Zookeeper Trapped!

Famous zookeeper Jack Hanna was recently trapped when traveling with several of his zoo companions.

Hanna was passing through a security turnstile at the Columbus Ohio airport while accompanied by a flamingo when both he and the flamingo became trapped.

Hanna freed himself from the turnstile, leaving behind flamingo Marty trapped in a crate.

Firefighters arrived at the scene and freed the majestic bird.

No word on whether this is an early indication that Hanna's role as one of the nation's top zookeepers may be coming to a close.

Answers to Quiz

Hey kids,
here are the answers to the quiz. See if you are a monkey master or are need of enrolling in macaque 101.

Answers.
1. d 2. b 3. c 4. e 5. a

Score
5 out of 5 = Dr. Zaius
4 out of 5 = Marcel from "Friends"


3 out of 5 = Michael Jackson's Bubbles



2 out of 5 = Abu from Disney's Aladdin
1 out of 5 = Gordo, also known as "Old Reliable." The squirrel monkey that survived space flight in the Jupiter 13 rocket flight of 1958, who died tragically when the parachute apparatus didn't open during re-entry. Gordo's body has never been recovered.

Back to Zookeeper School(*SPECIAL QUIZ*)

Dear zookeeping pupils,
welcome back to school. Although the summer was filled with zoo exploration and passive animal observation, it's time to get back to more serious zoo endeavors.

In the last week, Zookeeper Blanche and I took a trip to the Minnesota Zoo to enjoy the animals and prepare a special post-Labor day quiz.

The highlight of our zoogoing trip was the exhibit on Japanese macaques. Although they have small, difficult to spot tails, the macaques are monkeys and not apes. Macaques are known for being a gregarious bunch. They are quite intelligent and are seen in nature teaching each other human-like behavior, such as washing certain foods before eating them and cleaning one another's coats. They are also one of the few monkey species to tolerate a cold winter.

As a back to school exercise, feel free to take the macaque quiz below.

1. Which of the following behaviors is not included in a Buddhist adage inspired by Japanese macaques?
a) Speak no evil
b) Hear no evil
c) See no evil
d) People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

2. Which of the follow viruses is common among macaques but does not cause symptoms in the monkey?
a) Hepatitis A Virus
b) Hepatitis B Virus
c) Hantavirus
d) Rabies Virus
e) West Nile Virus

3. Macaques attack tourists and frequently steal cameras at which of the following historic sites?
a) The Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza
b) The Emperor's palace in Kyoto
c) The rock of Gibraltar
d) The Creation Museum near Cincinatti, Ohio

4. The macaque pictured at the right is in the midst of assembling which of the following snow structures?
a) Cave
b) Fort
c) Man
d) Reproduction of Jeff Koon's modern art masterpiece "Puppy"
e) Pagoda

5. Which of the following is not a staple of the Japanese macaque's diet?
a) Termites
b) Fruit
c) Nuts
d) Seeds
e) Flowers


See the Next post for the answers

Zoo of the Week

Modern zookeeper offers apologies to offering fewer zoo of the week entries, which have probably hampered the weekend activities of the frequent blog readers.

This week's zoo of the week is the San Francisco Zoo. Zookeeper Diego has fond memories of the SF Zoo from a late night visit to the zoo. Zookeeper Beno and I decided to experience the zoo intensely by hopping a fence late at night.

Despite my uncanny abilities to befriend even the most ferocious members of the animal kingdom, after scurring up a fence and squeezing underneath some barbed wire, I was struck with the frightening possibility that we had jumped into a carnivore's lair. Unlike most nights, I had no fresh meat in my pockets to offer as a token of friendship to whomever lived inside. Fortunately,
we had only jumped into a grassy hill near the footpath and walked unscathed into the zoo.

Most of the zoo's majestic animals were sleeping, although zookeeper Beno managed to coax a group of friendly flamingos into song, arousing the suspicion of zoo security.

If you do wish to see more the SF zoo, I would suggest a daytime visit. The zoo is known for it's lemurs which vocalize in groups and make excellent goalkeepers if you are putting together a zoo soccer team. The black lemurs, as seen here stopping a shot by Wayne Rooney, are an endangered species, disliked in their native Madagascar for eating crops.

