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Thursday, July 5 Hello, my name is Char, and I am a Keeper II with the Herpetology Department. Let me introduce you to an interesting little frog we have behind the scenes at Slimy Scaly Spectacular – the Mona Island coqui (Eleutherodactylus monensis). These little guys are native to Mona Island, Puerto Rico – as … Continue reading "Tiny wonders"

Tuesday, July 3 Making sure the animals here at Zoo Atlanta stay cool and hydrated is a major part of an animal care professional’s job in the summer months. We ensure they are healthy and safe, especially with the heat we have been experiencing in Atlanta, Ga. Animal care teams across the Zoo are always … Continue reading "Keeping cool with summer fun"

Why are we talking about plastic? The creation and use of plastic negatively affects wildlife and their habitats, as well as our health and homes. Plastic is a durable material made to last forever, yet 33 percent of it is used just one time and then discarded. Unfortunately, plastic cannot biodegrade and only breaks down … Continue reading "Saving animals by saying no to straws"

Ya Lun and Xi Lun recently had a new food item added to their daily diets. In addition to the bananas, sweet potatoes and leafeater biscuits, they now receive apples. Lun Lun gets apples in her diet, so they have seen apples before and I’m sure they have stolen some of Lun Lun’s. However, in … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Monday, July 2"

Hello from PandaLand! It’s been awhile since I have worked more than a day here and there on giant panda routine, and this week I have the honor of spending my entire week with our black, white, and red bamboo-eaters! All of the pandas have been a bit finicky about eating the bamboo we have … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Wednesday, June 27"

I was quoted recently in an interview as saying, “I never realized I could have so much influence [in conservation] by putting on a suit and tie and simply talking.” The fact that my knee disability prevents me from doing real fieldwork anymore is only a subtext of the bigger story. You all certainly have … Continue reading "An ounce of prevention: second chance?"

From kori bustards on the east side of the Zoo to blue cranes on the west side, eggs/incubation on the north side to the Bird Propagation Center on the south side – Birds is one of the most spread-out animal departments in the whole Zoo. According to my phone, I average 15,000 steps per day … Continue reading "‘Tis the season"

The other day for enrichment we decided to give the giant pandas cinnamon. When the pandas receive sensory enrichment such as scents, they generally self-anoint with it. Self-anointing just means they rub the scent all over themselves. Yang Yang and Xi Lun were more interested in food so they mostly ignored the scent. Ya Lun … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Monday, June 25"

Alpacas are a domesticated, social species that live in herds. Although they originated in Peru, they have now spread worldwide in human care. Although they share similar characteristics and are often mistaken for one another, alpacas and llamas are different species! There are four South American camelids: the alpaca and the llama, both domesticated, and the vicuña and the guanaco, both wild species that diverged from a common ancestor around 2 million years ago.

How much do you know about bees? Bees are incredibly important to the planet, much more so than most people realize. By bees doing what they do best, flying around, spreading pollen and fertilizing plants, they provide 35 percent of the food we eat. So, if all the bees suddenly disappeared, we humans would experience … Continue reading "Join us for Pollinator Day!"