now getting along."

Batology 101

Be there November 5 or 6. NC Zoo Society course in all things bat-ish.

This Python Recovering

A scrub python in the NC Zoo's Progress Energy Australian Walkabout had a recent operation. A cancerous lump was removed. He's doing fine.

Closer Look

Bobcat Close-up
Originally uploaded by russlings.

At the bobcat released in the Ft. Bragg area this week after being raised and readied for release at the Valerie H. Schindler Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, NC Zoo. (The center is entirely run by volunteers and funded through voluntary donations to the NC Zoo Society.)

Wild Boar Mess

The European wild boar is also messing up Great Smoky Mountains National Park and sites in 23 other United States of America.

Invasive species seem to always cause trouble; does someone have the exception?

Another Invasive Invasion

"--Avon Park Air Force Range, a bombing and gunnery range in central Florida, battles wild hogs that descended from European wild boars. The hogs dig up soil along the runways, exposing insects, which draw large birds such as sandhill cranes. The presence of the birds and hogs causes the military to curtail flights to protect safety and equipment, according to the military." (Also Associated Press, Frederic Frommer, October 18, 2005.)

European wild hogs are kept in check in Europe by the natural order of things. In Florida, they cause dis-order because they are not natural there.

Invasive Invasion

"--Guam, home to an Air Force base and Navy base, is infested with more than two million brown tree snakes, or 12,000 per square mile. The critters climb wires leading to transformers, creating shorts that lead to a blackout at least once a week. The snakes themselves sometimes die from the shock, but not always.

The brown tree snakes, native to the South Pacific and Australia, are thought to have arrived in Guam aboard a cargo ship after World War II. In addition to causing blackouts, they bite hundreds of residents a year (non-fatally), and have caused the extinction of nine of the island's 12 native bird species, according to the federation."

Invasive species strike again.

"Report Details Non-Human Invasions on Military Properties,

October 18, 2005 — By Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press"

Zoo Atlanta's "Girls"

Zoo Atlanta chose the North Carolina Zoo to receive "our girls", as was posted here earlier and according to Adam M. Stone, Assistant Curator of Large Mammals, Elephants and Carnivores, Zoo Atlanta.

Zoo Atlanta will not be breeding African elephants as the NC Zoo will upon completion
of its new Watani Grasslands facilities, in 2007. It will, however, accept older, non-reproductive elephant cows. (As the better zoos, accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, organize to deal with the last [now 150] African elephants in North America, some will breed elephants, some will keep the non-reproductive cows and some the non-breeding males.)

Curator Stone reports that the NC Zoo was chosen by Atlanta "for the following reasons:

1) Dedication, interest, and support of elephants and the NCZ elephant program;

2) Proximity to Atlanta for easy and quick transport;

3) Ability to accept all 3 ZA [Zoo Atlanta] elephants, thus maintaining their social bonds;

4) Ability to provide a larger, more dynamic, socially complex environment;

5) Commitment to a quality Protected Contact [positive reinforcement] elephant management system;

6) Guy Lichty ROCKS!" (Guy is the one, of the NC Zoo's two mammal curators, responsible for the elephants)

Smashing Pumpkins

"The zoo will continue a Halloween tradition on October 20, when elephants and chimpanzees will get the chance to pound, pulverize and eventually partake of pumpkins in their exhibits," according to an NC Zoo media release.

Chimps will be let out into their exhibit, and to their pumpkins, at 9 a.m.

Elephants begin pounding at 9:30 a.m.

Planned Giving

The "News & Record" (Greensboro, NC) had a photo story about the couple who were giving the Natural Science Center, Greensboro, their aldabra tortoises, realizing that, at about ages 50, the couple would not be able to continue to care for their tortoises, which were quite young when the human couple first met.

Aldabra tortoises can live to 150 years of age.

Talented Gorilla

We've long known about chimpanzees using the "hammer and anvil" approach to nut cracking. Now a gorilla is showing the same talent.

This is making quite a stir. Much more complex tool-making behavior than the "measuring stick" and "arm stool/bridge" examples reported in a post here recently.

"Certainly many people are impressed by their intelligence and similarities with our own species but there are still a lot of people who eat the apes. We should do everything to stop this." (Thomas Breuer, Wildlife Conservation Society)

Cool Polar Bear

polarbear cooling off
Originally uploaded by lifeskills13.

"I love my ice blankie."