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Things have been pretty “status quo” in PandaLand. The pandas certainly keep us busy throughout the day as we are frequently refreshing their bamboo, cleaning their habitats, setting up enrichment, doing training sessions, or working on other tasks to ensure we are constantly doing the best jobs that we can for them. However, as the … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Friday, July 16"

Hello! My name is Haley, and I am a keeper at Outback Station here at Zoo Atlanta. Before I came to work at Outback Station, I was an educator in the Education Department and got to spend a lot of my time on grounds spreading the mission of the Zoo to all of you wonderful … Continue reading "Protecting our endangered sheep"

Recently I completed a complete draft of a manuscript that, essentially, I had been working on since 1989. It’s a few hundred pages long and reviews everything that is known about the toads (Family Bufonidae) of the amazing nation of Mexico. eventually it will be a component chapter of a broader effort entitled The Amphibians … Continue reading "The toads of Mexico"

The birds of Zoo Atlanta have some new neighbors! We recently welcomed a new but familiar species to the Bird Department. This species is known as the violaceous turaco. One male and one female have joined our population and currently reside across from our Indian peafowl habitat. I wanted to take just a minute to … Continue reading "Say hello (again!) to violaceous turacos!"

Although giant pandas and red pandas are not closely related, they actually share some cool similarities. The word panda in Nepalese means “bamboo eater.” This is fitting for both species because they exist on a diet of primarily bamboo, so they are both legitimately pandas. They also both have pseudothumbs, an extension of the wrist … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Monday, July 12"

As most of you know, we do a lot of positive reinforcement training here with the animals at the Zoo. Reptiles are no exception! I have been working with the giant Aldabra tortoises on target training for several years now, but they had also already trained with previous care team members So, a little bit about … Continue reading "Training with Shuffles"

Many of you may know that it is tradition for the pandas to get ice “cakes” for their birthdays every year. However, we sometimes like to give them ice “cakes” at other times, too. This year, they got some festive ice treats for the Fourth of July. The water was dyed blue with nontoxic food … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Friday, July 9"

Something that never ceases to amaze me is how strong a giant panda’s bite is. A study that was published in the Chinese Journal of Ecology took a look at the bite force of 151 carnivores. And the giant panda ranked number 5, only behind lions, brown bears, tigers, and polar bears. Even though they … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Wednesday, July 7"

July 3 was World Meerkat Day, one of the best days of the year! In celebration, Zoo Atlanta’s Social Media Team gave a platform for Kingsley, our Zoo’s alpha meerkat male, to give his first-ever “MeerKlass” discussing “Meerkatology”. I highly recommend those who missed it to go back into the Zoo’s Facebook and Instagram to … Continue reading "MeerKlass: A Review"

Getting Your Art Kit Curbside Pickup Must register and select “pick up” option before the pick-up deadline for your class. When: Pick up is open two days before and on the class date from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Where: Sips N Strokes (Location TBD. You will be contacted with this updated information.) Upon arrival: … Continue reading "Getting Your Art Kit"