Day 6

Full day 9-5 today of camp prep. I spent a good amount of time spelling out several details for our camp week on water. One of our goals for the week is to get the kids around to all the different exhibits of the zoo that are up and running. So, it's really cool to think about how to tie all the different animals and habitats together.

We met one of the zookeepers that takes care of the lions, tigers, snow leopard, and servals today. She talked to us specifically about the lions today. It's interesting to hear the keepers talk about the training that they conduct with the animals. None of it really is for show, it's all for medical purposes. For example, they train the lions for having their blood drawn for check-ups and such. Most of the training is done in the morning before the lions are let out into the exhibit for the day. I also learned that they are allowed to be left outside as long as it is at least 20 degrees out. The rocks in the exhibit area are also heated for the big cats. Both females are fed about 4.5 lbs of meat each day, and the male is fed about 8 lbs.

All of the lions at the Blank Park Zoo, one male and two females, currently are getting up in numbers for lions raised in captivity. In the wild, a male generally is in charge, but it's pretty evident in this little clan of three lions that one of the females is in charge.

Toward the end of the day, we went and watched the Magellan Penguins being fed by their keeper. I really enjoyed watching them swallow the fish whole and then shake a bit, and it made me want to go look up on specific information on their behavior. This exhibit also really reminds me of the Galapagos penguins that I saw one day while snorkeling around Bartalome Island in the Galapagos archipelago back in May of 2009. I definitely think I will include some information about the Galapagos Islands when planning my camp week about animals of the World.

Here's a photo of part of Bartalome Island that I took way back in May of 2009 that we snorkeled around for a while: (I thought it was fun to reminisce and tie back to this amazing trip I went on in this blog; it seems to fit well)

Here's a photo that my good friend Kelsey Prosser, who I really got to know on that trp, took with her camera in water-proof casing while we were snorkeling of the penguins we saw. We were literally this close to them. It was an unforgettable sight:

One cool thing about the Galapagos Penguins is that they are the only species of penguins that live in an area where there's lava. The Magellan Penguins that we have at the Blank Park Zoo obviously do not live in the arctic regions like the penguins most people think about. The Magellan Penguins actually call parts of the southern edge of South America home.

I haven't taken my own camera around to take photos of all the different animals yet, but here is a photo of the Magellan penguins from the Zoo website:

After work today, I went on a wog (walk/jog) on the Neal Smith Trail south of where I'm currently living in Ankeny. There were a lot of bicyclists on the trail, and after I went about half a mile, I found some spots that I want to go back to and bring my trusty camera with me. Then, it was nice to just come sit out on the deck for a while to cool down a bit before going in for the night.