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Hi everyone! My name is Ryan, and I am going to talk a little bit about some of the training that is going on at the Zoo. Here at Zoo Atlanta, we spend a lot of time training the animals to participate in their own care. The behaviors we train the animals for have a … Continue reading "Time for training"

A lot of people ask us what it’s like being an animal care professional, and specifically what it’s like caring for the giant pandas. Like other animal care team members at any zoo, our days are very much about routines, but we all must be able to adjust that routine at a second’s notice based … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Monday, October 14"

One thing I’ve gotten a lot more experience with since I started in the Panda Care Team a few months ago is talking during our Giant Panda Wild Encounters. Wild Encounters are a great way for guests to get a better insight into what the Panda Care Team does to ensure the needs of the … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Friday, October 11"

About a month ago, the Herpetology Team participated in our annual diamondback terrapin swap with the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island. As part of the Zoo’s support of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center’s Jekyll Island Causeway Conservation Program, we returned 25 individuals back to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center after about a year … Continue reading "A rewarding opportunity with terrapins"

In 2008, my close colleagues, herpetologists David Wake and Vance Vredenburg, used the amphibian crisis to support their invocation of the term the Sixth Mass Extinction. Immediately, I was worried that my friends would be seen as exaggerating, even if I agreed with their argument entirely. Quite the opposite, their phrase was adopted into the … Continue reading "Contemporary mass extinctions?"

Can you believe it’s October? The leaves will soon start falling, the school semester is well underway, and the air is crisp! Well … two out of three of those things are true, at least! It has been pretty sweltering here in Atlanta, but despite the heat, Halloween is just around the corner! Zoo Atlanta … Continue reading "Planning Halloween animal enrichment"

Hi everyone! My name is Hope and I am a seasonal bird keeper here at Zoo Atlanta. Before I became a bird keeper, I interned with the Zoo’s Gorilla Care Team. Although birds and gorillas might seem like completely different worlds, one of the most common questions I have been asked in both animal areas … Continue reading "Going “all-in” with animals"

A huge benefit of being a zoo accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) is that we can look to other AZA-accredited organizations and learn from them. We have our own set of practices and enrichment items in place here at Zoo Atlanta for the giant pandas, but there is always room to … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Monday, September 30"

If you are regular guests of Zoo Atlanta, you are probably familiar with our geriatric gorillas, Ozzie and Choomba, who are 58 and 56 years old, respectively. Ozzie and Choomba live in Habitat 2 and have been together for over 15 years. Ozzie is the oldest male gorilla on record and is frequently seen napping … Continue reading "Ozzie and the “Golden Girls”"

As we continue in our series on myths about giant pandas, what about the statement “Zoo pandas are lazy?” This is far from accurate, and is typically expressed when people are watching the giant pandas eat. Giant pandas spend most of the day consuming large quantities of bamboo, but this comes after they have spent … Continue reading "Panda Updates – Monday, September 22 "