The zoo also has an excellent exhibit called Companion Animals. The exhibit teaches children, through a petting zoo and informative signs, which animals make good pets and which are better kept wild. If your child is thinking of bringing home an African hairy warthog, coming down with a post-zoo case of African Swine Fever(carried by the hogs) will be enough to dissuade your child that such animals are better kept in our city parks and alleyways and out of the home.

Modern Zookeeper instead recommends the following animals featured in the Companion Animals exhibit as great pets:
1. Rabbits
2. Goats
3. Goliath Tarantula

Animal versus animal

This week, an evil zoogoer released a large python in the Budapest Zoo killing three Kea parrots. Like any good Hungarian zoo, the Budapest Zoo owns a few pythons but couldn't find a microchip in the identified killer.

Kea parrots are native to New Zealand and are rumored to attack sheep, although this New Zealand folk lore has never been confirmed. They are one of the less colorful of the parrot family, but are supposed to be quite playful when they aren't shredding things in their sharp beaks.

In other zoo news, the only capybara at the Northwest Florida zoo was killed by a resident hippopotamus. This is the same zoo that suffered the death of a baby hippopotamus last month.

The hippo bit the capybara on the "rear end" and "stomach area" according to zookeeper Gus Mueller. The cause of the fight was unknown by press time.

The capybara is the king of the rodent family. Native to the Amazon, the capybara is the largest rodent and its name comes from a tribal word for "master of the grasslands."

The capybara is eaten frequently during lent in Venezuela, as the catholic church ruled that its meat is similar to fish and passable during the religious fast. Despite this religious claim, the capybara is not a fish, although they can dive underwater and sleep mostly submerged.

Zoo of the Week

This week, Modern Zookeeper travels east from the Lake Superior Zoo, to New York City to the Bronx Zoo. In three months and five days, the zoo will celebrate its 108 year anniversary, so what better time to feature its many exciting animals?

The Bronx Zoo features a famous gorilla exhibit, rare tropical birds, and several educational sessions. You can feed sea lions or penguins and watch a "Tiger Enrichment Session" wherein zookeepers offer tigers different items to "explore" in a trust-building session.

Examples of items offered to the great cats include "a treat spinner high up in a tree, a deer hide dangling from the end of a fishing pole, or a big barrel to pounce on." We here at MZ aren't sure how a deer hide dangling from a fishing pole builds trust, as the tigers must be frustrated when everytime they jump for the hide, the devious zookeepers pull it just out of their grasp. Like feline Charlie Browns trying to kick the football before it is pulled from their foot's path, the tigers may become frustrated by this "enrichment" exercise.

As an aside, Siberian Tigers are the largest tiger species. Like Helen Keller, they are born blind, but quickly develop excellent vision. In the wild they feast on deer species and wild boar rather than spinning treats and sugar-coated cereals they enjoy in captivity.

Besides the tigers, if you visit the Bronx Zoo, MZ recommends the World of Darkness exhibit featuring bats, sloths and the douroucouli, the world's only noctural monkey. A native of Central and South America, these spooky primates are known for their big eyes, shrill forest cries and lack color vision, which offers little benefit at night.

Stay tuned as the Modern Zookeeper caravan travels on, perhaps to a zoo located near zoo.

An Ancient Model for a Modern Zoo?

Suppose you caught a snake, a crocodile, a bird, a fox and a monkey, six creatures of very different natures, and you tie them together with a strong rope and let them go. Each of these six creatures will try to go back to its own lair by its own method: -the snake will seek a covering of grass, the crocodile will seek water, the bird will want to fly in the air, the dog will seek a village, the fox will seek the solitary ledges, and the monkey will seek the trees of a forest. In the attempt of each to go its own way there will be a struggle, but being tied together by a rope, the strongest at any one time will drag the rest.

Like the creatures in this parable, man is tempted in different ways by the desires of his senses, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, touch and brain, and is controlled by the predominant desire.

If the six creatures are all tied to a post, they will try to get free until they are tired out, and then will lie down by the post.

From : The Teaching of Buddha
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