Who says spring cleaning is just for the spring time? Over the past week the Education Department has been in a frenzy of “spring” cleaning. It has been about a week since our Summer Camp Zoofari program ended, and that means there is a massive cleanup occurring in the Brown Education Center!
In order to get ready for a fall full of programming we’ve taken on some big projects-painting, organizing, cleaning, redecorating, hauling…you name it, we’re probably in the process of doing it!
There’s no better way to prepare yourself for something new than by cleaning out the old…and the Education Department is taking that literally. We’ve taken down our temporary classrooms, reopened the exhibit hall, taken everything off of our walls in order to paint, spackled the walls, organized and put away all camp materials, cleaned our classrooms and reorganized our biofact rooms…phew! Who knew you could do all of that in just one week?
Bare walls ready for a makeover!
This process is very important, but we’re also in the midst of another important task post-camp…planning! We’ve been planning our fall programs all summer but it’s time now to start implementing those programs, writing curriculum and gathering supplies. The work sounds never-ending, doesn’t it? Well, we wouldn’t do it if we didn’t love it, and we certainly think it is a very important (and fun!) job to do.
Texas is home to a huge variety of wild animals and plants. As the largest state south of Canada, we are the meeting point for many habitat zones; prairie from Oklahoma, pines from Louisiana, desert and mountains from New Mexico, and brush country from Mexico. We also have habitats unique to the state, like the Edward’s Plateau region near Austin.
With all these different habitats, we get to claim a LOT of different animals as native species! Many of our wild neighbors are on exhibit at the zoo - cougars, alligators, rattlesnakes – but the best place to see Texas native species at the Houston Zoo is in the Children’s Zoo. With the exception of the domestic species (and our bats) everything on exhibit in the Children’s Zoo is native to Texas!
The Houston Zoo also participates in several conservation projects in Texas; there are endangered species here, too. There are many ways that you can get involved in local conservation, and one of them is a new adult and teen program you can take at the zoo!
Texas Tortoises are seasonally on exhibit in the Children's Zoo.
The Backyard Wildlife Series is a collaborative effort between the Children’s Zoo keepers and the Education Department. This program will highlight local species and conservation efforts, while at the same time helping you to make your own backyard more wildlife-friendly. The first project is a bat house, on January 9 at 1pm. The proceeds from these programs will be donated to related Texas-based conservation initiatives.
So if you want to learn more about the native animals that share Texas with us and improve your own backyard habitat at the same time, check out the Backyard Wildlife Series. And if you want to see some native animals up close, make sure to stop by the Children’s Zoo on your next visit!
Want to live a day in the life of a Camp Zoofari camper? Now you can through this wonderful video created by Annie, one of our super fabulous camp interns. I’ll let the video speak for itself.
I think it captures a lot of our camp activities perfectly, but I’m just wondering when Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby came to the Zoo…?
For those that are afraid to go into the reptile house, our education Zoo Crew will bring a few cools things outside for you to see
Name: Elise Mangin, Third Year Zoo Crew Member
Section: Education
The Education Section’s main purpose is to help enrich the experience for our zoo guests. We have a number of tasks from observing the behavior of the animals to engaging the visitors in keeper chat evaluations. We also educate the public with interactive touch carts. With these carts, we hold various animal artifacts that compliment the exhibits in the zoo. It is a very exciting place to be because we have a big part in making the guests experience more enjoyable.
A Zoo Crew volunteer shows off some cool biofacts in the aquarium. There's not many people who can say they've touched a starfish and blowfish before.
Name: Jacqaelinne Tobar, Second Year Zoo Crew Volunteer
Section: Education
Being part of the zoo sure is different from camp. I get to do biofact carts and keeper chat surveys. The people are a lot of fun to be around and are very interesting. Being here and helping to educate people is a great opportunity for me.
Did you know that 2009 is the Year of the Gorilla? What’s that you say? EVERY year should be year of the Gorilla? Well, of course you’re right. Not only are these animals incredibly gentle and intelligent, they also possess feelings of compassion and empathy.
There are three main types of Gorilla; the Western Lowland Gorilla, the Eastern Lowland Gorilla, and the Mountain Gorilla. Many people are familiar with the Mountain Gorilla through the work of Dian Fossey, while most of the gorillas found in zoos are Western Lowland gorillas.
Eastern Lowland Gorilla
As their names might suggest, Mountain Gorillas inhabit the cloud forests of central Africa, while the lowland gorilla species are found in low lying, swampy areas near the central African coasts. Due to factors such as deforestation and habitat loss, mineral mining, bushmeat, the pet trade, and civil war, all gorilla species are either endangered or critically endangered.
The Houston Zoo has included Mountain Gorillas in their educational lecture series this fall, so make sure to get your tickets now! If you’re a bit more adventurous, (and by adventurous I mean dress up in a gorilla suit and run a 4K fundraiser race in London), visit one of my favorite websites, gorillas.org. Seriously, you can never go wrong dressed up as a gorilla.
This summer one of camps we’re offering is a Keeper Camp for ages 10-12 years old, but during the week they get to act like some of our veteran zoo keepers. Throughout the week they spent a few hours working alongside the keepers in nearly every department at the Zoo. The campers spent Tueday with Reptiles and Sea Lions, Wednesday with the Children’s Zoo, Carnivores and Natural Encounters, Thursday with the Clinic staff and then the GRAND finale on Friday with the Elephants.
Unfortunately, I did not get to participate in the camp and instead get to look at the pictures from the elephant experience with a dreamy look in my eyes. After much discussion with the VP of Animal Operations here at the Zoo, we decided that it’s OK to be jealous of a bunch of 10 to 12 year olds. I mean how cool is this??? People work in zoo’s for years and never get to touch an Elephant nevermind get this close to one.
If you want to see what an Elephant bath looks like, our elephants get a bath every morning at 10am. You can go to the new Elephant Barn, look through the opened windows, and watch as the keepers give each elephant a bath, take their temperature and blood pressure, and do some training.
If you’d like an opportunity to learn even more about our elephants here, go to the Elephant Open House on July 25th.
As an education specialist at the Zoo, I teach classes on and offsite. With the Zoomobile, we bring programs to schools, churches, community centers, festivals, camps, you name it. I have taught just about every age group you can imagine too.
Yesterday I did an all day Zoomobile program at Regina-Howell Elementary in Beaumont. I had about 120 second graders throughout the day, and they were just about the best group of kids I’ve ever had. Great questions, silly stories, and to top it off, they wrote me thank you letters complete with illustrations!
One of them began her letter with, “So, can I call you Tamz?” Sure, why not? Other letters described in detail how much they enjoyed seeing the American alligator I brought, or meeting the kingsnake, or sniffing the ‘smelly’ ferret. Whenever I tell kids that you’ve brought live animals, their eyes light up with excitement. They write in their thank you’s that they can’t wait for you to come back next year. And they will remember you the next time. It’s great to know that you’ve not only made an impact on their life, but you made learning fun too. So much fun that they feel comfortable enough to call you Tamz.
